|
ExecuDork posted:Tell you what: we'll trade places for a week. I can't get anywhere near a hawk, and the corvids all (except the rare foolish young raven) mock me from heavy cover. I saw 4 snowys on that drive, but I only bothered to stop for the first one. Hah, deal.  I saw two more hawks yesterday, one feeding but unfortunately it was in an area where I couldn't pull off safely and probably would have gotten a ticket trying so I had to grudgingly go onward.Was going through some of my older photos recently and forgot about this one with a young mockingbird proudly regurgitating a worm for the camera. 
|
#
?
Feb 10, 2012 23:12
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 12:29 |
|
|
Hummingbirds can be frustrating to predict in flight. Anyone have some favorite tactics for these little guys that they are willing to share? They don't stick around here for long, and it's only a couple weeks a year before they're gone. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2012 01:32
|
|
|
Steeltalon posted:Hummingbirds can be frustrating to predict in flight. Anyone have some favorite tactics for these little guys that they are willing to share? They don't stick around here for long, and it's only a couple weeks a year before they're gone. Hummingbirds aren't too smart. When the find a good food source, like a hummingbird feeder, they remember the location more than what it actually looks like. If you move the feeder to another location, they will keep coming back to the original location looking for it, they won't immediately find it in another location. Since they will more predictably go to the location of a feeder versus a specific flower, you can use this to get shots of them feeding at pretty much any flower you want, and by proxy more natural looking inflight shots. All you need to do is something like this: - Hang a hummingbird feed for a few weeks, or until you get regular visitors - Prepare a syringe of sugar water (or some sort of hummingbird food) - Snip a colorful flower that you'd like the bird to feed at, red seems to work the best, but anything colorful should work. Experiment. - Take down the feeder and hang your flower in the same place. - Fill the flower using the syringe and watch the hummingbird go nuts with it. Obviously putting the camera in burst mode, and shooting as many frames per second as you can will help capture a good moment. Manual focus sometimes works better, too.    
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2012 00:48
|
|
|
Some brilliant shots here, but that last one of the hummingbirds sihoutted in front of the sun is amazing. A few more of mine... zz_A9F8288 by R-W-P (Rupert in HK), on Flickr  zz_A9F8141 by R-W-P (Rupert in HK), on Flickr  z_A9F8249 by R-W-P (Rupert in HK), on Flickr  zz_A9F8145-2 by R-W-P (Rupert in HK), on Flickr Not so sharp but I like the compostition...  zz_MG_5639 by R-W-P (Rupert in HK), on Flickr  z_A9F8381 by R-W-P (Rupert in HK), on Flickr  z_A9F8634 by R-W-P (Rupert in HK), on Flickr Crash landing...  z_MG_5630 by R-W-P (Rupert in HK), on Flickr  Water off a duck's back by R-W-P (Rupert in HK), on Flickr JuanChai fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Feb 17, 2012 |
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2012 01:47
|
|
|
zz_A9F8288 by R-W-P (Rupert in HK), on Flickr Cor, that's phenomenal.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2012 02:05
|
|
|
I really like the depth in that one. It seems well balanced in a chaotic sort of way.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2012 02:17
|
|
|
Mango Polo posted:Hey bird shooters, I need a bit of advice. Early March I'm flying to Peru to spend a week in the jungle, but my current lenses are pretty much inadequate (d7000 with a Tamron 17-50mm and a Nikkor 70-210mm) for the task. This was a typical day: 
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2012 19:16
|
|
|
I went out on "Snowy Owl Hunt #8" this past weekend. Drove around 1,000 kms all over new territory without a single sighting. It's probably a good thing I didn't see any because I probably would have come home with ruined shots if I had. One camera wasn't on centre-point AF so I have lots of nice blurry bird shots, and my other camera was somehow off of RAW images and on lower quality JPGs. I did manage a new species for me (red crossbill):   And I did find a hawk of some sort right at the start of the golden hour. It was gorging on mice (it caught a new one probably every 5 minutes).  
