Winter birds

[JaYbIrD1969]

I know this is a reef forum, but do to my current "reeflessness" I am forced to dream about my next tank while enjoying my other hobbies.

Black capped Chikadees

Pine Grosebeak

Whitewinged Crossbill

Northern Cardinal

 

[JaYbIrD1969]

Redbellied Woodpecker

Snowy Owl

Barred Owl

Golden Crowned Kinglet

 

[JaYbIrD1969]

Cedar Waxwing

Red Breasted Nuthatch

I guess thats enough

 

[Misled]

Nice. If you do a search for birds, there's a thread on them that's pretty long.

 

[JaYbIrD1969]

Nice. If you do a search for birds, there's a thread on them that's pretty long.

Cool. I looked thru it. Glad to see some other bird lovers with cameras around here

 

[jroovers]

Jaybird, nice shots! Since this is a sub forum interest section, seems like a good spot to post them. I like the first shot of the grosbeak, as well as the pair of the red bellies. The in-flight shots are terrific of the snowy and the barred owl - last year I tried getting an inflight shot of a snowy, and the circumstances just didn't present themselves. The shot of the gold crowned kinglet is great too, they are small and don't stay still! What set-up do you use for birds? I shoot with a 7D + 400mm 5.6L.

Anyhow, to add to your thread, here are two recent winter bird shots I managed (juvenile sharp shinned hawk and a short eared owl).

Are you on Flickr? I'll add you as a contact if you are... here is my stream with quite a few bird shots:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jordanroovers/

 

[Misled]

My last bird, just before winter.

 

[JaYbIrD1969]

Jaybird, nice shots! Since this is a sub forum interest section, seems like a good spot to post them. I like the first shot of the grosbeak, as well as the pair of the red bellies. The in-flight shots are terrific of the snowy and the barred owl - last year I tried getting an inflight shot of a snowy, and the circumstances just didn't present themselves. The shot of the gold crowned kinglet is great too, they are small and don't stay still! What set-up do you use for birds? I shoot with a 7D + 400mm 5.6L.

Anyhow, to add to your thread, here are two recent winter bird shots I managed (juvenile sharp shinned hawk and a short eared owl).

Are you on Flickr? I'll add you as a contact if you are... here is my stream with quite a few bird shots:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jordanroovers/

Excellent shots! I have done a bit of research on sharpshinned and coopers hawks, I still have trouble telling them apart. Even in the Audubon guide they look identicle with the only difference being coopers are a bit larger and have a slightly rounded tail feather, where as the sharpshinned is squared off, but its subtle.

Anyway, great job on capturing those images, both birds look to be very sharp and in lowish light to boot!

My equipment is fairly low budget, I have a Nikon D7000 and a Tamron 18-270 lens. my strategy is to get close to the subject as possible.

My last bird, just before winter.

Cool Jesse! Is that a Green?

 

[Misled]

Yes. It's the only one I've ever seen here. Tons of great blues though!!!

 

[jroovers]

Wow JayBird, you must indeed be good at getting close, even with my 400 at times I'm no where near enough, especially with the owls... do you use any special techniques? Blind?

Jesse, nice shot of the heron. I've never seen one, although I think they are considered fairly common here in SW Ontario.

 

[Misled]

These are great blues. There's hundreds of these guys.

Another different bird.

 

[JaYbIrD1969]

Wow! A belted kingfisher up close! I cant get within a 1/2 mile of those buggers! In all honesty, Ive got a couple decent kingfisher shots but they are sooooo elusive!

These are big crops.

Thanks jroovers! You name it and I have done it for getting as close as I can. i use a ground blind sometimes. I have a tree stand, a dozen feeders, and my secret weapon....wait for it.... the audubon ipod app that includes bird calls. I have found that some species of birds respond extremely well to calls. Warblers respond very well as do woodpeckers and cardinals. Most all birds will respond to it at one time or another. Theres times when they ignore it and times when they swarm it. I do most of my photography on my property as I have a little 5 acre slice of bird heaven. However, one of my favorite methods is from a car window. birds are MUCH more tolerant of cars than humans on foot.

The pictures of the barred owl were a bird I called into my property. they are pretty abundant here (Central Wisconsin) The Snowy I stalked on foot about 30 minutes from here last winter. I monitered the Ibird.com sightings page and some snowys were consistantly reported at the Buena Vista grass land. I got the shots on my one and only trip over there

 

[JaYbIrD1969]

Some of my raptor shots.

I'll start it with this amazing shot I got while fishing a small lake in Oregon (my previous home) I had just bought my first SLR. A nikon D3100 and this scene unfolded in front of me and I thought, Man, this avian photography stuff is gonna be cake! Boy was I wrong LOL.

This bird was watching another eagle threatening with dive bombs.

Juvie

Sharpshinned

Red tails

Not positive on the ID of this one...

Rough legged

An osprey with a "swing and a miss"

White tailed Kite

 

[JaYbIrD1969]

And my all time favorite raptor. The American Kestrel

These next 3 are a sequence.

We were shooting meadowlarks on these fenceposts and out of no where, this male Kestrel appears with a small sparrow for lunch.

as we were shooting it, A second male comes in and steals the meal!

The victor quickly devours the sparrow.

If you love hawks, and have few minutes for an interesting read. check out this story I posted on another forum

http://www.kiene.com/forums/showthread.php?24791-Caught-a-hawk&highlight=

 

[DReefer007]

Very Cool! And Great Shots/Camera work! Love the cardinals,heron,owl,eagle, all of em' really ! Great Job seems like an interesting hobby!

 

[SushiGirl]

Excellent shots!! My favs are hummingbirds, but I haven't shot any in a while.

 

[JaYbIrD1969]

Thanks guys. believe it or not, photographing birds can be really addicting and exciting, It can also bore you to tears and frustrate the crap outa you.

Excellent shots!! My favs are hummingbirds, but I haven't shot any in a while.

Hummers are amazing, they are full of personality and can be brutally aggressive with one another.

The Ruby throated is the only common species here in Wisconsin.

Back in Oregon, we had the beautiful Rufus...

and Anna's...

 

[Misled]

Copper's are back in town.

 

[SushiGirl]

We get Ruby Throats in spring and fall, when they're passing through. The rest of the summer we have Black-Chinned. It's odd, my mom is 30 minutes northeast of here (less than 20 miles) & she gets Ruby Throats all year & has only ever seen 2 Black-Chinned.

I caught this one blinking LOL.


I don't have the patience in winter to sit outside for hours only to capture the cardinal LOL.

 

[Birddogm33]

Nice shot of the Snow Owl, and the Crossbill....We have a few in Northern Mich but you don't see them that often... What state are you in?