Photo Talk: Wildlife Shooting Locations - Part 1

Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary - Green Bay, Wisconsin

Seeing as though I live in Green Bay, Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary (BBWS) is not just close to where I live, it is also home to a mecca of resident and migratory birds.  This makes BBWS one of my favorite locations to shoot and spend countless hours in the open air waiting for the keeper shot.

During spring migration BBWS is easily a favorite location for ducks.  BBWS is not far from the bay of Green Bay.  The ponds and overall habitat attracts many species of ducks.  Some may spend a few days as a lay-over location.  Others will spend only a few hours and be on their way.

Species of Ducks Photographed at BBWS:

• Blue Winged Teal
• Bufflehead
• Canvasback
• Common Goldeneye
• Green Winged Teal
• Mallards
• Common Mergansers
• Hooded Mergansers
• Red Breasted Mergansers
• Northern Pintail
• Red Heads
• Ring Neckd
• Greater Scaup
• Lessor Scaup
• Northern Shoveler
• Wood Ducks

BBWS is located on Green Bay's east side of town.  The property consist of approximately 700 acres of ponds, marshy areas, and hardwoods.  In addition to the many species of ducks I have also photographed many other species of birds - spring, summer, fall, & winter.

Other Bird Species Photographed at BBWS:

• Double Crested Cormorant
• Sandhilll Crane
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Great Blue Heron
• Green Heron
• Black Crowned Night Heron
• Bald Eagle
• Canada Goose
• Pied Billed Grebe
• Belted Kingfisher
• American White Pelican
• Herring Gull
• Ring Billed Gull
• Caspian Tern
• Wild Turkey
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Red Bellied Woodpecker
• Yellow Bellied Sapsucker
• Blue Jay
• Northern Cardinal
• Black Capped Chickadee
• Brown Headed Cowbird
• Brown Creeper
• American Goldfinch
• House Finch
• Rose Breasted Grosbeak
• Dark Eyed Junco
• Eastern Kingbird
• Ruby Crowned Kinglet
• Golden Crowned Kinglet
• Purple Martin
• White Breasted Nuthatch
• Red Breasted Nuthatch
• Baltimore Oriole
• American Robin
• House Sparrow
• American Tree Sparrow
• Chipping Sparrow
• Lincoln's Sparrow
• White Throated Sparrow
• Barn Swallow
• Tree Swallow
• Yellow Warbler
• Common Yellowthroat
• Yellow Rumped Warbler
• Cedar Waxwing
• House Wren
• Carolina Wren
• Red Tailed Hawk
• Coopers Hawk

There is a good chance I probably still missed a few.  This place is a birding hotspot!!

In addition to BBWS there are a number of other birding hotspots I visit and will write about.  I picked BBWS as my first write-up, not just because it is my favorite, it is a place you might want to plan to visit and spend a few days taking photos.

As far as camera gear goes, I would recommend the following for overall shooting and flight shots:

• Digital SLR - giving you continuous focusing options, high shutters, and assortment of lens options
• Lenses - focal lengths from 200mm to 400mm will do great in most cases.  More zoom power never hurts.  :-)
• Tripod - both using and not using a tripod works.  Some birds you will be waiting a long time so its nice not to have to hold the camera the whole time
  

I will conclude this post with an assortment 20 of my favorite images taken at BBWS.