birding

Just because I adore the subtle beauty of the female.

Reading, UK

Canon R5 Mk II RF200-800mm

I had to halve the pixel width to get Lemmy to accept the photo: 8192 x 5464 is too many pixels the app tells me, regardless of if I hammer the quality to get the file size down below 2 Mb. When the error message "Too many pixels" pops up, it really means it!

The red tailed hawk; no points awarded for guessing why it's called that. I imagine this is the Eastern variety, based on my location. I do like the way the sunlight is shining through the feathers here.

I should have probably bumped the exposure compensation up a bit for this but I was taking pictures of ducks on the ground at the time and was not expecting this hawk to fly right overhead. I got what I got. Canon R10, ƒ/8, a mere 1/8000 sec, ISO 640. Believe it or not, not the entire length of the lens -- only 325mm.

Bird fact: The noise that eagles make in movies is usually actually the cry of the red tailed hawk. This hawk made exactly that noise, which is what prompted me to look up. Eagles (or at least bald eagles, if experience is any judge) can make a similar noise, but often they make a range of rather different noises that don't carry as well.

Bonus picture of a red tailed hawks red hawk tail:

Little hopping bastich wasn't easy to get focused on! So I settled for mildly out of focus, with a little red tuft. Sure, I look goofy carrying my camera on a dog walk around the neighborhood, but some days it pays off.

The Eastern bluebird, doing what bluebirds do.

Bird fact: All those poets and other swains are only so enthralled by birdsong because they don't know what it actually means.

Shot on my Canon R10, ƒ/8, 1/320, ISO 640, 400mm.

He was about 5 feet away on the other side of a railcar I was walking by. Sat there long enough for me to pull out my phone and get a few good pictures.

That's tree swallow to you and me.

I had a productive day today. Rather than spam the photography community with pictures of birds, I'll spam the bird community with pictures of birds instead. Canon R10, ƒ/8, 1/1000 sec, ISO 640, 400mm using the Bird Lens (or the Poor Man's Bird Lens, anyhow).

Swallows in general and the tree swallow in particular are easy to identify when they're flying because of their distinctive two-pronged forked tail and very pointy wingtips, which are visible when they are in a dive. You'll see them spiraling and swooping and juking around like mad in the air because they eat insects and snatch them right out of the air while they're on the wing. If you see one sitting around, like this one, their bellies are ridiculously white and easy to spot. You'll find these all over most of North America.

Bless this little potato for posing perfectly for me.

Due to the protected nature of these birds the rare sightings here are usually kept well-hidden even in the birding community. I was lucky enough to be tipped off by a local birder and managed to get a few beautiful shots. Such a lovely bird!

Starling, nest building (while their partner seemed to be stuffing themselves with food a couple of yards away!)

Prospect Park, Reading, UK

Canon R5 Mk II + RF200-800mm lens

Picture is from the beginning of February, but i have not been posting here in a while, so i might as well catch up with some snaps from my balcony ☺️

I believe she wanted to catch finches or tits on my balcony, it was on the same day the baby pigeons from the upstairs balcony started flying and visiting. I was a bit worried for them.

The pigeon couple kept on breeding up there, their latest babies will probably start flying again this or next weekend. Madlads.

Took a helicopter trip from Las Vegas to a spot in the west rim of the Grand Canyon. This little kiddo was flitting around I managed to get a shot but had to really extend the zoom on my Lumix MFT. Pilot called it a specific type of wren but I forget exactly what he said. Seems to maybe match up with the stripe on the head but like the pattern on the back doesn't seem to match what I've seen of pictures of, say, canyon wrens. He was talking about small birds with some blue, but I'm not exactly getting that from this photo although the harsh mid-day sun isn't great for bringing out subtle coloration. Maybe the angle and resolution aren't enough for a positive ID, but I do still rather like the picture.

Oh noes, I've been spotted.

Clayfield, Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia - March 2025

#bird #birds #AustralianBirds #ButcherBird #CracticusTorquatus #Cracticus

Delighted to see them back in the park. While not really a native bird, they are a long time introduction from Asia, and these are "wild". Prospect Park, Reading, UK

Canon R5 Mk II + RF200-800mm

Bonus female, also showing a failure to correct for depth of field

Kedron Brook Wetlands Reserve, Australia - March 2025

OK, I have to admit I'm not entirely sure that's Pussy Willow catkins (i.e. Willow catkins), but I had to for that title .... sorry.

Reading, UK

Canon R5 Mk II + RG200-800mm, ISO4000, 1/1000s, so not the best conditions

The wren cracks me up, how it dips in and out my flower pot. But kinda hard to take a snap of it.
#wren #onmybalcony @[email protected]