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Sibley and Audubon both released e-guides for the iphone/ipad/android/blackberry phones recently too, if you've got one of those. I just picked up the Android version of the Audubon guide, it's currently on sale for $9.99 whereas the Sibley one is $29.99. Handles itself a lot like the websites, but it hasn't failed to ID a bird I've thrown at it yet.BetterLekNextTime posted:A few more sage-grouse: This is definitely a favorite. Excellent lighting and composition. Great photo!
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Apr 15, 2011 13:07
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Been a little while since I've actually been able to contribute, here's a couple baby northern mockingbirds in my backyard:   There's a red-bellied woodpecker nest back there too, I've seen both the male and female constantly going in and out of the opening but it seems like when the weather cooperates and I set up my gear, they disappear for awhile. Argh! I'll have to wait them out one day so I can get some close up shots.
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Jun 17, 2011 16:40
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demonachizer posted:My concern though is that it might be slow in focusing etc. While you will take a hit on focus speed, I didn't notice the hit being too horrible on my Canon 200/2.8L. I paired it with a 2X Kenko Teleplus 300 DG Pro. I heard the official Canon TCs are made to slow the AF down some to make it more reliable/accurate but I know of no such limitation with the Kenko. Not sure how it'll play with the 70-200, I switched to Nikon a little while ago and just ordered the same 2X Kenko for Nikon and I'll be trying to pair it with the 80-200/2.8, so we'll see how that works out when it gets here Monday/Tuesday. edit: also another thing about TC shooting, you'll have to step down a bit to get a sharp image, with the 200/2X Kenko the sweet spot was f/8 which did hamper my ability to shoot some in overcast or shaded areas under the tree unless light was good. The 400 f5.6 delivers good quality wide open, so you're getting a bit of an advantage there. PREYING MANTITS fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Jun 17, 2011 |
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Jun 17, 2011 20:16
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Good god, those are all awesome Clayton Bigsby. You may have been MIA but you were obviously busy getting some sweet photos so it's forgivable. 
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Jun 18, 2011 22:12
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I received my Nikon version of the 2X Kenko 300 Pro, of course it's storming out right now and that's not at all good for TC shooting so I haven't had a real good chance at trying it out yet. It did noticeably slow down the focusing on my 80-200 2.8 but it's far from unusable. As for shooting though, it's pretty useless to try in this weather. I'll post samples next time I get a chance to shoot in sunlight. Hopefully that won't be too long. Here's a red-bellied woodpecker flying over me the other day. Pretty happy with the D7000's ability to keep focus in the 6:30am light! 
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Jun 21, 2011 22:58
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Tried out the 2X Kenko 300 Pro on my Nikon AF-D 80-200/2.8. The results aren't too bad but very dependent on a few things. The focus speed does take quite a hit, it had trouble tracking a hawk in flight which made me pretty mad at it haha. It also needs light, a lot of light. It does work fairly well on birds that are just kind of chilling in trees/on the ground and it also seems to get better the closer to the subject you are. The shot below I was probably ~30-40 yards away so it's a bit soft. Tolerable for web resolution, anyways.  I think TCs are best used on primes, as I had much better results when pairing the Kenko 2X with the Canon 200 2.8L. I'll still use it when the conditions are right, though since it is nice to have in a pinch. edit: Today's morning wood, also taken with the TC: 
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Jun 23, 2011 18:10
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 An angry northern mockingbird trying to chase off a crow. The only problem with its plan was there was a good constant breeze going that kept it from actually reaching the crow. I've got a few more pictures of the mocker getting blown away shortly after this and trying a couple more times before giving up and landing dejectedly on a lower branch while the crow barely reacts at all. A for effort, little guy.
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Sep 28, 2011 19:59
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InternetJunky posted:Winter has put a damper on any chance I have of capturing much more than backyard birds so I've gone through and tried to salvage some old shots. Awesome shot, man! I saw your other shot in the PP thread, looks great as well! They have me excited as I'm in Alabama for the winter and apparently not too far from my house is a state park with quite a few eagles that show up through late dec til feb. Gotta try and get out there when they open up that area and see what I can get.
