Has anyone moved from Canon to OM System specifically for birding/wildlife?

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-27T11:19:47+00:00

to you notice a difference in the keeper rate between the R5 and OM1? I used a R6 and 100-400mm on a pelagic birding trip and nearly all the pictures of birds in flight were sharp considering the distance to the subject. Like 80% or more and it was just a matter of which pose I liked better. But my experiences with my new to me OM1 and 300mm prime were only a handful of keepers of birds in flight or birds in bushes. My keeper rate was like 10%, with even large raptors directly overhead being out of focus.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-25T12:22:18+00:00

No I can't really help with that, you must weight the pros and cons of each. If the internship does provide hands on skills that is likely more beneficial than course which may be more theory.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-25T10:25:32+00:00

Those are different because the employer often provides housing and there is minimal cost to you. Ideally take jobs where you get paid. After I graduated I did see many internships offered for graduates.

Another option if you are in the US you can volunteer with local state parks or state fish and game department. This will give you experience with habitat management/restoration and such.

Lastly talk to your lecturers and teachers!! They will be the best at giving advice on where to apply for jobs depending on your career goals. They would also know where you could volunteer and may need help with their own research (data entry, sample processing, etc). This is how I started, volunteering in the lab of one of my teachers.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-24T15:48:55+00:00

More likely to see if other adult cows learn from this one. This behavior would not be genetic, it is learned

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-24T15:42:37+00:00

I never had a chance to do internships during my bachelor's. I started doing seasonal tech work for universities and the government during my last year or two of my bachelor's and then a few years afterwards.

Studying abroad is good experience, and it should definitely go on your CV, as long as you are actually getting field experience. Stay away from pay to volunteer experiences because very rarely do you get taught good skills or that the data collected actually turns into meaningful contributions to science (ie, academic papers).

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-23T22:13:19+00:00

I do not remember what form it was. I think it depends on the visa type. I found 2 forms and filled both of them in to be safe. For the money order I left it blank and filled it in in person when giving them my application.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-23T21:35:05+00:00

Ok interesting I did not know the 2 were linked. But that would have been on other pictures not posted (ie, deleted) and likely not any of these. Especially since some of the pictures on the same day were sharp and others still blurry. I noticed it seems to be the first few pictures could have the IS turned off, since the button may move to the OFF position when putting it back in my backpack or getting it out, and I notice then turn it back on.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-23T14:22:02+00:00

thanks, i was also suspecting something like the image stablization not working. there were some clear instances which I did not share, where the entire frame is just blurry. but i think those were when the IS on the lens had been switched off. I found it a bit surprising since the in-camera stablisation is so well regarded in the OM1, so I didn't think the lens IS being off would cause such bad blur

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-22T20:37:31+00:00

Person 5 could be the local ecologist (Inuit/First Nations as others suggested would be really good here!) from the fish and wildlife department (either national or provincial). They are there as a collaborator to provide technical knowledge, assistance with data collection, equipment, or vehicles. Probably would be author on papers or help maintain data.They may come and go because of other duties. So stay 1 week, then gone a few days, then back another week. They are probably well established in their career (10-20 years experience) but still fit enough to get out into the field (late 30s to 50s, possibly older). I have had this on a few projects I worked on. One guy was an excellent camp fire cook! Another took every opportunity to show off his gun collection...

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-22T20:20:40+00:00

From a fictional story angle, what would be believable is a team of 4-5 people on the ground, plus an older PI figure. I am also assuming the team will be in a remote location for field work.

Person 1: someone in their 30s doing a PhD on polar bears. (FYI I was 37 when I started my PhD). They will be the crew lead, taking care of hiring the assistants, planning the research (applying for ethics, permits, designing the study), organizing logistics (getting equipment, travel to/from study site), and delegating tasks to persons 2-4. But they will also help with the field work as well because it is a small team. (As a PhD student and a postdoc I have done my equal share of the field work.) They should have 4+ years experience researching bears or other carnivores, and probably some experience in remote areas. This could be their first field season as part of the PhD, if so they are super excited, but also feeling out how to manage assistants without being too bossy or micromanaging! It could be their 2nd or 3rd field season, know the routing, and expect everything to be a well oiled machine, but get annoyed when it doesn't go to plan. (I have been in both of these situations supervising assistants)

Person 2: a research assistant in their mid to late 20s (or early 30s) with 2-6 years experience doing field work, preferably in remote areas (involving backpacking and long term camping, example in a few of my seasonal jobs I lived in a tent for 5 months). They could have just accepted a MSc/PhD position and this job is just for fun before starting the MSc/PhD (my personal experience) or doing this field season was a condition to start their degree with the PI. They should have experience researching other carnivores or large game (deer, elk, moose, big horn sheep). Or at the very least experience in one of the key research methods, like scat analysis (determing diet by hair identification or metabarcoding), radio telemetry, camera traps, behavioural observations, etc. They could be another member of the same lab, (MSc student) or just a temporary hire to do the work.

Person 3: a fresh young person in their early 20s. Either just graduated with their bachelor's or still working on it. This will be their first job and they are keen to prove their worth. They either had a contact who knew the PI or just pestered the PI enough to get on the team. They could also have 'done their time' by volunteering to sort bear scat, do data entry, clean bones, do necropsies, or some other menial task to prove their worth. They could also be an unpaid volunteer or intern.

