Brydon Lagoon/Lost Files

Sept 13 Brydon Lagoon, City of Langley BC
There were still plenty of warblers at the Lagoon. They were in almost every bush and tree. The Green Heron was still present as were a few Common Yellowthroat, Cedar Waxwing, flycatchers and a large flock of Bushtits.

Yellow-rumped Watbler (Dendroica coronata)

I never tire of photographing this dainty and colourful warbler.

Looking for a meal the Yellow-rumped Warbler can sometimes be seen during our winters where it
 feeds on berries until its primary diet insects, return in the spring.

A Flycatcher, perhaps a Western Wood Pewee. Any takers ?

Juvenile Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)

Belted Kingfisher (Ceryl alcyon)

These Green Heron shots were taken the day of the big fish kill with the Canon SX50HS. I had downloaded them in a hurry and thought they were 'lost' ago until I found them a few days buried deep with an unrelated folder. I am happy I found them because it reminds me how good a camera the Canon is. These were shot at 1200mm and handheld which goes to show how good the image stabilization is.

Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

Note the dead fish in the water following the spell of hot weather that depleted oxygen in the Lagoon. Two fountains were not working leading to many questions about the City of Langley's commitment to the lagoon.

I for one will be very interested to see what plans are in store for the lagoon which used to be 2-.5 metres deep. These days it is less a metre. The only source of water is run-off and rainfall hence the need of fountains for oxygenation.
Interested parties will meeting at the Lagoon Oct 1 at 2.p.m.to discuss plans for the site. City of Langley representatives, Langley Field Naturalists and interested parties will discuss problems facing the popular birding site. . Hope to see you there.

"It's never too late to start birding"

John Gordon

Langley/Cloverdale

Further Adventures Canon SX50HS Brydon Lagoon

Brydon Lagoon Wednesday Mar 19 2014

Brydon Lagoon
The Canon SX50 HS super zoom is perfect for scenics having a 24mm wide angle lens

Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Even though the camera is quite good for taking long distance shots of birds (below) it can also capture close-ups like the Bushtit seen here. Although the ratio of decent shots is lower than a proper DSLR set-up the whole purpose for me is to be able to go for a power walk with just the SX50HS and a pair of binoculars. All these shots were taken while I sat on a park bench and listened to the birds singing. Slowly the more timid birds like the Canvasback below drifted in closer to me. Both shots below was taken with the zoom at 1200mm. The Bushtit at about 20 feet and the Canvasback at approximately 100 feet.

Female Canvasback (Aythya valisineria)

As I have mentioned in earlier blogs to get the best out of the CanonSX50HS for birding set the camera to Scene Mode and choose the High Speed Burst HQ. It can be accessed through the Function Set button. It shoots 10 frames a second at Full Res, don't ask me how it works but it does. The Bushtit above is one of five shots I had to choose from, the other four frames had no birds at all. Anyway, readers have told me that they have bought the camera and enjoy it immensely.

Good Birding 

John Gordon 

Further Adventures with the Canon SX50hs

Feb 9 2014 Langley B.C. Below freezing

Sometimes when I am looking for new locations to photograph I often throw my Canon SX50hs super zoom over my shoulder. I have already written about the $300 camera in previous blogs so rather than repeat myself I will post this picture of my favourite bird, the Varied Thrush. With frozen ponds everywhere in the Lower I searched for some running water where I found a flock of four Varied Thrush.
Before I started birding seriously in 2011 I was never able to get close enough to this beautiful bird to get a decent photo, in fact my attempts were dismal. Since then I have some much better shots but not the definitive image I am happy with. Most often the Varied Thrush are seen on the ground, scratching away leaves looking for food, when I saw this one on a partially frozen waterfall I couldn't pass up the opportunity to shoot a few frames on the SCENE mode.
The shot was taken handheld at the full zoom of 1200 mm. The camera has a 28-1200mm zoom with image stabilization. I recommend this type of camera for those on a budget or if carrying lots of equipment is a problem. Panasonic has similar model with a 600mm F2.8 lens but lacks the reach of the Canon. It is also twice the price but lets but in three times more light (useful in the morning and evening) and MAY have a sharper lens. I haven't used myself but have seen many in the field and everyone I spoke to likes the Panasonic.
At my workshops and presentations I often get asked by birders what type of camera to choose. It really all it depends on what results are expected. Obviously a $10,000 kit is going to more flexible albeit much heavier. For many birders if an ID shot is all that is required then either of the above cameras will do just fine.
The next level outfit is a Nikon or Canon DSLR and 300mm F4 or Sigma 150-500mm lens which you'll need to spend around $2500. Recently Tamron just released a 150-600mm lens for $1300.
Here is the picture from the Canon SX50hs from yesterday photographed on a cloudy afternoon at 3.30 p.m. I think most birders would be happy with this quality.

Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius)

Good Birding

John Gordon

Canon SX50 HS Test Shots/ Brydon Lagoon

Sunday Oct 13 2013 Brydon Lagoon, Langley B.C.

A number of readers of this blog have asked me to post a few images from the Canon SX50 HS Super Zoom camera. Today I spent an hour at Langley City's Brydon Lagoon to give it a test. All my previous shots had been casual snapshots while using my 'proper' gear.
The following images were shot as jpegs, edited in Lightroom, cropped in Photoshop and that is about all. There is some sharpening but not very much.
Of course, not everyone wants or can drag around huge lenses, tripods and this little camera makes a perfect choice for those people as well as for those on limited budgets.
The camera has an 24mm-1200mm range with built in stabilzer. With care it allows handheld photography at great distances. It wouldn't be my first choice for fast moving subjects like sports but with practice the camera could become a useful extension to your birding experience.
The best method to get the sharpest image possible each time is to gently squeeze the camera with your hands, place one hand underneath the body of the camera, place your elbows to the side of the rib cage, take a breath and squeeze the shutter. This applies to all types of photography not just birds.
Rather than go into all the camera specifications I will include a link to the Canon website at the end of this blog. I paid $399 for mine and they seem to be on sale at the moment which may mean Canon have a new model coming out soon, but of that I'm not certain.

The scene at 24mm. There are three Song sparrows on the fence and in the bushes. They are just specks so I phissed them to come out into the open . From the same position I zoomed to 1200mm and caught this curious songster (below) on the left of the fence.  It can be hard to find the bird if you zoom in too quickly so zoom halfway looking all the time for movement. The camera is being handheld, as the use of a tripod would have slowed down focusing. For birding, a monopod with an inexpensive ball and head tripod head would be my other choice especially on duller days.  For most other applications like scenics and macro I would set the camera to the lowest ISO 100 and use a tripod. For snapshots the imge stabilization works 95% of the time.  For birds I would shoot at 320 ISO.

Song Sparrow. Shutter speed 1/640 at F7.1. ISO or film speed 320. The camera was extended to 1200mm. I managed 5 in focus shots and one shot where the bird was exiting the scene.



A few more shots from my hour long walk

Great Blue Heron Brydon Lagoon

Northern Shoveler (Brydon Lagoon)

Mallard and Reflection. (Brydon Lagoon)
Even though this bird is moving quite fast toward me the camera kept up with 50% of the shots. 

Handheld at 1200mm

White-crowned Sparrow.
Photographed from 75 feet away, this shot shows how much of a camera the SX50 is and that is high praise from a Nikonian.

The caveat is that this camera won't ever displace a DSLR but does an excellent job of capturing almost everything you'll ever come across including birds, one of the most challenging subjects of all. Any comments much appreciated.

Link: Canon SX50 HS


Good Birding
John

"A Little Off Course"

Oct 10 2013 White Rock, British Columbia Canada. Cloudy with Sunny breaks
A Black-necked Stilt, a bird rarely seen on our shoreline, has been spotted at one of B.C's most popular beaches. A walking path and busy railway track are only yards away from the scenic White Rock promenade from which the bird can be easily observed.
The long-legged bird began drawing birders and photographers soon after it was spotted by Floyd en al  Wednesday afternoon.

The Stilt is a 'Lifer' for me and a few yards down the beach was another, a Franklin's Gull. That is three 'Lifers' in October, the Lapland Longspur being the third.
I was also testing out a Nikon D800 which meant I missed a few flight shots because of the slow motor drive and buffer writing the huge files. The jury is still out and my tests on the D800 are still ongoing. I might just be the user, unfamiliar with the camera controls.

Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) in flight.

Scale: How big is this bird? About 14 inches tall. The stilt walks between two Cackling Geese on the White Rock foreshore. The bird is also hanging out with a Willet which winters on the coast. Both birds nest in the interior and prairies. The Willet migrates to winter on the coast and the Stilt to the warmer climes further south.

The bird itself was easy to find, no skill required, just look for the long lenses, tripods, safari hats, Billy Oddie lookalikes and a mostly unshaven male binocular carrying rabble.
I suppose this can be termed a "mini twitch" with passersby showing just as much an interest and sharing stories about their own sightings. Everyone, it seems has a bird story to share. Birds bring out the best in people, one of the reasons I enjoy birding so much.

The Stilt will refuel before heading to warmer climes possibly
Central America or the Southern USA for the winter.

The shot below is photographed with the $399 Canon SX50 HS. The APS sensor point and shoot is perfect for those who don't want to lug around tripods and heavy glass. It is ideal for the birder who wants to take identification shots and perhaps make small prints. I use mine to shoot scenics as well as test images like the one below. Compare it with the images above taken with the D800.

Even as a web shot a softness to the image is apparent and feather detail is poor.

Good Birding

John