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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
03-18-2024, 02:37 PM
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Satin Bowerbird (female). K-3iii + FA*300mm f4.5. We had never seen them here until last year.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
02-16-2024, 02:27 PM
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Very nice capture, made all the more satisfying by the difficulty in getting it!
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
02-05-2024, 12:15 AM
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Yes, Julie, they do look a bit similar. Eclectus are larger though. Rosellas can become quite tame. There are places where they will perch on your head or arm, after generations have got used to handouts.
Thanks very much Peter. Every so often the PLM gives something of a 3D effect (like the FA 77) - I think this is an example.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
02-04-2024, 03:45 PM
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Crimson Rosella. KP + DA 55-300 PLM at 260mm.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
01-30-2024, 11:22 PM
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Silvereye. K-3iii + DA 55-300 PLM at 300mm.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
01-25-2024, 02:13 AM
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Brown Thornbill. K-3iii + DA 55-300mm PLM at 300mm.
(X-posted from the 300mm+ thread) |
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
01-07-2024, 03:35 PM
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Great series, @ehrwien
I've been doing the same thing using PL7, with the noise model in negative territory. Often seems to improve the balance between noise reduction and preservation of detail.
I'm not seeing any blown out details on the feathers in any of these.
Male Australian King-parrot extracting some seed. K-3iii + Sigma AF 400mm f5.6 tele macro.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-16-2023, 02:13 AM
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I don't remember ever seeing it Rod. But I just did a quick search and found a few reports of mixed flocks of SCCs and LCs. I guess it gives them an advantage if there are predators around, and they might pool their knowledge of food sources. (Then again, it's more competition for the food they find.)
That story is such a hoot Eric.
The more I see and hear about birds, the more remarkable I think they are.
Emeritus Professor Gisela Kaplan, an expert on bird learning and cognition, says that cockatoo species evolved in Australia over a period of 95 million years, and had to adapt to huge environmental changes and variations. She says that that is why cockatoos developed such advanced brain power - including more advanced vocal skills than even our closest primate relatives. One theory is that their brain power is one reason why cockatoos can live so long - they are better at finding food and avoiding predators. Advanced cognition seems to be associated with longevity in mammals (think whales, dolphins, elephants, great apes) and it might be the same in birds. See Why do parrots live so long? | Live Science |
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-15-2023, 04:47 PM
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Thanks a lot Eric. I hadn't heard of Goffin's cockatoo - it seems they are indigenous to one of the archipelagos in eastern Indonesia, but introduced elsewhere and widely kept in captivity. They are in the same genus as the corellas and yes they do look similar to the Little Corella - albeit much smaller and lighter.
It doesn't surprise me that your cockie was smart and had human traits. I think all the cockatoos are very smart. Certainly the ones we see here are. Corellas aren't anyone's favourite - they tend to bully other birds, they squawk when they want something (!), they can be very destructive just for the hell of it and they have become an agricultural pest. But you could say that is human-type behaviour too! They are very observant and social and they love to play. A flock of them is hilarious to watch.
Fabulous shot. Magic seeing a bird like that in "yard".
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-15-2023, 02:20 AM
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Here's a yard bird that is all too familiar to Aussies. But they are a striking bird. Little Corella. K-3iii + DA 55-300 PLM at 300mm.
(X-posted from the 300mm+ thread) |
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-08-2023, 08:43 PM
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Here's a special treat. Buff-banded Rail. K-3iii + Sigma AF 400mm f5.6 APO tele macro.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-06-2023, 02:26 PM
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Great series. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, sweetie, Frodo is having a little holiday staying with the eagles and they picked him up to help him get there.
Very nice. Turkeys are under-rated.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-06-2023, 01:04 AM
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Depends who the culprits are. You wouldn't grudge a Regent Honeyeater a few apricots! (But it's very unlikely to be a Regent Honeyeater.)
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-05-2023, 03:04 AM
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You're on a roll Rod. Very diverse and enjoyable series. The Red-rumped parrot is one we don't see around here.
Lewin's Honeyeater. KP + DA 55-300 PLM
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-26-2023, 04:35 PM
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But you are a Gippsland boy!
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-26-2023, 01:42 PM
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Thanks a lot Rod. It hopped around a bit but fortunately I got a few sharp enough shots. Spent a bit of time processing this image (removing distracting twigs, bringing out the rich colour and detail in the plumage, etc) - it was worth it, because you don't get a chance like that often.
Don't they remind you of a Lyrebird? Head, body shape, tail, and brilliant voice (even though they are not in the same family)?
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-26-2023, 03:13 AM
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Eastern Whipbird. Not your average yard bird - the resonant whipcrack call is often heard but the bird is seen far less often. And what a handsome bird it is. K-3iii + 55-300 PLM at 300mm
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-24-2023, 03:11 AM
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"A pair of Pied Currawong may kill about 40 broods (up to two kilograms) of small birds to raise one brood of its own." Birds Behaving Badly - Pied Currawong | BIRDS in BACKYARDS They are terrible murderers. And smart and observant. I still can't fathom how the Red Wattlebirds managed it. They had to leave the nest at times. If it was obvious to us that it was there, it would have been doubly obvious to the Currawong.
It's good that you have a variety of small birds Rod. Shrubby vegetation seems to help.
You make a powerful case for it Peter.
I still baulk at carrying a 2kg lens. Yes I know there were beasts in the past, plenty of people lugged those Bigmas like Rod used to do. Plenty still do - there's a range of xx-600 lenses from Tamron and Sigma plus first party lenses like the new Nikon 180-600 and Canon 200-800 in that 2-2.5kg bracket. And there are bigger beasts than that. Pro 'togs still use beasts, but that's a specialist market.
There does seem to be a trend to lighter-weight long telephoto lenses, whether with narrow aperture (e.g. Canon 100-400 f5.6-8, 635g; Canon 600 f11, 930g, Fujinon 150-600 f5.6-8, 1600g) or Fresnel elements (e.g. Nikon 500 f5.6, 1460g, Nikon 600 f6.3, 1400g). Obviously they involve a lot of compromises, but you can see the appeal: If a lighter lens can do 80% of what you want, won't it get bought more, and used more?
Whether we will see anything like this in K-mount is another question. Those f8 and f11 lenses seem to be designed for mirrorless cameras - maybe the AF will work reasonable well at those apertures (only in very good light on a DSLR). Realistically, I suspect that the most we could hope for in the next year or so would be a refresh of the DA*300 f4, with HD coatings and better AF. I think that would be an attractive option with the DA 1.4x TC on the K-3iii. Down the track it's possible we might see a light-weight consumer zoom in the style of the DA 55-300 PLM which runs to 400mm, or perhaps something a bit heftier, like the Tamron 100-400 (1135g). I'd be all over that.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-23-2023, 02:30 AM
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Nice shots Rod. Haven't seen a RBF around here for a while now, unfortunately. Maybe it's the currawongs (serious nest raiders).
But we do see these Red Wattlebirds every day. Our resident pair have just fledged two chicks - which is quite miraculous, because they nested in a very conspicuous spot and right near a Pied Currawong nest. We just assumed the currawongs were waiting for the wattlebird chicks to fatten up. K-3iii + FA*300.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-21-2023, 02:18 AM
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Very kind of you Julie. I wish it were even faintly true.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-20-2023, 04:32 PM
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Ha! No, not in this instance. That shows a depth of knowledge of Australiana! Well done, cobber!
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