Birding and Bird Photography

For sure for sure, I see why you cropped it that way, now. I hate it when they're near the edge!
But yeah, fast little buggers! This is what I usually get:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet by 92shawman, on Flickr

Got this one once, though! Felt super good about that. Photo's not the best, but ah well:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet by 92shawman, on Flickr

The other tricky ones are Marsh Wrens...not only are the super fast but they're secretive, too, staying almost exclusively down in the cover of the marsh plants.

 

For your Ruby-crowned Kinglet, just add some plus EV (2/3 of a stop?) and you should be fine-the sky really messes with exposure.

I have been thinking about taking some waders and spending time at the water's edge several of he birds that are elusive. My biggest problem though is that I have very little patience.

 

Oooh, good point with the plus EV. I've just started getting into changing that setting on my camera, so I haven't messed with it much.

Yeah I used to do a sit-spot (As described in What the Robin Knows by John Young) at least every other day. It was amazing to see some of the ecological interactions and to see the elusive guys come out after I had been sitting still for like 30 minutes. There was a house wren that would make rounds in the little hedge that passed behind my spot, it was fun to try and follow him by the little vegetation rustles.
I need to get out there again...I haven't at all this year.

 

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Owls make the best faces! Nice shot!

 

Yeah I'm quickly discovering that it is extremely useful and I should've been playing around with it much earlier!

Used it to get these shots. Poor lighting so I added 1-2 EV, which definitely helped. The dark green on the merganser was difficult to see, though.
The Common Mergansers were a new species for me! I don't remember ever seeing them before, so new life species as well as year. My 89th this year.


Common Merganser by 92shawman, on Flickr


Common Merganser by 92shawman, on Flickr


Common Merganser by 92shawman, on Flickr

Tried to get that landing position again. Kinda worked...would've been better if she were landing towards me, but whatever.

Female Mallard by 92shawman, on Flickr

The Canada Geese here are so photogenic!

Canada Geese by 92shawman, on Flickr

Random domestic mallard or something was hanging out with the other Mallards but didn't quite know what to do when they flew away...poor guy!

Untitled by 92shawman, on Flickr

 

Thanks! I can't wait to see what you get with that lens you're renting! It's weird 'cause when I see them in LR they don't look nearly as sharp, then I export them they look better, then I upload to flickr and they look super sharp! I don't know what it is, but sometimes it makes it look better and sometimes it kinda hurts my eyes...
Yeah aside from the normal waterfowl there were a few killdeer there and two black-necked stilts. The photos of the stilts didn't come out very well, but I liked framing the killdeer in this shot.

 

Nice shot! Awesome camouflage!

 

Jonek love that owl picture!

Drove for almost 9 hours yesterday down through Iowa over to Wisconsin then back across the Mississippi to Mn. Can't wait until the ice is out and it opens up again and the birds return. As I was packing the truck to leave had a bald eagle fly over me and hoped it was a good sign but turned out not so much. 3 Eagles (no golden) and 2 hawks. First time seen a hawk in months they were both along the river which is frozen solid. High was only -4 and not much of anything moving anywhere. Only shot I got was a tom but at least he had a decent beard. After yesterday I am really starting to appreciate the need for longer reach glass.


wildturkey1 by Mn Cold Iron, on Flickr

 

Some photo sharing sites add sharpening to displayed photos.

 

Never rent one. You won't want to return it.

 

well, since you guys have the domestic stuff covered I figured I'd contribute some shots from outside NA. These are older shots dating from my 35mm days

First off, who doesn't like boobies?



and a young'n only a mother could love



Those were taken on the Galapagos, as was this. Kinda seems like cheating since everything is so tame. I guess iguana isn't on the hawk's menu.



Galapagos mockingbird



one of the famous "darwin finches" -- a cactus finch



and a flightless cormorant for good measure

 

I'm super jealous of your galapagos trip! I'll hopefully get there some day...

 

Excellent thread. Tacomas and birding in one place. Just doesn't get better than this. I don't take pictures but I get out birding when I can. If anyone visits the Rochester, New York area let me know. If I can swing the time we'll visit a few hot spots.

 

yeah.. trip of a lifetime. you can get away without a telephoto since nothing runs or flies away from you, though on some of the islands they're pretty strict about keeping to paths and specific areas, especially in breeding season, so it could come in handy for that shot thats juuust out of reach.

