Birders Gone Wild

Starting at 2am on May 20^th myself along with John Haselmayer and Mark Weircinski will be partipting in the annual Baillie Birdathon. Yes, this may sound a bit crazy to some of you, but this is a birding geeks Olympics. Aside from wanting to break our record of 174 species (which we would love to break), this birdathon supports the conservation of Canada’s birds. Our funds will support both Bird Sutdies Canada (BSC) and the Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory (BPBO).

This 24 hour bridathon day includes a crazy day of driving all over the Bruce Peninsula searching forests, fields, and wetlands for migrants and breeding birds. We won’t be sleeping and won’t be eating healthy – it will be a day full of junk food and caffeine drinks. And for me personally a lot of oreos! Any bets in how many I will consume?

For those who are really interested in how this crazy day ends, please join the three of us on Saturady May 28^th for our ‘Birders Gone Wild on the Bruce’ presentation – apart of the Huron Fringe Birding Festival (http://bit.ly/iTdIVb). In addition to our adventures the presentation will also include my bird photography. That’s one downside to this birdathon, there won’t be time for photos – which is hard as a bird photographer!

Don’t worry if you can’t make it I will be sure to post our results on here!

Please support our Team Bruce Peninsula on our crazy adventure and raise funds for our Canadian Birds. It’s easy to do! You can make a pledge by clicking here, which will direct you to the birdathon website. 

Spring migrants photographed from my car

Many spring migrants are arriving back in Ontario to take up seasonal residence in their breeding territories. To say that I'm elated is an understatement! All year I dream about spring and summer. It's my favorite time of year with endless things to photograph and never enough time to fit it all in.

One of my spring rituals is to cruise up and down the backroads of the Bruce Peninsula, photographing birds in the meadows and wet fields. I keep my telephoto lens setup ready on the passenger seat and use a beanbag to shoot directly from the car window. Beanbags are a rock solid platform to shoot from. If you turn your car off (to prevent engine vibrations) and use good technique,  it's fairly easy to get sharp photos even at high magnifications.

Birds and animals are often less afraid of a vehicle than a person on foot, so by driving slowly and being patient you can get quite close for frame-filling photos.  Here are a couple photos taken by this method in the past week. 


Upland Sandpiper. Canon EOS 1D mk IV, EF 500/4 lens & 2x teleconvertor.





Northern Shoveler. Canon EOS 1D mk IV, EF 500/4 lens and 2x teleconvertor. 




Shooting from my van with a 300mm lens supported by a "Blubb" beanbag. 



Panama birds - part 2

Here are a couple of photos I shot today..... common birds that are coming into fruit feeders at the lodge where I'm staying. I put the stick over the feeder and the birds started using it almost immediately. 

Both photos were taken with an EOS 1Ds III; 500/4 IS & 2X teleconvertor; 580EX fill flash

Need sleep.... I'm baked from the heat!

Top photo: Red-legged Honeycreeper
Bottom photo: Blue-gray Tanager

Panama jungle birds!

Here's a quick post from the small town of Gamboa in the Soberania National Park area of central Panama. I've been having a great time photographing tropical birds including a mix of common and difficult to shoot species. My body is still adjusting to the persecuting heat and humidity - especially on the long daily walks in the jungle carring 40lbs of camera gear. The "Balboa" beers at lunch are well-earned and an aspirin after dinner helps to dull the pain in my back and shoulders!

I'm being hosted/guided by Advantage Tours Panama  and my guide Rey is finding lots of cool things to point my lens at. Check back for more photos soon... I have tons to share!

Photo 1 (below): Common Potoo, Metropolitan Park, Panama City
EOS 1Ds mark III; 500mm f/4 IS lens; 580 EX II flash (fill at - 1 2/3); Exposure: ISO 500; 1/80s @ f/7.1
A huge thanks to guide Roberto for leading us to this incredible and well-camouflaged bird! 

Photo 2 (below): Red-rumped Cacique in Metropolitan Park, Panama City

EOS 1Ds mark III; 500mm f/4 IS lens with 1.4x TC; 580EX II fill flash at -1 2/3; Exposure: ISO 640; 1/160s @ f/5.6

Photo 3 (below): Spectacled Owl, Gamboa, Panama
EOS 1Ds mark III; 500mm f/4 IS lens & 1.4x TC; 580EX II fill flash at -1 2/3; Exposure: ISO 640; 1/40s @ f/5.6

Birds - Central Texas

Just a quick post before I crash out... I'm fried after a scorching day here in central Texas!

I've been photographing from a blind for the past couple days, trying to improve my coverage of a few species as well as adding some new ones to my collection. It's been extremely dry here this winter, so the birds are easily attracted to water fountains/drips.

