I Tried Bird Photography... And Got HOOKED!

0:00 Okay, I never thought I'd say this, but I

0:02 have become completely hooked on bird photography,

0:05 which doesn't even make sense.

0:06 I'm not even a photographer.

0:07 I'm a video guy, and I like cool stuff like dirt bikes, and I like to party.

0:12 I don't have time to use binoculars and look

0:14 at a goose just sitting there and in the pond.

0:17 But apparently, it's one of the primary reasons people buy cameras.

0:21 And over 96 million Americans are into birding.

0:24 And I feel like it's going to be

0:25 a lot easier to understand why birding is so fun.

0:28 If you've ever played Pokemon,

0:29 you start off as this kid that knows nothing about Pokemon and you

0:32 wander around and then you run into worms and a Pidgeat, right?

0:36 Pidgey, Ratatouille, oh or Rattata, you ran, you catch a rat.

0:40 But in the game, you have the Pokédex, which is super handy, right?

0:43 Cuz it tells you what kind of Pokémon is

0:45 in front of you and it tells you information about it.

0:47 We have that in birding as well, but it's on your phone.

0:50 It's just a free app.

0:51 Eventually, you get to a point where you're encountering

0:53 the same Pokemon in your hometown over and over.

0:56 So then you have to go and explore other places, right?

0:59 And venture out.

1:00 I just got back from traveling to Ohio and Michigan for a shoot.

1:03 And in the past, I'd be like, I'm just there to work.

1:05 But now I'm like, I'm there to burn.

1:07 So it makes traveling a lot more exciting,

1:09 but also it makes things like hiking a lot more exciting,

1:13 too, because you just have this extra element of things

1:16 that can happen that are exciting while you're hiking.

1:19 But I tell you, when you come across a bird that you've never seen before,

1:22 it could be exhilarating.

1:23 It could also be relaxing.

1:25 Sometimes you feel like you're a ninja trying to sneak

1:28 through places because you don't want to scare off the birds,

1:30 but it's also a great reason to go outside,

1:33 which is linked to just overall better

1:35 well-being and better mood and just happiness.

1:37 We like being happy, right?

1:38 Being outside bird.

1:40 All right, so Carrie is at 98 birds right now.

1:45 Yeah, I'm at 82 and Frank's at zero.

1:48 Zero.

1:48 First app you need to get is Merlin bird ID.

1:50 So create your account.

1:51 The easiest way to find birds is through sound.

1:54 So, all you do is tap that microphone.

1:56 And now it's listening.

1:57 We hear a bunch of action over here.

1:59 So, follow the sound.

2:01 It's like hunting almost.

2:02 You're going to shoot the birds, but with a camera.

2:05 Oh, it heard something.

2:06 Forcers turn.

2:07 Forcer's turn.

2:07 It'll turn yellow as the app is hearing it.

2:09 So, you hear that it's coming from those birds right there.

2:11 Right.

2:11 And you see it turning yellow.

2:14 Yes.

2:13 That means that's probably a forcer's turn.

2:16 So, now you got to take a picture to confirm.

2:19 Okay.

2:18 Or see it through binoculars like me.

2:21 Yeah.

2:21 You got a shot.

2:22 Okay.

2:22 Oh, you got one with a fish in his mouth.

2:24 Oh, he's got something in his mouth.

2:25 So, look, you could click on it.

2:26 There it is.

2:29 Yeah.

2:28 And it'll give you multiple photos to look through.

2:31 Dude, you got your first Pokémon.

2:33 That's a cool first bird.

2:34 He looks like a little robber.

2:35 I took a picture.

2:36 I saw it.

2:37 I identified it.

2:38 This is my bird.

2:39 And it's going to ask you where you are.

2:40 You can say Bulsa Chica.

2:42 And then hit save.

2:44 Oh, okay.

2:45 Okay.

2:45 So, I actually save it in the location like it shows me a map.

2:50 Yeah.

2:50 Of where I got it.

2:51 Yeah.

2:51 Okay.

2:51 where I got where I captured it.

2:53 Now there's a check mark next to it, right?