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Dec 8, 2011 05:42
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Those are fantastic, HookShot! I really like 2, 3 and 6. Such vibrant colors. Peacocks are so cool.
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Dec 8, 2011 22:01
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Ugh, was a passenger in a car going down a country road and out of the corner of my eye I saw a gorgeous (and quite huge) red-tailed hawk just sitting on a sign next to the road. We turned around but I only had my 50mm lens so we creeped up slowly and at the last second he got spooked and took off. Here's a heavily cropped departing shot.  What could have been..
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Dec 14, 2011 06:50
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scottch posted:
The one thing starlings are good for. Very nice catch, count me in with the crowd that's impressed with how close you got.
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Dec 22, 2011 21:02
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Man the eyes on those Towhee are awesome. Devil bird! Excellent shots, BOE. This Carolina Chickadee was like 4 feet away. I was wearing camo and just sitting up against a tree and it was super curious as to why the tree was moving. Hyper little sucker, though.  A jerk bird submission. Why did it pick there to land? Because it wanted to irritate, that's why.  Ring-billed Gulls  No grace.  Squirrel submission to cover all bases. An oldie, but the squirrels around here haven't been too receptive to the camera lately.  edit: and since I complained, here's a squirrel that was willing to pose today:  PREYING MANTITS fucked around with this message at 23:14 on Jan 25, 2012 |
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Jan 25, 2012 17:28
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Dang JuanChai, those are awesome. Definitely a good friend to let you play with that kind of gear! That Wood Duck flapping shot is really good too, Alpenglow. Love the colors on those things. --- Just a heron sitting in a tree.  I went to the local dam to photograph some of the bald eagles that have been spotted around there building nests but didn't see any hanging around. By mid-Feb they'll be regularly hunting for food and I should be able to get some good shots. This isn't my photo but it shows exactly how the one area is set up:  Which on the weekends is even more packed than that with rows and rows of white lenses. Birders are nuts.
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Feb 3, 2012 14:54
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Pablo Bluth posted:Word. Look at This bunch.. For a nondescript brown sparrow. Good points by BetterLekNextTime and BeastOfExmoor too. That's what happens when you choose to live your life as a pokemon game...
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Feb 4, 2012 12:44
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ExecuDork posted:Another winter weekend, another Snowy Owl on a pole beside a highway. That lens looks like a monster, good lord. Hope it gives you great results, though. Nice Snowy Owl, too! I've heard of one getting to Hawaii this year (and then was promptly shot by airport authorities) but I haven't seen any come the other way down through Tennessee. Argh! I'd love to see a wild snowy owl.Something brought the hawks out to play today, I saw 4 of them total in a 10-15 mile stretch of road.    and I can always count on crows to pose, regardless of what they're doing: 
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Feb 8, 2012 04:29
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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. 
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Feb 10, 2012 23:12
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Maker Of Shoes posted:Some birds are just assholes. I had finally cornered a Great Blue Heron to get a good shoot started when out of no where this gently caress head red winged blackbird screwed everything up. Hahaha, yeah I've been in the same situation. I was creeping up on a heron and some tiny bird I couldn't recognize divebombed right onto the back of the heron. The heron let out such a blood curdling "scream" it probably scared away any other wildlife in the area for rest of the day, including itself. Those little birds remind me of chihuahuas, thinking they're much bigger than they really are.
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May 26, 2012 01:45
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InternetJunky posted:Common Redpoll: Never apologize for all the owl shots, they're fantastic. There's an owl living somewhere in the golf course behind my house but I've never been able to see it, just hear it.  Hopefully I'll get some decent submissions to this thread in the next couple of months. They're starting up eagle awareness weekends at the local state park again and allowing tours of nesting sites and such.
