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Kenshin posted:I saw swarms of Anna's and rufous hummingbirds today at Discovery Park here in Seattle. Most of them looked pretty young, so it seems like fledglings of both species learning to be territorial without having quite figured out how to spread further yet. I like them all, but I love this one. Very nice.
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Jun 14, 2015 15:29
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Here's a dump of photos from Wednesday, I didn't make it to my intended destination (Beaverhill Bird Observatory) , got swarmed by mosquitoes like never before Yellow-headed blackbird by Tyler Huestis, on Flickr Yellow-headed blackbirds by Tyler Huestis, on Flickr Red-tailed hawk by Tyler Huestis, on Flickr Tree swallow by Tyler Huestis, on Flickr Savannah Sparrow by Tyler Huestis, on Flickr Vesper Sparrow by Tyler Huestis, on FlickrNot 100% sure on the ID here  Clay-coloured Sparrow by Tyler Huestis, on Flickr Savannah Sparrow by Tyler Huestis, on Flickr Savannah Sparrow by Tyler Huestis, on Flickr Eastern Kingbird by Tyler Huestis, on FlickrThis one started to fly towards me in my car, thought he was actually going to come and land on my windowsill then it flew off with another Kingbird  Mountain bluebird by Tyler Huestis, on Flickr Wilson's Snipe by Tyler Huestis, on FlickrNot 100% sure on the ID here, may be a Willet?  Black Tern by Tyler Huestis, on Flickr Black Tern by Tyler Huestis, on Flickr Black Tern by Tyler Huestis, on FlickrThere were 10-15 Black Terns circling the marsh, they were flying at about 10' in the air, I was a bit worried I was going to get dive-bombed by them
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Jun 14, 2015 22:08
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neckbeard posted:
After pairing off with a male and disappearing from Arcata Marsh in March, the "Queenfisher" is back. She really likes the schools of smelt that gather around the tidal sluices in the evenings.  queenfisher-wings by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  queenfisher-hovering by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  queenfisher-swoop by Redwood Planet, on Flickr I have a few nice video clips of her in action too, but I'm holing off on editing something until I can get a wide shot of her whole hunting process. I finally got up close to one of the kites in my neighborhood that I always see hunting when I'm driving home in the evening. Instead of eating the vole on a nearby perch, it flew to a distant pine tree with it, so I think they have a nest.  vole-wild-ride by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  kite-catch by Redwood Planet, on Flickr This egret likes his fishing spot so much that he puts up with me looming directly over him with a huge camera. This is not a crop.  ge-yawn by Redwood Planet, on Flickr
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Jun 14, 2015 23:25
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I was so focused on taking portraits of this very obliging hawk that I wasn't prepared at all when another hawk swooped in for a pass. So instead of a really awesome shot, I got one that's kinda blurry and poorly composed.   Red-Tailed Hawk by Jason the Hutt, on Flickr Red-Tail scuffle by Jason the Hutt, on Flickr
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Jun 15, 2015 02:14
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Another from Saturday morning. I've got a few more good ones from Sunday morning as well but haven't had a chance to process them yet. EDIT: Sunday morning, same spot in Discovery Park. These are the last hummingbirds I'll post for a while, I promise :P   
Kenshin fucked around with this message at 05:52 on Jun 16, 2015 |
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Jun 15, 2015 16:49
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InternetJunky - where you been at? I saw this linked on reddit http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/06/2015-audubon-photography-awards/396011/ and recognized one of your photos - congrats dude
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Jun 17, 2015 03:50
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neckbeard posted:InternetJunky - where you been at? I saw this linked on reddit http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/06/2015-audubon-photography-awards/396011/ and recognized one of your photos - congrats dude This is the most terrifying bird photo I've ever seen  Also was internetjunky's the snowy owl? That's awesome, congrats!
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Jun 17, 2015 08:50
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HookShot posted:This is the most terrifying bird photo I've ever seen the Gyrfalcon
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Jun 17, 2015 13:26
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neckbeard posted:the Gyrfalcon Oh, nice. That was one's awesome.
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Jun 17, 2015 19:23
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Couple from last weekend: Red Winged Blackbird by Justin Cook, on Flickr Juvenile Purple Martin by Justin Cook, on Flickr
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Jun 18, 2015 12:59
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TheMirage posted:
FYI - this owns.
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Jun 18, 2015 17:09
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TheMirage posted:
 Also, Kestrel babies!   American Kestrel by Jason the Hutt, on Flickr American Kestrel by Jason the Hutt, on Flickr American Kestrel by Jason the Hutt, on Flickr
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Jun 20, 2015 14:59
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That people martin picture is amazing. Warrants a canvas, at least.
