About Richard

My name is Richard Fray and I was born in Leicester, England in 1973. I grew up in a wildlife-mad household. My dad, Mic Fray, ran the city's branch of the Young Ornithologists Club, so it was no surprise I became interested. My brother Rob and I roamed the countryside around Oadby and Stoughton in search of birds and wildlife until Rob got his first car; then, the whole of the UK became our playground, and overseas trips weren't far behind. I became involved in several local wildlife organisations in Leicestershire, and held various positions with the Leicestershire & Rutland Ornithological Society and Leicestershire & Rutland Dragonfly Group (including designing both websites). Rob had a far more illustrious birding career; he was twice British Birds Young Ornithologist of the Year and was the County Bird Recorder for Leicestershire and Rutland for many years. He now lives on the Shetland Isles, Scotland, where he works for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

I moved to Tucson, Arizona in 2002 where I have been exploring a new world of wildlife. And what a place to explore! I have permanent resident status in the USA. I'm now a professional birding guide and tour leader, having formed Fun Birding Tours in January 2010. For me, there is no better way to make a living than sharing the wildlife of Southeast Arizona.

After nearly seven years away from committees, I was elected to the Board of Directors of Tucson Audubon Society in April 2009. I have been involved in a variety of projects and sit on the development and membership committees.

Outside my wildlife and photography, I enjoy watching sport, in particular my football (soccer) team in England, the (once) (not very) mighty Leicester City. I also follow the Leicestershire and England cricket teams. Much of my time is devoted to my pets (a dog and a cat) and socializing with friends.

I wasn't serious about wildlife photography until the mid 1990s. With a few notable (and published) exceptions, I didn't do that well with the SLR equipment I had - I was on a tight budget, and the decent lenses were out of reach. But all this changed with the digital revolution. I bought a digital camcorder in January 2001, and with practice, an ingenious bracket designed by an engineer friend, and a lot of time on the computer, I was able to turn the shaky, close up footage I'd taken through the telescope into fuzzy record shots. It was fun, but nothing more than a personal record. In September 2002 I upgraded to a digital still camera, a Nikon Coolpix 4500, and my "digiscoping" really started in earnest. There are still some photos on this website that were captured using this method.

Finally I took the plunge and entered the world of Digital SLR photography in December 2006. My main camera is a Canon EOS 30D, an excellent Digital SLR camera for wildlife photography owing to its rapid burst speed and large buffer capacity, giving me the ability to fire off lots of shots quickly. The resolution of 8.2 megapixels is plenty. I'm still impressed by the camera and very pleased with my choice.

I have two Canon lenses for the 30D - the standard (and very ordinary) 18-55mm L and a delightful 100-400mm L IS, my main lens. I sometimes use a Kenko 1.4x teleconverter with this combination, and macro tubes for close-ups. Hopefully I'll be getting a macro lens soon...

My photos have appeared in a number of publications. Books include Birds of Southeastern Arizona (2010), Nightjars of the World (2010), The Birds of Scotland (2007) and various LROS Annual Bird Reports (including the cover in 2003), whilst magazines include British Birds, Birding World, Birdwatch, Birdwatching and Tucson Audubon's Vermilion Flycatcher, amongst others.

My current telescope is a Kowa TS823 angled spotting scope fitted with a TSN 30x wide-angle eyepiece. I have owned a succession of Kowa scopes and like them a lot (not that I wouldn't consider a Leica or Swarovski if I had the cash). The scope sits atop a Manfrotto 055MF3 Mag Fiber tripod with a 701RC2 head. I love how light it is, how steady it stays and how tall it extends (most tripods are apparently made for the midgets of this world under six feet tall!). And of course I'm never without my Zeiss Victory 10x50 binoculars.

For a wide range of cameras and other birding optics, I recommend you visit Binoculars.com or Eagle Optics. There are several very good online digital printers that can convert your digital files into beautiful prints and cards on top quality photo paper. If you've only tried printing your own photos, you won't believe the improvement in quality! Try Winkflash.com or Snapfish.com, who often have special offers for online printing.

Books are an equally important part of my wildlife watching equipment. Take a look at my bookshelf to see the books I reference on a daily basis and recommend for use in the field or in study.