Birds 2011

[mvanrheenen]

@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.

[mvanrheenen]

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?!

[Birma]

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.

[Greg Beetham]

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

[mvanrheenen]

@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.

[aster]

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

[mvanrheenen]

Thank you Yildiz

[stevecim]

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

[mvanrheenen]

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

[stevecim]

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

[mvanrheenen]

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

[Birma]

Nice bird shot Steve. Congrats on the new lens.

[Greg Beetham]

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

[stevecim]

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

[mvanrheenen]

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