I haven't shared any bird photos in a long while, so I figured it was time. ; What better types of birds to start with than raptors!? ; Here are some raptors captured lately out in my wetlands areas...all taken with my A580 & Minolta 300mm F4 APO and 1.4x matched TC. Red-shouldered hawk watching lunch walking past: Heading down to get lunch (this sequence was *just* missed a bit on focus and shutter speed because I wasn't expecting it, but still it was a cool thing to witness so I thought I'd share it): Lunch pick up order - on the menu - water rat: He likes it a bit rare: Norhtern harrier, sweeping in low: Harrier flying close by in the backlight, paying me no mind: A snail kite looking for dinner: Red-shouldered hawk on a tree: Cooper's hawk in the tree canopy: Northern harrier sweeping over the marsh: Northern harrier much closer: Juvenile cooper's hawk: Calling out to momma: Cooper's hawk checking me out: Cooper's hawk all puffed up: Northern harrier fly-by:
Pick up a dictionary of superlatives and dump its contents here, because I can't come up with adequate words for this set. Scott Bourne, watch your back!
Many thanks all. ; Sorry for the long gaps in replying - another 8 hours spent transferring data to the new computer, reinstalling programs, digging up license keys, finding out some no longer work, contacting tech support, etc. ; Getting a new computer is several parts excitement combined with several parts frustration! The shots above are all with my Minolta 300mm F4 APO and a matched Minolta APO II 1.4x teleconverter. ; As you can see, 420mm is plenty - in some cases I was so close I was shooting portraits of the heads (those aren't even cropped!) - I was not more than 12 feet from the birds in some cases. Florida is certainly spectacular for bird selection AND proximity. ; Pick a category of bird, and you can shoot photos with more than a dozen species of just that one type of bird, in a single day of shooting. ; On the best of winter days, I've had personal counts of over 100 species, with thousands of birds, getting within 5 feet of some of them, in a 3 hour walk. ; Birders' paradise!
There is a place not too far from me, that I want to go to and try one day. ; Hopefully soon and before it gets too hot and buggy.
Before it gets too hot and buggy? ; Too late! Where exactly WAS winter this year? ; I think it forgot to come down to Florida...seems to have decided to vacation in Europe this year. ;
We have had a few cold nights, but not like last year. ; I was noticing yesterday that the love bugs even seem to be starting already. ; They just aren't locked together yet.
