Great migrations
Dropping temperatures, longer, colder nights and stronger winds blowing the last leaves of autumn from the trees are familiar signs of winter’s arrival. But a closer look at the natural world reveals other clues to this dramatic change of seasons – all over the world, wildlife is on the move.
Although migrations happen all year round and are usually linked to food supplies and breeding cycles, the need to avoid winter’s icy grip is essential for the survival of many species. These migrations have become symbolic of the change in climate to which all species have to adapt at this time of year.
Just as the first migratory swallow marks the arrival of summer, so the flocks of whooper and Bewick’s swans signal the start of winter.
It’s an exciting and spectacular time, as this influx of migratory birds, and the colour of winter plumage, provide plenty of subject matter for the camera. For an island nation such as Great Britain, visiting birds are the most conspicuous and common example of wildlife migrations, but in the Americas, Asia and Africa, mammals provide the greatest migration spectacles of all.
Wildebeest by the million
From September to November, the vast Mara plains in Kenya are filled with 1.5 million grazing wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebra, antelope and other ungulates. For the predators of East Africa, this is a prime time to be hunting, and for photographers, that means a great chance of focusing on a kill by a pride of lions or even a leopard.
The wildebeest come here from the Serengeti Plain in Tanzania and begin their migration in June, after the rainy season. The animals gather in large herds, mate and then head north.
The migration takes several months and involves crossing two large crocodile-infested rivers – the Grumeti in Tanzania and the Mara on the Tanzania–Kenya border. These crossings are the locations for some of the greatest wildlife photography Africa has to offer as hundreds of thousands of ungulates ford the rivers, desperate to avoid the jaws of the predatory crocodiles and lions.
By December, the rains will have returned to the Serengeti and the wildebeest will turn south and retrace their journey back to Tanzania, where they will feed on the fresh grass and give birth to their calves. There they will remain until the end of the rains, and then their 2,900-kilometre trip will start again.
Long lenses
Unsurprisingly, the local safari operators know the migration route intimately, and have mapped out the best locations for photographers looking to capture this spectacle and other prominent wildlife at any time of year. The scenery is vast, the skies tall and wildlife abundant, but the most important ingredient for the photographer is the quality of the light. Long lenses, with their high magnification, require fast shutter speeds to freeze any action and cut out any vibration or lens movement. Such considerations are easier to overcome in the bright light of African skies.
Even so, the right technique requires using the widest lens aperture to ensure the fastest possible shutter speed. Safari photographers usually work from an open-top vehicle, which makes a tripod impractical. Instead, photographers rest the long lens (typically a telephoto or zoom of around 400 millimetres or 500 millimetres focal length), on a beanbag placed on the rooftop or window ledge of the vehicle. Lenses of this length have a narrow depth of field at maximum aperture, so focusing accurately is critical to success. Many photographers choose to override the autofocus and make fine adjustments manually.
Spot metering linked to the central focusing frame is also a preferred option as it provides a meter reading from the focused subject area – essential for wildlife portraits. Kenya and Tanzania are equatorial countries, so there is little variation in the sun’s path, the length of the day, and sunrise and sunset times throughout the year. The greatest influence on the quality of light therefore is the rainy season and the amount of moisture in the atmosphere just before and after a downpour. Torrential as the rain can be, there is rarely a part of the day where it doesn’t cease and let the light through.
From the plains of East Africa to the Great Plains of North America, where the world’s other great mammal migration is a shadow of what it used to be. Only a few hundred years ago, when European settlers first colonised North America, the bison population was estimated at between 30 million and 60 million. These thick-coated beasts roamed the whole of the continent and would migrate up and down it according to the seasons and their breeding cycle.
Intensive hunting during the 19th century almost wiped out the bison – fewer than 1,100 animals survived by 1890. Their population has recovered now to about half a million, but many are crossbred with cattle and even kept as livestock on ranches.
