A few birding images from the last couple of years

[dpastern]

Haven't done much in the way of photography, but have managed to move sideways into some birding photography as well as the macro now. Still a noob @ birding imaging, but hey, everyone starts somewhere ;-)

Kookaburra (named "le kookie") that regular comes to our house for a feed of mince:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/676/32362576454_ce61b6c8b2_c_d.jpg

Eastern Great Egret (Ardea modesta):

https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3896/14910303255_5519a9d7c5_c_d.jpg

Black shouldered Kite (Warrill park lawn cemetary, Ipswich):

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5586/14919828712_ef21fb5bba_c_d.jpg

King Parrot @ Ipswich bird sanctuary (amazing place!):

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1660/25721968954_201dfc8071_c_d.jpg

Scaley Breasted Lorikeet @ Ipswich bird sanctuary:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8567/30467185136_f63ae6ef29_c_d.jpg

I love lories, amazing birds (I have a Rainwbow Lori as a pet now).

edit: forgot that IIS doesn't show inline images, so have added attachments.

Cheers,

Dave

[troypiggo]

Some nice shots there. What lens?

[dpastern]

From memory, the Black shouldered kite was the 300mm F4 L, as was the egret. From memory, the lori and king parrot were the Sigma 150mm macro lens. I think the kooka was with my 70-200 f2.8 L.

There's several nice birds of prey down @ Warrill park cemetary - at least there was a 2 years ago or so when I was active. A pair of mating BSKs. A kestrel. A swamp harrier. And another bird of prey that I wasn't quite sure on the identity of. Not sure if they're still around or not, but it's highly likely.

edit: I've read your PMs, I'm still thinking about things before I reply!

[troypiggo]

Ah, it was the 300 f/4 I was thinking of. Nice.

[dpastern]

yeah, it's a good lens, although mine should go back to Canon for adjustment as it's not accurate on its AF imho. Never has been from the moment I got it. The IS is really clunky sounding and annoying too (this is the original IS 300mm f4 lens, not the mark II version, which I believe is better). Most times, I have IS turned off, not a fan of it. If the light is that bad that you need to resort to using IS, then you need to try again on a different day when conditions are better imho.

I very much like my 70-200 (non IS version), although I believe the Mark II IS version is sharper, especially when wide open.

Love my Sigma 150 - Canon 180mm 3.5 L performance at half the price. A good balance between the working distance of the 180mm and that of the 100mm. I'm too lazy to use a proper flash gun and diffuser etc, been there, done that, so my lighting with macro sucks these days. I mostly use the 60D with the onboard flash and no diffusion, but I'm rarely using the camera these days. Just laziness and a lack of motivation on my part, plus my garden is CRAP.

For birding, 300mm is simply too short a focal length. Yes, you can work with it, but it's not conducive to great results. Minimum lens is a 500mm f4 imho, preferably Canon's 800mm f5.6, which a lot of serious birders have moved to. Yes, you can make a 300mm work with patience and a hide, but I don't have the patience to sit in a hide for six hours to get a shot. Kudos to those that do, but I don't. My attention span is simply not capable of dealing with that! Like, ever.

[dpastern]

I'll add this lil beauty (we have a nest of them in our yard) - female superb fairy wren: