Interviewed?

Thanks to Nick Brancaccio for this cool interview,  I was also 

interviewed by the CBC, so here are the links!

Windsor Star 

CBC Windsor

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Reality or Fake?

 Great Grey Owl near Kingsville

First off, I want to thank my friends Rodney, Randy, and 

Jerry especially for introducing me to a new buddy, Kevin.  I did have 

a great time yesterday photographing the Great Grey Owl.

Listening to all the bickering amongst all the birders and
other photographers was pretty brutal, but the

positive experience of viewing and taking images 

of this amazing creature was overwhelming.

Too many people there?  Not really, with all the people 

scattered about a a fairly busy highway, the traffic was 

forced to slow down, which ultimately

provided a safer environment for the bird.  This very 

nervy and confident species was flying west all day 

along the country road.  At times it would be cruising only 

a few feet above the asphalt, putting itself in danger to speeding cars.

There were people photographing the bird inside of

20 feet.  Not nature photographers, people with small 

point and shoot cameras.  The GGO was complete 

and totally unconcerned.  The owls that migrate south 

from the boreal forests during winter months feed on voles and
mice that spend their winter in swampy low lying
areas, as the ditches along this road provide good habitat
for the rodents.

I arrived early in the am, finished shooting at dusk. To my
knowledge, the bird enjoyed at least 4 rodents.
Watching this owl fly to various perches, and hunt
the entire day was an excellent Real nature experience.

For me, there are 2 concerns - the owl getting hit by a car
and baiters showing up with garbage store bought rats.  Most
people know now that releasing different species of rodents
to a new area is illegal in this country.  The concern goes
far beyond that.

Hand feeding wild animals and birds is completely unethical
in my opinion.  When photographers go out of their way to
create photographs using these non nutritious rats
are making a mistake.  This is not nature photography.

Birds and animals should never be habituated to humans
in such a manner.  After witnessing several baiting
sessions, I have seen owls follow and approach people
looking for food, and getting far too close!  Also, flying across
roads to get closer to people in almost a begging manner.

I have seen owls aggressively approach someone who is baiting, trying
to take the bait out of the persons hand, before it was released.  This is simply not
natural.  A Northern hawk owl had hundreds of store bought
rats hanging in the trees around its one time hunting grounds.  This bird
does not know when to stop taking this junk.  After all the baiting, it
doesn't need to hunt for weeks!

Baiting is for the lazy and selfish.  In my opinion, people who bait are
absolutely not concerned about the birds welfare.  I have many good friends who
have been involved in baiting, this opinions do not reflect a personal
dagger to anyone. I just simply do not agree with what they do!

None of my business?  Well, if you saw someone shooting a bald
eagle with a rifle,  you would make it your business... Correct?

Feeders?  That is not hand feeding a wild animal junk.
Road Kill?  Again, animals are not hand fed, and the road
kill is all natural food that will not adversely affect the animals health.

If you are a True Naturalist, and you love real nature, you would
need to learn how to photograph wild birds and animal
in their natural conditions.  It takes time, effort, energy,
commitment, and determination.

Once you capture REAL nature shots, you will have something
to be seriously proud of.  Very unfortunately,  the general public
are not so aware of this practice of baiting. So books and magazines
sell with these images to uneducated fans.

All of this is not a formal study. I am just a photographer
and a true naturalist.  I have made mistakes in the field, doing
stupid things in the past, regrettably.  But the intention here is
to learn, teach, and get better, as a photographer, and one who
respects nature.

Feed your dog, cat, horse, but leave these wild birds and animals
alone please.

Tours to see this bird are available, email below.

Follow up - Dec 28th, 2011

I heard some baiters wedged a squirrel in some branches
yesterday, and the owl just about broke its wings trying to get
it out, and today it hardly flew at all, recovering from this trauma I am sure.

My message to these clowns, throw you cameras in the garbage, and
leave the wildlife alone., please.

There is nothing in wildlife photography that pisses me off more then pure stupidity.

Now, today, this bird  sits on the squirrel all day
until 3 pm, and doesn't move. 

People driving here from all over Ontario and USA, to see what?

When the bird was not being abused by morons, it spent the
whole day flying from perch to perch hunting, and catching 
natural prey.  Again, once the baiters come 
along, everything is spoiled, and I am sure they could care less.  

LEAVE THE BIRD ALONE!

regards.

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Waiting for Lift-off!

Lilac-breasted Roller in Flight 

One of my seriously needed birds showed up for us in a

big way in Tanzania, during our latest visit in 

October 2011.  This is one of the most beautiful 

birds in the world, with spectacular colours.

We had several perched in short trees along the road 

while moving throughout Tarangire National Park.

Perched shots were fun, but the flight shot was the 

frame I was looking for!  Unfortunately my best 

shot was this one with the wings clipped, so I made

something out of nothing here!

As they say, "next time"!

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Thanks to Leigh Beird

Leigh has been a good friend, and a guest to many of my workshops

over the last few years.  We have enjoyed a lot of great shooting

together, and hope for more in the future as Leigh gets closer 

to retiring from TRW in St. Kitts.

A big thanks to Leigh for everything!

