Nature Photography 1

Photographing Alaska Birds With Sony A9

By · On August 28, 2019
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While guiding coastal grizzly trips for Natural Habitat Adventures this summer on the Katmai Coast of Alaska, the amazing bear photos overshadow images of other wildlife such as birds. Photographing birds is, however, especially in flight, far more challenging than shooting bears. The performance of the SONY is best represented by some of the following captures of puffins, eagles and other birds.

I have never been able to capture in flights before like this with my old DLSR gear. The snow was amazingly fast to focus and the focus tracking system is frighteningly accurate. I would pan with the super fast moving birds, shoot 20 frames per second, and hope for the best. I certainly had some real beauties in many of these bursts!

Horned puffin in flight.

Puffin 44 clear for landing!

After the last light dissappears from the meadow, the puffin island is often still lit up because it is further from the mountains. Sometimes a late night trip at last night was stunning to say the least!

Common eider in flight! I have never gotten any good images of these shy sea ducks- especially a drake in breeding plumage!

What a gorgeous duck!

The ubiquitous bald eagles are always there for the taking.

If you are patient, and act in a way that makes the eagles relaxed enough to perch close to you, and then a bear moves into the background, it is amazing!

Beautiful tufted puffin…..

Tufted puffin in flight.

Parakeet auklet. These birds are only found in a few places in Alaska. I know of a small rookery where a group of 8 birds has tripled in size in the last 4 years. These guys like to eat jellyfish.

Parakeet auklets.

There is an amazing, super tolerant family of oystercatchers who have learned to trust us over the years. Their home is set amongst a stunning backdrop….

I am super happy with the Sony A9 because the entire system is set up for wildlife photography- speed is king.

Keep exploring! Brad


Brad has been a Natural Habitat Expedition Leader since 2005, guiding Alaska grizzly bear tours, Churchill polar bear tours, northern lights expeditions and China panda tours. His specialty is bear biology and ecology of the north country.

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1 Comment

  • Steve Weileman says: August 29, 2019 at 12:04 pm

    Wow! Those are some incredible shots!!

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