Nope I'm not up to it as a bird photog!
Part of the problem is the lens I bought for this trip isn't quick enough or sharp enough. And I settled for that one as it weighed the least. A lot of these people have lenses that are 2 1/2 feet long - weighing in at 5 kilos.
Anyway I'll keep practicing but its not my forte.
Fortunately the breeze didn’t get up until about 9am & I picked a possie that was in the sun. Even so it was -8; -10 & the slightest breeze has an effect. I got a bit chilled despite wearing: long johns, warm pants & waterproof over pants, merino singlet, merino layer, thermacore layer, jersey, big coat with a puffer liner, 2 pairs gloves, merino/possum beanie + jacket hood. I also had heat packs in my boots and gloves. The heat packs are fantastic. But the ones in my boots were not very effective, apparently where I went wrong was not activating them while still in the hotel, now I'm back inside they have responded to the warmth and are working perfectly. They last between 8-10 hours & are sold at every convenience store & supermarket. When you are cold you tend to linger in the bathroom, the lure of a heated loo seat is not to be under estimated.
There were probably about 50 photogs all lined up this morning with the machine gun rattle of motor drives going flat chat. Apparently this is the quietest place we will be for a bird shoot and where we go to shoot the famous cranes you have to fight for your spot. I didn't see any westerners other than our group.
The Crows arrive first and then the Kites, followed by the White Tailed Eagles and lastly the mighty Stellar Sea Eagle. With a wing span averaging over 2 metres it is the heaviest eagle in the world & you can hear the thwack when it lands.
A couple of foxes appeared and one was brave enough to walk right past the photogs within 4-5 feet. He was pretty awesome at stealing fish from the eagles and challenging them. Very cool to watch - I was barracking for the fox. He was out numbered, out weighed and out gunned (talons & beak) yet he persisted and got the prize several times. I had a fantastic shot of him standing up to an eagle with hooked wings but unfortunately it's not sharp.
We went to a famous sushi place for lunch - OMG the food just kept coming. The raw fish was so fresh it melted in your mouth. We actually couldn’t eat it all and took it away but no one could face it. There are no homeless people in Nemuro (probably too cold) so we ended up giving it to the hotel staff. Japanese are very very particular about their sushi. No way was it going be kept for longer than 2-3 hours. It would be thrown out if not eaten.
This afternoon we went out again and by chance saw a pair of cranes at the place we shot the eagles this morning. The bus screeched to a halt and we went back. They were amazingly close 4-5 feet at one point. Lucky lucky lucky.
One of the tricks in managing the transfer of equipment in a very cold climate is to take batteries/cards out of your cameras while still outside and then do not open your bag again for several hours, leaving the gear to warm up slowly which prevents the condensation problem. Invariably there will be something you want out of your bag - Murphy's Law.
Anyway I've got to get to bed earlier tonight as we leave at 5.30am tomorrow with all our bags. It's tough being a tourist sometimes :-)
Part of the problem is the lens I bought for this trip isn't quick enough or sharp enough. And I settled for that one as it weighed the least. A lot of these people have lenses that are 2 1/2 feet long - weighing in at 5 kilos.
Anyway I'll keep practicing but its not my forte.
Fortunately the breeze didn’t get up until about 9am & I picked a possie that was in the sun. Even so it was -8; -10 & the slightest breeze has an effect. I got a bit chilled despite wearing: long johns, warm pants & waterproof over pants, merino singlet, merino layer, thermacore layer, jersey, big coat with a puffer liner, 2 pairs gloves, merino/possum beanie + jacket hood. I also had heat packs in my boots and gloves. The heat packs are fantastic. But the ones in my boots were not very effective, apparently where I went wrong was not activating them while still in the hotel, now I'm back inside they have responded to the warmth and are working perfectly. They last between 8-10 hours & are sold at every convenience store & supermarket. When you are cold you tend to linger in the bathroom, the lure of a heated loo seat is not to be under estimated.
There were probably about 50 photogs all lined up this morning with the machine gun rattle of motor drives going flat chat. Apparently this is the quietest place we will be for a bird shoot and where we go to shoot the famous cranes you have to fight for your spot. I didn't see any westerners other than our group.
The Crows arrive first and then the Kites, followed by the White Tailed Eagles and lastly the mighty Stellar Sea Eagle. With a wing span averaging over 2 metres it is the heaviest eagle in the world & you can hear the thwack when it lands.
A couple of foxes appeared and one was brave enough to walk right past the photogs within 4-5 feet. He was pretty awesome at stealing fish from the eagles and challenging them. Very cool to watch - I was barracking for the fox. He was out numbered, out weighed and out gunned (talons & beak) yet he persisted and got the prize several times. I had a fantastic shot of him standing up to an eagle with hooked wings but unfortunately it's not sharp.
We went to a famous sushi place for lunch - OMG the food just kept coming. The raw fish was so fresh it melted in your mouth. We actually couldn’t eat it all and took it away but no one could face it. There are no homeless people in Nemuro (probably too cold) so we ended up giving it to the hotel staff. Japanese are very very particular about their sushi. No way was it going be kept for longer than 2-3 hours. It would be thrown out if not eaten.
This afternoon we went out again and by chance saw a pair of cranes at the place we shot the eagles this morning. The bus screeched to a halt and we went back. They were amazingly close 4-5 feet at one point. Lucky lucky lucky.
One of the tricks in managing the transfer of equipment in a very cold climate is to take batteries/cards out of your cameras while still outside and then do not open your bag again for several hours, leaving the gear to warm up slowly which prevents the condensation problem. Invariably there will be something you want out of your bag - Murphy's Law.
Anyway I've got to get to bed earlier tonight as we leave at 5.30am tomorrow with all our bags. It's tough being a tourist sometimes :-)
   He's running off with a hunk of fish |    |
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