500 mm

Glossy Ibis

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted a big lens for wildlife photography. They are not cheap, so I would always put it off and buy the cheaper things on my want list. It always made more sense to buy four things for the same money as one lens.

Of course, this meant missing certain photos. Instead of getting perfect frame filling shots of the Long Tailed Duck at Charleston, I got decent pictures that needed a little cropping to be a "wallhanger". It has really driven me crazy this year since I have spent so much more time chasing birds and animals than fishing. There is no need for a big powerful lensfor fishing, in fact it is a waste and makes getting good shots harder. Birds are a completely different animal (pun intended). Finally I couldn't take it anymore, so a month ago, I decided to buy a 500-600 mm lens to fit my DSLR. I didn't buy it right away, because I research the hell out of everything. Also, I wanted to leave a certain amount of money in the bank. So over the last month, I've watched my spending to save up some of the money instead of take it out of my savings account. No matter what, I wanted it for the May migration of warblers, songbirds, and shorebirds. I ended up buying a used (saved me hundreds of dollars) Sigma 500mm lens.

Well, the lens came in yesterday at 3:30 pm. As soon as I opened the package I left to find anything to get pictures of. Unfortunately, last night was a bust. I went to three places and barely saw a bird. My best picture was of some cones hanging on a white pine.

So when I woke up today it may as well been Christmas morning. I had to force myself to brush my teeth the proper amount of time before I left.  The first place I went was Great Swamp in South Kingston. I had one target species there (Wilson Snipe) however, it was irrelevant if I saw the Snipe or not. I wanted to see birds, snakes, butterflies, mammals. It didn't matter, I just needed photo subjects. I didn't want them to be robins and squirrels, but pretty much anything was fair game. 

I had good luck at Great Swamp. There were birds everywhere. I got my Wilson's Snipe. There were dozens of them along with Killdeer and Greater Yelllowlegs. I saw six Kestrel, a bluebird, and many more.

From there I went to Trustom and saw a snake but not much else. Then I quickly hit Matunack and Jamestown. I saw a family of skunks in Jamestown.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS-

Golden Crowned Kinglet

The lens is heavy. I was at Great Swamp for three hours. I carried it in my right hand and it cramped up. It is too heavy to hang around my neck as I really feel the pressure against the vertebrate. I took 205 pictures today and deleted at least half. Because it is such a big lens it is somewhat difficult to focus on birds in trees. Also, birds that were far away came out a little blurry which I assume was from camera shake.

However, give it time and a somewhat close target, and the pics came out great (see the snake pic). I took a dozen shots of a Golden Crowned Kinglet and two came out really nice. The bird never stayed still, so I can't blame the camera. I don't care if I take ten shots and delete eight, I just want to get some great photos of wildlife. I think the camera is up to the challenge with a little more practice by me.

PHOTOS BELOW-

All the photos below were taken with my new lens. None of them have been cropped. All photos were handheld not on a tripod.

 One thing looking at photos does not do is tell you how far away from the animal I was or how big it is. For example, I can not expect a from filling photo of a garter snake's head. Its head is literally a half inch tall. I can't get close enough with a lens that big to do that. Obviously the size of an animal mostly determines (and distance, of course) how much of the photo is filled with the subject. The loon was much further away than the Kinglet. However, the Kinglet weighs roughly two ounces to the loons ten pounds.

Another issue is I can't control the sky. The more light, the better the picture will come out.

Anyway, I got at least a couple of good pictures of everything I shot at today. There wasn't anything I had to delete totally. So I can't complain

This adult loon is getting its spots back

Greater Yellowlegs

This Osprey and I wish the sky
would have been blue

One of the highlights of the day was coming across three skunks. I think they are a family unit but none of them look alike. The nice thing about skunks is they have no fear of us. I was only about ten feet away snapping photos while they fed. They barely left their noses out of the leaves and grass. I had to be patient to get pictures of them with their head up. It is not as if spooking it is an option...unless I wanted to end up wet and smelly.