I'm an award-winning and widely published wildlife and nature photographer currently based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I offer private photography workshops in both Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks year-round and am passionate about photographing the region, as well as hiking any trail I can find.
Nearly 300 bird species, including raptors, songbirds, shorebirds, and waterfowl, have been sighted in Yellowstone National Park. The park's signature geyser basins and areas of thermal features also provide habitat for birds year-round. Consequently, the park has a diversity of birds, especially during migration and summer. So what the #$!* are you talking about, Yammerhead?
@@FreeRoamingPhoto in Europe various groups are working with large herbivores, bison and Taurus cattle, that create open spaces in broadleaf woodland and boar to dig the ground over. This increases biodiversity. I’m not sure how that would work with pine forest but it works with broadleaf woodland.
That sounds fascinating! This is actually just the way this part of Yellowstone is. Around the caldera rim and within, there's just not enough soil to invite that biodiversity due to the amount of lava rock flowing relatively recently. Outside of the caldera where there's less lava and more soil, there's much more diversity in plant life, and thus, more birds.
Also, those pine, spruce forests are low in productivity. Not much food other than pine seeds and bark beetles. No fruiting trees and shrubs. Not many insects to feed young.
After early-mid summer nesting season birds go quiet and often disperse/roam for a bit before starting migration. This creates a late June-August lull in apparent bird activity. This is common in habitats all over North America but it can be more pronounced in areas with lower population densities and diversity such as alpine/boreal coniferous forests.
Very true, but it's noticeably more pronounced than even Grand Teton nearby or areas closer to Yellowstone's boundaries as you get farther from the caldera rim.
Supreme bird watching at Benton Lake and Freezeout lake to the north. Lower growing wet bush country is a better area for birds. I live at 5300 to 6000 feet elevation and have a host of both blue birds, Western Tanager, Audubon's Yellow-rumped warbler, Greentailed Toehee, Yellow Wadlers, Nuthatch, and more. I live in a 2012 Doug Fir burn area in the rain shadow of the Continental Divide. No trees have recovered due to lack of water since 2012 (less than 6"). This year no grass grew since the ground was too cold in June and too hot in July. Birds were gone most of the Summer here. I assume due to extreme heat. My lure for most of these birds is not nesting, but maggot and dremestid rich rotten bison and cattle heads. Where I have the most birds is in my creek that did revive once the Doug Fir forest burned. The Aspens along the creek have recovered very well. The ongoing drought has threatened to dry up the recovered creek. The knapweed has died off before seed stage for the third year.
Well at least the knapweed died off! Definitely the further you get from the caldera the better the birding will be. Sounds like you get some great species up there though! Unfortunately the drought is wreaking havoc around here and this season is certainly no exception. Glad to hear you've had some signs of recovery though. Hopefully something will help it along a little more in the near future. Those two lakes you mentioned look like great spots though! Might have to make a trip up there at some point to check them out!
I'd be interested in hearing an avian biologist's take on this. Forest soils are typically poor with most of the microbial life in the soil residing in the duff layer or just below. I spent 30 years in the Northern Sierra Nevada mountains and now 18 years in the Northern Okanogan Highlands in North WA. In both forests there is a wealth of bird life in the spring with a pronounced "morning chorus" and a lesser "evening chorus". Once summer hits, the forest goes quiet with many of the birds now done nesting having moved on or up in elevation. Then in the fall the birds make another appearance, though not in the numbers of the spring. These birds appear to be transient, on their way down in elevation or down in latitude. If you primarily visit these forests in the mid summer, as many campers do, you would typically find a very quiet forest.
