The Wakodahatchee Wetlands is in Palm Beach County near Delray Beach. It is a lush habitat for viewing birds, alligators, and other forms of wildlife. They have boardwalks criss-closing the Wetlands, so it is very easy to transverse. I have been there 3 times now, and always marvel at how much there is to see, hear, and experience.
This was the second time I shot wild birds in Florida with the Z9. This time around I used the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 S lens, occasionally pairing it with the Nikon 1.4 teleconverter. I occasionally would change the image area to crop mode, where I am shooting with a reduced part of the sensor. That still gives me a 24 megapixel image, which is 4 megapixels better than The Nikon D500. I had that camera for quite awhile, but the Z9 effectively makes it obsolete. I did have difficulty getting 3D tracking working with the lens, much more so than with the 500 PF I used on the last outing. At least in the viewfinder, the lens seemed to have trouble focusing on a bird’s eye, although the images came out looking tack sharp. I have heard that the 70-200 f/2.8 needs a firmware update. It has been on the market for nearly two years now, so I will look forward to seeing how that will do once it is installed.