Some awesome images below from a recent 

Birds in Flight program

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How can this be explained? - Tanzania Sunset

We had such an amazing day.  First thing in the morning, on 
our way out of the luxury tent camp in the Northern Serengeti 
we saw an awesome Yellow-billed Stork.

From there, some lions on a kill, then an 
awesome Raptor in a tree.

Black Rhinos as close as 30 yards, Hippos fighting, Crocodiles,
a Wildebeest Crossing, a family of Cheetahs on the move, Vultures
and Storks on a kill, and so much more!

Once in a while, you just have a great day in the 
field.  My friend and guest Wayne Crumm just kept saying "Wow!"  
I had just finished firing at least 600 images of the cheetah 
family.  Then, as we are all exhausted, eagerly

looking forward to a superb meal back at the 
camp and over the next hill we run into this!!

The timing could not have been more perfect, the sun was just

a bit bright when we arrived.  Using several focal lengths, I was 

able to capture several images and views of this amazing scene.

It was late in the day, we were still 45 minutes from camp, 

but we hung on to the end.  A good solid 12 hours of shooting, 

and 2,800 images for this day of October 23rd, 2011.

I tried a pano using this same file as the first image 
below, I am not sure which style I like best, but the 
first shot fits nicely on my iMac.

More images soon!

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Thanks to Kevin O'Connell

Kevin and his buddy Tom joined me at a recent "Birds in Flight" workshop, near Simcoe Ontario.  We had an exceptional shoot, and I am happy to share Kevin's images here.  Kevin has had little experience with bif's, so with some help with his basic set up, and a little coaching, here are a few of his images.

Some guys are just naturals!!  Excellent job bro!

ps. Both Kevin and Tom are signed up for this weekends workshop!!

 

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Back to Tanzania: Flamingo in Flight!

After a few local workshops, and lots of planning for 2012, I am 

finally getting back to some editing of my images from
the recent tour to Tanzania.  Picking out a few
images from 11,000+ in total is no easy task. 

Our first game drive in Arusha National Park was pretty awesome.

We spent a lot of time with about 20,000 flamingos 

who live in volcanic lakes.  The colors of these lesser flamingos 

are pretty awesome during this time of year.

We were able to view and shoot from a lot of different 

positions around these lakes.  Finding a good background for a 

flight shot was a bit challenging, so I was quite happy with 

the result here on this image below.  The other difficulty with 

flamingos in flight is there is almost always 2-5 other birds 

within a few feet of your target bird. 

The key to success here is taking "tons" of shots!  With this 

image I did need to clone out some background birds., they were

just too out-of-focus, and distracting. 

What I liked about this shot would be the colors of the

bird, the nice dark background, details, as

it was quite close, soft natural light, and 

the wing position.

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Thanks to Jerry Peltier

Hi Everyone ! 

 When Ray sent out an e-mail to everyone for the Nov. 26th
weekend's Bif workshop at the CRC , and I saw the list of birds 
flying with a Golden Eagle on the list , I needed to get some 
images of this beautiful Raptor, along with some fresh 
one's of all the others flying that day.

 Drove from Windsor with a friend , that has not been to one of these special workshops before. I've  been to at least 10 of these workshops, and different seasons. Snow, Rain or shine every one of these workshops was a different experience, and learned something from Ray about shooting in all conditions. 

If you want to have a great time and learn out in the field, Ray is a very good educator in wildlife photography , and so willing to help others and make it a very memorable experience you won't soon forget. The Falconer's that handle these birds are second to none, and give you so many opportunities to capture the image your after,
and they love their job. 

These Raptors are in good hands, and well cared for.  I asked my friend Ken on the way home after the workshop. Well, what did you think of that ? Ken looked at me with the
biggest smile and said, "that was great".

I said, "would you do it again?" Oh yeah ,  for sure. It was short ride home. Thanks for the great time Ray, we'll be back. The Barn Owl image here is a favorite of mine, from an ' 09  CRC Bif workshop.

http://www.pbase.com/gerald_f_peltier

Jerry Peltier

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Thanks to John Reed

Greetings Ray

Just wanted to share with you some images that I have taken at I guess now 5 workshops that I have taken with you. Really would like to say a HUGE THANKS as I noted I am getting back into photography after 20 years and boy have things changed. Each workshop I have been able to come away with some super shots and its largely due to your guidance, suggestions throughout the various shoots, keeping the group happy maintaining sight lines and focus on customer service. You seem to make this happen seamlessly. Its hard work with different personalities and various skill levels. Congrats.

On a final note allowing me to use you favourite lens, to the detriment of your shooting, in helping me in my decisions on what equipment to purchase really speaks to the focus on your customer. I cannot thank you enough.

I would love to go on the Bella Coola trip and NFD trips and am at the moment planning to try and make it happen. Africa.... would be a dream come true to be in the company of such a great photography and host.

Best to you and your family.


John

http://www.pbase.com/johnreed

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Thanks to Andreea Staicu

Andreea joined us at a recent program at the
Mountsberg Raptor Center.  She was kind enough
 to send us these beautiful images that she captured of the

 beautiful raptors we had the pleasure of photographing.

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