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2012 16:51
|
|
|
InternetJunky posted:
Sibley's guide indicates that it's most likely a Juvenile light phase Rough-Legged Hawk. I can't believe that bad luck you're having with the Snowy Owls.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2012 17:23
|
|
|
mobot posted:
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2012 20:07
|
|
|
mobot posted:
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2012 23:43
|
|
|
JuanChai posted:Not so sharp but I like the compostition... mobot posted:Let's contrast this beautiful shot of a hummingbird with, say . . . a wild turkey.  DSC03951 by Kelly_Davis, on Flickr Why the hell are there wild turkeys on a Hawaiian island? I mean, I get that they were imported. Who looks at Hawaii, says "this place could really use some turkeys", and goes out of their way to introduce a flock or two?  DSC03947 by Kelly_Davis, on Flickr Bob Socko fucked around with this message at 07:02 on Feb 22, 2012 |
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2012 06:52
|
|
|
Bob Socko posted:It's a good shot. Yeah, it's a bit soft, but my eye is drawn to the wing first, and the clearly-defined feathers help counterbalance any softness around the head. I usually don't photograph gulls because they're so common, therefore I assume everyone will think they're boring. You're getting around that by photographing them doing neat things, and I like it. Almost everything in Hawaii was brought from somewhere else. At least everything close to sea level. Great turkey pics though! There were actually turkeys in Hawaii before they were (re)introduced to California.
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2012 07:25
|
|
|
I went on a coastal trip to Monterey last weekend and caught quite a few birds. There are a couple crossposts from SaD. Dignified by samjack56, on Flickr  Pigeon Portrait by samjack56, on Flickr  Lord of the Pigeons by samjack56, on Flickr  Enjoying the waves. by samjack56, on Flickr  Take-off! by samjack56, on Flickr  Drying his wings. by samjack56, on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2012 08:45
|
|
|
Last week there was a reported sighting of a Snowy Owl hanging around Lake Ray Hubbard in Dallas. It's been stirring up a lot of excitement with the local bird photographer and bird watchers. She's been attracting a ton of attention and there's countless photographers showing trying to get a shot of her. There's been only six recorded sighting of the Snowy Owl in Texas according to Jim Peterson, former curator of the Dallas Museum of Nature & Science. Here's the proof. photo credited to Geryl Mortensen/Birds Afield Feb 19 2012 
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2012 00:26
|
|
|
JuanChai posted:Some brilliant shots here, but that last one of the hummingbirds sihoutted in front of the sun is amazing. A few more of mine... Pablo Bluth posted:That's a pretty amazing shot. If that was my photograph, I'd be frantically filling out the form for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year (3 days to go!). It's got that something different that the judges always seem to go for. n0n0 posted:Oh my god -- what kind of lens are you using for these? They're absolutely stunning. Bob Socko posted:This is literally the best hummingbird photo I've ever seen, well done. Do you use any additional light for shots like these, or is it all natural lighting? So my server just got blown up by an Iranian hacker, apparently. I wish I knew which photos you guys were quoting, but thanks! :-( Those are some of the photographs that I took in 2007-2008 for a PBS Nature series on hummingbirds. There are a bunch more I can dig up if anyone is curious, but I happened to have these up on my [former] server, so that's what I posted. Everything I shot for PBS on that show was either with a Canon 20D or 40D and a 70-200 2.8L (non-IS), some with the Canon 1.4x. Since my primary goal was to shoot video, I was just using whatever gear I was able to stuff into my carryon bags. Everything was shot under natural lighting, usually overcast. The only real post work I did was a bump in contrast, exposure and saturation in the RAW conversion, since the originals were somewhat flat given the lighting. Really part of it was luck in that the locations we were shooting were so populated with hummingbirds. A single feeder could draw 20 birds at the same time. I even had them landing on my lens at one point; they really couldn’t care less about people and their cameras. The technique I posted about earlier with swapping out the feeder with a real flower was how I managed to get realistic shots of the birds without a big red feeder sticking in the frame. Had we not done that, I wouldn’t have been able to get a lot of the shots without Photoshopping all the man-made crap out of the frame. JuanChai posted:
This is really cool, by the way. Would love to see this as a big print! mobot fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Feb 23, 2012 |
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2012 01:02
|
|
|
I uh, I bought a lens. Or an anti-aircraft gun, I'm not sure which. 500mm f-4.5 (1 of 2) by Execudork, on Flickr  500mm f-4.5 (2 of 2) by Execudork, on Flickr Now birds will have a reason to flee from me.
