Whilst for some these birds may be commonplace I haven't seen them for many years, and then I read on a bird blog that a pair had been spotted at Shanghai Zoo (this zoo is not your normal zoo - there are copses, ponds and huge tree lined fields and it's easy to walk around for an hour or so without even seeing an enclosure - hence heaven for much of the local and passerine birds). So off I went and after 3 hours of shooting other wild birds and some squirrels (and as most other people had left and the light was fading) I decided to call it a day. I was walking back through a field that earlier had been full of school children, and now not a soul, when suddenly from behind there was a whoosh and lo and behold the Hoopoe couple swooped past my head and landed not 20 yards (metres) in front of me - talk about luck !

K5 & DA*300. ISO 320 - 500 / F4 / 1/500











Unfortunately I had reduced the shutter speed to give me better ISO levels for the feeding shots and when they suddenly took off I could do nothing but snap away knowing they were going to be blurred. However it did show two things 1) how lovely these birds are in flight and 2) how good the K5 & DA*300 are at tracking BIF .... look at how far away and how small in the shot the Hoopoe is in the last of these 3 shots.





This is with the 300 so the bird must have been between 80 & 100 yds away by then, yet still in focus and tracking perfectly.

[kengoh]

Nice series of this bird, I like the 2nd pic most.

[tessfully]

My goodness they are beautiful birds. So unique looking. The one seems quite curious about you and your camera, giving you "the eye" and showing you how big its crown is!!!

Wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing your good luck with us!

[Frogfish]

Thanks Ken - #2 is my fav too.

They are aren't they Tess. Maybe thats why his crest went up (it was the only time it did) .... it's a threat display !