You bring up some great points, and a book you might really enjoy is a book called Yellowstone's Birds. It's a relatively recent book published by some of Yellowstone's best ecologists. They dive into a lot of the habits of all the types of birds found throughout the park, as well as varying populations depending on the location of the park. Sounds like it'd be right up your alley. In hindsight, I used "Yellowstone" more as a reference to the entire park, when I only really alluded to the fact that Yellowstone is actually quite diverse. The Northern Range in the park is vastly different from the forests that I was referencing in this video. As such, there's a lot more diversity in birds and more bird song throughout the seasons. Likewise, this was recorded less than two weeks ago, so definitely in fall migration, however the chorus level doesn't really seem to change with the seasons. In regards to the Sierra Nevada and PNW, there's certainly volcanic activity up there, but not on the level of the most recent Yellowstone eruption (at least in the last 640,000 years), which obliterated everything surrounding the caldera. This had a massive impact on the entire landscape, which is still recovering from that devastation. Likewise, the atmosphere historically in those areas has been much more humid, receiving more rain, which has helped to break down new soil much quicker, allowing for more biodiversity even when eruptions could have taken place more recently. Let me know if that sheds a little more light for you. I'm no expert, but I've definitely been studying this area as much as I can as an amateur since moving here in 2008.
Thank you! I would say the South Park Wildlife Habitat Management Area is arguably one of the best spots. Also the whole Oxbow Bend area is really good as well.
1. Not true. I have my EF 1.4x III TC almost permanently attached to my EF 500f4 prime. You pays for what you gets. Buy cheaper consumer grade lens, and be prepared for it to be optically inferior, especially with a TC in place. I never use my 2x TC these days - the optical hit, even with a pro grade supe tele prime, is too much. 2. the higher you go with ISO the lower your IQ is also not true. ETTR and better cameras will give better results. This is also especially true with the quality software based NR AI options on the market today. Yes, I will state that higher ISOs do lead to DR suffering (although the degree depends upon the camera being used). Colour accuracy via colour shifts can be an issue too at higher ISOs. 3. Agreed on actions. Sadly, birds don't always comply. I take what nature gives me. Also agreed on plain sky backgrounds, but the same thing as with lack of action. And of course, the opposite - busy backgrounds. You take what nature gives you. If you are always waiting, you will likely never take any shots. 4. I disagree on the AF and BIFs. You want the best, fastest performing, most accurate AF options always. Irrespective of whether it is a small or larger bird in flight. This ties in with your next point regarding shutter speeds. For portraits where the bird is perched etc, my standard go to is 1/1000. For BIFs, minimum 1/2000, preferably 1/4000 and at f8. A lot of other birding photographers will scoff at this and say you don't need f8, I disagree. I spent near 3 months testing this with my R3 and 500f4 prime and found f8 consistently gave me sharper BIFs than f7.1 or lower. ymmv (it may be a result of the combination of camera and lens that I use and other combinations may offer different results. I can only comment on my own personal setup). 5. I completely agree with research and getting out there lots. Both will improve your birding photography.
Before you go out in the night time, be sure to test the "infinity" setting in daylight, because it is almost impossiple to focus at night time. I will recommend to get a very fast memory card, because long exposure images takes longer to write to the card. I use two cameras on two tripods, one camera with fx 14mm 1.8 and another with x 24mm 1.4, remember extra battery, set all the settings on the camera before you go out, It can be great to use a phone with an app to remote control the camera.
Great tips. We live in Polson, south of the Grand Tetons and prefer Mission Valley and Forest Service lands where there is much less traffic. I am retired and photograph mostly waterfowl and rarely encounter another person at sunrise each day.
I'm with you on dodging the crowds! Those are great areas and I'm sure you get lots of great birds and waterfowl out that way. I love being out at sunrise as well. So much more peaceful.
National parks don't interfere with nature. Planting food and altering the landscape would go against the whole mission of national parks. In terms of wildlife, they use many encounters, such as with 399, to educate the public on how to coexist with all forms of wildlife.
People, worshipping,,. A bear? Imagine if these folks had this much passion , worshipping GOD? The amazing world would be filled with love, for one another.
Bears are real. Plus no one is worshiping them, they enjoy viewing them. Enjoyment is not worship. Stop turning everything religious. Just enjoy the beautiful creatures.
