iScoping with My Phone.

Red-necked Grebe

I have said before that I am no photographer.  I have relied on the kindness of others who have given me the photos that have made this blog more attractive.  I had a plan to change that.  I was going to buy a Leica camera and scope attachment while I was at the birding festival in Texas.  However, when I got there I learned that Leica has pulled their old products off the market and replaced them with a camera that costs over $2000.  I just can't justify that cost on my retirement income.  Bummer.

The next day I was at Estero Llano when I saw a young woman whip out her iPhone, slap it onto her scope and photograph a Harris's Hawk in a matter of seconds.  I immediately went to her.  "Hey, cool!  How did ya do that?" She was kind enough to show me an attachment from Kowa that slips onto the iPhone.  Actually, it replaces any rubber or plastic cover you may have added to your phone.  When you're planning to do some digiscoping, you screw a metal piece onto the new phone cover.  That slips over the eye piece of the scope.  That's it.  you're ready to take digiscoped pictures with your iPhone.  The total cost, including shipping, is under $50.  So let me see ... $2000 .... $50 .... No brainer!

Loggerhead Shrike

So yesterday my friend Rex and I headed to Tallahassee to try to see the Red-necked Grebe that has been reported for the last week or so.  It would be a life bird for both of us, so we also wanted a photo.  It was time to try out my new toy.  I have a Leica scope, and I quickly learned that I had to remove the rubber ring around the scope's eye piece so that the camera attachment would fit.  That done, I had to experiment with the camera and the scope to try to get things in focus.  You can see the results on this page.  It's not the same as digiscoping with an expensive camera, but it's not bad for my first effort and for under $50.

As to the birding, well, that was a lot of fun!  We got the Red-necked Grebe fairly quickly and then spent some time checking out the other ducks and shorebirds in the area.  There were plenty of Northern Shovelers, some Ruddy Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, Bufflehead and Hooded Mergansers.  Several Killdeer and a Least Sandpiper patrolled the edges while Red-winged Blackbirds and Cedar Waxwings darted around the far shore.  We even had an American Pipit fly over us.  Fortunately, Rex has better ears than I, so he got he on to it quickly.  It was a county tick, so once again I was the beneficiary of the better birding skills of others.  Before we left, I couldn't resist trying my new toy on the Loggerhead Shrike perched on top of a nearby tree.

Sora at St. Marks

Next, Rex and I decided to drive down to St. Marks NWR.  Our targets included some of the birds recently reported around Stoney Bayou 1 and 2. We arrived before 11:00 and set out on what turned out to be a 5 mile stroll.  We started along the north side of Stoney Bayou 1 and then cut over to circle Stoney Bayou 2 and then finished the walk along the east side of SB 1 before heading back to the van.  Rex uses runningmap.com to estimate walking distances, and he told me it was 4.95 miles.  Felt like 49.5 if you ask me.

Shorebirds were numerous with lots of Dunlin and Least Sandpipers.  We also saw some Marbled Godwits, Western Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers,  Lesser Yellowlegs, Snipes and a Black-bellied Plover.  There were also more Sora than I've ever seen in one day.    At left is the best shot I could get of a Sora, and below, left is photo of a Sora with a Snipe just behind it.

Our hope was that we would locate the Ash-throated Flycatcher that has been reported recently.  We had no luck with that but we did find a Wilson's Warbler, my only Wakulla County life bird of the day.  Then at an intersection in the trail we saw a bobcat (right) that seemed to find us really interesting.  What a beautiful animal!  I've only seen three or four of them in the wild, and each time I felt really privileged. 

On the south end of SB 1 we found the geese we wanted.  There were several Snow Geese and at least two Ross's Geese.  Unfortunately, we didn't see any Canada Geese, but a Red-breasted Merganser joined the group just to add some variation and interest.  We also found a male Vermilion Flycatcher (below, right).  That's a bird that can take your breath away.  He was nice enough to pose for me, so I had to oblige, didn't I?

Eventually, we stumbled back to the car to head back to Gainesville.  But before we could pull out of the parking lot we had to pause to let an otter cross the road.  No picture, but it's a cool memory.  In the end we had about 80 species on the day.  I picked up three county ticks in Leon and one in Wakulla,  Of course the Grebe was a lifer, so that's a state bird as well. And of course, I enjoyed iScoping.  Hey is that a new word?  Maybe I ought to copyright it?

Vermilion Flycatcher

Sora and Wilson's Snipe