2:55 And you go to your life list, you have one species on your life list.

2:58 Yeah.

2:58 One and Carrie's at 99 or Car's at 99 and I'm at 82.

3:03 Car's about to see her hundth.

3:05 So, this is kind of a big moment.

3:06 What's the goal?

3:07 There is no ending, right?

3:09 There's like thousands of birds.

3:10 There's about 10,000 bird species around the world.

3:13 Okay.

3:13 How do you know what kind of bird this is?

3:15 Yeah, because he's not making any sound,

3:17 right?

3:18 But

3:18 so I'd have to like scan him.

3:20 Yeah.

3:20 and go ahead and take a photo.

3:22 And if the bird's far away,

3:23 I'll have to take a picture and then send it to my phone and then load it up.

3:27 But allow the bird in the box.

3:29 And then it just wants to know that you are here in Huntington Beach.

3:32 You hit identify.

3:33 Great eager.

3:34 Oh, that's a great egret.

3:36 Yeah,

3:35 I thought that was a snow egret.

3:37 No, these ones are bigger.

3:39 Oh,

3:39 the snowy egrets are smaller.

3:40 If your picture is not detailed enough,

3:42 it might give you a few different options,

3:43 but right now it's giving you only one option and then you

3:45 could look at the pictures and you could generally say that's the bird.

3:49 And so I can add this bird.

3:52 Yes.

3:53 Interesting.

3:53 You got another life, too.

3:54 Oh, this is a cool app.

3:55 That's how I usually identify most of my birds.

3:57 Carrie likes to use a book and she memorizes the entire

4:01 animal kingdom so that she can identify it with just her binoculars.

4:05 Now it's your turn to identify a bird without our help at all.

4:08 So, let the addiction begin, Frank.

4:14 That was a Willlet.

4:15 Yeah.

4:15 And just confirm it.

4:17 That looks like it.

4:17 Yeah, that's the one.

4:19 You're off and running.

4:21 Yeah.

4:21 Or flying, should I say?

4:22 So, it's kind of fun because then you can start to like learn about birds.

4:27 Whoa.

4:26 What?

4:26 Oh.

4:27 Oh, is that an osprey?

4:28 It might be an Osprey.

4:29 That'd be sick.

4:30 He's got something.

4:31 Yeah, he actually got something.

4:32 He got a fish.

4:33 He's got a fish.

4:34 Get it, guys.

4:34 Get it.

4:35 Frank's fourth bird's going to be an osprey.

4:37 That's crazy.

4:38 He has all these birds before he has a house finch.

4:40 That's like catching a Charizard before you caught a Weedle.

4:43 But once you know what these birds are, you see how much more exciting it is.

4:46 Yeah.

4:46 Especially when they're doing something, not just standing there.

4:50 Yeah.

4:50 Oh, that's different.

4:51 What is that?

4:52 Oh, yeah.

4:52 Look at that beak.

4:53 Oh, snap.

4:54 That's going to be your hundth bird.

4:55 This is This is the sentry bird.

4:57 It's got to be this one.

4:58 A black skimmer.

4:59 Oh, that is it.

5:02 Yeah.

5:01 Wo.

5:01 That's a crazy looking bird.

5:03 Weird.

5:03 Yeah, that's a weird bird,

5:04 right?

5:04 But that's like the type of stuff you

5:06 see all the time when you're looking for birds.

5:08 Like, usually you wouldn't even notice.

5:09 Yeah.

5:09 You don't you don't notice it.

5:10 Yeah.

5:11 Yeah.

5:11 Oh, Osprey's got a fish.

5:12 Oh, dang.

5:13 It's coming this way.

5:14 It's like the fish gets to see where he's flying.

5:16 It's almost like Titanic.

5:17 He's flying.

5:19 Jack,

5:19 what bird are you most excited to see?

5:21 I want to see a woodcock.

5:23 A woodcock?

5:24 Yeah.

5:24 He's very plump and round and he's the one that like does this.

5:28 Oh, yeah.

5:29 And he goes, "Me." Birding is kind of the gateway to nature photography.

