Bird Potpouri (recent favorites)

Some recent favorites. Enjoy!

= Ed =

Sandhill Crane

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Wow!! The intensity in the eagle's eyes in the flying photo is something!!

Great shots! Thanks for sharing.

Khaja

Great pictures...
I love the composition (grass and cliff...) and colors of the second (Green Heron)
Have you been so near or did you use a big zoom?

Those are truly great photos Ed. Keep up the excellent work!
Maz
http://www.homesteadsf​orsale.com

The second of the eagle is magnificent.

Khaja: Thanks for the kind words.

Ikinaa: Thank you for the compliments. I guess the answer is both. I used a 400mm f/5.6 lens (not a zoom however), and I stalked slowly. I've gotten closer to other herons, but it largely depends upon the the heron, the location, the time, etc. The tricks that I know to getting closer are:
1) move very slowly - take small steps - stop often - avoid quick motions with your camera.
2) don't stand up tall - crouch a bit - in some cases crawling is your best bet
3) avoid making eye contact as much as possible
4) don't disturb a roost or nest
5) be patient and don't give up

Maz: Thanks, and glad you liked them.

Mills: Thank you. Those eagles are very intense creatures. Simply magnificent IMHO.

= Ed =

Ed,.. these are wonderfull,..

You are now officially "The Man"
Superb photos

Simply magnificent Very well done

Especially liked the Magpie....something about the patterns in the wings! Thanks for sharing!

Gorgeous photographs!

The lighting and all is beautiful.

Did you shoot RAW, and how many Megapixels, cropping? Thanks!

Cricket,

These were shot with my 20D - yes I always shoot RAW. All of the flight photos have a certain amount of cropping, if only for composition in some cases. The mapgie is more severely cropped than the other flight shots. Off the top of my head, I'd say that the Green Heron and the Cactus Wren are either full frame or very nearly so. I needed a longer lens for the Eagles.

I mean ideally we'd all like to be able to shoot full frame with our macro lenses, but that takes a captive bird, as with the Ferruginous Hawk below (10mm f/2.8 Macro at f/5.6, ISO 400, and 1/800th).

Ferruginous Hawk (captive)

Incredible shots. Undoubtedly the result of much hard work (I hope). Otherwise, I'm gonna feel really bad.

These are truely magnificent pic's. The narrow depth of around the green heron isolates him perfectly. Simply superb.
Wouldn't fancy being a cactus wren though, landing on that must be tricky , but I guess it would deter predators .

Beautiful images Ed. You should be bvery proud of them.

Like them. Especially the bald eagles and the ones of the birds in flight. Nice job!