Starling in flight

Got some starlings nesting on the roof, so I sat out on Sunday with my 150-600mm and tried to get some shots. They were very fast, so I had to resort to pre-focusing and trying to predict their flight path which was challenging! About 4 hours spent out and I got one single shot that's good enough to show. I'd not really been able to put my 5DmkIV to the test with birds since I bought it so it was good to give it a challengeand get back into the habit of using my long lens.

This is as one of the pair returned to the nest with a beak full of hawthorne flies, shot almost directly overhead.

Starling in Flight 1 by wee_pete, on Flickr

 

Cracking shot, nice and sharp in the right places.

 

We've got them in the eves of our loft, right above our bed. Bloody noisy buggers. Used to have one a few years ago that sat in a tree in our front garden and I swear is sang the theme tune to the Adams Family TV show from way back when.

I was gonna say that looks like St Marks flies in it's gob until I realised that St Marks flies ARE Hawthorn flies

Good work and more patience than I have.

I really need to 'exercise' along the cliffs and get some of the sea birds nesting right now. Loads of farmland species too.

 

Excellent shooting......

 

Thanks Fujidave, I couldn't raise the lens and get the camera to autofocus fast enough so ended up having to pre-focus and shoot through the flight. Thankfully I got one decent frame!

Yes, they can be very noisy. I've got quite a lot of patience for this kind of thing. I guess years of fishing has rubbed off a bit

Thanks Jeff15, maybe one day I'll be able to get this kind of shot consistantly

 

Very good shot!

 

Pete, that is just plain awesome! I know how hard a good bif shot can be.

 

Thanks Winona, I do like a backlit bird xD

Thank you very much Jeff, it was tough even getting them in the viewfinder. I think my pre-focus was at 15 feet so it was about all I could do was use both eyes to track the bird and fire off 3 frames before they dissapeared onto the roof. Being that close meant good detail though, so worth the effort. Hopefully I'll get to try a few more before lockdown is over

 

A very sharp and wonderful shot. Great job on this!

 

Thanks Dean, it's the first shot I've been excited about for a while so glad it went down well!

 

Cracking Sharp Shot and a great sky too.

 

wow awesome shot in every way... wow...... so beautiful