My favorite tip is one that people often forget. And that is get out there and don't hold yourself to the standards you see online. So many people get discouraged because Instagram photos that are way above their skill level.
Excellent point and wish I thought to include that! It's very true that trying to compare our work to others can be a big deterring factor from even trying. It's good to look for inspiration, but not at the expense of your own work.
not only the location, but time too. We had sightings of Swift parrots quite close to where I live (30 minute drive). After 5 visits, never saw them. Not once. They are critically endangered birds with less than 500 in the wild. It is likely that I was visiting at the wrong time of day (but right location). ebird and Facebook groups are very helpful with location suggestions.
and I use my EF 1.4x TC nearly 100% of the time on my 500f4 prime...it works, and it works well. Optical degradation of TC vs sans TC is negligible even if you pixel peep at 200% or more. What applies to yourself and your setup doesn't apply to everyone. If you are using say, a Sigma 150-600c (very popular) then yeah, a 1.4x TC is undesirable. That's a combination of poorer optical quality and poorer mating of the 2 components (I'm ignoring f stop and concentrating solely on non ISO related noise issues).
Great tips, thanks for sharing! One thing that has worked well for me with my Fuji, is to keep it in Automatic ISO. I set the exposure time for the scene (eg high shutter speed to freeze movement) and choose f-ratio for background blur and/or manage high ISO, so I don't want to think about what my ISO should be on top of everything else so I let my camera choose. One less thing to think about!
Great tip! I've definitely experimented with manual and auto ISO but never fully adjusted to it. But I'm sure it's a great setting once you're comfortable with it!
I have to disagree . I stay in Central Scotland and i rarely see the Northern Lights . The recent storm is the first time that many got a chance in 50 yrs .. at a lower latitude . And even at my location i never seen any of the lights . Even before that a mass of Tog's headed to Ayr Harbour to photograph the lights and they saw SFA .. And Ayr is 36 miles South of my location .
That's interesting you don't see them much up there. Here in Wyoming, at a much lower latitude, I've seen them as much as once per month during solar maximums. Obviously much less during solar minimums. Do you check any kinds of forecasts? I have good luck checking them each night.
@@FreeRoamingPhoto It is the same in the Southern Scandinavia ! You have to go far North in Norway and Sweden. 2023 and 2024 are years with more Aurora to be seen in Southern Scandinavian, just about barely to be seen with the eyes most of the time, only very few days in 2023 and 2024 it was powerfull enough to be seen with human eyes.
@@JohnCross-rz5uq Hopefully you get some clear skies when they're out! That, of course, will also make a big difference. Definitely keep checking and hope things work out in your favor!
@@FreeRoamingPhoto Well, I saw the REALLY big Aurora bursts in late 1980´s and early 1990´s which were much stronger than theses years, but I did not photograph it back then.
Thanks for the tips! For me it is a problem to have very short exposure times, often there are only clouds and rare sunlight, with aperture of 6.7 the Iso must go to 3600 or higher what my camera don't like, especially if you are far away from a bird and have to crop much. Will practice some more, let's see what will come.
That's definitely a trickier situation. With lots of clouds and little sun you'll have to push the ISO up. Keep practicing and you'll find that sweet spot!
if you are using an older DSLR, then perhaps the time to upgrade is at hand? I can easily shoot at and up to ISO12800 with my R3 as long as I ETTR. Sure, I do need to use some NR AI software in PP, but that's not a deal breaker and not an issue.
Great tips, especially the last “get out there and practice” I put up a bird box for the first time this year and we had Great Tits raise a clutch of 8. It was not only satisfying but brilliant practice for getting them in flight with differing light levels over the 3 weeks it took for them to fledge. All 8 managed to fledge which I witnessed and got some great shots of the parents bringing food. Win, win 😉📷🐥
@@FreeRoamingPhoto put the box up 15 feet from the living room window so didn’t have to leave the sofa let alone get in the car 😉 certainly has improved my photography and have already put what I have learned into practice out in the field 👍 highly recommend giving it a go
Couldn't agree more! I put a few different ones out over the winter and had some great practice with some birds in the snow! Had a blast photographing all the migrants and residents.
