I could, of course, not resist getting out at least a few hours yesterday. I don’t think my cold is an worse for it, and I know I am considerably better! My plan was just to go to the Blue Heron Wetlands right behind my hotel, but when I got to gate I found it locked for Sunday. Ah. So I drove to Titusville proper and out to Merritt Island NWR’s Black Point Wildlife Drive. Blackpoint can be more or less productive, depending on the year and the day and the hour, but it is certainly the most accessible of the viewing and photo opportunities at Merritt Island. As I tell the locals when they complain, a bad day at Blackpoint is a better than a good day almost anywhere else.

This is a winter plumaged American Avocet. As you can see, by the time I got to Blackpoint the light was not at its best. I am learning to use a new camera and a new adapter for digiscoping with my ZEISS DiaScope 65FL. I have a prototype of the adapter ZEISS will bring to market in a month or so, and the newish Sony Rx100. The Rx100 is a hopped up Point and Shoot, with a 1 inch 18mp sensor for better image quality, full manual control and RAW, and a ZEISS Sonnar 1-3.6x zoom lens…it is the first Sony to have a Sonnar in many years, and it is a great lens for work behind the eyepiece of the spotting scope.

Sony Rx100 behind the 15-56x Vario on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for an equivalent field of view of 1360mm. Program with –1/3 EV exposure compensation. 1/400th @ ISO 125. f7.8 effective.