Show your Bird Portraits

Jrista, my friend and I will have a platform this year, soon I hope, on the pond so we can sit a few feet out from shore and set up a blind. Not sure about props there but it makes sense. I'll need some hip waders. We'll see.

Typically there are more prospects around than we see for sure but often the best shots come from pure luck rather than planning and scheming.

I've concluded that some species really don't need this treatment but others are very hard to get without it. The bottom line is the fun of the overall activity more than the shots.

A prop also makes for some very nice close up videos (300 II filling the frame), such as my Downy hammering away at my stump this winter.

Jack
 
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A great tit enjoying the evening sun up in the mountains. (The bird is 4-5 inches, so Great is a bit of an overstatement though ;))
1DX, 600mm f4L IS II, 2xIII extender.
1/800s, f8, ISO1000

This is one of my favorite activities, to walk around in the birch forest around my cabin, just below the timberline, with the 600mm, often with the 1.4xIII extender, since the birds are so small and easily spooked, monopod and my flag bandoleer harness. In this case I used the 2xIII extender, so it shows that with the monopod stuck in the bandoleer cup, handheld 1200mm is quite doable.
 

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The Taiwan Yuhina (Yuhina brunneiceps), a songbird endemic to Taiwan. While not uncommon in the higher altitudes, the bird is small (about 13 cm) and restless, and the 6D fps is hardly up to task. The Tammy did alright, though, in good light.
 
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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

Best viewed on Retina Display: http://500px.com/photo/68510011/mangrove-blue-flycatcher-%28cyornis-rufigastra%29-by-paolo-dolina
 
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Don Haines said:
Hooded Mergansers, shot with 60D and Tamron 150-600 at 600mm, 1:1 crop on bottom 2 images

Nice shots, I appreciate the photos as I am thinking about getting the 150-600mm . A friend ordered one sometime ago via B+H but it is backordered last I heard.

The top image is interesting to me - could you share some exif data - ISO, shutter speed, Aperture, how much post processing was done and so on.

Thanks
Jeff
 
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