The Best Camera…by Brad Marks

Well, I honestly thought things would slow down after the Halloween weekend – you’d think I would learn. Still working hard each day to de-battery all the props, break them down and get them stowed back away in the tubs/boxes. Fortunately, I did really well on those grade school spacial relationship tests. School counselor, “Have you considered a career at Mayflower?“. Some of my time is being siphoned off thanks to having to build new shelving in the outbuilding – apparently I went a bit overboard (Linda says “a bit” is a gross understatement) acquiring new props while I was sequestered in the guest bedroom due to the ankle surgery – Ted over at TJPhoto (link here) even warned me about that. Add in trying to get Ruger qualified for the CPE agility nationals, therapy and all the homestead chores I delayed due to the haunted trail event and …well, a perfect time to feature another of Brad’s adventures. Take care everyone, I should be caught up…umm, relatively caught…up…ehhh, somewhat caught up..ah hell, I think I need to go back to work so I can get all that free time back I used to have ha!

Take it away Brad!….

Jan and I were on a trip to see a few of the National Parks near the West Coast.  If you haven’t been to see the flora and fauna of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, you really need to.  My mind is still reeling over the scale, on both ends, of what we saw.  Tiny brightly colored birds flitting amongst ginormous Sequoias over 250 feet tall.  I think Warbler Neck could just as easily be renamed Sequoia Neck.

While we were there, it would have been a shame not to see the Pacific Ocean since it was only a few miles from where we were staying near Anaheim.  I mean after all, it’s the Pacific Ocean!  It covers nearly 1/3 (over 30%) of the surface of the entire Earth.  An actual and verifiable fact.

On our last day in California, Jan and I took a side trip to Newport Beach to see the ocean.  As we got closer and closer to the beach, I noticed the price for parking kept rising and rising.  Finally, a spot opened up that only cost a pittance by West Coast standards (the equivalent of two café lattes and a bran muffin) to park before 10am.  Our thought was to leave the big cameras in the car and simply walk along the beach for a few minutes, just to enjoy the sand and the ocean.

After crossing 50 yards of flat sand, Jan and I came to the ocean’s edge.  I felt bad for the few people sitting on their surfboards just a few yards offshore waiting for a wave; the ocean was flat calm.  I’ve seen larger waves in mill ponds.  Jan and I had not expected to take any photos of shore birds on our five-minute beach stop, so we left the big cameras in the car.

Here at Intrigued, we call that foreshadowing…

And wouldn’t you know it?  There were shore birds on this fairly busy part of the beach.  They were running up and down the beach, just at the edge of the calm surf.  Did I just mention we left the “big” cameras in the car?  You’ve heard the phrase “What’s the best camera to use?  The one you have with you.”  I take issue with this statement just a little bit as you will see from the photos.  Having a choice to take a photo that I want to keep and display I’ll grab the DSLR every time, hands down. 

I’ve noticed that when you zoom in to take photos with some smartphones, the photos take on a water color, or cartoonish look to them on larger screens.  I mean, come on, the photo pixel sites on a smart phone are infinitely smaller than on a DSLR, and the lens is about the same diameter as a pencil eraser.  (Intrigued Legal has warned me not to disparage any specific mobile phone brands or models here.)  These photos may have a distinct “water color” look to them, or even a “paint by number” effect.  Granted, smartphones weigh roughly the same number of ounces that our cameras weigh in pounds.  Each of our smartphones weighs just shy of 6 ounces, or about 165 grams.  My Nikon DSLR with my preferred big glass combo (200-500mm) is a little over 8 pounds (3600 grams), or a gallon of milk, just for reference.

OK, OK, enough pontificating, back to the birds.  Besides, I could easily turn an ankle stepping off of a soap box.  There’s already been enough ankle trauma at Intrigued HQ this year.

A tiny bit of salt spray was on the breeze blowing from the water.  At this point I was glad I left the big cameras in the car; I wouldn’t have wanted to clean the salt spray off the big glass.  Time to give our smart phones a workout.  Otherwise, we would have had zero pixels to edit and share.  I also didn’t want to cross the sand again to get the cameras anyway.  Apologies right now for any less than sharp photos.

Being new to the West Coast, we didn’t recognize these birds right away.   Knowing I could use the AID (Avian Identification Department) at Intrigued, I quickly sent a photo to Brian to show that I was actually working while on vacation.  He replied nearly instantly with the proposed identification.

It’s a Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa).  A +1 for Jan and I, and one I’d never even heard of at the time.  Remember, we are relatively new to birding, but have seemingly jumped in with both feet, er, cameras. There were a couple dozen Godwits scattered loosely across the beach.  While in a group, so to speak, they were nowhere near as closely bunched, or as active, as Sanderlings would have been (here).

Jan and I found these Godwits in their non-breeding grounds, which is a fancy way of saying near any salt water south of the Arctic Circle.  Marbled Godwit breeding grounds are mostly in the Northern Great Plains spanning the US and Canada (hope they have their Global Entry sorted for migration).  A few Godwits prefer the very southern tip of Hudson Bay while another small group prefers a strip of land on the Alaskan Peninsula.  Either way, it’s a very long distance to fly round-trip each year.  Godwits don’t even come close to the record for bird migrations.  The Arctic Tern has that distinction at 90,000km, or just under 56,000 miles annually.  I don’t even drive, or sometimes fly, that far in a year.  Or two.

Brian is always telling me to “shoot the loners”, with the camera of course.  On a landscape crawling with Marbled Godwits, this grey bird was unique.  Seeing a “loner,” I took a photo.  (Extra points on my review Brian?)  At first, I thought this was a juvenile Godwit.  But even the juvenile Godwits have a two-toned and slightly upward curved bill; this bill was solid black and straight and not nearly as long as a Godwit bill.

I found out later this was a completely different bird.  It’s a Willet (Tringa semipalmata), and another +1 for us.  Their range is similar along the coasts, but according to their range maps, Willet’s can be found throughout the central and western US.  Again, Jan and I had to travel to California to see one.

During migration, Marbled Godwits prefer plant tubers.  The rest of the year they will eat aquatic invertebrates, leeches or small fish.  Godwits use their long bills to probe soft mud or sand, often foraging in water up to their bellies.  They don’t seem to mind submerging their entire head or getting the belly feathers wet.  With an adequate food supply, and safe breeding grounds, Marbled Godwits can live up to 13 years in the wild.

Great!  I think I have sand in my shoes.  It’s time to head back to the car for our next stop, Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (UNBNP) featured in other stories (here) and (here). 

Thank you for reading.  If you want to see more Marbled Godwit photos, please visit here.  Perhaps, more Willet photos?  Visit here.

Credits

Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing.  Thanks to Jan for some of the photos in this article.