[jacamar]

There' so much food in the bush this year, I have almost no birds coming to my feeders. There are berries and cones, beech nuts every where. Even the squirrels have abandoned us. Our entire feeder entourage includes 2 Blue Jays, one Hairy Woodpecker and a few chipmunks. And they just check in once or twice a day and don't stay long.

These folks seem to agree with you - the finch forecast for this winter predicts that there won't be irruptions to the south because the food supply is good, but there will be birds in Algonquin.

Winter Finch Forecast 2019-2020

I noticed a lot of "bush food" in UK as well - brambles loaded with blackberries, lots of beech mast and acorns.
As a bird blind photographer you would like Minsmere - the blinds are two storeys high! During the Second World War the army excavated ponds on the Suffolk coast to help prevent German tanks from moving through. Avocets started showing up to breed after years of absence, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds took over from there. The water levels are carefully controlled, the birds are prolific and the Avocet (pictured in my post) became the organization's emblem.

[swip]

Northern Water Snakes are somewhat darker around here. Regional differences can be quite fascinating.

I checked images on the web to confirm the identity of the snake and definitely there are some that showed very different coloration than the one I got.

---------- Post added 09-16-19 at 12:07 PM ----------

There' so much food in the bush this year, I have almost no birds coming to my feeders. There are berries and cones, beech nuts every where. Even the squirrels have abandoned us. Our entire feeder entourage includes 2 Blue Jays, one Hairy Woodpecker and a few chipmunks. And they just check in once or twice a day and don't stay long.

That is definitely a constant in birding. You never know what you will get from year to year.

[aslyfox]

Tree Top Bird at the Hippo Pool in the Ngorongoro Crater

can any one help with an id ?

Grey Heron Ardea cinerea

https://www.beautyofbirds.com/greyherons.html

[jacamar]

Giant Swallowtail sipping moisture on a Lake Ontario beach.





K-3, DA*300mm

[Canada_Rockies]

Giant Swallowtail sipping moisture on a Lake Ontario beach.

K-3, DA*300mm

Nice catch.

[jacamar]

Nice catch

Thanks. It's always nice to have something when there are no birds around!

[mroeder75]

First shot with the SMC A* 400 f/2.8 from Friday once I got it mostly focused. I'm pretty sure the focus was slightly off as I don't have a bahtinov mask for this lens yet but it is pretty close.
Attachment 464562

Depends . . . which part of the lunar surface were you focusing on?

I am kidding of course. This is the sharpest land-based lunar image I believe I have seen

[Trissa]

With the Sigma 500 F4.5 and 2x Kenko Macro Converter and Pentax 1.4x Converter


And as a bonus:

[WPRESTO]

With the Sigma 500 F4.5 and 2x Kenko Macro Converter and Pentax 1.4x Converter


And as a bonus:

The image of Jupiter is a real coup, even some banding faintly visible. And the Medici Moons arrayed beautifully. Alas, those four little dots put an end to the mythology that we were at the center of the Universe, that everything revolved around us.

[str8talk83]

450mm on the 150-450mm & K-1


Dragonflys by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr

Superb dragon in flight!

---------- Post added 09-19-2019 at 06:28 AM ----------

[acoufap]

"Long-Beaks" (Tierpark Hellabrunn, Munich)






Both captured with Pentax KP and DA55-300PLM @ 300

[Mike.P®]

Superb dragon in flight!

Thanks.

Those are very nice indeed, I notice you are using the D500 with the new 500mm PF ... how are you finding the lens?
I mainly use my D500 with a Sigma 150-600mm Sport, also have the 500mm Sport but rarely take it because it just takes up too much space.

[Ducatigaz]

A few pictures of visiting B-2 stealth bombers to an airfield very close to me.

All taken with my K-5/Sigma 300mm F2.8 EX DG.















It's easy to see why they get mistaken for UFOs

[str8talk83]

Thanks.

Those are very nice indeed, I notice you are using the D500 with the new 500mm PF ... how are you finding the lens?
I mainly use my D500 with a Sigma 150-600mm Sport, also have the 500mm Sport but rarely take it because it just takes up too much space.

I really like the 500 PF a lot. It is one of those lenses that you have to try to really appreciate its advantages (in my opinion). It's not just the weight savings, but the size that I really like. I can keep the lens mounted on my D500 in a Think Tank Streetwalker (original version) Camera bag with the lens hood in place. That is quite an accomplishment, considering the fact that the bag is designed to fit a 70-200 in that slot. The lens is very sharp wide open and takes the TC 14E III very well to the point that I can't tell it's mounted from an image quality standpoint. The AF does struggle a little bit with the teleconverter for erratic birds in flight, but I would say that the autofocus with the teleconverter is similar to the 200-500 native. I find the autofocus to be very fast without the teleconverter and I rarely miss a tracked bird unless I make some kind of mistake.

I feel like we are spoiled now and sharpness is a wash between a high quality zoom like your 150-600 and the 500 PF. If I had to guess, I'd say that the 500 prime would take a teleconverter better than the zoom, but I haven't used that lens so I can't say for sure. The main advantage to me is the weight for someone like me who likes to go on photo walks or shoot from a kayak and prefers to be handheld.

[Weevil]

Simili-macro shot with Pentax K3II & DA*300ƒ/4


Amanite tue-mouche / Fly Agaric [Amanita muscaria]
by Weevil, on Flickr