I have certain areas that I usually go. I often go to Eco-parks, there are two near
me. One is the Bade Pond Eco- Park and
the other is called Taoyuan 1-4 Ecological Park. They both have certain advantages. Bade Pond has a large lake with habitats for
turtles, wading birds and passerines.
Taoyuan 1-4 has a large lake called Sihao Lake next to it where Egrets
and Herons abound. There are other
places as well. I like to head into the
rice fields where you find wading birds, as well as birds that feed on the rice
grains as it grows. The nice thing is
that there are creeks that weave through there to supply the rice fields. In
addition to birds, there are plenty of turtles and fish, mostly Tilapia. These roads are really quiet and not well
traveled so they’re good places to sight birds.
In addition to Eco-parks and rice fields, the Taoyuan/Bade districts are
filled with city parks, and you can find a lot of birds that aren’t
uncomfortable in urban areas. In my
opinion, Taiwan does an excellent job of preserving areas where wildlife can
flourish.
Taiwan is rich with eco-diversity. There are thirty endemic species, that are
found nowhere else in the world. The
endemic Mikado Pheasant (Symaticus mikado) is featured on Taiwan’s $1,000 bill. There are also a lot of migratory birds that
winter in Taiwan, like the Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor). There are also a number of invasive species
like Common and Java mynahs, that seem to be taking over in urban areas.
I’ve been talking a lot about birding near my home, in easily
accessible areas. I rarely, if ever get
out to the mountain and forest areas, or to southern Taiwan to see the areas
set aside for spoonbills and other somewhat rare birds. I don’t drive and have to stay on roads on my
mobility scooter in order to do any of this, but I do it mainly for photograph
opportunities, so it’s fine with me. I
can go out and enjoy the quiet and get away by myself, for a little while.
Actually, I love living in an urban area, where there are a
lot of people and things happening, but I also like to get away to the quiet
natural areas. I live in an area that
has the best of both worlds. Yesterday, I was at the traditional market that
was crowded and noisy and busy, and then a little later in the rice fields,
where I didn’t see any other people and it was quiet and peaceful, the perfect
reset for the day.
I am a lot of things, but a professional wildlife
photographer isn’t one of them. I’m
always delighted if I can get six or seven decent shots out of fifty or sixty
photos. I’m better than I used to be,
though. By the time I got focused the
birds would be long gone. Now, I can
actually get pictures of them, so that’s an improvement.
Currently, I use a Canon T7i camera body with a Tamron 18 –
400 mm lens. It works, it’s not great
but adequate. I also have a Tamron 100 –
600 mm lens, but it’s a little too heavy for me to handle, so I’m looking to
mount a tripod on the front of my mobility scooter so I can use it. The problem with the 400 mm lens is that I
have to get kind of close to get a really good shot, and the skittish birds,
like egrets will fly off if I get too close.
The 600 mm lens will be more useful in this application, so that’s the
direction I’m trying to go. Both lenses
have advantages. The 18 - 400 mm lens is
good for wide angle shots and landscape photos.
The other is better for wildlife.
The ultimate setup, I think is a Nikon z type (mirrorless)
camera body and Nikkor 100 – 600 mm lens.
This is smaller and lighter, but the Nikkor lens is much better than the
Tamron 100 – 600 mm lens. The problem
with both lenses is that the aperture is limited to about 3.5 to 6, so light
becomes a bit of a problem. The best
thing is a lens with a 2.8 aperture but those are about $10,000 to $15,000 USD
and I don't have $15,000 worth of photographic skill.
我有幾個常去的地點。我常常會去生態公園，附近有兩個。一個是八德埤塘生態公園，另一個叫做桃園一到四號生態公園。這兩個地方各有優勢。八德埤塘有一個大湖，棲息著烏龜、涉禽和雀形目鳥類；而桃園一到四號旁邊有一座名叫四號湖的大湖，常常可以看到白鷺和鷺鷥。還有其他地方我也喜歡，例如稻田地區，常能看到涉禽和那些在稻穗成熟時會啄食的鳥類。那裡的好處是有許多灌溉用的小溪流穿梭其間，供應稻田水源。除了鳥以外，還有很多烏龜和魚，主要是吳郭魚。這些道路很安靜，人車稀少，因此很適合觀鳥。
除了生態公園和稻田之外，桃園和八德地區也充滿了市區公園，你可以在這些不怕人的鳥類身上發現許多驚喜。就我看來，台灣在保育野生動物的棲息環境方面做得非常出色。
台灣擁有豐富的生態多樣性，有三十種特有種，是世界上其他地方找不到的。其中特有的帝雉（Symaticus mikado）還被印在台灣的1000元鈔票上。此外，還有許多候鳥會在台灣過冬，例如黑面琵鷺（Platalea minor）。當然，也有一些入侵種，例如家八哥和爪哇八哥，在都市地區似乎越來越多。
我談了很多在家附近賞鳥的經驗，這些地點都相對容易抵達。我很少，甚至幾乎沒去過山區、森林地帶，或是台灣南部那些保留給黑面琵鷺和其他稀有鳥類的地方。我不會開車，只能依賴我的電動代步車走在路上，不過我主要是為了拍照，因此這樣對我來說也很好。我可以出門，享受安靜的時光，短暫地遠離塵囂。
其實，我很喜歡住在都市裡，有很多人、很多活動。但我也喜歡到安靜的自然地點走走。我住的這個地方兩者兼具。昨天，我去了熱鬧吵雜的傳統市場，不久之後又來到稻田，四周一片寧靜、空無一人，是一天中完美的重啟時刻。
我雖然會做很多事，但專業野生動物攝影師絕對不是其中之一。每次拍五六十張照片，能有六七張還不錯的我就很高興了。不過我已經比以前厲害了。以前當我對好焦時，鳥早就飛走了。現在我真的能拍到牠們，算是一種進步。
目前，我使用 Canon T7i 相機機身，搭配 Tamron 18 – 400 mm 鏡頭。這組設備還算可以，不算頂尖但堪用。我也有一支 Tamron 100 – 600 mm 鏡頭，不過對我來說有點太重了，所以我正在考慮把三腳架安裝在代步車的前方，好讓我可以使用這顆鏡頭。使用 400 mm 鏡頭的問題是，我需要靠得比較近才能拍出好照片，但像白鷺這樣警覺性高的鳥，只要我一接近就飛走了。600 mm 鏡頭在這方面會更實用，所以我朝這方向努力。兩支鏡頭各有優勢。18 - 400 mm 鏡頭適合拍廣角風景照，而另一支更適合拍野生動物。
我心目中的理想設備是一台 Nikon Z 系列（無反）機身，搭配 Nikkor 100 – 600 mm 鏡頭。這組設備體積小、重量輕，而且 Nikkor 的鏡頭比 Tamron 的這支好很多。兩支鏡頭的問題在於最大光圈大約只有 3.5 到 6，對光線的要求比較高。最理想的是光圈 2.8 的鏡頭，但那類鏡頭大約要一萬到一萬五千美元，而我的攝影技術還遠遠不值那個價。
