Trogon Photo Tours

January 2015 - This month's photography article includes information about bird photography locations in the Dominican Republic and images that I took during a recent private bird watching and photography tour that we led there.  We managed to see about 25 of the 30 endemic species and we managed reasonably good photos of 10 of the endemics.  But in general it was difficult birding and photography.

Carribean Coot photographed November 2014, Now Larimar Resort, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.  Canon 5D3 500F4 1.4x 1/640 F8, iso 1600, evaluative metering -1.0, handheld.  The first place we stayed was at one of the all inclusive beach resorts, which is what the Dominican Republic is known for, as well as producing great baseball players.  For many people this is their only experience with the Dominican Republic.  I think most of the resorts have a few wetland ponds and some green areas which attract some birds.  We had actually reserved a different resort but it was undergoing an unexpected renovation so we were moved to the Larimar.  Our resort had some wetlands out front which produced a few nice birds including these coots and the stunning White-crowned Pigeon(which I got a few photos of but they are big crops).  With the sun shining on this bird and the dark water for a background I dialed in -1.0 on the evaluative (matrix) metering to avoid blowing out all detail in the white beak. 

Ridgway's Hawks - photographed November 2014 at the Punta Cana Ecological Reserve, Dominican Republic.  Canon 5D3 500F4 1/5000 F8, iso 1000, evaluative metering at 0.  Photographing this endangered species was the highlight of the trip for me.  The smaller male is on the left with his young female bride on the right.  This shot shows the sexual dimorphism in size of most raptors as the female is much larger than the male.  I certainly could/should have dropped my iso some here, we had cloud cover which required a +2.0 evaluative adjustment with the corresponding drop in shutter speed, the sun came out and I changed the eval back to 0 but in my excitement forgot to drop the iso.  Soon after this I put on the teleconverter, stopped down to F11 and dropped my iso to 800 but by then the clouds had come back out some and the lighting and poses weren't as good.  So despite not optimizing my settings this was the best photo of the session and the whole trip really.  The reason I had this great opportunity is I contacted the Peregrine Fund and they set me up with one of the people working with this species in Punta Cana.  The Peregrine Fund is doing great work there along with the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation to ensure this species survival.  They have taken nestlings and young birds from one of the sustainable wild populations in the Dominican Republic, raised them and then released them at their reserve in Punta Cana.  The program has been a great success in that there are now 7 nesting pairs in the Punta Cana area.  There is a lot of work to do for this species which just numbers about 300 in the wild.  From educating the people that they are something to be treasured rather than persecuted to safeguarding  telephone poles to keep them from being electrocuted (a major cause of mortality for the Punta Cana birds).  So donating to either the Peregrine Fund or to the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation is certainly a worthy cause.  In the future they may develop a program where photographers can schedule a half day or day with one of the researchers to photograph these hawks.  If they develop such a program I will let you know about it in future newsletters.

Bananaquit photographed December 2014, Villa Barroncoli, Sierra de Bahoruca, Dominican Republic.  Canon 5D3 500F4 1.4x 1/500 F7.1, iso 1600, evaluative metering -0.7, 580ex fill flash at -1.7.  Our next stop on the tour was the Sierra de Barouca, a mountain range in the Southwest Dominican Republic which is the center for endemism in Hispanolia (Hispanolia being the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic).  The reason it's the center for endemism on Hispanolia is that this part of the island used to be a separate island which was separated from the mainland by a shallow sea.  We did see many of the rare endemic birds that inhabit the area but we didn't get any great nor many good photos of them.  The reason is that they were shy birds and the best birding area was 2 hours down the worst 4 wheel drive road that I have had the pleasure to bird on so we only visited it one morning.  As is often the case the best bird photos came around the lodge.  This Banaquit is a common species in the tropics, it came by while I was working on photographing the endemic Vervain Hummingbird which came to a flowering bush at the lodge. The settings are often typical of what I do when using fill flash, I dial in a bit of negative exposure compensation on the camera to bring down the background and highlights and also use negative compensation on the flash to avoid an overflashed look.  Actually to call Villa Barroncoli a lodge is a bit of a stretch.  It's more of a camp with basic rooms and a shared bathroom block where you have to turn on and off two valves to get any water to flow.

Broad-billed Tody photographed December 2014, Bahorona, Dominican Republic.  Canon 5D3 500F4 1.4x 1/1000 F7.1, iso 1600, evaluative metering at 0, 580ex fill flash at -1.3, handheld.  The todies are a family of birds which are endemic to just the Caribbean region.  They are tiny 4 inch jewels.  This bird was backlit so I added  a fair bit of fill flash to get the adequate detail and colors in the bird.  After our time near the Southwest coast we drove back for our final day in Santo Domingo.  We visited the Botanical Gardens which were quite birdy, the highlight there being the endangered West Indian Whistling Ducks. 

Hispanolian Parakeets photographed December 2014, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  Canon 5D3 500F4 1.4x 1/1600 F8, iso 800, evaluative metering +1.0, handheld.  The other photographic highlight of the trip besides the Ridgeway's Hawks were the thousands of roosting Hispanolian Parakeets which roost on the grounds of the El Embajador hotel in downtown Santo Domingo.  This is the oldest hotel in Santo Domingo, it's still very nice.  We didn't stay there but if I ever went again, this is where I would stay because of the parakeet roost.  They start arriving about 5pm in the afternoon.  For this image I added +1.0 to the evaluative metering because the birds were darker than the bright blue sky. 

Hispanolian Parkeet photographed December 2014, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  Canon 5D3 500F4 1.4x 1/125 F8, iso 1600, evaluative metering +0.7, 580ex fill flash at -1.7, handheld.  If you are photographing the parakeets at the El Embajador be sure to bring your flash, after the first half an hour or so the sun goes down behind the buildings and the parakeets are in shadow.  It's still a great photo opportunity if you have your flash.  There are many squabbles and fights to see and photograph.  This image won't be to everyone's taste, it's a nice example of a low shutter speed flash blur, where the mix of ambient light and flash has resulted in a nice sharp hhead and blurred wings, feet and tail. 

In conclusion I can't really recommend a dedicated bird photography trip to the Dominican Republic.  There are a lot of endemics there but as I said the area with the most endemics doesn't have suitable accommodation near the birds and the birds are shy and difficult to photograph.  Only someone with a lot of time who doesn't mind roughing it would have a productive trip.  Perhaps the birding and nature photography infrastructure will improve over time.  However, if you are planning to have a beach vacation at one of the inclusive resorts bring your camera gear and you will probably manage to get some nice images.  If you are in Santo Domingo on business I think it's certainly worth staying at the El Embajador Hotel and photographing the parakeets.  If you have spare time visiting the Botanical Gardens can be worthwhile as well.