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Jun 20, 2015 17:23
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Like a mile from home, I got to watch this urban female Kestrel rip a sparrow apart. American Kestrel by Jason the Hutt, on Flickr Sparrow kill by Jason the Hutt, on Flickr Taking off towards nest by Jason the Hutt, on Flickr
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Jun 21, 2015 15:01
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Saw a barn swallow family yesterday. image by Irene Sanders, on Flickr
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Jun 21, 2015 22:32
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 Egret I need to learn to use this lens better (500mm f4/5 SMC Takumar manual focus). But this shot I am okay with. E: I am a huge dumb-dumb and need to RTFM, because I just learned what a diopter is and also found that mine was slammed to one side, making all my manual focus shots blurry as gently caress when they look fine through the viewfinder. That said, it is a lot of fun trying to frantically track a flying bird while focusing the lens. Rotten Cookies fucked around with this message at 11:50 on Jun 22, 2015 |
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Jun 22, 2015 00:39
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Bubbacub posted:
I was able to turn a trip to see family into a visit to two rookeries, Clear Lake and the Pescadero Marsh Natural Preserve. I still have a bunch of footage to log, but I'm done going through all the photos. A gopher getting a ride from a Red-tailed Hawk in Half Moon Bay  rth-gopher3 by Redwood Planet, on Flickr An Osprey mother providing shade for her sleeping nestling at Clear Lake  osprey-mom-baby by Redwood Planet, on Flickr The Osprey father returning to the nest with some food after eating his share  osprey-feeding by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Great Egret chicks begging while their parent regurgitates food at the Ruus Park rookery  ge-begging3 by Redwood Planet, on Flickr A Brewer's Blackbird catching damselflies over the shallows of Clear Lake  bbb-damselflies by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Common Merganser ducklings at the Pescadero Marsh  merganser-chicks by Redwood Planet, on Flickr It's been overcast every time I've gone to visit them, but there is constant Brown Pelican action off the coast from the Humboldt County lagoons now  pelican-dive-spear by Redwood Planet, on Flickr
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Jun 22, 2015 21:07
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/\/\/\ Amazing. As usual. Great work, Moon Potato.Rotten Cookies posted:
- Get a gimble head and a sturdy tripod, and use it. Handheld is certainly possible, but goddam does it get tiring quickly. Plus my butt gets wet from sitting in wet grass trying to balance the lens on my knee. - Focus at f/4.5, then stop down to f/8 or so. This is basically impossible if the bird is moving, but if you ever meet a bird that's kind enough to sit still for 30 seconds, it makes things so much better if you can switch back and forth between apertures. Automatic apertures (i.e. 1970's technology) do this for you; with the big-rear end Tak you've got to do it yourself. Takes some getting used to. - The purple fringing and general chromatic abberation on this lens is pretty severe. It's worse at wide-open, and really stopped down. I don't know the physics there, but that pink fuzzy edge is less bad at around f/8 or f/11. Good luck getting enough light for that without pushing into high-ISO sensor noise territory. - Yeah, the diopter thing. I've ruined plenty of shots that way. - If you're testing different settings, write down everything for every shot - the EXIF data is full of lies, especially (obviously) the aperture because the camera doesn't know what you're doing. My shots always seem to get listed as f/3.5 if for some reason my camera records a value at all. - Tighten up the little set screws on the aperture and focus rings periodically; my aperture ring got loose and it made figuring out what aperture I was trying to use rather difficult. Here are a couple of sparrows I shot with that lens on a recent canoe trip. I think these were at f/8.  Evening Sparrows 1 by Martin Brummell, on Flickr Evening Sparrows 2 by Martin Brummell, on Flickr
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Jun 23, 2015 19:00
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ExecuDork posted:Was this handheld, or on a tripod? That lens is so much fun, even when I completely gently caress it up. Some quick tips based on my experience so far (I am far from expert with that thing): This was on a tripod, on the gimble head you recommended in the Pentax thread. The gimble head is a real fun thing to use. The tripod I have, however, isn't the greatest. I didn't have the legs or center column extended at all, and it was sitting on a rock. Knowing that I didn't have the most stable platform, I tried using a faster shutter speed, going ISO1600 and 1/1600sec. That should be enough to freeze the bird and maybe stop some tripod shake, right? And yeah, you are NOT kidding about the fringing on this thing wide open. Good tip about the set screws. I felt the aperture ring was a little loose. After using this ridiculous(ly heavy) lens, I am really appreciating those shots. How was that lens on a canoe? I feel like it's so heavy if you try to pan one way too quickly you'll tip your whole vessel over. Anyway, thanks for the response, I really appreciate it! I definitely love this lens and can't wait to go out and use it again. When I was at the park shooting, I thought I was in a pretty secluded spot (as far as this park goes. It's only 24 acres) but I got a lot of people passing by making comments that made me feel kinda weird. A touch of the 'tism really makes those interactions a little unbearable for me. "Oooh, big lens." "Wow, that must've cost a fortune!" (It's the cheapest 500mm I could get, which is the only reason I have it.) "Yo, can I try using that?" I don't know. I'm already not the most sociable person, and having a giant-rear end lens for people to gawk at just made me uncomfortable and also scared away some birbs. Does anybody else ever feel that way? Or does it wear off? I did meet an older couple who were also out shooting. They gave me a tip on where to find glossy ibis and white-faced ibis. They also told me about the local birding site, which I swear I couldn't find on google, that lists all rare and uncommon sightings around me, along with awesome pictures. Very neat stuff. So there was a positive to it.