IF you do go I highly recommend spending some time in mainland Ecuador. The birds are insane. Just be warned you'll have a much harder time getting decent shots, especially in the forest habitats. Maybe things are better with all the image stabilization and high ISO capabilities these days (plus it rains a ton). this shot of a many-banded aracari is the best I managed (gotta love the names too)

 

Nice one! I'll definitely be in Ecuador within the next 6 months. My girlfriend is doing peace corps down there right now and I'll be visiting her after I graduate. I also just applied for a volunteer position on an bird banding and management expedition in the cloud forests of the Andes. I'm not in yet (just sent the application in yesterday) but mist netting and performing transect counts for two weeks in the Andes sounds amazing!
I'm not sure what I'll do in terms of camera gear...don't really want to risk taking my 400mm. I'll probably just use my point and shoot that I took to Australia. Got some pretty good bird shots there, but nothing as good as I would've gotten with my dslr.

 

if you've never been to the tropics prepare to have your mind blown. Definitely jump on any opportunity you get, especially if you can hook up with people who know the terrain. I'm waiting for the day I can go back. Not that easy with a 5-year-old in tow.

I would be cautious about brings lots of expensive camera gear. Between worrying about getting it wet, the lens fogging up or dropping it in the mud, not to mention getting it stolen (My luggage was "inspected" at some point in transit on a trip to costa rica and I lost a nice knife) you're probably going to worry more about what can go wrong than you will about missing some shots. Bring binoculars though. That's a must.

 

Forgot to mention driving just about anywhere down there can rival any off-road adventure in the US. The absolute worst roads i've been on have been in central and S america. I would love to test out my Tacoma down there! (just to bring this full circle to tacoma relevance).

 

Australia had some awesome trucks! This was one of the trucks that was on our research station in Cape Tribulation (wet tropics):

Research station truck by 92shawman, on Flickr

My girlfriend told me about all the toyota trucks she sees down there, I'm excited!

Yeah I've been to the wet tropics of Australia, which was really freakin' awesome! I went when I was 10, too, and had an awesome time, so when your kid gets a little older I'm sure you all will have a blast!
I'll probably just take my little nikon P&S. It did stupendously in Australia:
Tropics:
This was absolutely insane! The cassowary literally crossed the boardwalk I was standing on about 15 feet away from me. Co close!

Cassowary by 92shawman, on Flickr

Did a night hike and spotted a roosting female Victoria Riflebird

Victoria's Riflebird by 92shawman, on Flickr


Leaden Flycatcher by 92shawman, on Flickr

Saw a fair number of raptors, this was the main one in the tropics, but we saw three different species of kites and two eagles and a kestrel:

White-bellied Sea Eagle by 92shawman, on Flickr

A cyclone came through and blew a bunch of Magnificent Frigatebirds down the coastline, that was really neat to see them just glide past:

Magnificent Frigatebirds by 92shawman, on Flickr


Magnificent Frigatebirds by 92shawman, on Flickr

Awww damn, just realized that I haven't shared some of my best bird photos from that trip with you guys! My favorites are from when my study abroad class travelled inland, I'll post those next.

 

From farther inland essentially in the outback:

Blue-winged Kookaburra by 92shawman, on Flickr

This guy was awesome to see as I went to get breakfast supplies from the building with the fridge on the station:

Whistling Kite by 92shawman, on Flickr

The other main species of kite that we saw out there:

Black Kite by 92shawman, on Flickr

These two adorable little guys were drinking water from a hose drip puddle so I could get super close to them. Pretty, too!

Double Barred Finches by 92shawman, on Flickr

My favorite bird from the trip:

Rainbow Bee-eater by 92shawman, on Flickr


Rainbow Bee-eaters by 92shawman, on Flickr

This guy might've been even worse than the ruby-crowned kinglets...super tiny and super fast!

Purple-crowned Fairy-wren by 92shawman, on Flickr


Purple-crowned Fairy-wren by 92shawman, on Flickr

Saw these two at the mine we visited while out there. Super closely related to the Rainbow Lorikeets, they keep going back and forth between one and two species...

Red-collared Lorikeets by 92shawman, on Flickr

I probably have some more good ones from different regions, too, but I think those are the best of the whole trip.