Birds Show Birds

Thanks Bill. I did find one in the UK one year, a male on what was then my local patch at Slapton. A very brief view before it dropped to the ground never to be seen again. One year I was having a course of physiotherapy at Kingsbridge hospital and my physiotherapist described two birds she'd seen from her house one afternoon in early May at the top of some tall trees, again overlooking Slapton. She didn't know what they were but described to my satisfaction a pair of Golden Orioles. She said they stayed there for some 15 minutes before disappearing.

What's the betting I don't get one of those in the viewfinder of my soon to arrive FZ200.

Barrie
 
Thanks barrie

we were in the UK for two weeks and came back on Monday last when I heard them ....... so they have probably been here for two weeks.
They sing all day long and are loud ......... I reckon louder than any other ........ I see them flying across the valley a few times a day ..... I have only ever seen two together and they both looked like males ...... but I cannot be sure.
BUT ...... same trees as last year ....... the "favourite" tree - a very large French Oak ...... same as last year and the year before ...... not sure how long they live ....... but presumably they are the same birds, (?), or their offspring.

The nearest I ever get to them is many yards away ........ although last year I had a little luck in that we have a Mulberry tree in the garden ...... I was 6 feet away from the tree and a male landed on it ....... left after 5 secs as soon as it saw me
 
Yellowhammers (with FZ200)

My first attempts with an FZ200, not sure that I'm liking it yet, but perhaps useful for record shots of rare birds. Having said that I've seen some decent shots with this camera on flickr. A minor amount of cropping only with these images. It does at least appear to have achieved a decent focus on the bird despite intervening vegetation, which is more than can be said for it's ability to do the same on objects close to the near focus limit when using a telephoto setting for the lens. Poor light and a stiff breeze did not help it to perform at its best I guess.

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male (playing peek a boo)


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female


Barrie
 
They look good Barrie, look forward to more - what range were they, mm on lens

This year down here birds seem to be fewer and arriving late

Hardly seen any Buzzards ...... usually quite a few around all year round ........ I just wonder why?
A few swallows about, (I bet they are regretting it as it's still raining)
Chiffchaffs OK, seen the odd Flycatcher and Linnet, but not seen the Cirl Bunting(s) yet
Not seen a Greenfinch yet
 
Baby Ducks!

Baby ducks! Had to be ultra stealthy, taking about 10 minutes to move close to these guys, since my 60mm was the longest lens I had at the time. (Wish I had my OM-D with 35-100)...but I managed to get plenty close and get a few shots of these baby ducks and their mom. For the second shot, I was only maybe 3 feet away.

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:love: Who doesn't love baby ducks? Frankly, I love ducks in general...and these are beauties.

What camera did you use?

My favorite is the close up - wonderful focus point - but I also really like the mother with her brood. She looks so calm but you know darn well she's watching everything!

Good for you! I'm impressed that you were able to get so close!
 
Hi Bill, these were taken at max telephoto on the lens which, for the sensor size, is 108mm equivalent to 600mm on a 35mm full frame. My local Buzzards have been displaying, visible over the woods they nest in from my kitchen window for some weeks, Cirl Bunting was singing just up the lane (300 yards) from my cottage as I was returning home this morning in a light rain shower, Greenfinch singing away and displaying above the boundary hedge, my first Swallow was mid April, so 2-3 weeks late and although my first Swifts over the village were about on time, 7th May I've hardly seen any since. Perhaps your French birds aren't as hardy as their UK cousins where at the moment the only difference between summer and winter would seem to be the length of daylight hours!

Barrie
 
It's curious - I saw my first swift here on 5th May, then a little burst of quite a few over the next three days (much screaming) but none since.

Swallows and Martins I saw in Cornwall in mid-March, very few here yet.

On my local common everything was very late, but then instead of a trickle of chiffchaffs then ww then blackcap, there was a sudden whoosh as all three species arrived at once and the common exploded with song. I hadn't seen or heard quite so many blackcaps here before.

the whitethroats have arrived in the last ten days, and in much more decent numbers than the last couple of years.

oh and i heard at least one cuckoo this week, pretty close by. this is good as the last one i heard round here was in 2011
 
First Cuckoo this week

A couple of Blackcaps mid to early April, but not seen one since

Not seen the Firecrests that were here in Feb last year

Common Redstart have been here some time ....... but not seen a Black Redstart yet, (in 2012 they were here in March and Common came late Feb 12 - probably both about the same time)

The Cranes came thru in Feb, almost exactly the same week as in 2012
 
Paul, a sudden rush of migrants is typical of birds being held up on migration for a few days, then all leaving for the UK at the same time, inside of coming through in steady numbers day after day. Blackcaps tend to have a protracted migration season with early birds arriving in late March and the latest in mid May. The later birds will to slot into territories between those already established, the resident birds shrinking their defended territory down in size which should be sustainable as the insect population available for them to feed on should have grown from that of late March.

My local Swallows started nest building within 3 or 4 days of arriving, some 3 weeks late, which is an abnormally quick start to breeding, presumably to make up for lost time. Easterly winds displaced birds to the west in April, hence the rash of things like Bluethroats.

Whitethroat numbers are still very variable year on year, again I guess because conditions in the Sahel where they follow the wet season during the winter are not as stable as they used to be prior to their population crash in response to the drought of 1969/70.

Barrie
 
Impressive focus, Barrie. I think as you use the FZ200 more, you'll get a better feel for how much of a "situational camera" it is, much as I've been learning the same with the superzooms I've gone thru, and my current Fuji.
 
Ducks -- and turtles, and elephants (and kittens and puppies); you get the picture -- are creatures that somehow make be feel everything is all right. Thanks for these. They are quite good.
 
An evening walk with the FZ200

It's rather cool for the time of year, there was a little overnight snow 30 miles away up on Dartmoor last night and a predicted frost for inland places overnight tonight, so bird activity somewhat curtailed, however I ventured out up the lane for an hour after 7:00 pm

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Guinea Fowl, a noisy neighbour of mine


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I thought my local Carrion Crows had young in the nest, at least two beaks visible in the first shot and one to the right (wrong place!) in the second


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Long-tailed Tit

The only photograph that was cropped is the second of the crows to remove some distracting closer foliage on the left hand side. I have to say that this camera does a pretty good job of nailing focus with a good success rate.


Barrie
 
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