RefugeRat.com

Please welcome Mike Sorsky, RefugeRat.com's featured wildlife photographer.

Though Mike is modest about his work, and considers himself an amateur photographer, his keen eye is apparent.

Amateur? Take a look and you decide.

And don't forget to give Mike a big welcome.

A Few Words from Mike

Hi, my name is Mike Sorsky. I'm an avid outdoorsman, and have been throughout my entire life. I love hunting, fishing, dog training, and especially wildlife photography. Living in California's vast San Joaquin Valley gives me ample opportunities to engage in all of these activities.

This was taken just outside the city limits of Clovis, California. These ducks are in a large irrigation canal covered with grasses, and shrubs, where a number of wild mallards successfully hatched and reared large numbers of young.

It is on my friends property, and we have taken pictures of Dove, Goldfinch, Hummingbirds, raptors, and a number of other birds in addition to ducks.

This photo was taken in the area I hunt waterfowl, called the South Grasslands (central San Joaquin Valley).

This area is made up of 60 to 100 thousand acres of wetlands habitat. It is flooded up in the fall and winter months, but pretty dry and arid during the summer.

My camera settings were f/6.7, 1/1000 of a sec. with an ISO speed of 200. The camera was on a monopod.

Taken at a wildlife refuge on what is called the north grasslands. It is located in the central San Joaquin Valley.

Ross's Geese come here in large numbers and the ever so illusive "blue phase" Ross can occasionally be seen.

My camera was a Canon 40D, and the lens used here is an EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens with a 1.4 tele-coverter that gives me a total magnification of 700mm.

Shot at the edge of town at a spot where I like to dove hunt. It was taken late in the evening, and I was just about to lose my "sweet light."

My camera was a Canon 30D, and I was using an EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens with a 1.4 tele-coverter that gives me a total magnification of 700mm. The picture was shot at an f/8.0, 1/320 of a second, at an ISO setting of 200, using a tripod.

Photo captured in a North Grasslands wildlife refuge, in the central San Joaquin Valley.

I was using my Canon 30D, and a Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L (non IS) lens. The settings were 1/3200 sec. at an f/8.0, at an ISO speed of 400.

Due to the fact that the birds were white, I had to underexpose this shot by 2/3 of an f/stop in order to keep from losing detail in the whites.

Image taken on a small pond in the North Grasslands, near a wildlife refuge.

I shot this picture with a Canon 40D,using my Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens with a 1.4 tele-coverter that gives me a total magnification of 700mm.

I used a tripod to help reduce camera shake and my settings were 1/750 sec, at f/6.7, with an ISO speed of 200.

Picture taken at Fresno State University, in a large corn field. Geese come in here daily by the hundreds to feed. They are wild geese that have adapted to city life.

I use a layout blind and about 6 to 12 full body decoys to get these birds in close. This was a late afternoon shot and the lighting was excellent.

I was using a Canon 1D Mark III camera, with my Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM zoom lens for this shot.

Captured in the middle of town at a ponding basin close to my house. I go there often and get some surprisingly nice shots from time to time.

I was using my Canon 1D Mark III camera, with a Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L (non IS) lens. I handheld this shot, and my EXIF data was f/5.6, at a 1/6400 sec. I was shooting at an ISO of 400.

This is a special effect shot in which I changed the background sky from blue to black in order to create a more dramatic effect.

Shot with a Canon 40D using a Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens with a 1.4 tele-coverter that gives me a total magnification of 700mm.

I got this shot at San Luis Wildlife Refuge in the central San Joaquin Valley.

I was using my portable blind which is covered with shadowgrass camo material and this Pintail ended up swimming fairly close to me.