Tag Archives: MN North: Canosia Wildlife Area

Comparing my Birding Cameras

Year 12, ,

A number of folks have asked which camera I have used for some of my recent photographs. This post attempts to provided some feedback.

A quick comment … my Sony A6300 with its 70-350 mm lens is definitely a better camera that my Canon sx70, however each camera has its strengths and weaknesses:

  1. The Canon has a amazing zoom, but a tiny sensor. This means I tend to only use this camera when there is very good light, and I have a bird subject that is far away.
  2. The Sony has a great combined package with great low light capabilities, but I need to get much closer to my subject.
  3. The Sony and its 70-350 is not a full sensor camera, nor do I have a big lens (by choice). I like the smaller form factor which is much more practical for hiking. You will never see me taking bird photographs with a tripod. I move around two much, and am very often a long ways away from my car.

Here are some images from the past few days.

Steam Shovel Sally and her 3 Juveniles – Ospreys (Canon)

Broad-Winged Hawk in Flight (Sony)

Northern Harrier (Canon … the harrier is quite far away)

If you use a Windows PC, Windows File Explorer gives you the ability to always determine my camera and the settings used.

  1. Download the photo in question
  2. Highlight the filename of the photo using Windows File Explorer
  3. Select the “details tab”
  4. Scroll down to see an image’s details / settings

Tall Birds During a Time of Plenty

Year 12,

I have been birding the Canosia Wildlife Preserve and South Bog over the past few days. While I had hoped to find just fledged Northern Harriers, the birds that have appeared have been the “Tall Ones”! This Great Blue Heron likes to hang out on the beaver mound in the small lake on West Lizmore near the rookery. I have seen it two days in a row, and watched it for almost an hour each day.

Another fun haunt of mine is the Culver, Minnesota area, which I call the “south bog”. There is a nice mix of bog, boreal forest and farms, and it is closer to my home in Duluth than Sax-Zim. Here are three GSP Google Maps links:

  1. Where I turn off Highway #7 (Burnett Road intersection)
  2. The Culver Volunteer Volunteer Fire Department (in the middle of my birding drive)
  3. Where I turn around (Brookston Way / Eklund Way intersection)

Map of Birding Area (press or click upon to maximize)

Most of this birding drive is along dirt roads. I LOVE the farm at the end of my drive (where I turn around. This Sandhill Crane was standing on a hay mound at the farm. I also saw a Broad-Winged Hawk catch a snake at the Artichoke River (GPS Link).

Canosia Osprey Fly-By and Mating

Year 12

Yesterday morning was special for many reasons. First the air warmed in the spring sunshine, and the winds were calm. Two different osprey couples took advantage of the nice weather. Rather than add lots of text, just enjoy the sequence of images showing why when you press the shutter down MAKE certain you always utilize your “automatic high speed shutter release mode”. Keep your shutter pressed until you are 100% convinced the action is complete. I took over 90 photographs of these two osprey events, neither of which lasted more than ten seconds. My Sony A6300 is able to take 11 frames per second.

For the mating sequence, I had only arrived seconds earlier, but once I realized what was happening I whipped up my camera and starting taking non-stop photos. Thankfully my previous camera setting was optimized for extremely fast shutter speeds.

Steam Shovel Sam and Sally Osprey Fly-By

Lismore Road Osprey Mating

Mating is Over … the Male comes down to land

Within moments the female flies to another tree … rests … and then goes fishing