Bird studies with a camera : $b with introductory chapters on the outfit and methods of the bird photographerChapman, Frank M. (Frank Michler)
Science
Bird studies with a camera : $b with introductory chapters on the outfit and methods of the bird photographer
Chapman, Frank M. (Frank Michler)
Birds -- United States; Photography of birds
Lodgings were secured at the home of a retired fisherman, and
immediately we sallied forth to pay tribute to the Rock from the nearest
point on the mainland. Its size and precipitousness were both surprising
and impressive. Seen from the land it seemed like the hull of some great
ship which had gone ashore here in the age of the Titans. Nearly three
hundred feet high at the bow, with a beam of about one hundred, and a
length over all of twelve hundred feet, it was not likely to be boarded
by the most nimble seaman.
Doubtless an expert climber, properly equipped with ropes and
assistants, might reach the summit; but as the last man to make the
attempt, some fifty years ago, lost his life, the town authorities have
imposed a fine of five pounds on any one who shall be found guilty of
scaling or trying to scale the Rock, and the law, incidentally, protects
the birds as well as man.
The top of the Rock is occupied by a colony of probably between two and
three thousand Herring Gulls and Double-crested Cormorants. The
guidebooks array these birds in picturesque cohorts which make the
Cormorants’ part of the Rock black, the Gulls’ white; and they further
state that should a black bird chance to trespass on the Gulls’
territory, he is immediately surrounded by a consuming white cloud, and
_vice versa_. But be it said to the disgrace of man and the credit of
birds, that the Cormorants and Gulls nest side by side apparently on
terms of the greatest amity.
At this point it should be stated that my photographic outfit consisted
of an ancient but useful 4 × 5 “Waterbury Detective,” containing a wide
angle, short-focus lens, and designed for general handwork; a 4 × 5
long-focus “Premo” with a 6½-inch trade lens and Unicum shutter, for use
from a tripod or in photographing nests, landscapes, etc., and a 5 × 7
twin lens with a 10-inch lens and Prosch shutter, a camera made
especially for animal photography, but which was undesirably bulky.
None of these was of service in photographing the inhabitants of Percé
Rock from the land, nor could a telephoto be used to advantage, the Rock
being so much higher than the adjoining mainland. From a boat near the
base of the southeast side of the Rock a better opportunity is afforded
for photographing its summit, and the best of several attempts made at
this point is here presented.^{72} Examined under a glass it conveys
some idea of the number of birds occupying the top of the Rock; and
while one regrets that the camera does so little justice to the subject,
one can not but rejoice that here, at least, is one place to which
probably for all time birds may return each year and rear their young in
perfect security.
In crevices in the face of the Rock numbers of Guillemots nest, and
directly above the pierced opening dwell a colony of about thirty
Kittiwakes, who have apparently taken up their residence in the Rock
within comparatively recent years, since none were here in 1881 when Mr.
William Brewster visited Percé.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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