5:35 We'll come out looking for birds, but then we'll see deer or jack rabbits.

5:41 Otter.

5:41 That's so cool.

5:42 They're just hanging out there.

5:43 At First I thought they were birds,

5:44 but then I saw their little flippers coming out of the water.

5:47 What is he doing?

5:48 He's eating something.

5:49 He's eating a crab.

5:50 Oh my god.

5:51 Actually looks pretty vicious.

5:53 Otter are vicious.

5:54 It's a reminder of how gnarly nature is.

5:57 They're in survival mode 24/7.

6:00 You know what Carrie's very first photo ever was for bird photography?

6:05 Two Cooper hawks mating and one had a kill.

6:08 Romantic dinner, I guess.

6:10 Dinner and then some.

6:11 within 30 seconds of walking through this park.

6:13 I think another one of my favorite finds was that nut

6:16 all woodpecker that was inside the hole in the tree.

6:19 Oh yeah, I forgot about that one.

6:21 Oh my god, it's in the tree.

6:22 It's a little wood.

6:24 You see him?

6:25 Oh my gosh, he's sticking his head out.

6:27 Oh, you're so cute.

6:29 Oh, that's cool.

6:31 He's super close.

6:32 You're going to get so much detail.

6:34 Oh, I got a little bit of bokeh behind him.

6:36 I bet you there's a good one in there.

6:38 All right, so now let's talk gear.

6:39 What do we need?

6:40 What do we want?

6:41 Uh, again, I'm still new to this.

6:42 I'm still not even at 100 birds yet.

6:44 I'm at 98 today.

6:45 I might hit 100.

6:46 But anyways, if you are an expert birder,

6:49 please let me know if you have any recommendations on the setup.

6:52 But right now, I'm using the Sony A74 with the 2 to600 mil.

6:57 I honestly thought Carrie was a little crazy at first when

6:59 she said she wanted this lens because this was her idea, honestly.

7:03 But maybe a 2 to600 I I could have something that's kind of unique.

7:07 And honestly, ever since we got this lens,

7:09 I've been using it on a majority of my shoots now,

7:12 especially when you pair it with like the Sony FX3 and the 4K 120,

7:15 like oh my god, everything just is so dramatic.

7:18 And really excited about this lens, honestly.

7:20 Also, we got a teleconverter.

7:21 This is the 1.4x.

7:23 So, basically, this turns it into like up to a 840 mil.

7:28 Um, I'm kind of meh about this teleconverter, honestly.

7:31 It's good.

7:32 It's clear.

7:32 It's just it it definitely makes the autofocus less reliable.

7:36 So definitely the 4 to 800 mil is now on our radar cuz birds are tricky to get

7:41 cuz first of all you need really fast autofocus

7:43 because they're flying fast and then they're flapping their wings.

7:46 So you need a fast shutter speed and you

7:48 need a super telephoto which means a slower lens generally.

7:51 But there's also that 400 mil f2.8 prime lens.

7:55 Oh, but it is $13,000.

7:57 Oh my gosh.

7:58 So yeah, birding can definitely get super expensive,

8:01 but it doesn't actually have to be.

8:02 I mean, really, this all started when I got Carrie

8:04 a pair of binoculars for our anniversary pair of Nox Provisions.

8:08 Uh, not sponsored, but I would totally be down.

8:11 And then she started buying all these books and and now she's like 2 to 600 mil.

8:15 Let's get it.

8:16 So, I mean, hey, having a wife that's down to buy gear, I Hey, cool.

8:22 I think Canon also makes this kind of like moninocular style thing,

8:25 which is a 400 mil that zooms into 800 mil.

8:28 I haven't tested it, so I don't know if it's any good or not yet.

8:30 And then Nikon makes this thousand camera with this built-in lens,

8:33 but it zooms to like a 3000 mil or something that I I need to try out.

8:38 That sounds crazy.

8:39 A 3000 mil.

8:41 Actually, Small Rig even makes a super telephoto

8:43 lens that you could attach onto your phone,

8:45 which uh I still have yet to test, but that sounds kind of interesting.

8:48 If you're already a subscriber of this channel,

8:50 you most likely already have some sort of camera.

8:52 It's just a matter of putting a a lens on there.

8:54 A lot of people recommend at least a 300 mil,

8:57 although you can really do it with any lens really,

9:00 but then that just means you have to get a lot closer.

9:02 Also, you might have noticed that I have the Insta 360.

9:04 This is the uh X5, the newest one.

9:06 Love this one because it has replaceable lenses and it's

9:09 how we've filmed a majority of this video actually.

9:11 Reason being that it's going to be kind of unreasonable for me to actually try

9:15 to vlog while we're out birding because my hands

9:18 are pretty full when I'm holding this camera.

9:20 This lens has this foot mount,

9:21 but basically I would invert that so it's upside down.

9:24 And then I got a small ray/ quarter 20 arm.

9:27 So I'll be getting some shots like this.

9:28 And notice whenever I bring the camera down,

9:30 like the Instant 360 is kind of like in front of me now.

9:32 And honestly, it's been kind of a a nice stealthy way to vlog.

9:36 Just recording my reaction as well as what's in front of the lens.

9:39 And I'll have this in a 30 secondond pre-record setting cuz usually

9:42 it could be like 30 minutes straight of just and nothing happening, right?

9:49 So, I don't want a ton of footage.

9:50 So, 30 second pre-record means that it's kind of just buffering.

9:53 And then whenever a bald eagle flies out of the bush and attacks us,

9:57 that's when I can hit this and it would capture

10:00 from there on, but also it would keep the last 30 seconds.

10:03 I do need to get a strap still.

10:05 I hear a popular one is Black Rapid.

10:07 I haven't tried it yet.

10:08 If you have any recommendations, again,

10:10 please let me know down there in the comments.

10:11 So, I'll just walk around with this setup

10:13 for photography or of course the Tribeex

10:15 tripod if I'm trying to record video or long exposure when we heard some owls.

10:20 Can you learn how to photograph owls?

10:22 Like, how do you do it when your lenses are f8?

10:25 We're going to do a 13-second exposure.

10:27 And good thing that the Tribeex tripod is so stable and grounded.

10:32 So, for long exposure, even when it's kind of windy, it's nice and stable.

10:36 Link in description.

10:38 Just enough time.

10:39 13 seconds.

10:41 What?

10:41 It's like a whole little owl family.

10:44 Is that cool?

10:45 How do I zoom in?

10:45 They're looking straight at you.

10:47 I know.

10:48 They're like, "What?" Take a picture of the bird on the truck over there.

10:51 That might be Is that a creeper?

10:53 We might have a lifer here.

10:54 He's just walking vertically like that.

10:56 Feel like this is a white breasted nuthatch.

10:59 Creeps along tree trunks and branches, often upside down.

11:02 This would be my 99.

11:03 And you were just about to say we should turn around.

11:06 The beauty also is if you go out birding and you don't see anything,

11:10 you get like an amazing hike out of it.

11:12 You feel good when you're outside getting a decent workout.

11:14 This isn't like an intense workout or anything, but I am Oh, yeah.

11:17 in zone two for my heart rate.

11:19 Tons of benefits there if you uh get your heart rate into zone two.

11:23 So, I'm trying to make that a habit of at least

11:25 trying to get into zone 2 at least once a day.

11:27 Also, when we tell our friends that we like to go birding now,

11:30 I think one of the first questions they ask usually is like,

11:33 "Where do you go birding?" And I feel like you could kind of go anywhere.

11:36 We've birded on the side of the road in a parking lot.

11:40 The Cheeto eating sparrow.

11:41 Anywhere where there might be birds,

11:43 but if you're trying to look up some spots you should go birding,

11:45 uh, EIR is a good app for that.

11:47 It shows you how many birding locations are nearby,

11:50 and it really gives you an idea of how big the birding community is.

11:54 Oh, I might get my hundth bird today.

11:56 There's a tit mouse around.

11:58 This is where it starts to get kind of intense.

12:00 We know there's a lifer nearby.

12:02 We don't want to scare it off.

