Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 21 hours ago

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Weekly Catch-up:
In this week’s episode Ray visited an entirely new area in California with a goal of photographing Western and Clark’s Grebes performing their rushing behavior. He found the birds in an unexpected spot and had to pivot his approach compared to his original plan. He spent 5 days with them and learned each day and changed his approach until he mostly figured them out. The guys discuss how important it is to be able to work with the same subject and learn from your outings to improve your photography and reach your goals. Brad leans into photographing waterfowl in the falling snow and shares how he went to a new spot and worked with a single Red-breasted Merganser and managed to walk away with an incredible encounter and stunning photos! The guys also touch on how they notice autofocus with the new Nikon Z9 firmware 5.3.1 and as always thanks to everyone for their support of the show!

Follow up:
Nikon Z9 Firmware 5.3.1 and autofocus with birds

Support:
Thanks to Andy Bruner for his continued support of the show!
To support the show visit wildlifephotochatvideo.com

Gear used in this episode:
Nikon Z9
Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC
Nikon 500mm f/4 G