A brilliant video guys, excellent story behind the shots. Totally love this. I had some nice encounters with Pikas in the Rockies, Colorado, definitely my favorite animal ❤❤.

Love this video, so much variety and effort in it. ❤❤, thanks for sharing. Subscribed!!

So much fun bro! One of my favorite species to photograph. You got some killer shots

Thank you for sharing

Going full Trond Westby with this one 😂

I call them "rain birds".They always come out in my yard when it is raining. Glad you got a photo of one.

Love this format. A nice change of pace from the typical "go to a spot and shoot what's there" that you've been doing. Keep them coming!

Very interesting style! I have rarely (if ever) seen photos like this. They are great wildlife shots and the lights give them an urban feel. We are going to that park in January. I have been there to photograph osprey and pelicans, but now I'll hang around until dark!

at 1/4 speed even 3fps is enough

Gorgeous!!

Cool stuff! I like the part about playing with the white balance given all the artificial lighting. Did you see any interesting or surprising behavior? I never really had a chance to watch night herons at night. Do they still seem sluggish?

Beauty eh! Is this east coast or west coast?

Very cool results, looking forward to seeing where you go next with this style! Just wondering since these birds are already fairly adjusted to city and car lights, do you think a constant light source like a LED panel for video would be better than flash, especially for focusing? Or do you think that would be more disruptive to the birds and the rest of the ecosystem than the very low power flash as you mentioned?

Whoa, these are very creative for the limited lighting option you had at your disposal.

I have difficulty photographing at night because of my setup R6mii + 100-500 is way too dark at f7.1, I've still done some after sunset shots usually at 1/10 or maybe even 1s but I have to shoot 40fps and I think I'm a bit more picky about sharpness. I've thought of using flash but never really did so but it would definitely help in situations like this.

Beautiful shots, Ray! That amount of effort seems pretty typical for me for non-breeding season forest bird photography. This felt a lot like when I go out for overwintering Hermit Thrush here in Florida. Thanks for sharing!

Can you tell me where you found the night herons in Florida?

I have heard that the Nikon stabilisation is quite good. I struggle to get sharp shots at 1/80sec using a monopod with my Sony A1. To get 1/10sec I would need a tripod and 5 second timer haha. Interesting shots mate!

Excellent!

Amazing shots. You definitely won't convince me not visit. LOL. With the the constant daylight I was wondering about what the activity patterns of the birds, and i guess you too as a photographer. How do they chose times to be active? And for you what times do you go out to shot. I could have sworn you said you shot some photos at 3AM.

loved it! thank you for sharing, the footage is awesome and the Varied Thrush sure is a beauty.

What an awesome video. No offense man, but I enjoy watching the struggle. I definitely don't feel bad saying that especially with the payoff at the end of this one. Day 1 really resonated with me. Going out with big hopes/plans, then not seeing a single bird until that wren at the end. It's difficult to stick with it after days like that.

Great video. I am glad you enjoyed your time on the peninsula. In that area they measure rain in feet, not inches 😂 The peninsula is full of elk. The park is home to the largest unmanaged herd in the Pacific Northwest. We are pretty lucky to live in the Puget Sound area. We don’t have to go very far to see elk. North Bend and Enumclaw both have large herds. The Roosevelt Elk are the largest elk, though the Rocky Mountain elk have larger antlers. In early October you were still fairly safe but be very careful during rut, bull elk get upset very easily. If you hear a lot of bugling, stay away. The reason the park wants you to stay 20 meters away is for your safety. There is a herd that roams Forks in the morning and evening also.

Very nice video. he footage is awesome. Greetings and have a great day!

Love these behind the scenes videos 👍👍👍

A beautiful bird and some lovely shots Ray.

Thank you for posting in high quality!!👍🏼

Beautiful session, Ray !!👍🏼👍🏼

Great to see your behind the scene work to obtain some stunning shots.

This was a fun video to watch. You got some really nice pictures. The Varied Thrush has been a bird I have tried hard to find. I live in the Puget Sound Area so they are around here, though seldom seen. They usually stay in wooded areas so image my surprise one day when I was letting my dogs back inside and I saw a Varied Thrush at the base of one of my apple trees. I ran to get my camera and did get a couple of shots, none were great but that can be said about all my Varied Thrush pictures. I am sure they come to my back yard fairly often, it just happens when no one sees them.

Absolutely killer work my friend. One of your best pieces of video work to date if you ask me. I was engaged the whole time and it left me excited to see what might be your next challenge.

I always look forward to your videos Ray. I am living vicariously through your birding adventures right now. Your persistence paid off! Congratulations.

30 second mark to 37 seconds should be on a Tshirt!!!!

It's nice to be exposed to the effort you put in to photograph a targeted spieces. So often I go out and just "run and gun" and don"t spend the time to isolate. The times I go out looking for a targeted spieces and find that bird it's so rewarding.

Awesome shots - respect the grind!

Pretty looking Thrush. Seemed like it was responding to the shutter noise, looks to have worked in your favour!

Really like this video format, kind of like behind the scenes. You get really immerse on what's going on and all the conditions that led to the final result. Beautiful area.

Well done!

Thanks for sharing your experience. What type/brand of dry suit were you wearing? Did you have to towel dry everytime you went back into the car?

I don't shoot in sunlight much because it can feel like a wasted trip to drive over 1hr away, only to walk around during golden hour, find no birds and head home but... recently I started taking my gravel bike with me so if the photography fails I still can start a ride in a cool location, also it takes the pressure off and actually makes the photography more successful!

Some lovely images there Ray but some had annoying purple fringing and some did not, different lenses or just different conditions? I know the conditions up there would be terrible for chromatic aberrations.

Just a small pointer to the part around 19:30: Phalaropes have kind of "reversed" plumages as the female is actually the brighter coloured one! Males also take care of the offspring. Great video and great shots!

both turtles are loggerhead :)

Brilliant advice - I learnt a huge amount to take my knowledge to the next level - a lot more interesting than reading the camera manual!

Great shots. You should go see The Wild Robot! One of the main characters is based on what looks like one of these birds...

Great shots as always. This is a bucket-list trip for me for sure!

Can i ask what type of dry suit are you using? I use waders in a floating hide but a dry suit would be better while lying in mud as the tide comes in,

How long generally will you play a call for, does it vary depending on which species?

Great vlog. Great birds. Great photography 👏

The shorebird technique (referring to the vdeo Emily got of you) hahahaha - I never would have imagined... But if it works it works 🤣