Birding and Bird Photography

Very nice.

 

I wish i could get that close to a bald eagle, more less ever even see one in real life

 

Nice shots Cold Iron! I like the gull photo, too, looks like football refs making conflicting calls

That's awesome! Have you made any comparisons about the surroundings of which houses get used or anything? Seems like there could be a cool study in that data.

I asked him about it and he said it works pretty well as kind of a beginning lens. He has a canon T2i, so I don't know how it will compare on a Nikon, but he said the focusing at 500 is pretty fast. Obviously not as nice as the canon version but for the price he really likes it.
It's also super durable. He uses it in the field all the time and has actually dropped it once or twice and it worked fine afterwards. He's having some sort of "clicking" issue now, though, so he's going to take it somewhere to get it checked out.

Went out to the reservoir logcabin was talking about. Turned out the weird bird that his coworker saw was a Eurasian Wigeon, but we didn't see it this weekend. The water level apparently has risen a lot so we saw a lot of divers, including my first ever Ring-necked duck, which was really cool! Took a ton of pictures that I'll go through and post later today.

 

I think you'll find that better bodies have better focusing ability. So what's slow on the T2i should be a bit faster on other bodies. FWIW, I think the Nikon AF is slightly better. That might affect speed too.

 

Interesting, I didn't know that! I'm learning so much about different bodies and lenses just from paying attention to the photography threads on here.

Still going through my photos from this weekend...got about 50 left. Got some really good ones, though!

 

Nicely done, i love marking new ones off the list!!

 

Finally went through my pictures from last weekend up in Placerville at Finnon Reservoir with Logcabin. Got some good ones and new life species for me!! Ring-necked duck and common goldeneye were unexpected new ones for me, which was awesome! The photos of the ring-neck didn't come out as well as I had hoped, but that goldeneye, man, that shocked me when I pulled up the photo on my computer. I hadn't spotted it with my binocs and when I lensed it I was trying to get it quickly while it was flying so I didn't ID it then.
We took a canoe out on the water to take a secchi disc reading and man did that produce some awesome pictures! I'm very glad that I took the chance bringing my camera out in the canoe for that.
Roll the photos!


Canada Geese by 92shawman, on Flickr


Pied-billed Grebe by 92shawman, on Flickr


Ring-necked Duck by 92shawman, on Flickr


Marsh Wren by 92shawman, on Flickr

This guy kept his bill tucked the entire time we were there, which was annoying. Right when we got there he was displaying, which was cool to see, but he was too far away and the light was too low to get a good shot

Ruddy Duck by 92shawman, on Flickr


Bufflehead by 92shawman, on Flickr


Acorn Woodpecker by 92shawman, on Flickr


White-breasted Nuthatch by 92shawman, on Flickr

Wish this one was a bit more in focus, but he was only there for about half a second, so I'm glad I got anything!

Downy Woodpecker by 92shawman, on Flickr


Red-tailed Hawk by 92shawman, on Flickr


Red-tailed Hawk by 92shawman, on Flickr


Western Bluebird by 92shawman, on Flickr

Dramatic Oak Titmouse:

Oak Titmouse by 92shawman, on Flickr

The rest of these were all from the canoe.

Common Goldeneye by 92shawman, on Flickr


Bufflehead by 92shawman, on Flickr


Ruddy Duck by 92shawman, on Flickr


American Coot by 92shawman, on Flickr

 

These two looked like good caption contest photos

Buffleheads and American Coot by 92shawman, on Flickr


Canada Geese by 92shawman, on Flickr

 

Rupp1 thanks and keep those NC bird pics coming! I moved up here from Asheville where I first lived when I retired from the Navy. And before that lived over on the coast on Currituck Sound. My mother had a stroke last summer and I moved her from Fl. up to Raleigh so she could be near my sister and family.

Ben that is a lot of new birds in a day, jealous. I sleep with the window open even in the winter and I am starting to hear the geese fly over at night. The time is almost here too. Spent half the day on the river freezing, really want to shoot an Eagle fishing and also the locked talon falling in flight courtship ritual. Going to have to wait until next winter for locked talons although the resident Eagles are starting to get territorial and chase after the wintering birds. Have so much more appreciation for your Eagle with fish picture now, and had a lot before. Single digits with wind chill in the teens below I can finally start to feel my fingers again LOL. IIRC correctly it was about like that when you got your picture. And was well worth it.

Kevin well done!! Very well done, beautiful pictures! I'm glad you took your camera out in the canoe it was worth it.

 

Swallow tailed kites coming back to FL.

 

Saw a V of some type of goose or swan last night kayaking a river flood hole in central MO. No clue what they were, but they were bigger than Canadas. Tundra swans, maybe? Do they migrate in a V? Maybe 15 of them. Lots of arch in the wing, like a heron, but with a long neck. Thought they might even be Sandhills.

 

Looking forward to your pics Ben!

Juvi, with 5 Eagles as a background.


juviAndothers by Mn Cold Iron, on Flickr

B&H shipped out my 1.4X tc on Monday and UPS had several shipping delays so I will not have it until next week Could have used it today. These 2 were doing aerial combat and were just specks in the sky.


EagleFight by Mn Cold Iron, on Flickr

This guy pretty much filled the whole frame however


Adult EagleIF by Mn Cold Iron, on Flickr

 

Awesome photos, Ben! And great birds, too!

 

Oh I bet! Can't wait to see them, man!

 

Ben , was that Tree Swallow in Ladner ?

 

Wow Ben!! Love them all fantastic pictures and that owl picture is really special. VERY well done!

 

They haven't arrived where I am yet

 

And just like magic I see my first 2 Tree Swallows at the site this morning

 

Nice hummingbird pic

 

Holy crap Ben, you really were on the birds! No wonder you went there. I'm patiently trying to wait on the birds to come back through here.

Yesterday I went to a State Park that claims to have more than 260 species fly though mainly in the spring and fall of course. But only saw 3, crows, eagles and a Northern Shrike. Passed 3 Shrikes on the way there and got a shot of the one in the park.


Northern Shrike by Mn Cold Iron, on Flickr

Still struggling with AF on this 300mm F/4. My 60-250 is tack sharp on focus and most all are keepers. My tc should be here today and if it works out with the 60-250 the 300mm is going in for repair\replacement. Bad time of year to be without a decent bird lens.

Saw my first Common Merganser of the year yesterday


Male Common Merganser by Mn Cold Iron, on Flickr

Last week had a blue heron fly by but this weekend had 2 hanging out in some water that was starting to show where the ice is melting.


Great Blue Heron Ice by Mn Cold Iron, on Flickr

Before I left the house noticed the bird feeder had no birds on it, in fact couldn't see or hear a bird anywhere. OK where is that damn Cooper's hawk?! 50 feet from the house sitting in the blue spruce eating yet another songbird


Coopers hawk lunch by Mn Cold Iron, on Flickr

When I got home these guys were waiting for me, maybe spring is really coming after all.


First Robins by Mn Cold Iron, on Flickr