My best bird shots

it's weird how birds are different in different areas, around here, I can usually walk up about 15 or so feet to cedars and robbins, but starlings book it when I'm 50 feet away.

Yeah it is, I was atleast seventy feet from that cedar waxwing....The only birds around here that allow me to get within thirty feet are the house sparrow, Dark eye Junco and on rare occasions the common robin. There is one ringbilld gull that seems comfortable enough around humans to let me get close, I playfully call him Dukat. I can't say the same for his friends though, they find another place to be the moment I break the treeline into the parkinglot.

You want to talk about birds that head for the hills....I can't get within three hundred feet of an American bald eagle....:(

We have a breeding pair that live here in town along with several others just outside of town and It does not matter what one I find, they seem to be finishing up and leaving the moment I spot them. I usually spot them way out of range for my 400mm so even if I take off at a full run they won't be there by the time I get there.

The blue heron is another one I chase around town, even if I set up the blind and wait, I come up empty.
 
wow that is so amazing, I wonder if it's just the type of recreation near these birds so they get used to people or something. It's like were the complete opposite of you. Sparrows I have to hide and wait for, if they see me the whole flock takes off like that movie 'the birds'. But herons I can get pretty close to here, same with gulls. Heck, gulls I've hand fed before. In December we get lots of bald eagles here, I can get about 30 feet from them but their always up in a tree so can't get a good shot. Plus it's usually freaken cold, snowing and dark grey weather.

sounds like you have some cool birds there, guess you need a 2000mm F4 zoom eh? lol

Hey, this bird let us get close last year, we think it's a yellow headed black bird, do you know if that's right? This guy I was about 25 feet from so I could have a decent angle since he was in a tree

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That last aves is quite the photo, for me its hard following the bird while its in flight, my focus isnt fast enough :/

we're you panning your camera following the bird through your viewfinder? or just shot it right as it took flight?
 
Thanks much, I was panning and got several shots. None I thought were super good but good enough to stick on flickr, Here is him a few seconds later (actually 3 exactly if you check the exif )while I was still panning and following him.

do you use a DSLR? If you set it for multipoint and continuous focus the camera will keep up pretty good as long as there aren't a lot of trees and such.

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Battou: I looked for a couple old shots where I got really close to a GHB, the one I blew out his jaw in the hot sun but it was cool to be within 15 feet of him taking pics. Ours seem to be tamer by boat docks rather then off in the more wild area. It's almost like they expect humans to be around.
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wow that is so amazing, I wonder if it's just the type of recreation near these birds so they get used to people or something. It's like were the complete opposite of you. Sparrows I have to hide and wait for, if they see me the whole flock takes off like that movie 'the birds'. But herons I can get pretty close to here, same with gulls. Heck, gulls I've hand fed before. In December we get lots of bald eagles here, I can get about 30 feet from them but their always up in a tree so can't get a good shot. Plus it's usually freaken cold, snowing and dark grey weather.

sounds like you have some cool birds there, guess you need a 2000mm F4 zoom eh? lol

...I'm shooting a 400mm f/5.6 prime...I'd like a 400mm 2.8L, at least with that I could use my teleconverters and get up to 1600mm with a usable aperture but that's just a little out of the budget. Until then I am stuck creeping through the bush

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Hey, this bird let us get close last year, we think it's a yellow headed black bird, do you know if that's right? This guy I was about 25 feet from so I could have a decent angle since he was in a tree

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That is exactly what it is I do believe. Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus

*EDIT* Got lost looking for a picture lol


Battou: I looked for a couple old shots where I got really close to a GHB, the one I blew out his jaw in the hot sun but it was cool to be within 15 feet of him taking pics. Ours seem to be tamer by boat docks rather then off in the more wild area. It's almost like they expect humans to be around.
Nice shots

Well the heron that live here hang out down in the river bed where it's left pretty natural and with out a lot of human interferance. There is some heavy brush between the road and the river so one can not see the road from the river bed, suffice it to say it can be heard but.... The cars traveling by on the road above does not bother them but a single foot step in the brush seems to be heard for yards even when I try to mask my movement with the traffic. By the time I get an eyeball on them they are flying away
 
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Thanks for checking that bird, cool, now I am sure what it is!