Of greater scale today is the USA’s elk migration. Every autumn, about 200,000 move down from the Rocky Mountains into woods and sheltered valleys away from fierce winter blizzards. This herd moves through Yellowstone National Park and the supporting ecosystems every spring and autumn and is the longest elk migration in the USA. Most will winter in favoured locations of Wyoming and Montana, before returning to higher altitudes as the snow thaws in spring.
Reducing the risk
Photographing this migration is arguably safer and easier than for East Africa’s wildebeest because the risk from predators is far less. As a result, it’s possible to get closer to the herds, and on foot, so tripods and shorter telephoto lenses can both be deployed. In every other respect, the technique required is the same. However, winter brings heavy snow to this part of the USA, so a herd of elk is likely to be photographed against a broad white landscape. Meter readings therefore usually require overriding to compensate for the meter underexposing the bright light reflected from the snow. The best advice is to take a spot meter reading from the tawny brown coat of the elk.
Destination Britain
Back in Britain, the open skies and well-preserved winter roosts help to ensure that the great annual bird migrations have a better chance of survival than those of land-dwelling animals. The British Isles are a favourite winter roost for Bewick’s and whooper swans, and Brent and barnacle geese flying south from Siberia, Iceland and other Arctic locations to escape the freeze.
The arrival of these birds in October and November is one of the highlights of the birdwatching year. Most visiting whoopers to the UK usually migrate 1,800 kilometres from Iceland, but the Bewick’s 3,000-plus-kilometre journey from the Siberian tundra is reckoned to be the longest overseas flight made by any species of swan.
Winter also marks the time when birds, particularly males, moult to reveal more colourful plumage for attracting mates. As a result, Britain’s wetlands and other nature reserves become crowded with colourful birds, both native and migratory, feeding, mating and nesting. Consequently, winter is the peak season for bird watching and is also the time when rare exotic visitors are likely to appear, attracting huge interest from photographers and conservationists.
The arrival of warmer spring weather signals the final spectacle of the great migration, when thousands of visiting geese and swans depart almost at the same time, noisily filling the sky for their long flight back to their Arctic breeding grounds.
Dos & don’ts of photographing migratory animals
DO
Study the migration pattern and timings of your chosen species and identify prominent locations ideal for photography
Choose a focal length that will give a frame-filling portrait from a distance that won’t alarm the animal. A telephoto zoom gives a range of options for a variety of compositions
Shoot at maximum aperture. This will ensure the fastest possible shutter speed to freeze fast action
DON'T
Expect to always use a tripod. It might not always be convenient or workable, so have some other means of support for long-lens photography
Rely on the camera’s autofocus system. The key to wildlife photography is ensuring your subject’s eyes are pin-sharp, so make fine adjustments manually
Ignore studies of movement. Migrations are about animals on the move, so use slower shutter speeds to depict blur to deliberately exaggerate the effect
Equipment selections
Accessory option: Backpack
A large yet comfortable backpack in which to carry your photographic gear is essential for a long day in the field. Lowepro’s latest offering is the Scope Photo Travel 350AW (about £170), which has five removable compartments in the backpack. There’s a separate compartment for a laptop and enough space for two SLR bodies, several medium zoom lenses, a long telephoto and more, as well as other smaller, zippered sections and front pockets for smaller accessories and extras such as batteries, memory cards and filters.
www.lowepro.com
Lens option: Telephoto zoom
The choice of zoom lenses with longer focal lengths isn’t extensive, but the Sigma 150–500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM (about £1,000) is the closest to this versatile ideal. For such a long zoom, it isn’t too heavy, tipping the scales at 1.8 kilograms, and some reviews claim it’s possible to shoot at shutter speeds as low as 1/60sec handheld when using the optical-stabilisation system. A nice touch is the manual focus override, which can be engaged immediately just by turning the focusing ring.
www.sigma-imaging-uk.com
Camera option: High-resolution SLR
New mainstream SLR cameras continue to improve on the standard specifications and overall resolution. The Nikon D5100 (about £600, body only) features a 16.2-megapixel CMOS image sensor and Nikon’s new Expeed 2 image-processing engine, which aims to deliver the higher image resolution and richer tones associated with more expensive cameras. As is standard with new models, it includes HD movie mode, high dynamic range function, ISO 100–6400 and seven special-effects modes.
www.nikon.co.uk
November 2011
Although migrations happen all year round and are usually linked to food supplies and breeding cycles, the need to avoid winter’s icy grip is essential for the survival of many species. These migrations have become symbolic of the change in climate to which all species have to adapt at this time of year.