This has been a good opportunity to put the 50D body through the paces, using it with the 500/4IS and a 1.4x teleconvertor. I've shot thousands of photos, but the keeper ratio for this kind of shooting is painfully low. Here are a few I managed to process so far....

Wild Turkey head


Northern Cardinal

Lincoln's Sparrow

Bird season approaches!

Great weather and cooperative birds have been keeping me busy lately, hence the lack of blog posts! With spring fast approaching, I've been shifting to photographing birds. April and May are a marathon of songbird photography for me.... starting in Texas and following the migration north to Ontario.

Songbird photography is tricky.... the birds are small and rarely sit still. Capturing sharp, well-framed photos requires being fast and efficient with a long lens. I get rusty at this over the winter and have to tune up my technique each spring, which is what I've been up to lately. I've been using my new 50D body and have found it to be excellent for bird photography. I'm most impressed with the incredibly quick and accurate autofocus, as well as the fast frame rate. It blows away my 1DsIII body for shooting birds. A downside is the 50D files have more noise (digital grain) than 1DsIII files, especially in low light. This doesn't surprise me, the 50D is way less expensive and has a smaller sensor. Nevertheless, the files are still pretty good - very publishable - and I expect to use this body for the majority of my songbird photography this spring.

Here are a few recent bird photos.

Photo 1: White Pelican landing - Salton Sea, California
EOS 50D; 500/4IS & 1.4X teleconvertor
Exposure: 1/1600 @ f/5.6; ISO 250


Photo 2: Pyrrhuloxia on cactus - Tucson, Arizona
EOS 50D; 500/4IS & 1.4X teleconvertor
Exposure: 1/1000 @ f/5.6; ISO 200; fill flash at -1 2/3


Photo 3: Black-throated Gray Warbler - Madera Canyon, Arizona
EOS 50D; 500/4IS & 1.4X teleconvertor; 580EX II flash & Better Beamer
Exposure: 1/60 @ f/5.6; ISO 250; fill flash at -1 2/3


Photo 4: Townsend's Warbler - Cave Creek, Arizona
EOS 50D; 500/4IS & 1.4X teleconvertor
Exposure: 1/160 @ f/5.6; ISO 400


Photo 5: Yellow-eyed Junco - Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona
EOS 50D; 500/4IS & 1.4X teleconvertor; 580EX II flash & Better Beamer
Exposure: 1/60 @ f/5.6; ISO 400; fill flash at -2

Madera Canyon

This week I spent a couple of days shooting in Madera Canyon in the beautiful Santa Rita Mountains. Although the weather has been fairly cloudy and windy over the past 5 days, there were a few excellent photo opps. Two cooperative Painted Redstarts in Madera were a highlight! The birding was pretty good too..... I had great looks (and got so-so photos) of Arizona Woodpecker and Elegant Trogon.

Unfortunately I spent today in a repair shop in Tucson getting work done on the van (new CV joints). But it was a good chance to hunker down at my laptop and catch up on photo work, which will pay for the van repairs!

Over the next few days I have some superb bird photography lined up, so check back again to see the results!

Photo 1: Painted Redstart
EOS 1DsmIII; 500/4IS + 2x


Photo 2: The Santa Rita Mountains at Madera Canyon
EOS 1DsmIII; 17-40mm; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer and 2 stop hard edge ND grad

Sponsor Ethan's birdathon (conservation fundraiser)!

Hello friends,

You all know that I am crazy about birds. Every now and then I put this obsession to a good cause... specifically an annual fundraiser called the Baillie Birdathon that supports Bird Studies Canada, with a portion going to the Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory. Both groups are doing great things for bird conservation. Check out their websites, listed at the bottom of this email.

In late May, I'll spend about 20 straight hours (from 2am to 10pm) on one day, racing between habitats on the Bruce Peninsula to identify (by seeing or hearing) as many different species of birds as possible. This is known as a 'Birdathon' although I prefer to call it 'Bird-Racing', because that sounds much more hip.

I've been doing this for many years with my bird-nut friends, Mark Wiercinski and John Haselmayer. In 2004 we set the Bruce Peninsula Big Day record of 174 species. This year we have our sights set (actually our binoculars) on 180 species.

To sweeten the competitive aspect of the event, I've challenged Mark and John to see who can raise the most sponsorship money. With your help, I know they haven't got a chance!

I'm asking you to please sponsor my birdathon. You can pledge a lump sum, or a per-species amount. All you have to do is email me at info@ethanmeleg.com (telling me how much $$) and I won't harrass you for money until after the birdathon is complete in late May (will send you an email). Best thing, Bird Studies Canada will send you a charitable tax receipt for all pledges over $20.

As an added bonus: I'll put the names of all who sponsor me into a hat, and draw 3 prizes of an autographed 11x17" photo (of your choice) by... well, you can probably guess.

Thank you from me..... and the birds!

Bird Studies Canada

Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory