[Bristol-Birds] Fw: Re: ADDENDUM unmated Great Blue Heron in third calendar year at Paddle Creek Pond

From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:50:02 -0400

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Joe Lively
To:Wallace Coffey
Sent: March 23, 2011 09:47
Subject: Re: [Bristol-Birds] Re: ADDENDUM unmated Great Blue Heron in third 
calendar year at Paddle Creek Pond

Wallace,

In response to a question from from Don Holt, I used night vision equipment 
last year at the James River Heron Rookery in Richmond, Va.  The site is 
overlooked by some of the most prominent commercial buildings dominating the 
city skyline. As you can imagine, there was a lot of reflective glare at night, 
but Great Blue Herons could be seen lining the rocks along the river. 

These units all function by amplifying existing light - starlight, moonlight or 
ambient city glow. If you use the nocturnal light amplifier in near darkness, 
you must switch on an IR lamp to distinguish anything. Then you face another 
problem of eye shine from the subject. Sometimes, especially in high humidity, 
the eye shine can  scatter and actually mask image details.  

I lost my camera adapter and haven't bothered to get another, so did not 
attempt to photograph this year. My unit is a monocular, generation II.  
Manufactured in Russia, it seems to be a quality unit with fair resolution. I 
have used it in the past with my continuing study of nightjars. The main 
disadvantage is manual focus only. Mine was used mainly with a manual focus 
Nikon film camera. Some of the shots were well defined. 

Don't expect resolution to compare with daylight film or digital. I also use a 
Nikon D700 digital, which is supposed to have superior night performance. So 
far, no commercial digital camera I have tried can match the night performance 
of 800 speed film with the monocular.  While hunting, Great Blue Herons tend to 
remain relatively still both day and night. You might use that to your 
advantage to reveal some new behavioral information.

Individual success might be a function of whether your goals were just plain 
observation or photography. A vastly more expensive alternative might be a 
thermal imaging camera. These can produce well defined images, but you better 
have deep pockets.

Hope this helps.
Joe Lively
Jetersville, Va.
www.hummingbirdsandflowers.net

On Mar 23, 2011, at 8:52 PM, Wallace Coffey wrote:

  Don,
  No.  I have not heard of night-vision equipment used for that purpose
  and it never crossed my mind.  It sounds like a tremendous idea.
  Wallace Coffey
  Bristol, TN

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Don Holt
    To: jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx ; bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Sent: March 22, 2011 08:45
    Subject: Re: [Bristol-Birds] ADDENDUM unmated Great Blue Heron in third 
calendar year at Paddle Creek Pond

    Wallace
    Do you know of anyone who has used night-vision equipment to observe Great 
Blue Heron nesting colonies?
    Don Holt
    Johnson City, TN

[Bristol-Birds] Fw: Re: ADDENDUM unmated Great Blue Heron in third calendar year at Paddle Creek Pond

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