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Jan 4, 2013 19:34
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This is really nice.  Tufted Titmouse This one was quite the adventurous type and regularly came closer to me than my lens could focus.  PREYING MANTITS fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Jan 7, 2013 |
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Jan 7, 2013 19:29
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neckbeard posted:Not a great pic, but until someone proves me wrong I am making (the most likely outlandish) claim that these 3 pileated woodpeckers being photographed together is the most amount of adult pileateds ever photographed at the same time. Haha that's awesome! I very rarely ever see pileated around here, I think the last time I actually photographed one was like 2 1/2 years ago. I'm envious! My 300 was a bit too long for a setup I tried a few days ago but the northern cardinal was willing to play along:   A cedar waxwing  More tufted titmouse 
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Mar 10, 2013 20:02
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Great Blue Heron
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May 15, 2013 05:14
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Alpenglow posted:How's the blue on these for folks? Still natural looking or too deep? I think the blue looks fine, looks similar to the sky in Bartleby's ninja heron shot. Nicely captured shots! Muscovies are one of my favorite birds. quote:Don't have any new heron photographs, but here's a video I got of one throwing up! Hahaha, yum.
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May 16, 2013 00:57
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InternetJunky posted:Barn Swallows (and another first) That is awesome! Love the variety you're catching lately. You said it best about it being like pokemon. Haha.
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May 26, 2013 04:15
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meso posted:I have used all 3 lenses and I've owned 2 of them. I originally bought a Sigma 50-500mm and used it for a year, I was not happy. It was far from sharp, needing me to stop down to F8 just to get a decently sharp shot and even then it really wasn't impressive. On top of that, the lens weighs a ton. I could basically quote most of your entire post and just say 'same' because I went the same path and had the same experiences. I used the 50-500 for airshows and it was good at that because there's plenty of light up in the sky, but when you're in a swampy area shooting birds in little light you'll get frustrated with it quickly. Zooming is handy but 9 times out of 10 with wildlife you're going to be at the furthest end of your zoom and you'll want it to be the sharpest possible so I'm also throwing in a recommendation for the 400 f5.6 prime.
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Jun 17, 2013 17:43
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Casu Marzu posted:
Very cool! Nice catch. I saw one around these parts about a year ago and I didn't have a decent camera with me. Been waiting ever since for another chance and man those suckers are scarce. Tons of great blues and cormorants, however. and lots of of these cool dudes, an Osprey: 
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Aug 12, 2013 07:19
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Finally saw one. Been after a Green Heron for ages.
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VelociBacon posted:e: Nevermind, just bought a 'like-new' on amazon with receipt for $1060 CAD. Can't wait. Nice! Let me know how you like the lens. I have a feeling that's what my tax refund is going towards. Making do with a 70-300 in the meantime. Dreary day but my towhee buddy was out. 
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Feb 1, 2016 23:48
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Moon Potato posted:
drat, that is an incredible shot.
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Feb 13, 2016 06:26
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I really like this one, Corvids are great subjects! Came across this bird just chilling at the bottom of some bushes, thought it looked a little odd so I took a quick photo and immediately noticed why. Ughhh.  Didn't seem to slow the bird down at all, at least. Surely that fat tick is ready to fall off soon.
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Mar 20, 2016 17:28
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Picked up a Tamron 150-600 G2 the other day, weather finally cooperated enough to get out and try using it. Still have a lot to learn using a 600mm handheld, but got a few decent shots. Living on a river, I see these guys every day. This one was repairing a nest, fascinating to watch it snap a branch and then go get some muddy grass. Resourceful creatures.  Have some Coot(ies)  Pied-billed grebe, otherwise known as a hell-diver or water witch. Cool nicknames. 