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Jun 25, 2015 00:18
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Rotten Cookies posted:How was that lens on a canoe? I feel like it's so heavy if you try to pan one way too quickly you'll tip your whole vessel over. My GF tolerates the extra weight and trouble of the lens & tripod because she likes my photos. If I stopped paddling long enough to haul out the monster, attach it to my camera (also packed away in a waterproof bag, though more accessible than the lens), and swing it around to shoot birds already disappearing over the horizon, she'd probably push me in. You've got a point, though, quick movements with that thing are a threat to small-vessel stability. On the other hand, every trip I think about what it'd be like to just be the photographer sitting in a canoe, with other people handling the details of navigation, propulsion, and not-rolling-the-whole-thing-over. Canoes are quiet and lots of wildlife seems to react slowly, like they're not sure what the hell is going on with that big green slow-moving thing. We've gotten pretty close to lots of things, like a few metres away from a Wilson's Phalarope on that trip that was happy to ignore us as we drifted past. Larger animals - deer, raccoons, coyotes - typically don't run away at full speed, and often turn to look back at us when they get a little way from the water's edge. RE: comments from the peanut gallery. So far I've been lucky enough that all I get are surprised glances and a bit of staring from the very old or very young, nobody's actually said anything to me about it. Most of the time I've pulled it out I've been alone or just with people I already know well who are more interested in the birds / wildlife that I'm hauling it around for than they are in the lens. You think you're antisocial? I go literally hundreds of kilometres every week to get some alone time - this habit of Sunday Drives also (not coincidentally) puts me in places where birds and other interesting critters are more likely to appear. Speaking of Sunday Drives / Bird Outings, I know there are at least 2 other bird-shooting goons in the Edmonton area and I want to meet up with you guys (internetjunky, neckbeard) and find some birds. July? August? I'm heading back to Ontario mid-September.
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Jun 25, 2015 01:13
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Handholding the Tamron 150-600mm gets me a lot of attention, both from the general public and other birders. Birders are inevitably interested in the tech specs, how/why I handhold instead of use a tripod, and what I've seen that day. The general public is usually both curious and usually wants to either ask about birds or helpfully point out where they saw an interesting bird--tips I've learned not to ignore as I've gotten some really good photos out of following such tips. I actually expected when I started out more of what you mentioned: the "that must have cost a lot!" or awkward stares at the creep with the giant lens, but haven't really gotten much of either of those. Maybe it's a function of the area I'm in? (Seattle) I'm rather extroverted though, so the attention doesn't bother me.
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Jun 25, 2015 01:22
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Maybe it's that I'm within an hour of NYC that people aren't shy about speaking up and yelling about my camera. And it's more that I do have trouble with social interaction, especially if it's an unexpected surprise, due to some literal autism. I would love to drive out to some place more remote to hike and take wildlife pictures, but I don't really have the time to dedicate to it due to other weekly things that go on in my life. Like, if I'm lucky I can spend 4 hours on Sunday to drive out and set up to shoot some birds. So I'll put up with the surprise comments until I can rearrange my commitments to allow for a larger block of free time. Those canoe trips sound like a great way to spot some neat wildlife, ExecuDork. I'm jealous of your outings. And not counting the two birders I met, every other person has just kinda said "Oh...huh." when I mentioned I was looking at birds. Maybe I just got a bad set of passers-by.