Thanks for all these tips. If I might add, birding photographers would benefit greatly by taking some time to learn the behavior of the subjects. Take a flycatcher for instance. They like to do what's called sallying. This means they perch, look down upon any prey they may see, swoop down and catch the insect, and then watch because they fly right back up to the original perch where you can capture them both in flight and also eating the prey. Kingfishers also do this except with fish. I have found learning the behavior of certain species very helpful as I photograph birds. Thank you for an excellent video.
That's great advice! Unfortunately I haven't gotten to know flycatchers as well as I'd like since they're only here for a few months. But now that they're back I'll look for that behavior. Thanks for the great addition!
Some flycatchers do not fly back to the same perch and that behavior often is the best identifier. But, you are right, most do fly back to the same perch and so do hummers and dragonflies. Good comment.
I understand the reason for this not being published, if it is even available.. However, it would be really cool for professional and credentialed (fk getty, etc) photographers. naturalists to be able to see what bears are up to, and affectively (hopefully) get some great shots without almost lucking into them.. Great work... Gonna follow now! I know my glass and bodies pretty well, but I don't live in the area, and even if I did, or visited often, I'd definitely contact you for your insight and advice.. Just because you might have the wand and equipment doesn't mean you know how to use it everywhere! ;). Thanks for the video and I will definitely keep you in mind next time I am up your way.. (My YT account has nothing to do with my actual business.. )
@@FreeRoamingPhoto Hmmm... i'm not at that (addicted) point, yet - very much a part-timer when it comes to birds. I think that they're not just a different set of techniques, but a different and specific mind-set too. The tech is also a consideration, as is managing the trauma of having so many dud shots!
@@luzr6613 Absolutely! The technology has made it much easier, but that certainly doesn't eliminate an excess of failed shots, unfortunately. Regardless, I certainly got bit by the birding bug pretty bad.
Thanks! In terms of the lens, I shoot Canon, so I'm not completely qualified to answer, however I am a bit familiar with their system. From what I understand G lenses are a bit newer and designed around DSLRs, whereas the D lenses have more manual control, such as an aperture ring, to have compatibility with older film cameras. You can probably save some money by going with a D lens, but the G will be better suited for a more modern camera.
@@FreeRoamingPhoto Go H friend, manual focus is fine for less time sensitive imaging; a D will lead to frustration but on a positive note it will give you lots of time to ponder.
It is true that denoise apps do a great job, but it's always better to not rely on them. And yes, an extender on a crop sensor would be quite a compromise!
I used a 7DII with my 500f4 and 1.4x TC with any real issues, unless it was low light. The R7 outperforms the 7DII when it comes to high ISO performance, despite 12 more megapixels. Pretty much everyone I know, who shoots birds, uses NR software. Near 100% of the time.
That's a really great question! There's a few ways. First is that she frequents certain areas along roadsides, particularly in certain times of the year. When she does, she usually has her cub(s) in tow, so people assume from that that it's her. When she doesn't have cubs with her, she tends to disappear into the wilderness. More specifically though, she's occasionally "tagged" by the Grizzly Bear Interagency Committee for research (as are many other bears in the area), at which point, she'll be given ear tags for identification. If those are present, those are a pretty good indicator as well. However those usually only last about a year or two. Lastly she has features specific to her. In addition to a dark brown coat, she also has a small scar on the left side of her snout from a fight many years ago. All those, combined with her patterns and behavior are what conclude people who follow her around regularly to safely conclude that it's her and not another random bear. Once you've seen multiple grizzlies regularly, you can begin to distinguish one from another through physical features and behavior.
