The Jetty
Today’s birding trip was to Lighthouse Point Park, a 52-acre inlet park located along the northern shoreline of Ponce de Leon Inlet on the east coast of Florida. Water from the Atlantic meets the outflow of the Halifax River making for a dynamic aquatic environment for fish, birds, and marine mammals. An 800 foot long concrete deck sits atop the inlet jetty providing birders with an ideal viewing platform. Sadly, the formidable structure has not proven to be a worthy opponent to Mother Nature’s fury in the form of periodic hurricanes. Over the past few years, it seems the walkway is closed for repairs more often than it is open. The fact that it is concrete and sits on a jetty comprised of tons of rock boulders and still gets torn apart by the power of these storms stands as testament to the unfathomed power of wind and waves. So today we were relegated to observing the jetty from the beach with scopes, binoculars and cameras since it is once again closed for repair.
In spite of being limited as to how close we could approach the birds on the jetty, we were still afforded the opportunity to see and photograph some of the species we had hoped for. Among the expected species are the Ruddy turnstones we see every time we visit this site. Turnstones love to hunt for crustaceans, insects, worms and other aquatic prey which thrive on the wave-washed rocks. With bins, scopes and a decent length lens on the camera, we were able to capture a respectable look at the “ruddies” in our mind’s eye and on our cameras’ sensors.
With continued effort, a member of the birding group finally found our main target, the Purple sandpiper. To the novice birder, this species can look very similar to the Turnstones seen above. Closer examination will reveal that the turnstones have a distinctive black bib and a clean white breast and a black and white face. The Purple sandpipers on the other hand sport a dark slaty color which is not found in any other shorebird on the East Coast in winter When you can see the two side by side (or as seen in comparison with these two images), the differences as fairly obvious.
Black skimmers and Herring gulls over “Disappearing Island” at Lighthouse Point Park, Ponce Inlet, FL
At the opposite end of the park along the Halifax River, a wide sand bar known as “Disappearing Island” can be found. The Island, being surrounded by water, is safe haven for many small shorebirds and waders. Threatened species such as Wilson’s plovers and Least terns are known to nest on the island. The “safe haven” aspect of the island is compromised by human encroachment as boaters love to go out to the island to swim, sunbathe, and run their dogs. The small birds are scared off their nests when humans and dogs approach too closely and in doing so leave eggs unprotected. If humans can give the nesting birds their space and keep their dogs leashed (as mandated by law), the rare bird species would have a much better chance of successfully procreating.
As we scanned the beachfront of the island from the mainland, we found many Royal terns, Sandwich terns, Laughing gulls, Herring gulls, and Black skimmers resting on the sand. We also spotted a Bald eagle on a piling across the water. When the eagle took flight, the hundreds of birds on the island were sent flying. As soon as the eagle was no longer a direct threat, the birds returned to their resting place….. a perfect example of how easily birds can be frightened off potential resting and nesting sites.
Tech Tip - FX vs DX settings. Many of today’s “Full frame” cameras have the capability of switching from “Full frame” (FX) exposure to “Crop Frame” (DX) mode. It’s worth checking to see if your camera offers these settings. As in virtually every case in photography and other endeavors, “there is no such thing as a free lunch”. The advantage of switching over to the DX mode is that you are effectively making your lens 1.5X greater in focal length. In other words, if you have a 200 mm lens, it becomes the equivalent of a 300mm lens when you go to DX. Whatever length lens you use, it is multiplied by 1.5 when using the DX mode. It’s like having a whole new lens, right? The downside is that is is not really magnifying your image by 1.5. It is effectively making the area of your sensor that is capturing the image smaller. When you “enlarge” the image to see it on your viewfinder or rear screen, it looks bigger. In reality, you are cropping your image in the camera rather than on your computer when you post process. The hard truth is, if I have a 46 megapixel full frame sensor and switch to the crop mode DX setting, I am only using part of the sensor. It is now the equivalent of a 20 megapixel sensor.
For the most part, you gain nothing by going into crop mode other than composing your image in-camera rather than on the computer. I did use the DX setting on my Z8 today to turn my 100-400 mm zoom into a 150-600 mm equivalent lens. Why? Quite simply, the birds I was shooting were quite distant and I found it easier to compose my shot in camera using the “enlarged” image in the view finder. Still, when I got back on the computer, I had a lower resolution shot to work with. The 20 mp is a decent size image, however, as long as you do not have to crop it much further. All a matter of choice. If you found this confusing or would like to look a bit deeper into these FX vs DX settings, click on the link below.