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Jun 25, 2015 02:22
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Then just use a cell phone!   Western Scrub-jay on FlickrNever really had a bad interaction while carrying long lenses. Last time I was shooting with my Tamron there was a guy with one of the sony superzooms who kept showing me photos on his greasy LCD trying to show me how long the zoom could go. I was polite because that was me not too long ago.
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Jun 25, 2015 06:06
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I've been slowly working toward better bird photos, both in practice and in gear. Here are a few that I took recently. These are all birds in their juvenile phases. Just that time of year. Neotropic cormorant:  corma portrait-00024 by S M, on FlickrCarolina wren:  wren-00105 by S M, on FlickrGreen heron:  green heron intermediate-09774 by S M, on FlickrIf you check the camera info on these, the 'DT 0mm F0 SAM' is a Canon EF-S 55-250mm f4-5.6 II. Has served me well on my XSi, but will soon be moving to a sony 70-300mm f4-5.6 G + LA-EA adapter so I can get more reach, functional AF, and maybe even a little better image quality. (It's DXOmark ratings put it comfortably above the canon lens, but we'll see in practice) Don't quite have the budget for anything in the 400mm+ super telephoto range (that's decent) right now, but I'm hoping the adapter will open up some possibilities for that in the future. SMERSH Mouth fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Jun 27, 2015 |
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Jun 27, 2015 01:17
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Great shots SMERSH. Whereabouts globally are you? Question- are bald eagles super common outside of where I live (Pacific Northwest)? What about overseas? I always see them when out at parks and take the odd shot but feel like I might as well be taking a photo of the bottom of a pier or the eiffel tower for the lack of originality of the shot.
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Jun 27, 2015 01:59
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VelociBacon posted:Great shots SMERSH. Whereabouts globally are you? I'm in Edmonton, they're not super common here, but there are enough around that seeing them is not a rare occurrence. A few stay over the winter too, that's when it's pretty cool to see them as my area is supposed to be a summer breeding/migration area. You'd only see them in zoos overseas
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Jun 27, 2015 02:52
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I love the Green Heron, SMRSH. VelociBacon posted:Question- are bald eagles super common outside of where I live (Pacific Northwest)? What about overseas? I always see them when out at parks and take the odd shot but feel like I might as well be taking a photo of the bottom of a pier or the eiffel tower for the lack of originality of the shot. I'm still working on processing the latest round of photos and footage, but I cut together a little sequence from Santa Rosa's 9th Street rookery to show off the system they have for rescuing fallen nestlings. The two major nesting trees at the site have hay bales laid out underneath them to cushion the fall of any egret or heron chicks that fall or get pushed off a branch, and animal rescue volunteers come by regularly to take fallen chicks to rehabilitation centers. I'm going to try to set up a filming session or two with the rehab centers to integrate into the egret/heron/bittern film I'm working on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbZmQ_lWu9w
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Jun 27, 2015 06:52
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Ok, so here's a turkey with her chicks 50 feet up a tree this evening. There were also opportunistic crows (not pictured) who failed at being opportunistic.  
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Jun 30, 2015 03:01
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VelociBacon posted:Great shots SMERSH. Whereabouts globally are you? Thanks. Central Texas. Straddling two different Koppen climate classification system zones gives very good seasonal bird variety here, but I'm lazy so a lot of the birds I photograph come from local greenbelts and parks, and a good deal are year-round residents. But here's an exception: Female Ruby-throated (I think) hummingbird. Summer breeder.   Who needs autofocus?
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Jun 30, 2015 04:21
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I'd see a handful of Bald Eagles in-town at Saskatoon every summer, and another handful over the course of the summer when I was driving around central Saskatchewan. They're certainly around - we even saw one in winter in Saskatoon, from extremely long range but flying over the city - but never common-as-dirt the way they are on the B.C. coast. I've seen enough in Saskatchewan's boreal forest zone to think they find that combination of water + trees satisfying, too, and I know they're at similar low-ish density near Lake Superior. But again, nothing like the aggregations I've seen on Vancouver Island. People from southern Ontario get super-excited to see one, but that could be more about the extreme urbanites from the "Golden Horseshoe" I've met lately than anything about eagle density in that part of the world. Some people just never go outside, it seems.
