Audubon Photographer Richard Speiser At Caleb Smith Park Preserve

By Carole Paquette

Audubon photographer Richard Speiser leads a group on a birding trip through the fields of Caleb Smith Park Preserve in Smithtown The program “A Year in the Life of a Bird Photographer” presented by Audubon photographer Richard Speiser at the Caleb Smith Park Preserve in Smithtown on Saturday turned out to be not only informative with his beautiful photos of birds, local and other-worldy, but filled with charming anecdotes. Approximately forty people attended the Saturday morning event sponsored by the Friends of Caleb Smith Preserve. 

Mr. Speier regaled his audience with plenty of good photography tips. For those with a simple point-and-shoot camera, he said: “Go for composition, focus on the landscape with a bird in it.” For the serious photographer with the more technologically advanced camera with faster shutter speed, he suggested: “Shoot in the bright light as you can’t use a flash with birds as it causes a sheen.” He added, “If you don’t have a tripod for stability, turn yourself into one, then hold your camera steady, smush it into your eye and control your breathing.” Other tips for photographing birds included wearing neutral colors and when sneaking up on them, stop once the bird starts “twitching”.

Mr. Speiser presented his slide show, according to seasons, noting that we are in the midst of the Fall migration and the chill is good for seeing migrating birds. He first  took his audience through the Fall season of hawks, warblers, hummingbirds and finches; then the Winter of owls, waterfowl, ravens, bluejays and the Great Blue Heron. “Marshes are a great place to go in the winter,” he said.

Getting into Spring, “the breeding time when the birds really belt out their songs”, he presented shots of sparrows, warblers and vireos. In between, he snuck in a photo of a roadrunner from a jaunt to Texas. Then came the Summer series, including a variety of shorebirds, kestrals, and indigo buntings.

Following the slide presentation Mr. Speier took the audience, armed with their cameras, out for a nature walk through the Preserve’s meadows and trails.