Just as the first migratory swallow marks the arrival of summer, so the flocks of whooper and Bewick’s swans signal the start of winter.
It’s an exciting and spectacular time, as this influx of migratory birds, and the colour of winter plumage, provide plenty of subject matter for the camera. For an island nation such as Great Britain, visiting birds are the most conspicuous and common example of wildlife migrations, but in the Americas, Asia and Africa, mammals provide the greatest migration spectacles of all.
Wildebeest by the million
From September to November, the vast Mara plains in Kenya are filled with 1.5 million grazing wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebra, antelope and other ungulates. For the predators of East Africa, this is a prime time to be hunting, and for photographers, that means a great chance of focusing on a kill by a pride of lions or even a leopard.
The wildebeest come here from the Serengeti Plain in Tanzania and begin their migration in June, after the rainy season. The animals gather in large herds, mate and then head north.
The migration takes several months and involves crossing two large crocodile-infested rivers – the Grumeti in Tanzania and the Mara on the Tanzania–Kenya border. These crossings are the locations for some of the greatest wildlife photography Africa has to offer as hundreds of thousands of ungulates ford the rivers, desperate to avoid the jaws of the predatory crocodiles and lions.
By December, the rains will have returned to the Serengeti and the wildebeest will turn south and retrace their journey back to Tanzania, where they will feed on the fresh grass and give birth to their calves. There they will remain until the end of the rains, and then their 2,900-kilometre trip will start again.
Long lenses
Unsurprisingly, the local safari operators know the migration route intimately, and have mapped out the best locations for photographers looking to capture this spectacle and other prominent wildlife at any time of year. The scenery is vast, the skies tall and wildlife abundant, but the most important ingredient for the photographer is the quality of the light. Long lenses, with their high magnification, require fast shutter speeds to freeze any action and cut out any vibration or lens movement. Such considerations are easier to overcome in the bright light of African skies.
Even so, the right technique requires using the widest lens aperture to ensure the fastest possible shutter speed. Safari photographers usually work from an open-top vehicle, which makes a tripod impractical. Instead, photographers rest the long lens (typically a telephoto or zoom of around 400 millimetres or 500 millimetres focal length), on a beanbag placed on the rooftop or window ledge of the vehicle. Lenses of this length have a narrow depth of field at maximum aperture, so focusing accurately is critical to success. Many photographers choose to override the autofocus and make fine adjustments manually.
Spot metering linked to the central focusing frame is also a preferred option as it provides a meter reading from the focused subject area – essential for wildlife portraits. Kenya and Tanzania are equatorial countries, so there is little variation in the sun’s path, the length of the day, and sunrise and sunset times throughout the year. The greatest influence on the quality of light therefore is the rainy season and the amount of moisture in the atmosphere just before and after a downpour. Torrential as the rain can be, there is rarely a part of the day where it doesn’t cease and let the light through.
From the plains of East Africa to the Great Plains of North America, where the world’s other great mammal migration is a shadow of what it used to be. Only a few hundred years ago, when European settlers first colonised North America, the bison population was estimated at between 30 million and 60 million. These thick-coated beasts roamed the whole of the continent and would migrate up and down it according to the seasons and their breeding cycle.
Intensive hunting during the 19th century almost wiped out the bison – fewer than 1,100 animals survived by 1890. Their population has recovered now to about half a million, but many are crossbred with cattle and even kept as livestock on ranches.
Of greater scale today is the USA’s elk migration. Every autumn, about 200,000 move down from the Rocky Mountains into woods and sheltered valleys away from fierce winter blizzards. This herd moves through Yellowstone National Park and the supporting ecosystems every spring and autumn and is the longest elk migration in the USA. Most will winter in favoured locations of Wyoming and Montana, before returning to higher altitudes as the snow thaws in spring.
Reducing the risk
Photographing this migration is arguably safer and easier than for East Africa’s wildebeest because the risk from predators is far less. As a result, it’s possible to get closer to the herds, and on foot, so tripods and shorter telephoto lenses can both be deployed. In every other respect, the technique required is the same. However, winter brings heavy snow to this part of the USA, so a herd of elk is likely to be photographed against a broad white landscape. Meter readings therefore usually require overriding to compensate for the meter underexposing the bright light reflected from the snow. The best advice is to take a spot meter reading from the tawny brown coat of the elk.
Destination Britain
Back in Britain, the open skies and well-preserved winter roosts help to ensure that the great annual bird migrations have a better chance of survival than those of land-dwelling animals. The British Isles are a favourite winter roost for Bewick’s and whooper swans, and Brent and barnacle geese flying south from Siberia, Iceland and other Arctic locations to escape the freeze.
The arrival of these birds in October and November is one of the highlights of the birdwatching year. Most visiting whoopers to the UK usually migrate 1,800 kilometres from Iceland, but the Bewick’s 3,000-plus-kilometre journey from the Siberian tundra is reckoned to be the longest overseas flight made by any species of swan.
Winter also marks the time when birds, particularly males, moult to reveal more colourful plumage for attracting mates. As a result, Britain’s wetlands and other nature reserves become crowded with colourful birds, both native and migratory, feeding, mating and nesting. Consequently, winter is the peak season for bird watching and is also the time when rare exotic visitors are likely to appear, attracting huge interest from photographers and conservationists.
The arrival of warmer spring weather signals the final spectacle of the great migration, when thousands of visiting geese and swans depart almost at the same time, noisily filling the sky for their long flight back to their Arctic breeding grounds.
Dos & don’ts of photographing migratory animals
DO
Study the migration pattern and timings of your chosen species and identify prominent locations ideal for photography
Choose a focal length that will give a frame-filling portrait from a distance that won’t alarm the animal. A telephoto zoom gives a range of options for a variety of compositions
Shoot at maximum aperture. This will ensure the fastest possible shutter speed to freeze fast action
DON'T
Expect to always use a tripod. It might not always be convenient or workable, so have some other means of support for long-lens photography
Rely on the camera’s autofocus system. The key to wildlife photography is ensuring your subject’s eyes are pin-sharp, so make fine adjustments manually
Ignore studies of movement. Migrations are about animals on the move, so use slower shutter speeds to depict blur to deliberately exaggerate the effect
Equipment selections
Accessory option: Backpack
A large yet comfortable backpack in which to carry your photographic gear is essential for a long day in the field. Lowepro’s latest offering is the Scope Photo Travel 350AW (about £170), which has five removable compartments in the backpack. There’s a separate compartment for a laptop and enough space for two SLR bodies, several medium zoom lenses, a long telephoto and more, as well as other smaller, zippered sections and front pockets for smaller accessories and extras such as batteries, memory cards and filters.
www.lowepro.com
Lens option: Telephoto zoom
The choice of zoom lenses with longer focal lengths isn’t extensive, but the Sigma 150–500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM (about £1,000) is the closest to this versatile ideal. For such a long zoom, it isn’t too heavy, tipping the scales at 1.8 kilograms, and some reviews claim it’s possible to shoot at shutter speeds as low as 1/60sec handheld when using the optical-stabilisation system. A nice touch is the manual focus override, which can be engaged immediately just by turning the focusing ring.
www.sigma-imaging-uk.com
Camera option: High-resolution SLR
New mainstream SLR cameras continue to improve on the standard specifications and overall resolution. The Nikon D5100 (about £600, body only) features a 16.2-megapixel CMOS image sensor and Nikon’s new Expeed 2 image-processing engine, which aims to deliver the higher image resolution and richer tones associated with more expensive cameras. As is standard with new models, it includes HD movie mode, high dynamic range function, ISO 100–6400 and seven special-effects modes.
www.nikon.co.uk
November 2011
