On-water super telephoto photography / videography from a motorized kayak.
A rogue's gallery of some juvi's - Double-crested Cormorants in this case. They were there to greet me at the put-in.
I didn't hold much hope for the birding experience at Scarborough Marsh. The kayak hit the water during a rising low tide, not my first choice! The reason for the specific timing was to let the incoming tide carry me up into some of the tributaries that everyone else seems to pass by.
After several hours of exploration, the choices I made were spot on, as the locations matched up with where the majority of bird encounters occurred. The Egret population rivalled some of the largest flocks I had seen on Parker River NWR. It was a very pleasant surprise and turned into a wonderful experience.
A Double-crested Cormorant drying out in the sunshine.
A line of Double-crested Cormorants in line at the local deli.
Sadly, the screen can't do some of these high-resolution images justice.
The sandpipers were largely oblivious of my presence.
A beautiful Least Sandpiper.
The same Least Sandpiper in side view.
The Amtrak Nor'easter making a run to Boston. From 300 yards, there's the engineer in the cab window.
Some Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets in beautiful display.
The Snowy Egrets were very numerous, a nice surprise after enjoying the Egret flocks at Parker River NWR over the years.
A Double-crested Cormorant cleared for takeoff.
The Cormorants, and even some of the sandpipers, enjoyed spending time on the floating rafts of structures in use by Nonesuch Oysters, an oyster farm operating in the Nonesuch River. What's that in the background? A pair of Least Sandpipers.
What a wonderful chaos of sound when several dozen Cormorants take flight.
Bonus: raw Canon super-telephoto 4K video
You'll see lots of interesting stuff in here. Now, consider, 4K UHD full-frame video of a Least Sandpiper - for those who don't know, they're called Least Sandpipers because they're REALLY SMALL. No, but there's really shaky stuff (it's raw), the point was to prove out the video platform capabilities. This was all handheld.
I think that brings up a really valid consideration - if lots of chop, back off on the lens length. On this day, the 400mm was perfect while beached. But for the Cormorants, next time I would back off and use something wide, especially when the whole flock sprang into action.
Yes, lots of chop in the midday, it's raw video! The quality is extraordinary (by quality, I mean capture resolution, not videographer skills).
Inspiration
This kayak adventure was inspired by the
Birdwatching in Maine: A Site GuideThis post references Cumberland County, Site C1: Scarborough Marsh, Scarborough, Maine
Note: the best birding experience if using a motorized kayak is to use Seavey's Landing (see the Crib Note on this blog post).