Tawny Frogmouth

[Mickoid]

A few Tawny Frogmouths have decided to visit us for Christmas. This mother was being very vigilant as her baby sat nearby. I shot this with a Tamron 500mm f8 Mirror Lens on a Canon 550d. Being a fully manual lens I didn't quite nail the focus on the eyes but I was lucky she looked my way long enough to take the shot.

[casstony]

Probably just grumpy 'cause it's Xmas.
Any other shots of the birds to share Michael?

[Bart]

Where is the like button?


I like this shot a lot!

[Mickoid]

These are the others I took which include the Dad and baby, their camouflage is quite amazing against the trunk and branches of a tree. They really do look like fluffy feather dusters! :lol:

[astronobob]

Nice going Mick, pretty sharp for 500mm manual, barely noticeable IMO.

[Mickoid]

Thanks Bob. I was lucky purchasing this mirror lens, it turned out to be a good one. Apparently they did vary in quality, a bit like the Samyang lenses, some were made better than others. I didn't think that depth of field would matter so much at 500mm focal length as I took these from about 8m away from the subject. They ended up being difficult to focus on at this short distance, it was just a case of picking a point on the bird and going for it. Also had to keep the shutter speed fairly high to minimise camera shake as they were taken hand held.

[Rick Petrie]

Hi Michael
We also had a visitor just yesterday sitting on our side fence.
I got very close to it and it opened its eyes. Very unusual during the day time and he sat there for about three hours. Beautiful creatures.

[Mickoid]

That is close Rick! Nice capture. What lens were you using and how far from the bird were you? I have seen them before during the day but they normally stay very still and appear to be sleeping, which I guess they are doing because they're up all night!

[astronobob]

Yes, well done for the mirror lens Mick, I watched a youtube of that lens, inquisitive, & looks to be some mastering of it, soo, persistence has paid off for you and recognizing the Focus abilities of different lenses is always a cool aspect of photog :thumbsup:

BTW, here a Tawny I posted some time ago @ 200mm

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=148676

Kind Rgrds

[Rick Petrie]

Just used an Iphone 7+ about a meter from it. Phone cameras take nice sharp photos these days. It was so docile and out of it for the most part.

[Mickoid]

Rick, these mobile phone cameras are getting better every day and yours isn't even the latest one. Maybe the bird was stoned on something it ate the night before !

Bob, your capture a few years back is one of that classic Tawny Frogmouth pose that's trying to disguise itself as a tree branch. On focusing the mirror lens, I really should be using a mono pod at least. If there's low light, a combination of a long focal length and a fixed f8 aperture, limits you from using fast shutter speeds to avoid movement.