@Alpha_Zagreb: thank you! The colors on the dove and the background are excellent! All the details of the feathers come out great. Beautiful capture!

I went out again yesterday to my favorite place for shooting birds. I'm getting a little better at handling the 70-400G hand held. I find using a tripod too cumbersome, you loose a lot of flexibility using one.

I knew there was one Woodpecker in these woods. I spotted it looking for food in a tree while I was tracking some Blue Tits in flight.


When looking up some trees, I spotted this little fellow popping up his head. It's an Eurasian Nuthatch.


Never saw this little bird in the wild before, it's a Long-tailed Tit. These are pretty fast little birds.

When I was on my retreat, I saw a Eurasian Wren sitting in the sun, warming up and washing itself. I managed to get pretty close and took about 30 shots. I thanked him/her when it took off for being patient with me

#1 - Looking around me, nothing to see except some stupid photographer.


#2 - Warming my back


#3 - Hey! What are you looking at?!

Hi Mark - some very nice birds there. The long tailed tit is one of my favourites. After a cold spell they gather into small flocks here and you can find 20 in a single tree. A nice brave Wren as well. Have you considered a mono-pod? I find this very useful with anything 200mm and above, and not as cumbersome as a tripod.

Ha ha love that wren, there is a couple of birds here that look like a ping pong ball shape with a little beak and a tail also, very engaging little birds.
Greg

@Birma: Thank you for your nice comments. I do consider trying a monopod at a store sometime soon. I´m looking for a fast coupling-decoupling solution for the lens to the head which I can use in the field if need be. The plate system I´m using on my Manfrotto ballhead is secure, but much too slow for fast action.

@Greg: I have a field guide for birds that can be found here in the Netherlands. It describes the wren sort of the same way you do: "a flying walnut with a tail" Love those little birds. Hard to find sometimes due to their color and the regions of the forrest they like to live in.

Love the Wren shots, Mark. : )

It does look like a tiny feather ball with a beak, sweet eyes and a knot for a tail!

Great captures.


Yildiz

Thank you Yildiz

nice shots Mark, I never get more the 1-2 shots at the smaller birds, they never sit still long enough

I know the feeling steve. You never have enough time with those little birds. They always seem in a hurry!

Mark

here is the first bird shot with my new sigma 18-250 , it's a 50% crop, on a windy day, late in the day,
Long Billed Corella

Hi Steve, nice bird!

I think the picture would benefit if you upped the exposure a notch. Also, the white looks a little yellow/greenish, but that maybe my monitor.

My father owns that lens and he's very happy with it. I bet you would to. Look out for the zoom creep though, use the lock button

Mark

Nice bird shot Steve. Congrats on the new lens.

Looks good for such a heavy crop stevecim, I'd like to see what it could do without any cropping, should be very good indeed.
Greg

How does this version looks, was not sure whats the right way ti fix the colorus, so I just used a custom white balance

Much better Steve! The bird makes much more impact now, because of the contrast between the white plumage and the shadows. Good processing!