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2012 02:08
|
|
|
So you are actually shooting birds? I met this angry bird:  Angry Bird by azathosk, on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2012 14:29
|
|
|
mobot posted:So my server just got blown up by an Iranian hacker, apparently. I wish I knew which photos you guys were quoting, but thanks! :-( I saw that special and it was incredible. In fact, I found it streaming online and you should all watch it: http://video.pbs.org/video/1380512531/ Well done.
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2012 00:53
|
|
|
BeastOfExmoor posted:I saw that special and it was incredible. In fact, I found it streaming online and you should all watch it: That's the one... Thanks!  I'm actually working with the producer of that film this year on a new "Nature" episode about ducks. Why ducks? Why not - there sure are some weird-rear end ducks in the world. Next week I'm headed out to Nebraska to catch some of the spring migration. It's supposed to be pretty impressive. Anyone in the area that's into shooting birds should come check it out.
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2012 01:33
|
|
|
Yeah, that was a nice PBS program. Did you film any of the Anna's Hummingbird courtship footage? I know the folks who did that research. Ducks are cool- that should be fun.
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2012 01:58
|
|
|
BetterLekNextTime posted:Yeah, that was a nice PBS program. Did you film any of the Anna's Hummingbird courtship footage? I know the folks who did that research. I wasn't involved in the Anna's Hummingbird research segment/footage, that was a different crew on the west coast of the United States. I did film some of the footage of different species in slow-mo that was in that segment though. We used a Phantom HD camera in Ecuador to capture a lot of that - it was probably one of the coolest shoots I've ever done. 1500fps hummingbirds = holy poo poo, as you can see in the film.
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2012 03:26
|
|
|
Here are some more birds from Lana'i. As BetterLekNextTime mentioned above, not much turned out to be native - maybe the last bird, but I'm not sure. All of these were shot using a Sony a77 and a Sony 70-400mm lens. I shot handheld because I was travelling very light and didn't have room for a tripod. Zebra Dove  DSC03957 by Kelly_Davis, on Flickr Zebra Dove w/ diabetes  DSC03978_3000 by Kelly_Davis, on Flickr House Sparrows  DSC04107 by Kelly_Davis, on Flickr Red Crested Cardinal and what I think is a House Sparrow  DSC04003 by Kelly_Davis, on Flickr Red Crested Cardinal  DSC04349 by Kelly_Davis, on Flickr Northern Cardinal  DSC04344 by Kelly_Davis, on Flickr Myna Bird - these things are the size of Robins, but seem smart like crows.  DSC04116 by Kelly_Davis, on Flickr I don't know what this was. It had a different beak than the Northern Cardinal. It was smart enough to hang out in the middle of some cordoned-off ruins, so I was never able to get closer than 30 or so feet to it.  DSC03974_3000 by Kelly_Davis, on Flickr Bob Socko fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Feb 27, 2012 |
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2012 07:11
|
|
|
The last one looks over processed.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2012 07:48
|
|
|
Nah, poor source image & heavily cropped - it was processed the same as the others in terms of sharpening and colors. I'm hoping someone recognizes it as I'm curious as to what it was. Edit - ok, I see the problem now. After cropping, I meant to downsize the image further to hide the poor source. Instead, it looks like I upsized it. I uploaded a corrected version which shows a bit more detail. Bob Socko fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Feb 27, 2012 |
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2012 15:24
|
|
|
It looks like you tried to do some kind of HDR process or something to me. It also looks like a Northern Cardinal to me but hard to say for sure.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2012 04:49
|
|
|
Are you sure that last one isn't a Northern Cardinal? Great pics though- I love the doves! Hopefully I have more to contribute soon. Just arrived in Wyoming for a couple of months of field work. All I have is a thumbnail sized redpoll so far though.  Common Redpoll
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2012 05:11
|
|
|
The only thing keeping from calling it a Northern Cardinal is the beak, as it seems beefier than the others I saw on the trip. Who knows, maybe it's just normal variation in the species.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2012 05:51
