Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM

Thanks Click and Mr Bean. The BIF was a fluke, but a nice one, the fast focus of the 500 helped, but I had actually focused while the bird was still and thats probaly why its slightly oof.
My favorite is the second pic, but yeah that first one is very nice too, there are several more from that sequence as the bird hopped along that branch looking for grubs to eat.
 
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pj1974

80D, M5, 7D, & lots of glass and accessories!
Oct 18, 2011
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Adelaide, Australia
Dolina... they are really great photos... showing (off!) very well the wonderful poential of that lens.
Thanks for sharing... good job on them. I love the colours and depth of field you've used. Will look at some more of your photos on flickr when I have more time (I'm in my lunch break at work).

McTool - welcome! I really like your bird shots with the 500L too. Autumn a bit over a year ago (March 2012) here in in Adelaide, SA, I took several photos of Wattle Birds, New Holland Honeyeaters and a Willy Wagtail - that patiently allowed me to get quite close to them. I had my 70-300mm L (so won't post on this thread). I was happy how many BIF of mine worked out.

Thanks for sharing all, and I look forward to more photos from Canon's amazing 500mm L f/4 L lens. I would be very tempted to get the 200-400mm L f/4 1.4x lens for wildlife & birding, I think it would do a great job (I love the flexibility of zoom lenses often when outdoors taking photos of aspects of nature - eg landscapes, wildlife, birds, etc).

Cheers

Paul
 
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Thanks people, its really nice to chat with people who appreciate pics like these. They take a bit of effort and patience, as well as just watching and understanding how the animals are behaving. Most of the shots are cropped of course, some not that much though as the 500 really does have some reach and the birds get used to you if you just stand still and act like a tree :)

I'd love to get the 200-400F4 +1.4X, am going to wait to see how the price holds and what other things Canon release, including the much rumoured 100-400 replacement (which was sold to part fund purchase of a very crispy newish 300F2.8 secondhand). The 200-400 is still very hard to get anyway.

On Flickr I'm steve.mack
 
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Thanks jason.


Indigo-banded Kingfisher (Alcedo cyanopectus) by alabang, on Flickr

The Indigo-banded Kingfisher (Alcedo cyanopectus) is a species of bird in the Alcedinidae family. It is endemic to the Philippines, where it is a generally uncommon but locally common resident of the northern and central islands. There are two subspecies, the nominate race, which occurs on Luzon, Polillo, Mindoro, Sibuyan and Ticao, and A. c. nigriostris, which is found in Panay, Negros and Cebu. It forms a superspecies with the Silvery Kingfisher of the southern Philippines.[1]
The Indigo-banded Kingfisher feeds on fish and aquatic insects. It perches on rocks and overhanging branches and foliage and dives steeply into the water to catch its prey. Once caught, it returns the prey to the perch where it is beaten and swallowed. Little is known about its breeding behaviour, although it is known to nest in tunnels dug into the banks of streams and rivers.[1]
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo-banded_Kingfisher

Location: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Mesa_Ecopark

Settings: 1/20 ƒ/7.1 ISO 160 700mm
 
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Thanks CLick.


Mangrove Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis rufigastra) by alabang, on Flickr

The Mangrove Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis rufigastra) is a species of bird in the Muscicapidae family. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangrove_Blue_Flycatcher

Location: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Mesa_Ecopark

Settings: 1/25 ƒ/4 ISO 1600 500mm

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Story behind the photo:

After taking the photo of the Indigo-banded Kingfisher at the horse stable I was led by Roddel to this lifer (bird watcher talk for a bird you either first seen live in the wild or photographed live in the wild) Mangrove Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis rufigastra) on the opposite side of the hill. By initial description given to me by Roddel I was expecting an Common Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica).

Incidentally there I met Gerald, the founder/owner of Istorya.net who was looking for a Red Bellied Pitta.
 
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Philippine Magpie-Robin (Copsychus mindanensis) by alabang, on Flickr

The Philippine Magpie-Robin (Copsychus mindanensis) is a species of bird in the Muscicapidae family. It is endemic to the Philippines. It previously was considered a subspecies of the Oriental Magpie-Robin.

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Magpie-Robin

Location: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Mesa_Ecopark

Settings: 1/100 ƒ/5.6 ISO 1250 700mm

===========

Story behind the photo:

I almost did not bother taking a photo of this Philippine Magpie-Robin (Copsychus mindanensis) thinking this was just another Philippine Pied Fantail (Rhipidura nigritorquis) that is extremely difficult to photograph because it rarely, if ever, stays still. I was also disinterested in picturing the Fantail here because I can easily do it from the comfort of my backyard.

What peaked my interest was its behaviour of staying rather stationary in the trees and it not spreading its tail into a fan. Another thing that caught my eye was the white and black feathers being of a slightly different pattern. Anyways, for those curious this is another lifer for me and what is more an endemic bird that can only be found in the Philippines.

For those who would want to take a photo of dark feathered birds you generally need to overexpose by 2-stops to get the bards to show up but you have to be mindful of balancing it out to consider the white feathers as well.
 
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