That's a nice lens though 400 is good, and creeping in the brush is what I do also but hope for friendly critters so I can get close.

I bet that is the deal with the herons, ours hang out by the docks where people fish all the time, so I guess they are really used to people. But I guess sneaking up on these birds and such is what makes this hobby challenging!
 
Thanks for checking that bird, cool, now I am sure what it is!

That's a nice lens though 400 is good, and creeping in the brush is what I do also but hope for friendly critters so I can get close.

I bet that is the deal with the herons, ours hang out by the docks where people fish all the time, so I guess they are really used to people. But I guess sneaking up on these birds and such is what makes this hobby challenging!

Yes it is, that is a lot of what keeps me doing it.

This is where the heron around here hang out, this less than a hundred feet from a main road in the city (the same road that the police and fire department is located on) and less than two hundred yards from my home.

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Gorgeous area! Wow so close, that's great. We have to drive to the next town to see them at a local lake. Funny how seeing a person's location makes you assume, I see New York under your name and imagine you live in an apartment like you see on TV, like Seinfeld or something lol
 
Gorgeous area! Wow so close, that's great. We have to drive to the next town to see them at a local lake. Funny how seeing a person's location makes you assume, I see New York under your name and imagine you live in an apartment like you see on TV, like Seinfeld or something lol

lol no, I live in a run down converted dueplex. After my father bought it he took the second apartment out of it and made it one big house and then quit fixing things when my siblings would break them as kids saying "I'm done fixing things till you kids move out" Sadly he never got to it now it's up to my brother and I repair twenty years of neglect.....but I digress. I live on the other end of the state, that shot was taken in a slow spot on the Allegheny River that runs right through the middle of the city. I live on a small dead end road right next to it off the main road that runs along beside it.
 
Great catch on the Yellow Headed Blackbird, not often seen bird and usually at great distances. Good way of telling is the white on the wings :

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Great catch on the Yellow Headed Blackbird, not often seen bird and usually at great distances. Good way of telling is the white on the wings :

I've noticed this, I read they share habitat with the redwing blackbird but have never seen one my self and have seen dozens of redwing blackbirds.
 
I guess that keeps you busy then fixing things! :)

Maybe it's the idea that the state of New York and the city of New York have the same name, when I hear New York I always forget there are other places besides the huge concrete jungle we see on TV all the time
It's like wow you guys have trees and grass too? LOL


Gorgeous area! Wow so close, that's great. We have to drive to the next town to see them at a local lake. Funny how seeing a person's location makes you assume, I see New York under your name and imagine you live in an apartment like you see on TV, like Seinfeld or something lol

lol no, I live in a run down converted dueplex. After my father bought it he took the second apartment out of it and made it one big house and then quit fixing things when my siblings would break them as kids saying "I'm done fixing things till you kids move out" Sadly he never got to it now it's up to my brother and I repair twenty years of neglect.....but I digress. I live on the other end of the state, that shot was taken in a slow spot on the Allegheny River that runs right through the middle of the city. I live on a small dead end road right next to it off the main road that runs along beside it.
 
Jtee: cool shot of one in flight. That shot I got was the only time I've ever seen one and your right, there are tons of RWBB's in that area. Must be a shy cousin of theirs
 
Great catch on the Yellow Headed Blackbird, not often seen bird and usually at great distances. Good way of telling is the white on the wings :

I've noticed this, I read they share habitat with the redwing blackbird but have never seen one my self and have seen dozens of redwing blackbirds.

Yes and they also migrate with flocks of RWBB nesting and raising young in marshy areas atop of Beaver huts and or Muskrat huts. Quite a secretive bird. Water depths and size of openwaters in marshy ares also play a big part in they're decisions for nesting. I was quite lucky to get the shot that I did last Spring at Horicon Marsh
 

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