Is it just me, or is this forum missing a thread about birds? Well, even if it's just me, I'm still missing one!

Here's one of a rather rare sight in the Netherlands and I spotted it just in front of my house a week ago!

I think it's a Great Egret, but I'm not sure. Just over a dozen of pairs here, so it's pretty uncommon!

Great idea for a thread Mark and a stunning bird to start with - it looks well camouflaged against the snow .

Here is a redhead woodpecker.

Hi Donwae12 - I've found woodpeckers very tricky to photograph as they seem to be very wary of people and they are infrequent visitors to my garden. It looks like you've had to crop into the picture for that guy - a problem I also have - the lens never seems long enough .

Here is a different species where I wished I had a 400mm rather than a 300mm. It is a Redwing, a member of the Thrush family. This is about as large as I dared make him in the shot. At least it shows all of the frost in the tree .


Redwing in the frost by Birm, on Flickr

Sony A100 and Sigma 70-300 APO DG.

I seriously need a new tripod and use/take it more often. None of my bird shots are as sharp as yours Birma!

Nice woodpecker Donwae12!

I caught one last November. It's a Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) together with a Great Tit (what a name! ) (Parus major).

Nice thread.
And what's an egret doing in the middle of the winter?

Looking for food I can imagine.

The Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) is fairly common here, even in winter, so I think they don't migrate during the cold winters.

Birma, yes the woodpecker is cropped big time. I am surprised it held together as much as it did.

Good idea for a thread.
I wonder why an Egret is still there with ice over the water when they make their living catching fish...pretty good shot just the same.
Birds are always interesting even if the photos aren't always as good as we would like them to be, if birds were easy to photograph there wouldn't be as much of a challenge to it and you wouldn't get that feeling of accomplishment when you sometimes get a good one.
We did have a good bird thread once before, robbiea, David Antony, Kingfisher, Birma and others all posted some really good bird shots but the thread unfortunately wasn't called Birds it was called Some Birds. http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2013&start=15 have a glance through there, like I say there are some good ones.
I don't have anything wonderful at the moment, just the Pigeons and Doves from this morning shot at noisy ISO3200 (dull light, heavy overcast)...oh well they are birds.
Greg

KM5D KM100-300apo

Really nice photos in this new thread.

New Years Day. Swinging, twitching diners.
I posted one similar just before this thread started.
So I took this today at that suet club.

Some of those look familiar in the background Greg?

Here's a selection of Western Australian birds shot (well photographed) in and around home.




more to follow...

...and some more

and finally (without offending anyone I hope), here's one for Greg to follow up on a question he asked me in another thread.... It is a thread about birds right?

Excellent BK, especially the flying Pelican.
Greg

ps. Someone gave me a description of the last bird once, it was a 'Sulphur crested double breasted mattress thrasher' ha ha!

Birds usually equal expensive lenses ... but there not all time .

Ok, here is some of mine in my testing session:

With old Pentax Asahi SMC 500mm F/4.5:


With old Tamron 60B 300mm 2.8 with 2x Tamron SP:


Crop from the Sigma Bigma:

Original: http://www.pbase.com/nadeauf/image/120402962/original.jpg

Happy new year by the same time .

Regards,

Frank

Magnificent birds' shots! Love the activity and mood in each one..

Starting a 'Birds' thread is a good idea, Mark.

We had some in past few years but they probably are kind of lost in the depths of the forum threads somewhere. So a brand new one is a great way of starting the new year.

Thanks,

Yildiz