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It took 17 hours of driving yesterday but I finally found a Short-eared Owl! (so exhausted right now)
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Dec 30, 2013 16:24
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InternetJunky posted:It took 17 hours of driving yesterday but I finally found a Short-eared Owl! drat, that looks awesome, by the angle of the barbwire shadow were you cutting it pretty close to the sun setting in that picture? I had no luck when I went looking for snowys last Monday, the air temperature was around -25 and when I got close to Ft. Saskatchewan it hit -35, my little diesel engine could barely keep it's temperature up so I wasn't out as long as I would've liked.
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Dec 30, 2013 19:25
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InternetJunky posted:It took 17 hours of driving yesterday but I finally found a Short-eared Owl! Short eared owls are so drat cool. The only time I've ever seen them my camera was busted. Glad you found one and had some rad light, too. How much daylight do you get up there right now, like six hours? I spent the last week in eastern oregon but was only able to get out for one morning because family. But my girlfriend's sister and brother in law just bought a piece of property with a natural spring that feeds into the Sprague river and it is pretty awesome duck habitat since the water doesn't freeze. So I froze my rear end off and shotted some bird.  Lesser Scaup  Common Goldeneye  Bufflehead  American Wigeon  Common Merganser
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Dec 31, 2013 04:43
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Mynah, common backyard bird mynah by Raikyn, on Flickr
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Dec 31, 2013 08:01
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InternetJunky posted:It took 17 hours of driving yesterday but I finally found a Short-eared Owl! Good job. I'm hoping to see some in my area soon - last December we had at least three hunting in and around Arcata Marsh, but there's been no sign of them yet this winter. A Belted Kingfisher landing on a post with a freshly-caught fish  kingfisher-fish by Redwood Planet, on Flickr (lesser?) scaup working on swallowing a clam. It took him a while.  scaup-clam by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Black Oystercatchers  oystercatcher by Redwood Planet, on Flickr My family met up for the holidays right across from the favorite perch of a couple kites. I didn't get any shots that really stood out on their own, so I tried compositing together a sequence of one of them pulling into a dive.  kite-composite by Redwood Planet, on Flickr
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Jan 1, 2014 03:18
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I found a squatting mudbird. 
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Jan 1, 2014 04:49
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 Blue-Crowned Laughingthrush by William T Hornaday, on Flickr
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Jan 3, 2014 01:00
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I'm dumping some of the birdie photos I took this year for kicks... Black-crowned Night Heron by Paul Frederiksen, on Flickr  Great Blue Heron by Paul Frederiksen, on Flickr  Perched Great Egret by Paul Frederiksen, on Flickr  Female Red-winged Blackbird by Paul Frederiksen, on Flickr  Sanderlings by Paul Frederiksen, on Flickr vxsarin fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 04:15
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I just got a 400mm. I would like to poo poo birds. Is this part of photography as much getting a good photo as it is finding cool birds? If so, how the hell do I find cool birds? I live in the northeast.
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Jan 3, 2014 04:18
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rcman50166 posted:I just got a 400mm. I would like to poo poo birds. Is this part of photography as much getting a good photo as it is finding cool birds? If so, how the hell do I find cool birds? I live in the northeast. Get yourself a decent bird book (I like the sibley books). Just start out going to your local parks. You'd be amazed how many birds there are, even in an urban environment. That great blue heron I posted above is right in the middle of Baltimore city.
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Jan 3, 2014 04:20
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Lots of birds are quite tolerant of people, even people with big honkin' lenses, and are great practice. Set yourself up in a park or next to a bit of water (seashore, lake, pond, river, wetland, etc.) and try whatever you can think of in terms of composition, angle, distance, aperture/bokeh, etc. Just as general tips: get comfortable, stay reasonably still (you don't need to be a statue, but avoid sudden movements and too much running around), and go for faster shutter speeds - I like at least 1/400, 1/1000 is better. Low angles are often more interesting, especially for waterfowl - don't be afraid to lie down behind your camera at the water's edge. Muddy knees (or a muddy chest) is a sign of the dedicated bird shitter. For finding birds beyond the urban usuals (House Sparrow, Mallard Duck, various gulls), you'll want to travel. State and National Parks are excellent destinations, they're often built around habitats that a wide variety of birds use. If you can find some birders locally they'll have tons of advice for places to go and how to find particular species.
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Jan 3, 2014 06:03
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Also, don't chase birds. You really have to wait for them to come to you. This is a GREAT resource: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ It'll show you where various bird sightings are.
