Show your Bird Portraits

[josephandrews222]

On Friday we had dozens of waxwings in our front yard and front tree.

Yesterday dozens of robins and a smaller number of waxwings.

Today, nothing this morning but one of those beautiful female cardinals I referred to yesterday:

 

[Click]

On Friday we had dozens of waxwings in our front yard and front tree.

Yesterday dozens of robins and a smaller number of waxwings.

Today, nothing this morning but one of those beautiful female cardinals I referred to yesterday:

Nice shot.

 

[Cog]

Hit the road, Jack, and never come back no more!!!

 

[Jack Douglas]

Wish I could; the little old motorhome is tarped and covered with snow but spring is coming.

Jack

 

[AlanF]

I took this pied wagtail against a grey roof in the background. The bird and the background are essentially monochrome, with just a slight relief of green moss on the fence. (560mm.5DSR)

 

[Vern]

Jack, that tongue looks like something out of a horror movie. Great capture.

I never knew until I got a photo of it and I was in shock. It works amazingly well when you see it in action. Now if it were sharp and hard like the Pileated, that would be pure horror!

This is one aspect of photography that I love - learning about our amazing natural world via the amazing tools that we have.

Jack

I concur. For example: while the solid red color 'worn' by male cardinals is eye-catching, a detailed well-lit photo of female cardinals reveals a wonderful mix of colors that I never knew was there...

great waxwing shots guys - and I agree about the female cardinal, they have great coloring which may seem muted by comparison to the male, but the textures and contrast are more pleasing to my eye than "RED"!

 

[Click]

Beautiful picture, Vern.

 

[bholliman]

Nice Killdeer shot! These little guys don't hold still very often.

 

[bholliman]

great waxwing shots guys - and I agree about the female cardinal, they have great coloring which may seem muted by comparison to the male, but the textures and contrast are more pleasing to my eye than "RED"!

Great shot!

 

[bholliman]

Goldfinch, EOS M5, EF 300 f/2.8 II (with M adapter), f/4.5, 1/2500, ISO250. The M5 performed very well with shooting birds from a blind. I tried some shots with my EF-M 55-200 that were OK, but you can certainly tell the difference between a $400 lens and one that runs over 12x as much... Autofocus was fast and accurate with my 300 and 70-200 f/2.8 II.

I had enough light that could have stopped down a little to get the birds tail in sharp focus as well as its head, I did this later, but I didn't have too many additional opportunities. As this was my first shoot with my M5, I was experimenting to find the best camera settings. I eventually settled on f/5.6 to 6.3 and was still able to keep my ISO low and shutter speed high to stop quick movements.

2017_02_05_123938-1402 by Bryan Holliman, on Flickr

 

[Click]

Great picture, bholliman.

 

[rpt]

Great picture, bholliman.

+1

I love the pose too.

 

[bholliman]

Great picture, bholliman.

+1

I love the pose too.

Thanks Click and rpt. I had some other nice shots of this bird with more traditional poses, but I liked this one.

 

[Ryananthony]

A couple shots from today. The Eagles below was quite the sight. One had caught a seagull which unfortunately I didn't happen to see. It was in the field eating, surrounded by around 40 other eagles, This is a very very heavy crop of the scene. Every couple minutes, one of the eagles would challenge for it, and they would all shoot up in the air in an fight for the dead bird. They would then settle, and it would continue again a few minutes later.

 

[Jack Douglas]

Interesting Ryananthony. You seem to have quite a variety of birds there, nice shots.

Jack

 

[Click]

Very nice series, Ryananthony.

 

[lion rock]

+1

Very nice series, Ryananthony.

 

[rpt]

+1

Very nice series, Ryananthony.

And +1 more.

 

[josephandrews222]

Very nice and detailed pic of the female cardinal, Vern. Your point about the texture is well-stated.

 

[bholliman]

A couple shots from today. The Eagles below was quite the sight. One had caught a seagull which unfortunately I didn't happen to see. It was in the field eating, surrounded by around 40 other eagles, This is a very very heavy crop of the scene. Every couple minutes, one of the eagles would challenge for it, and they would all shoot up in the air in an fight for the dead bird. They would then settle, and it would continue again a few minutes later.

Interesting to see so many eagles in one place. Where was thjs taken? Alaska?

Terrific series of shots!