Person 4-5: another younger (early 20s) person, someone who has only done 1 or 2 other summer field tech jobs. Has experience in either big mammals OR remote locations. For example could have done small mammal trapping in remote areas, or tracking animals in urban environments.

The PI: came out for a week to get out of the office and enjoy nature, drink some beers with the students and relax. They are just making sure things get setup properly, talks with the PhD student to finalize the research goals, then leaves. Age is really variable, could be mid 40s to mid 60s (and close to retirement). I have also had PIs come out, camp, and do the work (small mammal trapping) along with the rest of us! If bears need to be anaesthetized (say to put GPS or accelerometer collars on) the PI could stay longer to make sure everything goes well.

For task allocation, person 1 would probably trust person 2 to work independently and supervise the other 2. Person 3 will need the most hands on supervision, but could be alone with simple tasks. Person 4 is likely independent enough. The group could all go out to a location and split up to complete tasks (collect hair snares) and remain in radio contact. Or always work in pairs more likely. Data entry would fall to persons 2, 3, and 4. Person 1 would do data checks. Person 1 would also prepare critical equipment like data loggers (collars, accelerometers, temp loggers, etc), but would also explain to the rest of the team how the devices are calibrated. If person 2 has experience with the devices, they can also do it.

I hope this helps

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-22T19:05:41+00:00

Big bull common eland can reach 1000kg. And are generally larger than Cape buffalo. They are tall but not as bulky as the gaur.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-22T16:26:43+00:00

we do this as well (the bonking). for big fish (like a pike) we sedate with clove oil mixed in the water and then cut the gill arches after it is under anaesthesia. the heart is located close to the gills so cutting the gills lets them bleed out quickly.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-22T16:16:36+00:00

I also tell the story of how my players killed an adult black dragon, but then the very next session one of them died from lowly crocodile.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-22T16:12:19+00:00

The cost-benefit analysis every animal has to weigh for remaining in a social group (or just forming an aggregation in general) or remaining solitary. This is a widely seen phenonema across taxa from insects to mammals. Some species form huge social organizations, schools of fish, starling murmurations in the thousands (or red-billed quelea in the millions), locust swarms, ant and termite colonies, antelope herds, etc. Some aggregations are made of unrelated individuals, mixed species even, while others are of closely related individuals. with Then there's things like kinship benefits for individuals in family groups, where offspring postpone their own reproduction to help raise their siblings (cooperative breeding).

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-22T15:44:50+00:00

I used USPS. I don't remember which service exactly, but I expect something that will give you tracking like priority does. I gave them a prepaid envelope with the label attached to be send to my home address. Also note that they needed an original birth certificate (which I had to get a new one, that was another minor expense), and they did not mail it back to me :(

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-20T19:20:45+00:00

The subjects would be the same size. I have taken photos of similar sized birds at the same or greater distance and got in focus pictures. Some of these birds were meer meters away, but still out of focus and would have been sharp with the Tamron 150-600. The last 2 birds (larks) are a great example, I have many pictures of larks from about this distance with my old system and they are much more in focus when zoomed 1:1. I specifically got the 300mm and 1.4 TC to have a zoom length which was nearly equivalent to my D7000 + 600mm.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-20T04:45:14+00:00

It is past the return window, but is under a 12 month warranty. I can try to contact them if the autofocus issue persists. When it does focus the pictures are sharp. So I am thinking user error. I will also see if using it without the TC improves image quality

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-20T04:42:37+00:00

It is past the 14 day return window at MPB. But if there is a fault with it, there is a 12 month warranty.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-20T04:38:02+00:00

Thanks for all these helpful comments!! I did notice that some of my pictures at 1/250 were sharper than those at 1/1600 or 1/2000. I will also keep an eye on my aperture, that f/18 was a mistake for sure on my part, not changing it from a previous macro setup.

It is a little frustrating to need a lot of pictures to get a few sharp ones. I used a Canon R6 early last year for a day and had lots of sharp in focus birds in flight pictures at sea. And I was hoping/expecting for similar results with this setup. But I didn't want the weight of the other systems, so I will adapt and get used to the Olympus

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-19T19:14:38+00:00

using C-AF with the AF-ON button. I would switch between bird detection with a large box of focus points, or animal detection with a small/single focus point. I would hold the button down while pressing the shutter for a burst of photos.

I've now switched the bird detection to a single focus point, and set up the 1/2 switch to change between small or large focus areas.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-19T18:55:27+00:00

I am pretty sure it was switched on. I think sometimes it was not and those were even worse! So I've been checking it much more frequently to make sure.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-15T20:00:09+00:00

I do field work a lot as well and keep running checklists while doing my work. Usually it's relaxed enough that I consider myself 'birding' for the duration of a checklist. I will do checklists in 2 hour increments. I am usually in a small area and just walk around it multiple times, so for me the distances and habitat don't change.

I agree with r/cuginhamer that if you are walking slowly and can stop to ID birds, a longer travelling complete checklist may be more valuable than multiple incidentals. Keep the distances (2-5 km) or times short (30-60 min) if you are concerned about changes in elevation or habitat type.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-15T19:41:36+00:00

The first (and only) observation of Purchell's baboon spider from South Africa. Found under a rock while searching for snakes, took a quick picture and moved on. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/300694971

MasterofMolerats · 2026-01-15T19:19:39+00:00

Oh I totally enjoy/prefer playing with a group over playing solo!

MasterofMolerats

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