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Jan 3, 2014 06:22
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It's really kind of up to you. I started out wanting to photograph birds, but have quickly become a birder who spends much more time looking for birds than I do photographing them. You can do whatever you want really. Want to try to capture that perfect photo of a Mallard or Great Blue Heron? Go for it. Want to scour the beach in search of some rare shorebird that took a wrong turn somewhere on it's way to northern Europe and ended up in the east coast? I imagine it will probably be something in between. eBird is great. For just finding good places to go I suggest using their hotspot explorer and moving around your area. You can also use the bar charts feature to generate a list of what birds are seen and how often in your county. Find your local birding listserv as well and see what people are seeing. A lot of the traffic may be rare bird reports, but there are often good general "I went to this park and saw these birds today" reports as well. http://birding.aba.org The east coast is great in the spring and fall for Warblers, tiny colorful birds that migrate all the way from South America. They can be very frustrating to photograph due to their size and quick movements, but they're really amazing birds and most people don't even know they exist. Pukestain Pal's suggestion of a field guide is excellent. I think Sibley's Eastern guide would be the best place to start. You might be able to find it for under $10 in a used bookstore or Amazon has it for like $15 shipped from various sellers. The full north american guide is way too big to carry around with you and is also about to replaced. There's a birders thread as well: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3566028
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Jan 3, 2014 07:26
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The Handbook of Bird Photography is a great resource. The three co-authors are heavyweights of the field.
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Jan 3, 2014 10:55
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Pukestain Pal posted:Also, don't chase birds. You really have to wait for them to come to you. This. You'll also start to recognize behaviors specific to species that will help you snag action shots or good poses. Ducks make good practice since they tend to be slower and more predictable. Small urban birds like house sparrows and finches will teach you patience. Think about lighting ahead of time and place yourself in a place that will bring your subject within range and at the right angle/light without you having to make unnecessary movement.
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Jan 3, 2014 18:09
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Maker Of Shoes posted:This. You'll also start to recognize behaviors specific to species that will help you snag action shots or good poses. Ducks make good practice since they tend to be slower and more predictable. Small urban birds like house sparrows and finches will teach you patience. Think about lighting ahead of time and place yourself in a place that will bring your subject within range and at the right angle/light without you having to make unnecessary movement. most herons are also pretty easy to stalk. for the most part they aren't too skittish. I've practically walked into a great blue heron.
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Jan 3, 2014 18:11
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Pukestain Pal posted:most herons are also pretty easy to stalk. for the most part they aren't too skittish. I've practically walked into a great blue heron.
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Jan 3, 2014 18:18
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Kenshin posted:Yeah, my best shot of a blue heron was with an 85mm lens because he flew to about 20ft away from me and then let me get to within about 15ft without spooking. the smaller ones like the green herons are a bit more skittish if you move fast, but generally you can just walk up to any of them. The only skittish heron I've come across are the Little Blue Herons.
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Jan 3, 2014 18:25
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I love blue herons for that. Urban, tolerant, interesting to look at. small-2535 by jankyangles, on Flickr ^^^^ 185mm on a DX.  DSC_2825 by jankyangles, on Flickr I bit further, 300mm on a DX. Someone above mentioned lower angle. You can see the high angle ruined this shot.  DSC_2061 by jankyangles, on Flickr I use my kid as bait (urbon blue's like to hang around fishermen) but sometimes things go poorly. I think he's 11-12 in this picture and has never seen a bird this big. 
Maker Of Shoes fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 18:30
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This is a terrible picture but it's notable because I've never seen blue herons perched so high up in trees before. Taken with my new 120-400mm lens at 400mm. There were two of them, perched in two adjacent trees, sleeping soundly, probably 80ft up.
