On Monday April 7, 2008, I took a photography workshop with wildlife photography professional Jim Neiger - flightschoolphotography.com - of Kissimmee, Florida. Jim specializes in birds in flight and is an expert on the snail kites that live on Lake Tohopekaliga known to the locals as Lake Toho. Lake Toho is an 18,810-acre lake located southeast of the city of Kissimmee. Lake Toho is also the home of several breeding pairs of the endangered snail kite.

The North American subspecies of the Snail Kite occurs only on the Florida peninsula south of Orlando throughout the Everglades. Gliding dark and low over a marsh, the Snail Kite hovers, then stretches to pick an apple snail from a water lily in Florida's freshwater wetlands. This endangered raptor is among the most specialized of its hawk and harrier relatives. Its scientific name translates to "sociable hook bill," which emphasizes two of the species' traits: the Snail Kite often roosts with other waterbirds, and its beak fits perfectly into round snail shells.

I met Jim at 7:00 a.m. on Monday morning and we proceeded by pontoon boat to areas of heavy Snail Kite activity. On the way from the dock out to the bird location, Jim went over key techniques for using manual focus for flight shots, target acquisition, big lens handling techniques, proper camera settings and focusing tips and tricks. As the day was overcast and my 400 mm f/5.6 wasn't going to do the trick, Jim quickly handed me his 300 2.8 and 1.4x teleconverter for my shooting pleasure (and later a 500 mm.) After my arm grew sore, I put his long lens techniques to practice.

In no time, we were graced with substantial Snail Kite activity including the first juvenille of the year, males and females. Throughout the morning Jim was quick to answer questions and provide useful advice on shooting. Prior to this workshop, I had never really used manual exposure settings for my wildlife photography or set my ISO above 400. Since the weather was changing constantly, manual exposing for the birds and keeping a high ISO for proper shutter speed was essential. In addition to Snail Kites, Jim also called several other birds to his boat including Least Bitterns, Purple Galinules and Limpkins.

I would highly recommend this workshop to anyone interested in bird photography.