Stephen Ingraham (who?)


the unofficial site for birders and digiscopers using Zeiss equipment.


Florida Birding and FotoFest 2008 (2nd Annual North American Digiscoping Conclave)

Bigger. Better. More fun. Lots more digiscopers. Great birds. Better and better.

This year the good folks in Florida renamed the festival (used to be the 1st Coast Birding and Nature Festval) and moved the event to the Guana - Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve Education Center. Known locally as the Guana River Reserve, it is just about the perfect place for such an event. The Education Center is spacious. The classrooms are great. And right out the back door there are birds. Birds on the dock. Birds along the dam. Miles of trails through a variety of typical north Florida habitats, with birds. Pelicans. Terns. Sparrows. Egrets. Spoonbills. Yellow Rail.

And the Alligator Farm, St. Augustine Beach, and even the John's River Fishing pier (home of the resident vagrant Brown Booby) are all within easy reach. If you have never visited the Alligator Farm, it is one of the best rookeries in Florida. Tricolor Herons within arm's reach (always impressive). Snowys in full breeding plumage and full display. Great Egrets. A few Spoonbills. White Ibis. And, of course, what looks like 70 or more nests of Wood Storks.

An evening photo safari (digiscopoing safari) to the outer reaches of St. Augustine Beach (via State Park truck) produces nesting Wilson's Warbler and a variety of Terns and Gulls.

And, of course, no trip to St. Augustine this year would be complete without a trip to the St. John's River Fishing pier (or the St. Augustine Fishing Pier according to the sign) to visit the visiting Brown Booby. I went expecting to have to work for the bird.  It is, afterall, a Brown Booby.

Actually, Paul Hackett came over from England again this year to help teach digiscoping. We arrived at the pier after the day of the festival, both expecting to have to work for the bird. We were unpacking our digiscoping kit (as Paul says) when Ben Lizdas (from Eagle Optics) came strolling back down the pier. "You won't need that." he called. He offered to give us his personal tour of the Booby, so the three of us walked out toward the fish shack where the Booby sheltered from the wind...stopping to take photos of the Ruddy Turnstones running along the railings, the Brown Pelicans who posed four feet away, and the Royal Terns who sat close enough so Paul got full frame shots with the 40mm lens on his DSLR.

So, there was the Booby. There. Maybe three feet away. Panting a little like they do. Living the good life on fish entrals and not in a hurry to go back to the daily struggle of the open ocean. Paul and Ben lined up on one side of the fish shack and I scooted around to the other. Three Boobys in a row! I know Ben has the mirror image of this showing me taking the picture.

The digiscoping events, all the workshops and the field experience, were much better attended this year. Several digiscopers came from considerable distance specifically to be part of the digiscoping strand. Of course it helps that the standard photo instructurer are world famous authorities on wildlife photography, photoshop, photo-marketing, publishing, etc. It is easy to round out the digiscoping experience with courses that you just can't find beyond the expensive photo schools these days.

On Saturday morning early 15 digiscopers from all over North America (and Hong Kong, and England) gathered for the field experience. The highlight, again this year, was an owl. Barred this time. Most of the digiscopers got an image as two different Barred Owls posed in early sunlight. Many of us also saw a Pigmy Rattlesnake, and a Ground Skink...a tiny lizzard? curled up on one of the participant's fingers.

For the full experience, visit my flickr set















and the FL Birding and FotoFest group on flickr.