For the birds

[Docker123]

One more I forgot to move across

 

 

Noisy miner bird

[kenevenpar]

I enjoy the pictures of birds we do not see here!  Well done.

[zackiedawg]

Well at first I thought this was one person's personal thread of shots - but many others have been adding their own bird shots.  Then I figured I didn't want to overwhelm the post with my own birds as I am out birding every weekend, so I held off.  Now, I figure I can post something a bit different - rather than my 'good' bird shots, I wanted to stick in a few of the first-time sightings I've had this fall.  So far, I've gotten to see 4 new species of birds for the first time ever over the past month or two...some of these are strictly 'ID' shots - not good light, birds blocked by clutter, etc - but when you do bird photography, you can take shots that are worthy of your gallery, and then sometimes you just have to take the shot to identify something you saw, especially if it could be rare.

The following 4 species are lifers for me, spotted at my local wetlands in Delray Beach FL:

 

My first Scarlet tanager - this one a juvenile:

 

While on tanagers, I also found this western tanager - they're not supposed to be here in Florida!:

 

Another bird doing a very good job of hiding - but not quite enough for me to get a shot of him, and with help, identify it as my first Tennessee warbler:

 

And the most recent rarity, spotted just yesterday...a small duck that isn't supposed to come down the Florida peninsula and first time I've ever seen and shot one...the female buffleheads:

 

I'll add one more - not a first-time sighting, but only the second time I've gotten photos of one...this strange creature is a whip-poor-will:

[scubacruiserx2]

Got Visine ?

 

[boeckli]

7 hours ago, kenevenpar said:

I enjoy the pictures of birds we do not see here!  Well done.

 

Another one you would not see where you are - a couple of galahs trying to 'aerate' a lawn

 

 

Edited November 11, 2019 by boeckli

[kenevenpar]

You're right; no sightings here!

[Docker123]

Australian reed warbler (another little brown bird).

 

[Oakman58]

The only time I see American White Pelicans is when they are migrating in the fall of the year.  They are beautiful birds.

 

 

 

[Docker123]

A white faced heron looking for some breakfast. Just a little fella, let me get very close for portraits.

 

[Docker123]

Big trip across Australia. Now holidaying in Perth before catching Queen Elizabeth back to Melbourne.

 

A couple of snaps from my morning walk at Star Swamp Reserve..

 

Brown honeyeater

 

Carnaby’s cockatoo. Listed as rare and endangered.

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

Very nice

[Docker123]

Some more birds from Perth, Western Australia

 

Pink and grey galah

 

White cheeked honeyeater Sitting on a banksia flower

 

 

Black faced cuckooshrike, with lunch

 

28 (a type of Australian ring necked parrot). Yes, it is called a 28!

 

 

[Docker123]

Very hot day in Perth today. Birds hiding, but found this pair of kookaburras sitting up in a tree.

 

 

 

[Docker123]

Female and make blue billed ducks.

 

plus a couple of little things, perhaps pardalotes. 

 

 

 

 

[Docker123]

At the polo last week there were lots of birds flying about. I think this one was hoping for lunch.

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

The birds of Bonaire

 

 

 

[Docker123]

Not exactly birds, but flying things.

 

 

 

[kenevenpar]

Now that requires some patience.  Nice!

[zackiedawg]

Just for fun, how about some extreme reach?  I picked up the Sony 200-600mm lens for my APS-C body - so I have 900mm equivalent available...but then added the 1.4x TC to that, giving me up to 1,260mm equivalent.  And ALL HANDHELD of course!  Some shots with the combo using the TC which surprisingly didn't suffer any slowdown or problems with the AF - it still worked identically with the TC attached, even tracking for BIFs.

 

Pileated woodpecker deep in the cypress forest - VERY dim light - shot at the full 1,260mm, ISO 1,000, and shutter 1/500 (stabilization in body and lens helped quite a bit!):

 

Not an exciting bird - just a northern mockingbird, but it was a solid 200 feet away and I wanted to see how I could do with the 1,260mm equivalent reach - again 1/500 shutter:

 

At 1,003mm equivalent, I filled the frame with this red-shouldered hawk up in a tree - and noticed that he had been tagged:

 

The full 1,260mm on a pied-billed grebe:

 

Now for some distance - this tricolor heron was 196 feet away, and shot at 1,260mm equivalent:

 

Another 1,260mm shot, of a great blue heron out on his nesting island:

 

A BIF shot - a Florida vulture circling in the distance at 950mm equivalent:

 

And a little closer, at 744mm equivalent, of a cattle egret flying past:

  

[mskaufman]

Seen in Washington DC this afternoon.

[Docker123]

A combination of bird pictures and cruising. Photos taken from my balcony on the Queen Elizabeth in December travelling from Perth (Fremantle) to Melbourne. Way out to sea in the Great Australian Bight. Albatrosses.

 

 

 

 

[Docker123]

Fresh fish on Sunday morning.

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by Docker123

[boeckli]

Currawongs looking for berries

[Victress2007]

Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge in Washington State. Can anyone tell me if this is a Golden Eagle?
I wanted for years to see a swan fly, they are beautiful and the thing that surprised me most is you almost always see them in pairs, and they are usually synchronized (or darn close to it)! These images are both cropped.

 

 

 

 

Vic

Edited January 16, 2020 by Victress2007

[AL3XCruise]

Mute Swan