Barn Owl, part of the Skyhunters In Flight show
I recently spent a really enjoyable hour watching a live raptor show called “Skyhunters In Flight” at the Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo. Skyhunters in Flight is an educational program run by Brian and Teddy Bradley that features a live, outdoor lecture about raptors in parallel with an interactive, very close-up demonstration with live birds of prey. My photos from the show are at the end of this article.
For anyone interested in birds of prey or in having an opportunity to photograph some beautiful raptors up close, I highly recommend that you try to see Brian and Teddy’s show. In 2023, they are presenting at Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, CT on Saturday & Sunday at 11am and 2pm until Labor Day, free with admission.
This was my first time seeing this show, so from a photography point of view, I didn’t know what to expect. In this article, I’ll share my learnings to help you get the best photos you can.
Seating Logistics
When you walk into the theater area, you can go left or right to the seating areas, which are arranged in a semi-circle. I sat on the left side in the middle row, about 3/4 of the way down the row (relative to the entrance). During the show, the birds are slowly walked around the semi-circle, so everyone gets a really close view of the birds. There are three rows of seating, and the second row seemed pretty good as the birds where nearly eye level when walked around. However, pretty much any of the three rows are fine, offering slightly different perspectives.
Looking at the shady site. No a bad seat in the house.
The biggest difference to picking sides is the sun, if it’s out, which it was for my 11am show. The right side seating (when walking in) was nicely shaded by trees and large umbrellas. The left side was about 50% shaded by two large umbrellas. Since the sun was out and shining from the right, I sat on the left side which made for nice “short lighting” on the faces of the birds and presenters (i.e., more of the face was shaded than sunny, with the shaded side of the face mostly towards me – see photo gallery below for examples). But don’t worry too much if you can’t get a seat on your preferred side because photos taken from either side will be nice, just lit differently. I just missed out on sitting in a shady spot, and the sun became a bit uncomfortable on me over time. I’m glad I wore sunscreen!
Once the show starts, there is limited opportunity to move seats. I stayed put the whole time. I was happy with my location. However, for a live, interactive show with free-flying birds, each seat provides it’s own perspective, opportunities and challenges so it was great that throughout the show Brian and Teddy made sure that everyone got a close view of all the birds. From that perspective, there really was no bad seat.
Equipment
In the photo gallery below, Exif data is displayed with each photo so you can see the camera settings and focal lengths I used. I used a full frame camera with a close-focusing 100-400mm zoom lens. This worked pretty well because it was multi-purpose – good for when the birds went on their up-close walk-arounds as well as during the flight shots. If I go again, I’d probably use the same lens. If you have a zoom lens with a shorter or longer reach, that should work well too because Brian and Teddy provide so many photo opportunities that regardless of the equipment that you have you should be able to get some great photos, even with a cell phone. However, I wanted you to know what I used for these photos as a reference. Additionally, all of the photos are cropped to some degree.
A quick review of the Exif data shows that the vast majority of the photos I took were in the 100-200mm range. The only time I went beyond 200mm was when I was taking “head shots” of the birds.
Flight Shots
Boom! Fast shutter, pre-focus, zoom out, then crop!
The opportunities for flight shots will be limited and challenging because the birds are fast and there is not a lot of runway to catch the birds in your camera. Certainly try, but manage your expectations on what you may get. Some suggestions that may help to improve your odds include:
1) Try for a fast shutter speed, for example 1/1000 sec or higher. This may mean opening your aperture all the way and/or increasing your ISO. Too slow of a shutter speed and your in-focus bird may be blurry instead of sharp. The birds won’t be flying at full speed so you may get away with a slower shutter speed, but you can improve your odds with faster.
2) Pre-focus your lens. If you can’t focus on the bird directly, then try to guess where the bird will be and pre-focus there before the bird is there so that your camera can find the bird more quickly. Then pan your camera with the bird as best as possible while trying to achieve focus and take lots of photos.
3) Be zoomed out and crop later. It will be much easier to photograph a flying bird if you are not zoomed in all the way. For example, on my 100-400mm lens, I was between the 100-200mm range rather than the 300-400mm range during the flight photos. Of course this may vary based on where you sit, but that’s the idea.
4) If flight shots are not working out, then you may just want to enjoy the moment of seeing the birds flying in front of you, and instead concentrate on getting the still photos during the other parts of the show to make sure you come way with some nice memories.
Parting Thoughts
I’m ready for my close up
Hopefully this article helps you to be better prepared on what to expect from the exceptional “Skyhunters In Flight” birds of prey show at Beardsley Zoo. In addition to the information presented here, perhaps most importantly is to be sure to listen closely to the lecture so that in addition to some nice photos, you’ll also come away with many fascinating facts about these beautiful birds of prey from the many years of knowledge that Brian and Teddy will be sharing with you. Enjoy the experience of seeing these wonderful birds within a few feet of you.
Click on any photo below to see it larger with it’s Exif data displayed on the bottom-left.
