[ChipB]

I agree

Well done Dave.

[gifthorse]

Like that waxwing, but then I think they are a particularly handsome bird - sleek with subtle, understated color.

Love the waxwings. For all the reasons WPRESTO noted, but I'd be mighty proud of those owls, too.

---------- Post added 07-27-16 at 04:57 PM ----------

Nipped to the RSPB, great egret was still there, obviously finds the place congenial, got some closer pics. K5, DAL 55-300mm + kenko 1.4x TC. AF? when the bird was a bit further away AF struggled, as it came closer, filling half the frame, no problem. Just as well because MF on this lens is a bit sticky, ring doesn't move smoothly.





jacamar asked me about the birds origin. My understanding is that egrets have steadily moved over to the UK from the continent, so in principle this bird is native, but are mostly found in the south. Little egrets however breed at Conwy.

Very nice images of the great heron. They show up here but are extremely wary and almost impossible to get near. The snowy egrets here are more common and get accustomed to people.






The great egret (besides being much larger) has a yellow bill and black feet. The snowy egret has yellow feet and a black bill.

I actually paid this bird to pose like that so that the contrast was obvious.
Sigma 150-500 on a K5ii

---------- Post added 07-27-16 at 04:58 PM ----------

I agree

Gorgeous bird. Very nice image!

[dadipentak]

Thanks Chip & gifthorse!

Stunning Egrets!

[WPRESTO]

Like the fellow who's shaking it out.

[Lowell Goudge]

The 22000+ posts is exactly why I asked. I don't have time to read all of it and the initial pages are a jumbled mess of people determining the purpose of the thread. I never did see anything about TC's in there. Thanks for confirming what I assumed - I just wasn't sure. I recently took some photos with the DA* 200 and the F 1.7x AF Teleconverter and wanted to be sure before posting here.

Crop factors of 1.5 and such I get - but I wondered if the rules were different for the Q. Using a 300mm on the Q is astronomical territory (1500+ effective) so I just asked.

What's the old story on crop factor, focal length is a physical property of the lens irrespective of image circle, and field of view. On the Q 200mm is exactly 200mm , as I said, when doing wildlife everyone crops any way the q just gives you more MP in the cropped zone

[pete-tarmigan]

This bird is a newcomer to me and I don't really know what it is I'm thinking a young Finch of some sort ? DA*300 1.4 TC handheld.

One of the goldfinch species.

[riseform]

This bird is a newcomer to me and I don't really know what it is I'm thinking a young Finch of some sort ? DA*300 1.4 TC handheld.

I checked with a master birder friend. It is indeed a lesser goldfinch

[marcusBMG]

I actually paid this bird to pose like that so that the contrast was obvious

You cheat
Very nice pics - prompted me to bump the contrast a bit on mine.

[marquis1955]

Love the waxwings. For all the reasons WPRESTO noted, but I'd be mighty proud of those owls, too.

---------- Post added 07-27-16 at 04:57 PM ----------



Very nice images of the great heron. They show up here but are extremely wary and almost impossible to get near. The snowy egrets here are more common and get accustomed to people.






The great egret (besides being much larger) has a yellow bill and black feet. The snowy egret has yellow feet and a black bill.

I actually paid this bird to pose like that so that the contrast was obvious.
Sigma 150-500 on a K5ii

---------- Post added 07-27-16 at 04:58 PM ----------


Gorgeous bird. Very nice image!

Outstanding work !

[marquis1955]

I checked with a master birder friend. It is indeed a lesser goldfinch

According to Tex birds it has been identified as a Summer Tanager identified by a friend of mine here in Texas and Very knowledgeable in the Avian world ? Please check with your friend & see what he thinks because personally I don't know...

[traderdrew]

Both photographed with the K-3 and the Sigma 500mm F/4.5. My photo here on 500px.com --- I actually turned my camera and took the Snowy Egret in portrait style to get the reflection since it was just close for landscape style. It was quick improvisation on my part.

https://500px.com/photo/164820449/reflecting-by-andrew-richardson

[normhead]

Osprey Nest at Young's Point
K-3 with DA* 200 ƒ2.8 with HD DA 1.4 TC and F 1.7x AF Adapter
800 ISO, 1/500s, ƒ11.

The nest above the narrows, near the locks/










The locks at Young's Point. Lots of pleasure craft were coming thorough. Shot with the DA^200 without TCs.

[marquis1955]

I checked with a master birder friend. It is indeed a lesser goldfinch

I have pretty good confidence in this mans ID but now I am more confused so I have another person working up at Texas A&M and run it by him also, I truly appreciate the input and love to learn new things especially if it invokves nature

Hello, Robert-good to hear from you! I am sorry to hear that you are having health issues. As the Good Book says, we are all "vessels made of clay". I hope that you will soon be feeling much better and that you will be back out in the field taking your great photographs! I believe that the bird in your photograph is a female summer tanager. Because we are looking at it head on, it is difficult to judge the length and shape of the bill, but it is consistent with that of a summer tanager. In some of my pictures of a female summer tanager, white outer tail feathers are visible. The inner tail feathers are dark. The underside of the female tanager is yellow, with a reddish tinge in "red morph" individuals. Juvenile male summer tanagers, although not uniformly red, have more red on their head and breast than females.


It's great to trade information. Nature photography is a good hobby. Identification of birds can be very challenging. Like people, individuals of the same species can differ in appearance. Although I don't claim to be an expert and I can and do make mistakes, I am going with the id of female summer tanager. Except for vagrants, the location where you photographed this bird is out the summer range for scarlet tanager (they pass through during migration). Hepatic tanagers are farther west, and the field marks and coloration aren't right for female hepatic tanager. My opinion remains female summer tanager. Thanks for the challenge!

[Racer X 69]

Pygmy Owl from last weekend K1, DA 560
I've always had to photograph these aiming at the tops of trees. This was the first time I've ever seen one close to eye level

Absolutely perfect.

[wildman]

A bunch of old stuff rattling around the hard drive.
All taken through the 560mm scope with a Q or a Q-S1 on the back end.
Mostly backyard birds so with the above combination there is really too much magnification to get full body shots at backyard distances but what the hell I'll post them anyway. Not everything has to be National Geographic quality after all.