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Jan 3, 2014 18:46
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Kenshin posted:This is a terrible picture but it's notable because I've never seen blue herons perched so high up in trees before. The only time I've seen it is when they are sleeping. The photo I posted above of an egret was probably 200 feet high: Perched Great Egret by Paul Frederiksen, on Flickr
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Jan 3, 2014 18:52
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...and here is one of those skittish little blue herons I've mentioned. I really want to get an interesting photo of one someday. Juvenile Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) by Paul Frederiksen, on Flickr
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Jan 3, 2014 18:55
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This sexy little guy was just hanging right outside my window. Dark-eyed Junco by Paul Frederiksen, on Flickr
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Jan 3, 2014 20:09
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rcman50166 posted:I just got a 400mm. I would like to poo poo birds. Is this part of photography as much getting a good photo as it is finding cool birds? If so, how the hell do I find cool birds? I live in the northeast. Check on the ABA listservs for your area. People will post interesting birds or talk about what is being currently found in popular birding spots. Like Pukestain said, get a good field guide. He mentioned Sibley's, I like National Geographic's current edition. Most people like books with paintings rather than photos because, counter intuitively, it's easier to make out markings. The Sibley phone app is really great, too. Get some binoculars. There are awesome binos for a few hundred bucks (recommended) or get some cheap poo poo from a thrift store for $10 to start out with to see if this is something you get interested in. I'd really recommend good optics, though. Even if you're all "gently caress birding" in a little bit, they hold value and can be resold easily. Maybe check out your local Audubon Society. They probably have local birding trail guides and usually have pretty regular guided trips/ID classes plus people there love to talk about birds and generally want to help get other people excited about birds. Good photos of common species are better than bad photos of rare species, imo. Good light, eye contact, head angle, and, most importantly, being as close to eye level as possible all help make good photos. For shorebirds and waterfowl that often means lying on the ground. Try to keep yourself between the bird and the sun and shoot in the early morning or at dusk if you can. Not only is the light better, birds tend to be most active then. As mentioned before, patience is absolutely essential. A lot of the pics I've posted in here were taken from hides where I camped out for hours and hours waiting for birds to come to me. Oh yeah, that reminds me - if you have a yard you can set up a feeder or bird bath and practice on the birds that come in for that. Some people get super elaborate with home feeder set ups and take really great pics. The one thing to keep in mind with bird photography in general is that you will take millions and millions of really bad pictures and only occasionally get something decent. This is normal. Just have fun and enjoy a hobby that gets you outdoors and into nature and good pictures will come.
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Jan 3, 2014 20:41
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800peepee51doodoo posted:For shorebirds and waterfowl that often means lying on the ground. Yup: Sanderlings by Paul Frederiksen, on Flickr 800peepee51doodoo posted:Try to keep yourself between the bird and the sun and shoot in the early morning or at dusk if you can. or cloudy days
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Jan 3, 2014 20:53
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This isn't the greatest shot but I'm really loving what I'm able to do with this lens.
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Jan 3, 2014 20:55
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Kenshin posted:This isn't the greatest shot but I'm really loving what I'm able to do with this lens. Nice! Since I'm too lazy to look it up, what kind of sparrow is it?
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Jan 3, 2014 20:55
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Pukestain Pal posted:Nice! Since I'm too lazy to look it up, what kind of sparrow is it? Looks like a golden crown to me. Pukestain Pal posted:or cloudy days Yeah, cloudy-bright is good for keeping down harsh midday shadows. Also, shooting in bad weather like rain or snow can make for some dramatic pictures. e: meant to post this - http://it.wyswig.com/2014/01/02/review-tamron-sp-150-600mm-f5-6-3-di-vc-usd-english-review/ Its a review of the new Tamron 150-600mm zoom. I figure some folks might be interested in a long, yet affordable zoom. The review is from a Chinese guy so the english is rough but readable. 800peepee51doodoo fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 21:07
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800peepee51doodoo posted:Looks like a golden crown to me. I'd also really recommend the sigma 120-300 f/2.8 lens. I actually use it professionally for a sports wire service. I traded in my canon 300mm for it. fast lens, sharp, you get some flexibility. you just lose a little bit of af speed.
