Puffins

Amazing1!!! Did you use your 400L for these shots?

Great series! I live in Alaska and have yet to photograph Puffins. Some day ...cant wait.

Wonderful captures! Gotta love thoses littles faces with that mournful expressions. Thanks for sharing.

These are wicked!

I was up a few weeks ago and went out, didn't get anything like this though.

Thanks everyone. I am really glad to hear you are all enjoying these images.

I had two set ups going. One was my 30D with a 70-200 f/2.8L IS and the second was a Rebel XT with the 400 f/5.6L. From the blind, the pufins are close enough that you could do almost eveything with the 70-200. A 300mm lens could have been ideal. The close-up were shot with the 400. Hope that helps.

Hah! You beat me! I'm actually going there July 15th! EXCELLENT shots, love the sharpness, color and environment. Did you get any more shots of the other seabirds? I'm always looking for Razorbills and Murres in NJ in Winter and almost never see any. I can't wait to go to Maine.

ngannet wrote in post #5808010
Hah! You beat me! I'm actually going there July 15th! EXCELLENT shots, love the sharpness, color and environment. Did you get any more shots of the other seabirds? I'm always looking for Razorbills and Murres in NJ in Winter and almost never see any. I can't wait to go to Maine.

Hey Bob,

You will enjoy it!

I will say that we had booked for a Tuesday and the trip was canceled due to weather. We went out on Thursday in a dense fog. Captain Andy is great and the trip was uneventful even though we could see virtually nothing. Fortunately the birds are so close that fog doesn't mean anything. But it was a bit unnerving climbing into a little skiff and watch the boat quickly disappear in the fog with no island in sight. In reality the boat was close to the island, it just didn't feel that way.

There are two pair of two blinds. I can only speak for #3 and #4 which were side by side. The puffins were closest and you could shoot those with a 200 no sweat. I used the 400 for the close-ups. The razorbills tend to be just a little farther out but not much. The 400 will work fine for them and you could even get by with a 200. The Murre were then a bit farther out. You would definitely need the 400 for them.

I kept two rigs going. The 30D and 70-200 and the Rebel XT with the 400. Its tight in the blinds particularly if you end up with four people but it is manageable.

Beautiful images Ed. The color and exposure are spot on. Well done.

EdV wrote in post #5808319
Hey Bob,

You will enjoy it!

I will say that we had booked for a Tuesday and the trip was canceled due to weather. We went out on Thursday in a dense fog. Captain Andy is great and the trip was uneventful even though we could see virtually nothing. Fortunately the birds are so close that fog doesn't mean anything. But it was a bit unnerving climbing into a little skiff and watch the boat quickly disappear in the fog with no island in sight. In reality the boat was close to the island, it just didn't feel that way.

There are two pair of two blinds. I can only speak for #3 and #4 which were side by side. The puffins were closest and you could shoot those with a 200 no sweat. I used the 400 for the close-ups. The razorbills tend to be just a little farther out but not much. The 400 will work fine for them and you could even get by with a 200. The Murre were then a bit farther out. You would definitely need the 400 for them.

I kept two rigs going. The 30D and 70-200 and the Rebel XT with the 400. Its tight in the blinds particularly if you end up with four people but it is manageable.

Thanks a lot for the info Ed! Yeah, I was planning on bringing two cameras/lenses anyway. I figured they would generally be close enough for the 200. I just hope we can land on the island. And hopefully if we can't, the fog won't be terribly dense. Did you see any whales/seals? Did you go anywhere else you might recommend? I have a tentative itinerary which includes places like W. Quoddy Head, Acadia Nat'l Park, etc. It's funny, you and I are very often in the same places only weeks apart!

wlaramie wrote in post #5808543
Beautiful images Ed. The color and exposure are spot on. Well done.

Thanks Bill. Appreciate the feedback.

ngannet wrote in post #5808546
Thanks a lot for the info Ed! Yeah, I was planning on bringing two cameras/lenses anyway. I figured they would generally be close enough for the 200. I just hope we can land on the island. And hopefully if we can't, the fog won't be terribly dense. Did you see any whales/seals? Did you go anywhere else you might recommend? I have a tentative itinerary which includes places like W. Quoddy Head, Acadia Nat'l Park, etc. It's funny, you and I are very often in the same places only weeks apart!

Well Bob, probably our two most favorite places in the US are the Maine Coast particularly around Bar Harbor/Acadia and the Central California Coast around Monterey. While we get to California occasionally, we do vacation in Maine almost every year. We just got back from 9 days/8 nights in Bar Harbor. We actually drove up to Cutler from there. Its about a two hour drive. But with a &am departure, that meant we were up at 3am and on the road at 4am arriving in Cutler around 6am.

We have visited Quoddy several times. Depending on your interests, a trip across from Lubec to Campobello Island is worthwhile. Could be a good area for birding and definitely is nice for lighthouses.

How much time are you going to spend in Acadia? And are you planning primarily to bird or will you be hiking, biking, etc? I can give you some tips on food if you would like? If I remember correctly from your website, you may have some dietary restrictions. Let me know. I can PM you with the info.

EdV wrote in post #5808319
Hey Bob,

You will enjoy it!

I will say that we had booked for a Tuesday and the trip was canceled due to weather. We went out on Thursday in a dense fog. Captain Andy is great and the trip was uneventful even though we could see virtually nothing. Fortunately the birds are so close that fog doesn't mean anything. But it was a bit unnerving climbing into a little skiff and watch the boat quickly disappear in the fog with no island in sight. In reality the boat was close to the island, it just didn't feel that way.

There are two pair of two blinds. I can only speak for #3 and #4 which were side by side. The puffins were closest and you could shoot those with a 200 no sweat. I used the 400 for the close-ups. The razorbills tend to be just a little farther out but not much. The 400 will work fine for them and you could even get by with a 200. The Murre were then a bit farther out. You would definitely need the 400 for them.

I kept two rigs going. The 30D and 70-200 and the Rebel XT with the 400. Its tight in the blinds particularly if you end up with four people but it is manageable.

We were in Camden all week and the fog and rain were so bad, I never headed up although that was my plan. I plan to go back later this week.

Do you know the basic difference between the Folks that leave from Jonesport and the one you took from Cutler? Both are $100 charge and both get you on the same Island. Cutler is about 45 minutes further coming from the South.

Did you use a tripod or monopod? Is there room for either in the hides? Thanks!

donlavange wrote in post #5822806
We were in Camden all week and the fog and rain were so bad, I never headed up although that was my plan. I plan to go back later this week.

Do you know the basic difference between the Folks that leave from Jonesport and the one you took from Cutler? Both are $100 charge and both get you on the same Island. Cutler is about 45 minutes further coming from the South.

Did you use a tripod or monopod? Is there room for either in the hides? Thanks!

We were scheduled to go out on Tuesday 6/17 and that trip was canceled. We rescheduled for Thursday 6/19 and that trip went out in a pretty thick fog.

I don't know what the difference is/was between the two. However, the captain running trips out of Jonesport recently passed away (in the past month) and I think Bold Coast is now the only boat going to the island. Not sure but that is what I heard.

Oh, and the blinds are very narrow and will have 3 or 4 people in them. There is really no room for a tripod or even a monopod in the blinds.

Hope this helps.

Wow...I am amazed at these beautiful images and thank you for posting them.

What a lovely series of images.

Rose, AJ,

I appreciate the comments. Glad you like the images. It was a blast spending time on the island in the blind taking 100s of images. We're looking forward to returned next year.