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Apr 12, 2018 07:54
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President Beep posted:Took delivery of my Tamron 159-600 on Thursday. Unfortunately the light outdoors has been utter rear end for the past few days, so I haven’t really been able to put the lens through its paces. Still been having a lot of fun with it though. That long focal range is a hoot, but it can also be a bit challenging, especially since I can’t really crank to a fast shutter speed given the poor lighting. Yeah I've noticed with mine it does need a certain light to get best results. Shutter speed does play a critical role and in crappy lighting you really do have to keep the shutter speed up at the cost of a higher ISO. Here's a shot with the G2 on a D750 of a heron flying away from me in the middle of some rain earlier this morning. 600mm, f/6.3, 1/1250, ISO 1400 with mode 2 VC (the panning one) ..focused more on the back than the face but alas.. Here's one of a mockingbird with a bit better light. 600mm, f/6.3, 1/800, ISO 400. PREYING MANTITS fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Apr 15, 2018 |
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Apr 15, 2018 17:12
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Finally managed to catch a photo of an immature bald eagle at the dam near where I live. Apparently there are five total, but I only saw two today. This one was the only one that cooperated to an extent but would not go into the better light for the life of me.
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Apr 16, 2018 22:09
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torgeaux posted:There's one about that age near me, at Evergreen Lake in Colorado, that's not where you are, I assume. Negative, I'm in Huntsville, AL. We get a lot of them along the TN river, but they never seem to be around when I have a camera with me!
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Apr 16, 2018 22:18
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Another owl from yesterday... Man, I'd really like to find some owls around here. I certainly hear them at night but haven't had much luck tracking any down. That murderface is awesome. Finally getting the hang of the ol' tamron 150-600 G2. I guess you could say me and the eagles near here are gettin kinda serious..   
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Apr 19, 2018 16:24
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 I love how the defense mechanism of the turkey vulture is to projectile vomit on whatever is disturbing it. My spirit animal?
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Apr 26, 2018 01:14
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InternetJunky posted:Do you also poo poo on your legs to stay cool? Thanks! I was wondering about that too and after a little reading it's said that they're wart/skin-tag like growths that can appear over time. That particular one towered over the others in the area so I'm sure it's up there in the years.
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Apr 26, 2018 02:07
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Agreed, that background is killer. Peregrines look so cool in flight. Another juvenile eagle, since after a week or so of sunshine being a fleeting commodity we finally had a nice morning full of it. This eagle likely was forced down by a nearby nesting Osprey, it didn't hang out on the ground long and quickly took off in the opposite direction of where I had set up, unfortunately. 
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Apr 27, 2018 21:27
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BetterLekNextTime posted:How close were you? Dang- looks like he's right next to you! I had just finished loading my fishing gear into my car when I happened to see him standing in the middle of an access road towards a transmission tower some ospreys managed to build a nest on. He was maybe 45-50 yards away at that point. He sat there long enough for me to get my camera out and slowly creep over a bit to get a better background so by the time I got that shot I was roughly 35 yards away. He started to get jittery so I didn't want to push going closer, sat there watching for another 30 seconds or so before he took off deep into a tree line. Was pretty crazy watching him simply disappear into a row of trees despite that huge wingspan. PREYING MANTITS fucked around with this message at 00:49 on Apr 28, 2018 |
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Apr 28, 2018 00:16
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Paying the thread title tax. Haven't been able to bird too much the past couple of days because people won't stop shooting each other, but I did get another glance at an eagle on the hunt. One day I might see one catch something.. 
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May 5, 2018 00:19
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BetterLekNextTime posted:I know it sounds weird, but I sometimes felt like my tamron g1 had bad days, which means it was probably me having bad days. I totally feel ya on this. My G2 (and/or me) seems to have this issue too. Some situations I'll miss focus on what should've been a guaranteed shot. I'm trying to pinpoint it. I feel like it's mainly more when I use the VC than anything but then in another situation even with VC on it'll be tack sharp. Just weird as hell. I really should buy the tap-in console and play with some lens settings one of these days.  
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May 7, 2018 14:17
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 10:51 |
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VelociBacon posted:BTW here's a youtube channel that livestreams African Safaris: Well this is awesome, thanks for the link.
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May 10, 2018 07:38
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