Show your Bird Portraits

[candyman]

Tremendous series of beautiful birds well shot!

Totally agree. Well done ERHP

 

[Click]

Great shots, ERHP.

 

[ISv]

Finally something different and by far more interesting: Oahu Elepaio (immature but with them it's kinda tricky)! My last encounters with this bird were January 2023 and February 2022 (single birds) - and nothing before.
Endemic for Oahu (Kauai and Big Island have their own species of Elepaio, nowhere else in the world, belongs to the Monarch flycatchers!). The last photo is to illustrate how you so many times you will see them (if lucky!). The bottom line is: I'm pretty happy right now!

 

[Click]

Well done, ISv. I really like your series.

 

[ISv]

Well done, ISv. I really like your series.

To explain why I'm so much happy:
The species on Kauai is estimated ~52000 birds. On Big Island they have three subspecies of the Hawaii (Big Island) Elepaio: Kona Elepaio 60 000-65 000, Volcano Elepaio 100K-150K and the rarest Mauna Kea Elepaio 2000-2500 individuals. Well, on Oahu (copy and paste from the Internet) "1,200 to 1,400 individuals, with a 2012-2013 estimate placing the total at approximately 1,261 mature individuals (95% CI=1,205-1,317)". With surface of 1,545.4 square kilometers (about 597 square miles) for Oahu you can calculate what is the probability to see it, even if you look in the right habitats.

 

[Noreaster]

Largest and smallest birds on the lake

 

[Click]

I really like the first one. Well done, Noreaster.

 

[foda]

Finally something different and by far more interesting: Oahu Elepaio (immature but with them it's kinda tricky)! My last encounters with this bird were January 2023 and February 2022 (single birds) - and nothing before.
Endemic for Oahu (Kauai and Big Island have their own species of Elepaio, nowhere else in the world, belongs to the Monarch flycatchers!). The last photo is to illustrate how you so many times you will see them (if lucky!). The bottom line is: I'm pretty happy right now!

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Terrific catch! Having chased the Hawaii Elepaio through the Hakalau Forest NWR earlier this year I know how hard it is to get any photos, let alone portraits like these.

 

[AlanF]

Spotted Flycatcher, 20m away. I put the 1.4x on the RF 200-800mm to 1120mm on R5ii to squeeze out some more detail.

 

[Click]

Lovely images. Very nice bokeh.

 

[Noreaster]

Immature laughing gull and semipalmated sandpiper.

 

[Noreaster]

 

[Click]

Beautiful shots, Noreaster.

 

[ISv]

Today tried again to find Elepaio (or at least Amakihi) but failed.
So, back to the commons (from yesterday)

 

[ThomasTH]

I especially like the last one. Great pose and composition with the flower.

 

[Click]

I especially like the last one. Great pose and composition with the flower.

+1

Beautiful series, ISv.

 

[AlanF]

I was hoping to see a kingfisher but he wasn’t in his usual haunt, which is somewhat far away and obscured. On way home, I stopped at a pond, and the Kingfisher flew by, stopped for a few seconds and winked at me in acknowledgement as I fired a quick burst.

 

[Click]

Well done , Alan. Pretty cool gif.

 

[foda]

Today tried again to find Elepaio (or at least Amakihi) but failed.
So, back to the commons (from yesterday)

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Nice representative set of introduced species. I've not yet seen the Red-whiskered Bulbul in the islands.

 

[Noreaster]