The 2022 Black Skimmers Colony tour is now concluded! Read this post for a glimpse at a few images from yet another great bird photography workshop.

Black Skimmer Chick In The Grass
Black Skimmer Chick walking in the sandy grass – Sarasota Bay Skimmers Colony
ISO 4000 | f/8 | 1/1000 sec. | Manual mode | AF-C Zone Focus Area
Sony 600mm f/4 GM OSS coupled with a 2x extender and the Sony Alpha 1

One of the prime attractions of the Black Skimmers colony is the ability to photograph those cute fluffy balls. In the image above, you can see a chick venturing around in the sand, close to a patch of grass. Note that I took care of not cropping out the extremity of the top right corner piece of grass, which gives more harmonious lines in the flow of the image.

Black Skimmer in flight - Photography Tour
Black Skimmer flying low – Sarasota Bay Skimmers colony
ISO 800 | f/5.6 | 1/5000 sec. | Manual mode | AF-C Zone Focus Area
Sony 600mm f/4 GM OSS coupled with a 1.4x extender and the Sony Alpha 1

The other prime lure for this bird photography tour is photographing Black Skimmer adults either skimming on the water surface or flying low. The creation above is a good illustration of a low flight coming straight at me! This image gives the impression I am shooting from the water, but the reality is I placed the group along the shoreline and we created images of the birds flying along the shore. Thanks to a good wind direction, we had many opportunities for low flights coming straight at us.

Juvenile Black Skimmer banking in flight – Sarasota Bay Skimmers Colony
ISO 640 | f/5.6 | 1/4000 sec. | Manual mode | AF-C Zone Focus Area
Sony 600mm f/4 GM OSS coupled with a 1.4x extender and the Sony Alpha 1

Some of the chicks were already a few weeks old and I was amazed to even catch a couple of them starting to fly. While their initial flight is typically chaotic and no very controlled, I managed to catch the one above in a pretty good banking maneuver above the water surface.

Ospreys / Spoonbills mix Photography Tour – $1,390

March 25th-26th 2023 / limit 5 people – Full

April 22nd-23rd 2023 / limit 5 people – 3 open

Florida Ospreys/Spoonbills Mix Photography Tour

3 shoots and 1 over-the-shoulder Photoshop tutoring => 2 boat-based Osprey shoots at the Vero Beach Cypress Lake + 1 land-based Spoonbills shoot at a local rookery. $250 deposit. Send me an email at steven@stevenbirdphotography.com .

Black Skimmers Colony Photography Workshop – $1,090

June 3rd-4th 2023 / limit 6 people – 4 open

Black Skimmers Tour - Bird Photography

3 shoots and 1 over-the-shoulder Photoshop tutoring => 3 shoots at the Sarasota Bay Black Skimmers colony. We shoot along the beach, where the nesting colony is easily accessible. $250 deposit. Send me an email at steven@stevenbirdphotography.com .

Tampa Bay Spoonbills Rookery Photography Tour – $1,490

January 21st-22nd 2023 / limit 5 people – Full

February 18th-19th 2023 / limit 5 people – 1 open

Florida Spoonbills Tour - Bird Photography

3 shoots and 1 over-the-shoulder Photoshop tutoring => 3 shoots at the Tampa Bay Spoonbills rookery. We typically shoot while wading in the water in the mornings and from the boat in the afternoon. $250 deposit. Send me an email at steven@stevenbirdphotography.com .

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