|
|
|
Probably just a variation. Sibley's lists an Adult Eastern Cardinal which has a "large red bill" so there is some variation within the species for bill size. I was in Kansas last week and stumbled upon someone's yard full of bird feeders with a huge collection of birds feeding. I figured they might be weirded out to wake up on Saturday morning to look out their window and see someone standing on their sidewalk with a big lens so I shot mostly from my parked car. Not that many came out, unfortunately, but these two did.  Slate Colored Junco by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  20120218-20120218-_MG_4485.jpg by beastofexmoor, on Flickr The other end of the stick. I took these about a mile from my house while searching for a Green Heron. I eventually found the heron, but he was deep in the brush and the sun had set so no photos, unfortunately.  Northern Shoveler Pair by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  Hooded Merganser Pair by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  Male Hooded Merganser by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  Male Northern Shoveler by beastofexmoor, on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2012 06:41
|
|
|
Snowy Owl.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2012 07:54
|
|
|
Dread Head posted:Snowy Owl. Long shot I know, but was this taken at the Andover Hawk Conservancy?
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2012 04:34
|
|
|
Nope, in Vancouver BC. A few more.  
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2012 04:39
|
|
|
Herons are cool. Herons by hookshot88, on Flickr  Herons by hookshot88, on Flickr  Herons by hookshot88, on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2012 06:14
|
|
|
Dang I wish we'd get some snowy owls! I'm in Wyoming for the next couple of months, it's plenty cold, a little bit snowy, but no freakin' owls. Get ready for another 2 months of grouse pics. Hopefully will get more photos of other wildlife this year.  IMG_1578 - Version 2, on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2012 06:27
|
|
|
Complete and total beginner here (got my first ever DSLR for christmas!  ) and I'm just a bit intimidated by the other shots in the thread, which, by the way, are awesome you guys. But I got a bunch of shots that I just have no idea what birds they are, so here goes...  Blue-eyed bird by Ztyrp, on Flickr From Virginia Zoo  B&W Bird by Ztyrp, on Flickr  White bird by Ztyrp, on Flickr  Bird in water IV by Ztyrp, on Flickr All three above are from San Diego Zoo. Also, Flamingo:  Flamingo by Ztyrp, on Flickr Syndromic Impostor fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Mar 3, 2012 |
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2012 14:44
|
|
|
 Circling by samjack56, on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2012 03:29
|
|
|
I really like the color in the vulture- nice shot! ^^^^ Also nice ones from the zoo. I have a book that has an almost identical shot to the flamingo. It has begun... Happy to get some snow to cover up the cow pies... I promise I'll try not to post a million of these.  IMG_2175 - Version 2, on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2012 01:14
|
|
|
I managed to photograph a Bohemian Waxwing today. These are extremely rare in Western Washington state so it was amazing to get such a close opportunity at one.  Bohemian Waxwing by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  Bohemian Waxwing by beastofexmoor, on Flickr Cedar Waxwings:  Cedar Waxwings of Marymoor Park by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  20120308-20120308-_MG_4974.jpg by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  Winter Golden-Crowned Sparrow by beastofexmoor, on Flickr  Marymoor Pileated Woodpecker by beastofexmoor, on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2012 01:25
|
|
|
BeastOfExmoor posted:I managed to photograph a Bohemian Waxwing today. These are extremely rare in Western Washington state so it was amazing to get such a close opportunity at one. These are gorgeous, but especially the second one! Awesome!
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2012 01:35
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 12:29 |
|
|
I don't know what it is about bald eagles, but I don't think it's possible to take a bad picture of one. Unfortunately, I couldn't avoid the chain link enclosure, but I love its expression. bald eagle by mustelid, on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2012 00:47
|
|