Exotic Locations or Close to Home?

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Northern suburb of Minneapolis here and use migration in the spring and fall as a fun motivator to find a variety of different birds.
In an attempt to spice it up I was thinking about getting a kayak to get some better waterfowl shots, not sure that's a good idea or not, lol.

I agree with Bill though and I hit a few of the national wildlife refuges here in MN, you never know what your going to find out there.
 
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Saint said:
In an attempt to spice it up I was thinking about getting a kayak to get some better waterfowl shots, not sure that's a good idea or not, lol.
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Definitely worth it! I do a lot of bird photography from my kayak, from waterfowl to green and great blue herons. Even gotten a few decent kingfisher shots and my first ever cedar waxwings. Plus some deer that didn't see or hear me coming. Turns out you're less of a perceived threat than when you're on land and two feet!

It definitely takes a different skill set as you're shooting from a moving platform, and sometimes maneuvering into a better position is a trick. But I'm using a D500/500mm PF combo and it works great! Set the combo in my lap while paddling, set paddle down and pick up the camera when you want to shoot. I might suggest also getting a paddle leash, don't want to lose that while you're out on the water!
 
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Abinoone said:
As the old saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt, unless perhaps you’re fortunate enough to live in an iconic place, like Glacier Bay, Yosemite, or Yellowstone/Tetons. Unfortunately, I’m not so lucky, and spend the majority of my days in Upstate New York, with occasional trips elsewhere. My guess is that most of us are in similar situations. So, my question is how do you keep the proverbial fire in the belly burning for nature and wildlife photography when everything is so familiar? How do you see the “ordinary“ in new and unusual ways? The reason for my question, of course, is to find new ways to rekindle my passion for nature at home.
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Niagara Falls is rather awesome so Upstate NY is not all that bad.

Personally I do little photography around the Chicago area. Rather travel, but not all travel is that far. A lot of photography/travel is within a day's drive of Chicago. It take me 1-3 hours to get from the north side of the city to the south side of the city depending upon the time of day.
 
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I live in paradise - Hawaii - but it doesn't have the numbers of species you find on the mainland. I go to a couple of marshes here every week, but they only have really 4 birds of interest. There are really only two land mammals here, wild pigs and mongoose. A few sea birds (other islands here have more variety), and monk seals and sea turtles. I've photographed all of these many times, and do get bored with them. But I often find when I go out I still get at least a few unique pics of them. I got some good pics of mongoose yesterday. This keeps me going. But I love going to exotic places with more varied wildlife, I just can't afford to do it very often.
 
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I rely on ebird.org to show me where to find concentrations of birds. See https://ebird.org/hotspots?hs=L2737701&yr=all&m=
I'm also always on the lookout for potential scenes with good fall colour. Elevated lookout points on top of hills or mountains, entrances to farms that may be lined with trees that provide nice colour, etc. Local municipal landfill waste sites often attract raptors like hawks or bald eagles.

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For me it's close to home within a 1 hour radius. I'm young relative to the majority of the posters here and have an 8 month old son, so I don't have the luxury of free time I once had, nor the budget to travel to exotic locations so I have to make the most out of my local excursions. That being said, western PA has pretty good diversity. I'm really looking forward to photographing Short-eared Owls here in a few months as well as some migratory ducks.
 
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Rassie said:
I rely on ebird.org to show me where to find concentrations of birds. See https://ebird.org/hotspots?hs=L2737701&yr=all&m=
I'm also always on the lookout for potential scenes with good fall colour. Elevated lookout points on top of hills or mountains, entrances to farms that may be lined with trees that provide nice colour, etc. Local municipal landfill waste sites often attract raptors like hawks or bald eagles.

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You'd love my porch! It's pretty high and I often have raptors flying by at eye level against a distant tree line full of fall colors nearing peak foliage. I'm so spoiled by it that I put the camera down when they're above the treeline.
 
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Instead of focusing on your usual interests and only vary the location, try changing the paradigm by shooting something completely different like macro or get into video -- now there's a rabbit hole!
 
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