Resources

We use a variety of resources to find and photograph our raptors, geared not for professional photographers, but for avid or serious amateurs. Buying these materials from our site will ensure that RaptorPhoto continues to operate.

	The ABA/LANE Birder's Guide to Southeastern Arizona is totally indispensable. If you buy one bird finding guide for Arizona, this should be it. It contains detailed routes and maps for popular and not-popular-but-productive birding sites all across Southeastern Arizona, as well as detailed species accounts for each location. Especially useful is a bird-by-bird reference that lists the best seasons and location for every bird that frequents the area. Written by Richard Cachor Taylor, who proves to be an incredibly experienced and knowledgeable guide throughout the book. Richard Cachor Taylor has founded Borderland Tours to share his expertise in our area.
	We have owned many cameras, but this has been by far the most impressive camera we have owned. It is perhaps the best under-4,000$ camera available, and with Raptor photography, you almost HAVE to go digital- or you will spend a lot of money on wasted images. We recently went to the Raptor free-flight at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and found that each of the professional and serious amateur photographers there were using this or the D70, its brother camera. It's a terrific camera, and worth every penny!
	Most of our sitting pictures are actually taken with an old Russian 1000mm Maksutov mirror "lens". It is nearly impossible to find, and offers lower than standard clarity, when compared with professional lenses. For those of us who are not professional photographers outright, we suggest Sigma equipment. Our flying pictures and an occasional sitting picture are taken with a Sigma, and we have been pleased with the results for the price. This is a good, long, versatile lens. But, unless you want to sit in a blind for hundreds of hours, you will need a teleconverter to get as close as you need [see the next box]:
	A good, solid 2x teleconverter will double the focal length of your lens! So, if you bought the previous lens, you will now have a 340 to 1000mm lens! A 1000mm lens is ideal for raptor photography because it lets you get good, up-close images without distressing the birds. Even birds in 300-500mm lenses will often create little more than small spots on your images. Almost all of our perched raptor photography is done at 1000mm. However, at 1000mm, a good, solid, reliable tripod is a necessity:
	A good, solid, heavy tripod is preferable. Do not go light, you need the extra weight to anchor your large lens! We have used Vanguard for years, and have been very pleased! With this rig and the book, you are ready to shoot amazing pictures! The following other books have helped us greatly as well:
	An absolute must in Raptor watching or photographing. As far as we are concerned, this is the definitive field guide to raptors in North America. In the Peterson Field Guide fashion, color plates and then color photographs are accompanied by detailed descriptions and tips for identification. There is no raptor you will ever see here that will not appear in this book! One thing is always lacking in these books, and that is what turns out to be the most important but hardest skill in raptor identification, and that is flight identification. For that, we suggest another excellent book:
	If you read this book, you will be an expert-guaranteed. The best raptor experts give us the best raptor flight identification available! It successfully describes the indescribable traits each raptor has. It's fascinating to see the author quantify a truly abstract skill as identifying a moving speck hundreds of feet overhead!
	Beautifully illustrated, Arthur Morris proves that we should follow his tips by showing us his un-paralleled photographs. A must-buy for anybody studying to become a decent or professional raptor or bird photographer.
	If you liked our site, you will love this book. They blow us [photographically] out of the water. Hundreds of the best raptor images we have ever seen, with a focus on identification. By the authors of A Field Guide to Hawks of North America.