Birds 2011

[mvanrheenen]

Well, fortunately I'm only interested in the English name of the bird for non-Dutch visitors of my photo gallery. It just struck me that identifying the bird in English can be a little confusing

I love identifying birds, even in my backyard. The exitement of identifying a bird you've never seen, let alone photographed before is pretty addictive Before getting the 70-400G, I never knew the variety of species that live in my backyard

[jcoffin]

It just struck me that identifying the bird in English can be a little confusing

To quote an old line, "Great Britain and the Unites States are separated by a common language."

[mvanrheenen]

It just struck me that identifying the bird in English can be a little confusing

To quote an old line, "Great Britain and the Unites States are separated by a common language."

So very true

[mvanrheenen]

Found a Great Tit very near one of our windows last week. It turned out great for an image shot through a window!



And a Dunnock past by too.



Mark

[Greg Beetham]

Well done Mark, it looks like you are really developing the alertness needed too get small birds into a photo before they vanish from sight again, and not only that, do it properly as well.
Greg

[mvanrheenen]

Thank you for your encouraging words Greg. I dabbled with a Gaussian Blur on the first shot and it worked rather well. The bokeh of the 70-400G can be harsh.

[Mark K]

Merry Christmas. I did not realise we have a bird thread here.
Came be to bird shooting only from Nov.

[mvanrheenen]

Made a few backyard shots again the last couple of days. Found some "new" species too!

#1 - Redwing / Koperwiek (Turdus iliacus)

Never saw one before. Didn't know it was a Redwing until I identified it in my field guide. Exiting! I know where it lives, so will be watching it!



#2 - Song Thrush / Zanglijster (Turdus philomelos)

Just like the image.



#3 - European Greenfinch / Groenling (Chloris chloris)

Another new one. I suspect it lives among a group of Chaffinches nearby. Beautiful bird!

[mvanrheenen]

#4 - Common Starling / Spreeuw (Sturnus vulgaris)

Finally a nice picture of a starling. Most of the times, these guys are high up in the trees. Now, it landed on the smallest tree in the block, lucky me!



#5 - Ring-necked parakeet / Halsbandparkiet (Psittacula krameri)

Best Ring-necked parakeet shot yet.



#6 - Chaffinch / Vink (Fringilla coelebs)

Chaffinch in a lovely environment!

[Greg Beetham]

Wowzer Mark, you certainly have been bitten by the bug, some fine shots there, the little yellow job looks like it has a finch's beak so I would put it in the finch family initially for identifying purposes and see if it's in the bird book from there.
Looks like you have gotten the nack of being very patient and persistent...and making noises like a tree ha ha, well done.
Greg

[aster]

Hi Mark,

You certainly found a fortune of feather-dipped jewels!

What a fortunate guy you are! These are one of the best series from you. I really enjoyed the sharpness and the amount of valuable details on ach of the birds and the colours are amazing.

Thanks for sharing,

Yildiz

[mvanrheenen]

Hi Greg, it does seem I am bitten by the birdbug, doesn't it?! For a while I've been searching for subjects I really love to photograph. I first very much liked doing landscapes, but that bored me after a while. These guys never do! My interest really took off when I got the 70-400G, it made documenting birds a whole lot easier!

The yellow/green bird definately is a finch and I identified it as a European Greenfinch from the pictures I took from it. This is only one, but the best of the lot.

Yildiz, thank you for your kind words. These birds were all found in my backyard, or those from my neighbors. No shots were taken from outside my own property. That's what I like about the series, all birds live near me.

I too find these the best series as of yet. The only thing I can say is the weather was on my side this period, as I had enough light to shoot low ISO (100-400) at rather fast shutter 1/400-1/800. I found that using any kind of natural and artificial support makes you more flexibel and does a lot for sharpness. I used trees, walls, windows and doors as support for these shots. I had luck on my side too, as the parakeet shot was from an odd angle (for me) and with 1/250 shutter speed.

Thank you both for the kind words. I'm rather pleased with the outcome myself. Hope to shoot some more today, if light permits on the end of my workday.

[Birma]

Great shots Mark, and as Greg and Yildiz say, improving all of the time. I especially like the Song Thrush, Starling and Chaffinch. I really like that shrub that the Chaffinch is perching in, some sort of Viburnum I think. I hope we can see some more birds in that particular bush . I think the green/yellow breasted bird is a Greenfinch as well. We only get Redwings in the garden when it is especially cold and difficult weather - not seen any yet this year.

[mvanrheenen]

Thank you Birma!

Have played with the use of flash today. I can definitely see the benefits of using flash as a way to get more details out of the birds plumage.
Best example of today is this Blue Tit. Although I had to tweak the picture a little for steel eye, you can see lots of details in the plumage!

Will have to do some more experimenting with using flash! I also saw a opportunity to get very close to some birds, maybe even so close I can use my Tamron 90mm macro to take the shots. Will report back when it worked or failed.



Mark

[Dr. Harout]

Mark, you are saying you took the shots lately. Please, would you tell me how on earth the trees are budding and/or flowering in some while totally nude on others?
BTW, getting better and better, shot by shot.