Post your best bird shots!

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

Hi

[bob williams]

Hi

Sinh, Great to have you back. I have missed you. This is a wonderful shot of Mom and youngster. Beautifully captured and framed.

[Dave Throgmartin]

Here are a couple from today.

First, a black capped chickadee. Taken with 60D and 135L at f/2.8, 1/1600 second, and ISO 100. I shot it as a JPG this time using camera settings of 4 - 1 - 1 - 0, cropped to isolate the bird, resized, and sharpened for web posting.

Second, I believe this is a sparrow but am unsure of what type. It was shot using the same gear as above at f/4, 1/640 second, and ISO 100. I shot this one RAW, post-processed to taste, cropped, resized, and sharpened for web posting. You may have noticed most of my other bird pictures I had posted earlier always had the bird feeder or deck in the shot. This one didn't because I set up a tree branch near my deck for the birds to perch on when they break from eating.

[Andy Stringer]

I believe this is a sparrow but am unsure of what type. Attachment 542

Dave, it was a male house sparrow, like the one that visited my garden last weekend.

Male House Sparrow by Andrew Stringer, on Flickr
1D Mark IV, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM +1.4x @560mm, f/8, 1/320s, ISO 640

It's similar to the less common tree sparrow, but the tree sparrow has a black patch on its cheeks.

Here's another garden visitor, often mistaken for a female sparrow but the narrower beak tells me that this is a dunnock.

Dunnock by Andrew Stringer, on Flickr
1D Mark IV, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM +1.4x @560mm, f/8, 1/250s, ISO 200

Looks like I missed all the excitement with hawks, eagles and falcons visiting some of the members' neighbourhoods lately. In fifteen years here I've only seen a sparrowhawk in my garden once, before I owned a DSLR.

[Raid]

Dave, it was a male house sparrow, like the one that visited my garden last weekend.

Male House Sparrow by Andrew Stringer, on Flickr
1D Mark IV, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM +1.4x @560mm, f/8, 1/320s, ISO 640

It's similar to the less common tree sparrow, but the tree sparrow has a black patch on its cheeks.

Here's another garden visitor, often mistaken for a female sparrow but the narrower beak tells me that this is a dunnock.

Dunnock by Andrew Stringer, on Flickr
1D Mark IV, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM +1.4x @560mm, f/8, 1/250s, ISO 200

Andrew

The background effect in your photos is very interesting, any idea how its created?

Tony

[ddt0725]

Went out looking for bald eagles today. Saw a few flying and two in a nest but everything was just too far away for a good shot. It's almost a two hour drive from my house to where I went looking for them. The day wasn't a total loss. I did get a few hawk pictures along the way.


IMG_7982 by Denise Trocio, on Flickr

[Dave Throgmartin]

Very nice hawk picture. Where do you typically go for bald eagles? I'm not terribly far from your area. Lake Michigan off Kenosha is about a 70 minute drive.

Dave

[ddt0725]

Thanks, Dave! I go to South Beloit, WI, just over the border from Illinois. Last February there were alot of bald eagles there but only a few this year due to the mild winter we have had.

[Dave Throgmartin]

Thanks, Dave! I go to South Beloit, WI, just over the border from Illinois. Last February there were alot of bald eagles there but only a few this year due to the mild winter we have had.

Denise,

Is there a particular spot you go to or just anywhere along the Rock River?

Dave

[ddt0725]

By the post office or the bus depot. Today, I saw the nest by the railroad tracks behind some business (can't think of the name of it) but I think it was down Blackhawk Drive. They posted sitings on ebird last year but not too many postings this year. Also, there is a page on facebook called Beloit Bald Eagles ...


http://www.facebook.com/#!/BeloitWIBaldEagles

This is a shot I took last year out there. It was taken by the river near the bus depot. If you click on the photo, it will take you to my flickr where there are a few others that I took that day. It was below zero out that day ...alot different than today!


BE by Denise Trocio, on Flickr