Searching for Owls on July 4th
Now that it’s midsummer the Florida heat and humidity are really kicking in. My recent outings have been short and less frequent, and that trend will likely continue until we return to cooler weather. When not in the field, I have been shifting energy into other aspects of photography that are often ignored but no less important. This includes getting some prints matted and framed in anticipation of art & craft shows this autumn and winter, backing up photos, updating this website, and taking online photography courses.
On July 4th I decided to avoid the crowded beaches and search for owls at John Chesnut Sr. Park in nearby Palm Harbor, Florida. This park has a nature trail that runs through the woods and is about a half mile long. Most of the trail is made up of a raised boardwalk as it passes through the densely vegetated marsh. It’s perfect habitat for squirrels and palm rats, which attracts the owls and hawks. The park also has a healthy population of deer which are habituated to human presence. If you’re a wildlife photographer and want some deer photos, this is the park for you.
On this particular visit I was happy to find a single Barred Owl. Well, I didn't exactly find it. By the time I reached that section of trail there were already a couple of photographers and some walkers watching the owl. It was perched in a tree about 20 feet out from the boardwalk and about 25 feet off the ground. The other photographers said this owl was a youngster and I had just missed its parents and a sibling which had flown away a few minutes before I arrived. Them’s the breaks I suppose.
The owl was perched on a short branch in deep shade so I had to reduce my shutter speed while raising the ISO to 8,000 to 10,000 at f/5.6. I was using the old Nikkor F-mount 200-500mm f/5.6 lens with a monopod. I generally like to use a monopod on boardwalks in busy parks as they provide the needed stability while not taking up too much space.
Barred Owl. Photographed with the Nikon Z9 with monopod-mounted 200-500mm f/5.6 lens at 500mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec, ISO 8,000. Processed with Topaz Photo AI to remove noise.
I stayed with the owl for about an hour, waiting and hoping for it to display interesting behavior or to move into better light. But in the end it just stayed put with an occasional wing stretch or some preening. Out of the 1,092 photos I took (mostly in anticipation of a take-off shot that never happened) these are the only three I processed. The rest were deleted.
Barred Owl. Photographed with the Nikon Z9 with monopod-mounted 200-500mm f/5.6 lens at 500mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec, ISO 8,000. Processed with Topaz Photo AI to remove noise.
Barred Owl. Based on the appearance of this perch it looks like it has been nibbled on quite a bit. Photographed with the Nikon Z9 with monopod-mounted 200-500mm f/5.6 lens at f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO 10,000. Processed with Topaz Photo AI to remove noise.
After this outing I decided it is time to retire the 200-500mm lens. It’s a second-hand lens that I purchased about two years ago before I got the Z9. It’s been a sharp lens with a great zoom range but I have had some issues with it. For one, the lens hood is poorly designed and keeps falling off the lens. This is a known issue for this lens model, and after many falls the hood is now broken and held together with black electrical tape. Second, when loosening the removable lens collar the lens should rotate freely so you can quickly change the camera’s orientation from landscape to portrait. With this particular lens it doesn’t rotate freely (it sticks) and I have on more than one occasion loosened the lens collar so much that the lens fell out of the collar and onto the ground. It’s a wonder the thing still works. Lastly, the 200-500mm lens is slow to autofocus when compared to native Z-mount lenses that do not require the FTZ II adaptor.
For these reasons, when I got home I pre-ordered the new Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR lens from Bedfords and put in an expedited shipping request from Nikon Professional Services. This new zoom lens should be a great new addition to the camera bag, with an even longer focal length than the 200-500mm lens. The down side is the higher aperture. Shooting at f/6.3 at focal lengths between 400mm to 600mm will likely result in even higher ISOs when shooting dark subjects in forests like these owls. However, new software like Topaz Photo AI or even the improved Denoise feature in Lightroom is making these high ISOs less of an issue as they were in the past. Maybe one day I’ll be able justify purchasing the $16,000 600mm f/4 lens, but until then this $1,700 lens will do.
To offset the costs of the new 180-600mm lens, I am selling my Nikkor AF-S 500mm f/5.6 lens. I bought it about two years ago and it’s a wonderfully light and sharp lens. If you’re using a DSLR and want a phenomenal deal on this lens, get in touch.
Happy birding!