12:04 Oh, look at all these goats.

12:05 Should we walk by them?

12:06 Honestly, all wildlife is so cool.

12:07 This isn't wildlife.

12:09 This is someone's park.

12:10 That's true.

12:10 All animals are cool.

12:13 Yeah,

12:12 little parkour goat.

12:14 Oh my gosh, Carrie, shut up.

12:16 A bald eagle.

12:18 Imagine if a bald eagle was like 100th birthday.

12:19 That'd be insane.

12:21 Yeah, it kind of came from like back here that direction.

12:23 Oh my gosh, that'd be crazy if I saw a bald eagle for my 100th birthday.

12:27 That'd be so a Forget the tit mouse.

12:30 We did not get the bald eagle, but I did get my 100th birthday.

12:34 I got it.

12:35 A Roffus crowned sparrow.

12:37 It's a little antilimactic, but

12:39 I love that you take everybody else to these beautiful parks.

12:42 And we're taking Dylan to the LA River.

12:45 This has been a dream of yours to become a burer right now.

12:48 Since I was 12 years old.

12:49 For those of you who are familiar with Los Angeles and the LA River,

12:53 uh you know that it's not this like beautiful majestic landscape.

12:56 in Terminator.

12:57 It's where the semi-truck like jumped off

12:59 and and was chasing the kid on the dirt bike.

13:01 But randomly, we just found out that there's certain

13:03 patches such as this where there's actually trees in green.

13:06 It's kind of weird.

13:07 I'm a little scared to go in there.

13:09 We got our vering hats.

13:10 I got Oh, I ended up getting a a black rapid strap.

13:13 I ended up going for like the straight one, but you know, it's kind of nice.

13:16 It's like the strap sits here.

13:18 I can bring the camera up and this the camera slides up and down this strap.

13:22 So, this part never moves.

13:24 All right.

13:25 Bam.

13:26 You need a birding name.

13:27 Oh, it should be your first bird on your life list.

13:29 Like I feel like all great bird shots

13:32 need a great voiceover to go along with it.

13:34 We have ventured away from the 405 freeway.

13:37 We find ourselves traversing down the rugged

13:39 terrain of the natural Los Angeles habitat.

13:42 Smooth concrete that blends in seamlessly

13:44 to the algae and other fauna around us.

13:47 Outstanding.

13:48 There's a shirtless man over there peeing in a bush.

13:50 So, okay.

13:51 He's probably not a burder.

13:52 Let's go this way.

13:53 Did your app hear anything yet or no?

13:55 Yeah, it actually did.

13:57 A barn swallow.

13:58 I don't know.

13:59 That's going to be your bird name.

14:00 Barn swall.

14:01 Well, I don't know.

14:01 We got to wait for like the next bird.

14:03 Yeah, that's kind of a question.

14:04 How did you find specifically the LA River?

14:06 This app eird, I can circle like an area and I can sort

14:10 it by what's the most popular in terms of the most species found.

14:13 And apparently this part of this LA River is actually pretty high up there.

14:18 You'll find birds and people smoking fentanyl.

14:22 It's a whole zoo.

14:23 There's birds that'll eat fermented berries and they'll actually get drunk.

14:28 Oh, damn.

14:28 Oh, what about these dudes out here?

14:30 Okay.

14:30 For birding, you're not supposed to walk straight towards the bird.

14:34 You're supposed to zigzag to not scare them off.

14:36 Okay.

14:36 Got a serpentine.

14:37 Dude, there's a fish in here.

14:39 Oh, yellow warbler.

14:40 I got a fourth one.

14:41 Oh, yeah.

14:41 Yellow warbler.

14:42 That's That's the one that's over there.

14:43 That's like

14:45 Yeah, dude.

14:45 This is like Pokémon.

14:46 If you remember the original one, each Pokémon has like a little sound.

14:48 Do we go try to find my favorite bird?

14:51 A pigeon.

14:52 Yeah.

14:53 Where do we go?

14:54 Parking lot.

14:55 Yeah.

14:55 Let's go.

14:56 Yeah.

14:57 Trash can.

14:57 Yeah.

14:57 So, what's cool about pigeons, Jean?

14:59 So, these are rock pigeons.

15:00 So, they're carrier pigeons.

15:01 Take them wherever and then they'll find their way home.

15:03 Kind of like how cats always end up face up.

15:05 These ones will just always go home.

15:07 They can cover a lot of ground.

15:08 It's actually kind of crazy.

15:09 They used them in World War II.

15:12 Really?

15:11 There was even a pigeon who got some type of military award.

15:14 I We have cell phones now.

15:16 So, okay.

15:17 So, this is just obsolete technology we're looking at.

15:19 Run a muck.

15:21 You got to do the thumbnail.

15:22 You know, I got the hat on.

15:24 I got a matching safari shirt.

15:26 You know, you guys want to know

15:28 what actually my favorite thing about birding is?

15:30 It's what made Carrie really into cameras.

15:33 Look at that.

15:34 Like, you love cameras now.

15:36 Cameras that can take pictures of birds.

15:38 She's the one that's telling me we need to go buy different C.

15:41 She's like, "Please,

15:42 can we get the 4 to800?" Maybe Santa will bring me an A1 Mark II.

15:46 50 megapixels.

15:47 I could zoom in like for days and still have detail.

15:50 But maybe you were born to do this.

15:52 I've taken a lot of bird photos, but my favorite shots are from Carrick.

15:56 Honestly, like the heron you did on your like second she

16:00 barely understands ISO and she's like taking these like beautiful pictures.

16:04 You just have to learn some of the technical

16:05 stuff which of course I can teach you,

16:07 but like she's interested to learn this stuff.

16:09 out.

16:10 I think one of my favorite things that I've

16:12 come out of birding is actually seeing you be challenged.

16:15 I think one of the biggest things I learned if I saw

16:17 something at an 800 mil and I had to bring it up,

16:20 it would take me forever to find it.

16:22 I'd be like, how?

16:23 But I've just gotten so much better at being like, oh, I see a dot over there.

16:26 And I just know exactly how to bring the camera up to my eye.

16:30 A month ago, I'd be like, but now it's just like,

16:34 oh, I I'm trying to get a shot of that bird.

16:36 Bam.

16:37 And it's like perfectly right there in the center of frame.

16:39 Bam, bam, bam.

16:40 So, it's like kind of like a a physical challenge, too.

16:43 There was one time I was cracking up cuz a bird

16:46 flew by and I don't even think you looked through the viewfinder.

16:48 I think you just were like, "Oh, yeah.

16:50 Sometimes I shoot from the hip." Those have not worked.

16:53 I tried those before where it's like and I know I

16:55 don't have enough time to do this cuz it's flying past.

16:58 I'll just They're just like out of focus shots of nothing.

17:02 Oh, what was that?

17:03 Do something.

17:05 Acorn.

17:05 No way.

17:06 A parakeet.

17:07 Is that somebody's pet that escaped?

17:08 While Carrie and I are just doing normal everyday stuff

17:12 and we hear some bird sound that is unfamiliar to us,

17:16 we completely stop everything we're doing.

17:19 It's not something that I ever expected out of the the future self.

17:23 But that's what makes life so fun is you just go and like explore new

17:27 things all the time that you never

17:28 thought you would maybe even be interested in.

17:30 And then you start digging into it and then you start unraveling it.

17:33 Some of it fun, some of it not so fun, like uh brood parasiting.

17:38 They lay their eggs in other birds nests.

17:41 And then those other birds hatch it and raise

17:43 it and feed it as if it was their own.

17:46 But this brood bird always out competes for food

17:49 and eventually is way bigger than the mom.

17:52 And it's scary.

17:53 Stuff like this is just like happening maybe in your yard and you have no idea.

17:58 It's fascinating to just like understand that much more about nature.

18:02 Anyways, we're gonna go look for some more birds.

18:04 Thank you so much for hanging out with us for another journey,

18:08 learning new things.

18:09 I love these types of episodes, I must say, where I get to learn new things.

18:13 You know, this is all new to my brain.