Birds Show Birds

The last flight of the day, just gulls.


Flyby.

Good Evening,

I spent the day in Newport RI (perfect weather) and enjoyed lunch and some ale at America's oldest tavern, the "White Horse". The real intent for today was to setup the "custom functions" to maximize performance with the 90D and a few lenses (EF 300 f4L, Sigma 100-400 f5-f6.3 C, EF 500mm f4L) for birds-in-flight in a knob-selected C1/C2 function. Here are the results from the Sigma C, which punches way above it's weight-class IMHO.... I had the EF 100-400mm L V2 and sold it; picked up the Sigma and the Olympus 100-400mm and never looked back!

Regards,

Edd

Roboticspro said:

Good Evening,

I spent the day in Newport RI (perfect weather) and enjoyed lunch and some ale at America's oldest tavern, the "White Horse". The real intent for today was to setup the "custom functions" to maximize performance with the 90D and a few lenses (EF 300 f4L, Sigma 100-400 f5-f6.3 C, EF 500mm f4L) for birds-in-flight in a knob-selected C1/C2 function. Here are the results from the Sigma C, which punches way above it's weight-class IMHO.... I had the EF 100-400mm L V2 and sold it; picked up the Sigma and the Olympus 100-400mm and never looked back!

Regards,

Edd

View attachment 329821View attachment 329822View attachment 329823View attachment 329824

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Nice set.

A word about The White Horse Tavern. I stopped in there about 30 years ago with a friend who had lived in Newport for about 2 years, about 5 years prior to our visit. She apprised me of the Tavern's history and said that she thought I would enjoy a stop there for a beer. We walked in and sat down at a rather small bar as I recall. The bartender turned, looked at me, looked at my friend, paused and asked her..."Scotch on the rocks?" After 5 years he remembered her drink! At that point I didn't know if I was dealing with a lush as a friend, or a really good bartender. As it turned out, he was a really good bartender. I came home with 6 White Tavern glasses for Ale, 4 of which still survive in my cabinet.

The White Horse Tavern is a great spot in a great spot. I'm not surprised it's been serving people since 1673.

Good Evening - Part 2,

Here are a few from the Canon 7D MkII; 20 MP vs. 32 MP in the 90D but it has 2 processing engines vs. the 1 (albeit newer) in the 90D. I always get 10 FPS with the 7DMkII and instant lock-on compared to the 90D which varies between 6-10 FPS during a burst and sometimes (not always!) struggles to get a solid lock-on. I'm probably going to buy another 7DMkII body (used) if the R7 rental (delayed now until next Monday...) doesn't impress me.

Regards,

Edd

Sacred Ibis-Ception (because my camera also has IBIS, get it?)





Fujifilm X-S10 / XF 70-300 / Topaz / taken at Safari West, Santa Rosa, CA (unfortunately not in the wild!)

I came across this goose the other day. It was laying in the grass as if it were sitting on eggs. It didn't move away as I got close and it became obvious that something appeared to be wrong, but it seemed content, so I let it be. The next two days I spotted it in different spots but within about a hundred feet or so of my initial encounter. Today I saw it at the original spot, this time hopping on one leg. It's clear the problem is the goose is missing it's left leg and it doesn't appear to be the result of a birth defect. In fact, the loss of the leg looks relatively recent, but it looks like a clean separation, as if it were surgically removed. The bird doesn't appear to be in any pain, but it sure seems to struggle hopping on one leg to get from place to place. I can't imagine swimming is any easier. Hopefully it will make it. Although there are places that will rehab raptors, there aren't any agencies here that will take birds like this in, unfortunately.

will focus said:

I came across this goose the other day. It was laying in the grass as if it were sitting on eggs. It didn't move away as I got close and it became obvious that something appeared to be wrong, but it seemed content, so I let it be. The next two days I spotted it in different spots but within about a hundred feet or so of my initial encounter. Today I saw it at the original spot, this time hopping on one leg. It's clear the problem is the goose is missing it's left leg and it doesn't appear to be the result of a birth defect. In fact, the loss of the leg looks relatively recent, but it looks like a clean separation, as if it were surgically removed. The bird doesn't appear to be in any pain, but it sure seems to struggle hopping on one leg to get from place to place. I can't imagine swimming is any easier. Hopefully it will make it. Although there are places that will rehab raptors, there aren't any agencies here that will take birds like this in, unfortunately.
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Wow, looks like the pure will to survive; more power to it!

.

Too many mouths to feed, maybe I should just ignore 'em all.

Strange Alignment.....or are they...???

Handheld SOOC/cropped

I think this guy is getting used to me. Hopefully soon he'll bring me a fish.

Good Morning,

Waiting for the rain/wind to move out from here prior to kayaking, so I grabbed some shots of the locals in-que for their turn at the feeders. Taken with one of my 7D's that has been with me since 2009, with over 380K on the shutter....

Regards,

Edd

AndyH44 said:

Strange Alignment.....or are they...???
View attachment 330075
Handheld SOOC/cropped

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Practicing leap frog. Needs work.

The rain just started coming down... I ran for cover, but the heron didn't mind.

Found this little fellow on my evening walk of Little Legs. I'm not sure what they are, but it was one of the most photogenic setups I've encountered in a long time.


They did not move at all (though I admit that I was about 75 meters away) so I had quite a few opportunities to mix up the composition and play with the hay arrangements.


Found this little fellow hanging around with some friends of theirs (images below).


The sticks were quite annoying in the background but I had no other way to compose (since I can't walk through 2 meters tall and thicker than the Amazon Forest thorn bush in front of me).


That reminds me that I am not excited about the winter's naked bushes and trees with f 6.3 aperture for birds.


On the open field, there were tens of Swallows flying around and it hit me, they were flying around because the cows in the field had hundreds of flies annoying them and the Swallows were swooping around them for easy meals.


Didn't get too many great shots of them. I wish I had more free time to put into research, observation and shooting birds in flight.


The only image I got up close of a Swallow though it's a 5 MP crop at the very edge of the frame BUT, despite not being tack sharp, it did capture the colours very well (which is a first for me).


The best moment of the walk is being scared to death (for both of us, me and the bird) by a screech of a mature Buzzard hiding inside the forest. I wish I would have noticed it first but it was darn near impossible if it hadn't flown to a farther tree.


Not the crispiest images possible but it was the first time I'd seen one inside a forest, it was in the evening, the place was quite dark, the shutter was quite low and I was high on adrenaline.


This little fellow did not give up on giving me interesting compositions despite walking in a circle for almost 2 hours, it was still there.

"The only image I got up close of a Swallow..."
The swallow appears to be a common barn swallow.

"Jenny Wren", as we called them back in the day. The family seems to come back every year. Friendly, but noisy birds.

jbruce said:

"The only image I got up close of a Swallow..."
The swallow appears to be a common barn swallow.

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Yus, and I've been told that saying that is the most American thing to say