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Jun 30, 2015 05:56
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I love the tree turkeys, Anonybominous. It reminds of the PBS Nature Episode where a guy lived with a flock of turkeys for a year. There is a family of Wood Ducks in Sequoia Park's duck pond right now.  wood-duck-drake1 by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  duckling-pounce by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  duck-poofs by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  woodduck-mother-child by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Belted Kingfisher at Arcata Marsh  kingfisher-takeoff2 by Redwood Planet, on Flickr A Steller's Jay that was digging for grubs in fallen logs at Patrick's Point State Park  stellers-log by Redwood Planet, on Flickr These little guys didn't give me time to take of my telephoto converter for more light or find a spot with a clear view, but I still like this shot of one Wilson's Warbler feeding another.  wilsons-warblers by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Pelagic Cormorants are nesting on the rocks at Patrick's Point.  pelagic-cormorant-nest (1) by Redwood Planet, on Flickr
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Jun 30, 2015 19:48
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[quote="Moon Potato" post="447205994"] I love the tree turkeys, Anonybominous. It reminds of the PBS Nature Episode where a guy lived with a flock of turkeys for a year. There is a family of Wood Ducks in Sequoia Park's duck pond right now. wood-duck-drake1 by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Belted Kingfisher at Arcata Marsh kingfisher-takeoff2 by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Thanks, Moon Potato! Looking at them again, I think I have to reasses my Lightroom skills (a little overblown on the highlights, I think). I'm inconsistent getting correct results when processing my RAW shots. Have to say, I especially admire these shots of yours, too. Working up to that level, I've a long way to go.
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Jul 1, 2015 00:58
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The weather was clear yesterday (for a while, anyway), so I dropped by the duck pond again in the evening and laid in the gravel next to the one gap in the fence that can accommodate a big lens.  duckling-run by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  duckling-dark by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  drake-splash4 by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  duckling-flap by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  drake-splash3 by Redwood Planet, on Flickr It's not as pretty a shot as the others, but I captured two females doing some mutual grooming, which I haven't seen ducks do before.  wood-duck-ladies by Redwood Planet, on Flickr
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Jul 1, 2015 23:21
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A few from last weekend: willow flycatcher  juvenile black-throated gray warbler enjoying an easy snack of ants  barred owl
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Jul 8, 2015 05:47
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Why is it whenever you get a new lens the weather goes to poo poo? But here are a couple shots from a Tamron 150-600 + GH4 (with a speedbooster  ). 
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Jul 12, 2015 09:19
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I've been seeing Green Herons flitting around in the branches at Arcata Marsh over the past week or two, but they always disappear before I can get my camera trained on them. Yesterday, one finally came out in the open while I was staking out the brackish pond. It looks like a juvenile, and came from a cluster of willows where some of the local birders thought they had a nesting site. green-heron by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Of course it flew off as soon as I stood up to get a closer look at it. I'm having a bit of trouble IDing this fellow. My best guess is juvenile European Starling.  mystery-biddie by Redwood Planet, on Flickr I'm working on befriending a Great Blue Heron that likes to fish around a tidal sluice. It took about 45 minutes of waiting on the rocks before it got comfortable enough to fish around me, but this was the first time it let me approach without flying off (the previous times I've managed to get close to it, I had to wait by the sluice for it to approach me).  gbh-nab by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Great Blue Herons lick their bills after swallowing a fish.  gbh-tongue by Redwood Planet, on Flickr A Great Egret taking a huge dive at a small fish.  egret-plunge by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Moon Potato fucked around with this message at 21:43 on Jul 13, 2015 |
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Jul 13, 2015 21:40
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neckbeard posted:InternetJunky - where you been at? I saw this linked on reddit http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/06/2015-audubon-photography-awards/396011/ and recognized one of your photos - congrats dude I've been trying to get out and shoot some birds, but every chance I get I've been out hiking instead. I tried to take some of my gear with me into the mountains this past weekend and I can barely walk right now. It's ridiculous how much an extra 25 pounds in the backpack can affect you. I made it to the top of a mountain and was so tired I didn't even setup and try to shoot anything even though there were some awesome birds up there.  This thread is pretty motivating though. I don't have time right now to comment, except to say this is ridiculously amazing Moon Potato posted:
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Jul 14, 2015 17:45
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InternetJunky posted:Thanks for the link -- I didn't realise Audubon shared my photo with The Atlantic. Pretty cool! As far as carrying weight goes, just be glad you're not a videographer. This was my kit for a gig filming a rookery on Saturday (extra batteries and carrying cases not pictured). It was only about a mile into the wildlife refuge, but my shoulders are still sore from the second tripod. 
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Jul 14, 2015 19:30
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How do you even aim that rig?
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Jul 14, 2015 19:45
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Kenshin posted:How do you even aim that rig?
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Jul 14, 2015 19:55
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