Steven Blandin | Bird Photography Blog

One new date for the Black Skimmers Colony: July 22-23

The first Black Skimmers colony tour just ended and I am adding a new date for July 22-23! If you like the pictures from this blog post, try to register to the July session to create your own images of the same theme 🙂

We are still very early in the breeding season and some chicks started to pop out. The few young chicks in the open were mostly located in the inner circle of the colony, making photographing them a challenge! The image above is a rare occasion when a clear shot was possible. I suspect there will be more young chicks popping out within the coming month as there was a lot of mating happening in the outer circle of the colony. Photographing chicks should become a lot easier a few weeks from now!!

There is a pretty decent size Least Terns colony that settled next to the Black Skimmers one on the beach. We were lucky to witness many of them in the middle of their courtship rituals. After spending a solid 5 min looking left and right, the pair mates with a fish being passed down as offering. Note that Least Terns are fairly small shorebirds and creating images of them often requires laying down on your belly for best results.

Interestingly, there is a small pond behind the colony now and we get Skimmers bathing or flying at low altitude. Many of them go to the pond to dunk their head so to clean their beak. The image above is shortly after a head dunk, hence the water splashes behind.

Black Skimmers Colony Photography Workshop – $1,090

July 22nd-23rd 2023 / limit 6 people – 5 open

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 .

Ospreys / Spoonbills mix Photography Tour – $1,490

April 20th-21st 2024 / limit 5 people – 3 open

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 .

Tampa Bay Spoonbills Rookery Photography Tour – $1,590

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

February 18th-19th 2023 / limit 5 people – Full

April 15th-16th 2023 / limit 5 people – 1 open

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 .

Ospreys/Spoonbills mix tour date for 2024!

The 2024 date for the Ospreys/Spoonbills photography workshop will be April 20-21. This year, we ended up with nice weather for Ospreys and an overcast finish for Spoonbills.

While the weather forecast was not very encouraging, the first day turned out as mostly sunny! In the image above, you will see an Osprey bringing nesting material back to the nest. The Cypress lake that hosts those Ospreys during that time of the year counts no less than 500 active nests!! Thus, there is plenty of activity to observe, with a lot of it happening at eye level from the pontoon boat.

During an hour or so, we had a very cloudy sky. The silhouette image above is an attempt at creating something different with a good story behind it. Note that the very well distinguishable shape of the full fish in the bird’s talents. Frankly, I almost did not think anything of the initial situation given that we were positioned against the sun at that time, when a struck of inspiration came to me to flip things around.

While the last morning was overcast, there was still plenty of landing action! See for yourself, with this Spoonbill maneuvering to land. A strong North wind pushed the birds to pull out aerial stunts for spectacular landings. Note the high ISO at 5000, with yet a very clean image. This is achieved through my digital workflow, fine tuned across the last ten years. The workshop includes a Photoshop image editing session where I walk the participants through my vanilla techniques.

Ospreys / Spoonbills mix Photography Tour – $1,490

April 20th-21st 2024 / limit 5 people – 3 open

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 – $1,190

June 3rd-4th 2023 / limit 6 people – 1 open

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 – $1,590

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

February 18th-19th 2023 / limit 5 people – Full

April 15th-16th 2023 / limit 5 people – 1 open

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 .

February Spoonbills Tour Images

The February session of the Tampa Bay Spoonbills was a blast! Thanks to a memorable first morning, the tour was the best so far this year.

The image above is the epitome of the type of images I have been working on creating at the Tampa Bay Spoonbills rookery. Thanks to low tides and a Northern wind, the tides pulled quite far from the island, forcing the birds to come out to the blue water for feeding and hanging out. The result is some potential for great action on the blue water in the early morning. All the conditions were there! I particularly like the fully stretched wings on this bird, with one foot splashing in the water and an open beak.

The birds were landing, taking off and feeding. The image above shows a beautiful Spoonbill feeding. We have a nice water splash between the beak and the water. Note the intense red on the upper wings and the yellow around the eyes and the shoulders.

The flight shot above is from the afternoon session. While there tends to be less activity from the birds at that time, we have the opportunity of creating images from different angles. Shooting from the boat helps placing the dark blue water behind the birds, even when they are in flight.

Ospreys / Spoonbills mix Photography Tour – $1,490

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

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 – $1,190

June 3rd-4th 2023 / limit 6 people – 1 open

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 – $1,590

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

February 18th-19th 2023 / limit 5 people – Full

April 15th-16th 2023 / limit 5 people – 1 open

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 .

First Spoonbills Tour Of The Season

The very first Tampa Bay Spoonbills tour of the season is now concluded! See the images and there is a last minute cancellation for the February 18th-19th iteration. Do you want the spot?

The first photography workshop of the 2023 season turned out to be an overcast one! While the first part of January was quite cold for Florida’s standards, the weather had nicely warmed up, bringing many clouds in its wake. Hopefully, we will have more sun for the next session. The image above displays an adult Spoonbill with its wings fully up after having landed in the shallow water.

You will notice some fairly high ISOs in all the images on this post. I use multiple techniques to denoise my images, which when stacked together allows for more leeway in the field. I tend to prefer to shoot at a high shutter speed, above 1/2500 sec., so to completely freeze the movement when possible. Avoiding motion blur comes before lowering the ISO in my world. The image above shows the moment before take off when the wings are at their highest point to prepare for the very first wing beat.

This is an attempt at a very tight closeup around the bird’s head while being in flight. Having the eye popping out between two feathers gives a nice flair to this creation. Note that their was some motion blur… 1/2000 sec was not enough to fully freeze the movement. However, this image was created early in the morning and I preferred not to pass above the 6400 mark on ISO.

Ospreys / Spoonbills mix Photography Tour – $1,390

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

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 – 1 open

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

April 15th-16th 2023 / limit 5 people – Full

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 .

Ospreys/Spoonbills mix tour new dates!

The new date for the Ospreys/Spoonbills mix tour is March 18th-19th! See a few new images to open your appetite 🙂

I love the full wing span landing on the photograph above!! The Spanish moss on the Cypress tree branch with a sunset background absolutely tops it off too 🙂 During the Ospreys/Spoonbills mix tour, there will be many opportunities for Ospreys landing on tree branches. In the image above, I directed the boat captain in the proper direction to create strong frontal landing shots.

The Vero Beach Spoonbill rookery is the best land based spot I know to photograph Spoonbills with breeding colors! Note the red on the upper wings and the rusty color on the tail: a delight to the eyes. Creating banking shots requires a good timing and some understanding of the typical flight patterns. With some direction from your favorite guide, many participants are able to capture similar flight stances. Would you like to add this to your collection?

During the April time, many of the young chicks start poking their heads out of the nest as seen above. At this point, you recognize them by the orange eyes. The adults have yellow eyes instead! This mama Osprey is maneuvering to land back to the nest while the kiddos are keeping a close eye on her.

Ospreys / Spoonbills mix Photography Tour – $1,390

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

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 – 1 open

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

April 15th-16th 2023 / limit 5 people – 1 open

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 .