Birding and Bird Photography

Thank you very much Ben and yes I shoot in RAW and edit in LR. This week I found some presets that some people are using with my model camera and setup a custom preset in LR with them. And also switched from PEF to DNG and use LR to read the color from the embedded RAW file. I like it much better so far then the default LR settings.

So that hawk is the one that until I got a camera I would just see a glimpse of once in a great while around the property. Funny how once you have a camera you start to see more, and things just seem to happen in a good way. This week the girlfriend sent me a text at work and said there was a sparrow hawk that just flew into the hedges and is sitting in the yard eating a sparrow. I replied no it isn't a sparrow hawk, grab the book and make a positive ID. I've noticed around this area of the country smaller hawks are commonly called sparrow hawks, all larger hawks are referred to as just hawks. She came back a few minutes later and said it was a Cooper's LOL. I think she is right.

 

Hmmm...It's a juvenile, I know that, but Cooper's or Sharpie...not sure. Leaning towards sharpie because of the small-ish head and it looks pretty small next to that tree, but that could be deceiving.
Really like that Shoveler pic! And I'm so jealous of those harlequin ducks...I really wanna see one!
Those cackling geese are so adorable! Like canada geese mini-me's

Nice great blue heron shots, Ben and Cold Iron!
Cold Iron, it's funny you should bring up the sparrow hawk name because actually the American Kestrel scientific name is Falco sparverius meaning "Falcon" and "relating to a sparrow" and it has a common name of "sparrow-hawk." I think that's more because of it's small size, though, because it doesn't really eat sparrows. But then yeah, I've heard of people calling sharp-shinned hawks sparrow hawks, too.

Good stuff!

 

As juveniles they look pretty similar, or at least some of them do. I'm meeting with my raptor professor this afternoon so I'll show him the picture if the chance comes up.

 

Where are you shooting at Ben? Do you have something like a bird sanctuary? I don't take a whole lot of notice to the birds around here but I don't see a wide range of species either.

 

those sandhill crane shots! How close were you?

Also, I showed my professor those two pictures. Are they the exact same bird? The first one he said looked like a cooper's hawk to him because the eyes in a sharp-shinned are super huge compared to their head, and this one didn't have that look to him. But then the second picture looked like a sharp-shinned to him...
These guys are tough, man, no matter how good you are at bird ID.

 

Hmm yeah based on that second one he was leaning towards sharpie.
That's so cool! I wanna get close to cranes...

 

Ok, puget sound is now on the list along with corpus christie... So jealous!
What are your settings for those last two photos? I was having trouble getting the right settings for my last set.

 

Cool, thanks. I think I had +EV, ISO, and shutter speed too high... I usually just do auto ISO which was working well but then I wanted to experiment and changed it around but that didn't work so well, still gotta learn a lot about it.

 

Heck id of said peregrine falcon hahaha...i dont know my hawks very well at all, i can identify redtails and kestrels but thats about it lo lol

 

Haha, the main reason I know them is 'cause I took an entire class on raptors, which included raptor ID from photos.
I'm really bad with gulls, shorebirds, and owls, though...the raptor class didn't cover owls, unfortunately.

Thanks! The problem was that they required quite a bit of work in Lightroom, primarily to reduce the ridiculous noise. I liked how they turned out eventually, but out of the camera there were only a few really good ones.
Ooooh, thanks for that info! I'll have to keep that in mind!

 

First is definately hooded merganser hen...second is a thrush, possibly swainsons....its hard to tell the third one. At first i was thinking kingfisher but the wings dont match up, maybe some kind of woodpecker?

 

Actually i looked online and and the wings do match up to a kingfisher, so my guess on the third pic is belted kingfisher

 

I agree, hooded merganser and belted kingfisher (note the massive bill) But I'm thinking hermit thrush instead of swainson's. They're both pretty similar but I think the rufous rump and tail is characteristic hermit thrush. Also, based on my field guide's range map, I'm not sure if Swainson's would be up there yet.

 

Hooded Merganser , Hermit Thrush and Belted Kingfisher , all birds I see almost every day

 

The small one looks like a ruddy turnstone and the bigger looks like a juvenille plover

 

definitely a ruddy turnstone. the reddish legs are a giveaway. Great shots BTW!

Know any good spot to find rock sandpipers around puget sound? I visit Seattle regularly but I've yet to see one. I think it's a winter time only bird

 

The other looks like a black bellied plover but ofcourse its still not in full plumage

 

I was waiting for those to show up in here! Awesome shots!