[HoutHans]

Taken with the DA* 300mm. I think it’s a great lens and not only for distant objects.

I like the image a lot. The whites blending into the background lend the image an ethereal character. Thanks for sharing.

[Sandy Hancock]

Taken with the DA* 300mm. I think it’s a great lens and not only for distant objects.

One of the greatest strengths of the DA* 300 is its close focus performance. Lovely shot.

[Charlie Victor]

DA* 300mm with DA 1.4 TC

Excellent capture of a DIF (dragonfly in flight)! The few times I've tried it, they were just too quick and erratic for me.
Best.

[Shedking]

Apologies if there is a dedicated thread for this. If someone can point me to it I'd be grateful. If not, I'll gladly start one up.

Given the amount of feeder and feeder-assisted shots that have appeared on this thread over the years, I figure that there must be a body of knowledge to share on the selection, siting and filling of bird feeders.

The basics are usually easy to find on manufacturers websites. Several scientific papers can help as well, e.g:

I'm aware that the best colours are silver and/or green : Colour preferences of UK garden birds at supplementary seed feeders

I'm aware that sunflower seeds (and other high calorie seeds like niger) are an important part of the attraction: Food preferences by birds using bird-feeders in winter: a large-scale experiment | SpringerLink

I'm aware that we should keep them away from windows, or risk collisions: Bird feeders and their effects on bird-window collisions at residential houses | Directory of Open Access Journals

Territorial birds, like hummingbirds, are better studied than non-territorial species, it seems.

But that leaves all sorts of unanswered questions, like how and when to use multiple feeders, where to position a screen/hide in relation to a feeder, etc. And that's before we get to the photo-relevant questions like choosing a background, planting shrubs for perching/posing, flash/no flash, etc.

Can anyone point me to an authoritative source?

[Ducatigaz]

K-3ii/FA*600mm F4 ED [IF]/Kirk window mount/RRS BH-55 ball head.

Little Owl in a dead tree.

[Pentikonian]

Been out for about a week, got some catching up to do today.

Male Gila Woodpecker antics this morning, K-1 + DA*300.

[jacamar]

Three different white egrets, all taken in the last few days

Snowy



Great



Cattle



The first two with the DA*300mm and t/c, the last with the backup DA 55-300mm (just before sunset).

[Des]

Can anyone point me to an authoritative source?

Some good stuff here: Media and Publication – Dr Gráinne Cleary
But much of it might not be relevant to the UK.

I'm aware that sunflower seeds (and other high calorie seeds like niger) are an important part of the attraction

Seed-eaters love sunflower seeds, but they are not good for them in all but small quantities: SINISTER SUNFLOWER SEEDS: THE TRUTH » Currumbin Valley Birds & Exotic Vetrenarian - Gold Coast

flash/no flash

Opinions differ about this.

If there isn't much light, if you don't use flash, you need to use slow shutter speeds and/or high ISO. I find the ISO performance of the KP one or two stops better than the K-3, but in poor light you still lose contrast and detail. With slow shutter speeds (e.g. 1/125th second or slower for 300mm), even when you avoid camera shake a lot of shots are ruined by subject movement. You need to fire bursts and expect to discard most of them - and you still might get no usable shots.

Some birds will perch absolutely still and occasionally you get lucky ...

(K-3 + FA*300, 1/80th sec, f5.6 1600 ISO)


(K-3 + Sigma 400mm f5.6 tele macro, 1/60th, f6.3, 1600 ISO)

.. but mostly you don't. @Normhead has had a lot of success this way, but you need a lot of time and patience.

So personally I find that I need to use flash, to buy an extra stop or two, when the light is poor. The key is not to overdo it. You might still have to push the aperture, shutter and/or ISO.

(K-3 + FA*300, 1/320th (HSS flash), f5, 800 ISO)

The flash allowed 1/320th but even then there is some motion blur; any slower would have ruined it. With the KP I would have been more comfortable pushing the ISO to 1600 or more, so I could have got 1/500th 1600 ISO f6.3 which would have been better - but it still required flash.

The good thing about flash is that you get more feather detail and better colour, and sometimes a nice catchlight. It can also even up the light in dappled conditions, or illuminate a subject against a bright background. It also helps when using a slow lens.

(KP + DA-L 55-300, 300mm, f6.3, 1/640th (HSS again), 1600 ISO)

In theory, you want the flash off-camera, but much of the time that's impractical. A diffuser can help, but sometimes it's the opposite problem (especially with HSS, which greatly reduces the beam strength) and you need a flash extender. (There are threads about this. I like the MagMod wildlife kit.)

Flash requires trial and error to know what works for you. I've tried manual flash output, but I prefer using PTTL - it's one less variable to worry about and changing the manual output costs valuable time. I usually have the flash output set somewhere around -0.7EV to -1.3EV when at or below the sync speed but somewhere between 0EV to +2EV for HSS (because the output falls away sharply with greater distance to subject).

I recently got some cheap gels but haven't had much chance to try them out yet. There are some YouTube videos showing how changing the colour temperature of the flash can make a significant difference.

[swip]

Three different white egrets, all taken in the last few days

Great set. Just in time for a white Christmas.

[tduell]

'A gotcha moment'.
White-faced Heron makes a catch.
K-1, DFA 150-450 handheld. See exif for shot details.

Cheers,
Terry

[Aaron28]

sigma 150-500os...k-3ii....guntersville dam alabama

[jacamar]

Great set. Just in time for a white Christmas.

Thanks Swip - but in Florida in the 80 degree sunshine all the Santas and jingle bells seem a bit incongruous!

[swip]

'A gotcha moment'.
White-faced Heron makes a catch.
K-1, DFA 150-450 handheld. See exif for shot details.

Cheers,
Terry

Nice pose. Very good timing.

[Pentikonian]

Caught another Verdin at the feeder this afternoon, K-1+DA*300.

[Pentikonian]

Adult and juvenile Tawny Frogmouth.
K-3 II, DFA 150-450 handheld. See exif for shot details.

Cheers,
Terry

These things crack me up. Camo works good, but junior hasn't got the hang of it yet. Wonderful photo.