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Jan 3, 2014 21:16
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The lens I just got was the Sigma 120-400mm f/4.5-5.6. I'd certainly recommend it. At $900 it isn't cheap, but not nearly as expensive as you'd expect. I've been shooting mostly at f/8, it's razor-sharp there at 400mm. It's not a problem to hand-hold either. At 3.6lbs it isn't light, but it's not a problem to carry around especially with a good shoulder strap like the Joby UltraFit. Haven't had a lot of chance to do much bird photography with it yet but from the pictures of dogs I was able to get at the dog park, I'm expecting some great things. Kenshin fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 21:23
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Kenshin posted:This isn't the greatest shot but I'm really loving what I'm able to do with this lens. Where was this taken? I'm at a loss with this bird. I think the angle isn't helping (tail looks shorter than it really is), but if it's a Golden-Crowned it's the weirdest one I've seen. Face has some weird thing going on around the eye, no white on wings, back coloration looks kind of off.. edit: You're near Seattle too, right? I guess Golden-Crowned makes the most sense, but I just can't say I've seen any individual that looked like that before. 800peepee51doodoo posted:Looks like a golden crown to me. I've been keeping an eye on this lens. At $1000 I could probably sell my 100-400mm and only pay a hundred dollars to get 600mm. Unfortunately my 100-400mm is the largest lens I'm able to haul around in my little carry on bag (with camera detached) when I go on trips and also just barely fits in my backpack when I go hiking so I think I'm stuck with it. BeastOfExmoor fucked around with this message at 21:34 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 21:25
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BeastOfExmoor posted:Where was this taken? I'm at a loss with this bird. I think the angle isn't helping (tail looks shorter than it really is), but if it's a Golden-Crowned it's the weirdest one I've seen. Face has some weird thing going on around the eye, no white on wings, back coloration looks kind of off.. I don't know what kind of bird it is--I love taking photographs of them but don't particularly care what they are (aside from parrots, which I obsess over) EDIT: from looking it up it might be a female house sparrow's winter plumage. There is a picture of a male house sparrow's winter plumage here but no shot of the female's. There was a small flock of them in the trees where I took this picture and some of them looked like the male in the picture. Kenshin fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 21:26
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BeastOfExmoor posted:Where was this taken? I'm at a loss with this bird. I think the angle isn't helping (tail looks shorter than it really is), but if it's a Golden-Crowned it's the weirdest one I've seen. Face has some weird thing going on around the eye, no white on wings, back coloration looks kind of off.. I was thinking maybe a juvenile yellow-throated.
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Jan 3, 2014 21:29
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Kenshin posted:Seattle, a few blocks from where I live in the Fremont neighborhood. Yea, that seems slightly better, although it still doesn't look right to me, but it could just be aberrant plumage. Pukestain Pal posted:I was thinking maybe a juvenile yellow-throated. Yellow-Throated...what? White-Throated Sparrow, you mean? Certainly could be, I have way less experience with that species. The only Yellow-Throat(ed) birds I can think of are Wablers (Yellow-Throated Warbler, (1 Washington record, so not common) and Common Yellowthroat (common April-Sept)). Neither would have a big triangular beak like that.
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Jan 3, 2014 21:44
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BeastOfExmoor posted:Yea, that seems slightly better, although it still doesn't look right to me, but it could just be aberrant plumage. yeah, white-throated. i'm an idiot
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Jan 3, 2014 21:45
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Yeah, doesn't look like a white throated to me. I figured golden crowned based on location, time of year, no mustache and the faint black eyeline. That angle does make it tough though. e: could be female house sparrow. The bill looks too small but that could be the angle. e2: missed Kenshins edit. Yeah, I think its female HOSP 800peepee51doodoo fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 22:14
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Thanks for the info guys. I just remembered there's a kick-rear end bald eagle observatory near me. I'm going to check that out. Winter is peak season for them too. If I get something, I'll be sure to post here.
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Jan 3, 2014 23:28
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Did some practice with my new lens today and I'm quite pleased with the results. Can't wait to go out to a wildlife area and use this thing. This isn't the greatest of shots but it's interesting because this little guy has a scrape on his head. I don't know what species this is but he is TINY, half the size of my fist. I saw him flitting around in a bush and had to wait for several minutes until he came to the edge of the bush where I could see him (and where the sun was shining on him)  ISO 450 (auto), 400mm, f/8.0, 1/250sec Male House Sparrow  ISO 400 (auto), 400mm, f/8.0, 1/250sec Female House Sparrow (I think, she was hanging out with the male above)  ISO 400 (auto), 400mm, f/8.0, 1/250sec Not sure what this is, but I've been seeing them around here. Hard to get shots of because they are pretty shy and they tend to hang out high up in trees in open areas (so it is difficult to get any background but the sky)  ISO 400 (auto), 400mm, f/8.0, 1/640sec American Robin (pretty sure this is a male?). I got a bunch of great pictures of a small flock of them on this tree eating berries, but this shot I managed to get as he was swallowing the berry.  ISO 400 (auto), 400mm, f/8.0, 1/320sec
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Jan 4, 2014 22:13
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Kenshin posted:
House Finch. Male I think, since the patterns on the head are fairly sharp. Kenshin posted:This isn't the greatest of shots but it's interesting because this little guy has a scrape on his head. I don't know what species this is but he is TINY, half the size of my fist. I saw him flitting around in a bush and had to wait for several minutes until he came to the edge of the bush where I could see him (and where the sun was shining on him) Fly catcher of some sort? Not positive on this guy. vxsarin fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Jan 4, 2014 |
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Jan 4, 2014 22:14
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Pukestain Pal posted:House Finch. Male I think, since the patterns on the head are fairly sharp.
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Jan 4, 2014 22:25
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