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Why does a Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) look so aggressive when viewed head on?
Barrie, I hate to say it but his expression reminds me of my husband's when he's driving. Our postman always used to ask me why he looked so angry all the time. It's those down turned lines on your lovely Song Thrush...kind of like my husband's mustache and goatee, I think. ;-)

Lovely bird photographs you two!
 
1st summer Black-headed Gull

Here's one from this morning that I was rather pleased with.

This is a 1st summer Black-headed Gull (Larus ribibundus), meaning it was hatched last year, it won't breed until at least next year. It's one of very few left hereabouts, most having returned to the breeding grounds.

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Panasonic G1 with 50-200mm, f/2.8-3.5 Olympus Zuiko Digital (4/3 fitting) @ f/7.1 , 1/800 sec, iso 200

Barrie
 
collecting nest material

A female Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) collecting nest material, hopefully just for the basic foundation otherwise it's going to be an uncomfortable nest. The female House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) in the background was intent on the same thing, but was giving way to the more dominant Greenfinch. NB it was a rather frosty morning.

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Panasonic G1 with 50-200mm, f/2.8-3.5 Olympus Zuiko Digital (4/3 fitting)

Barrie
 
a pair of chough from Gwennap Head this afternoon ... not at all sharp, but I can never handle this lens properly at full stretch ... a lovely day, kestrel, chough, many many pipits (rock and meadow) squeaking away, half-a dozen chiff-chaff (who mock me ... all heard but not seen) plus three swallows ...

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E-P2, 70-300ED (4/3), MMF-1, 1/640s, f/5.6, 300mm, ISO200
 
One of the reassuring things about nature is her cycles... I love seeing those greenfinches gathering their nesting materials - all is right in their world.

pdh, we don't have choughs here in the states, though I have heard of them. I was recently reminded of them by watching a Doc Martin episode...where the choughs were drawing so many birdwatchers to the cliffs in the fictional town on the seaside that the birds relinquished their nests to find quieter breeding grounds.

Thanks to both of you for these pictures.
 
just to add, this species (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) had completely disappeared from Cornwall until a few years ago, but they spontaneously reappeared, and are now breeding regularly.
This pair are colour ringed and I expect are from the small population at Lands End a couple of miles down the coast ... though with a bit of luck the breeding range is increasing year by year.
A hoopoe was in the vicinity too apparently, but that eluded me
 
this little sweetie is a chiffchaff ... mostly migrants, they have filled the coastal valleys and moors of West Penwith with their calls the last two weeks ... they are closely followed by the willow warbler, which looks confusingly similar but has a very different song ... and I didn't manage to get a snap of one ... but as they will infest my local common even more than the chiffies, I hope to before April is out ...

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E-P2, 70-300ED, 1/1250s, f/6.3, 263mm, ISO200
 
Some birds at dusk, in black and white:

'Flags on Fort': Peacocks (Common Peafowls) on ramparts of Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur, India. Canon PowerShot G9:

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'One with the Tree'; A Spotted Owlet nicely camouflaged on a tree at Central Park, Jaipur, India. Canon PowerShot A590 IS:

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'Waiting for Prey': A Small Green Bee Eater at Central Park, Jaipur, India. Canon PowerShot SX10 IS:

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Love the "flags" on the ramparts, Mayank, the little owl but most especially the little Bee Eater with his beaky profile and the silhouette, design of the chain link fence...the string of barbed wire across the top, and the laciness of the vine... It's just great, Mayank!

Intense, your Ostrich looks as though he or she is a little bit put off by your taking that picture.:D
 
BBW, it was early in the morning and it was sleepy maybe :laugh1: Actually the ostrich was constantly moving (fast indeed) and it was really hard to focus it. This is my only picture of it which is in focus :)
 
some birds with a borrowed 100-300mm Panasonic lens

I have been loaned a Panasonic 100-300mm lens and so am putting it through its paces.
These are all handheld, auto focused, not cropped images taken on a rather dull morning.

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Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita), Panasonic G1 with lens zoomed to 300mm, f/8, 1/400, iso 800
The white flecks will almost certainly be midges

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preening male Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), Panasonic G1 with lens zoomed to 300mm, f/8, 1/640, iso 800

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preening male Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Panasonic G1 with lens zoomed to 300mm, f/7.1, 1/250, iso 800

Barrie
 
hmm I'd be very happy if I could those sort of results with my Olympus 4/3 70-300ED at 300mm ...

Hi pdh,

What I've found, particularly with shots like the Chiffchaff, auto focus will often find the background as a focus point. To overcome that I focused roughly at the correct distance using say a block of vegetation nearby, then recomposing on the Chiffchaff and then auto focus would grab the Chiffchaff rather than the background. I know that handheld trying to manually focus is just about a no no, I've yet to try that when mounted on a tripod. I think that being at f/5.6 also is not good for manual focus, I've found manual focus to be reasonably easy on my 4/3 mount 50-200mm, f/2.8-3.5 when tripod mounted which is just as well since it doesn't auto focus on the G1, however it's not a lens for hand holding.

Luckily the Chiff was relatively isolated from any background, the more usual scenario of a small warbler in amongst the branches will defeat auto focus in that it will often fail to pick on the bird, more usually focusing on the branches.

Barrie
 
thanks Barrie ... yep, that's the sort of technique I've tried, but at 300 on the 4/3 it still very often misses focus and is very soft. Coming back to 250-270 and stopping down a bit improves things , but that tends to limit shooting to very good light ... and as we know, the little feathery beggars are not usually so obliging ... I am almost exclusively handholding, as the whole rationale for my going m43 was to have a very small light rig that I could easily carry for birding, and also have a tiny very light rig for all other photography.
It's a good lens, especially for the price you can get one for these days, but I think I still need to investigate the 100-300 and the Olympus 75-300.
hmm perhaps I shouldn't be complaining about the 4/3 lens on here, in case I want to flog it off to buy a native lens ...
 
woodpeckers at the feeder

I have a feeder in my patio that is frequented by the neighborhood birds. I have recently wanted to capture a few of these. Unfortunately it is a small patio and sitting ten feet away is discouraging a few of the more timid birds from visiting. However after sitting still for fifteen minutes this woodpecker got up the courage to visit.

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Too bad this one did not turn out, would have been great:
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While hanging out I noticed this falcon up in a palm tree. not a great shot, but he did not sit still long:
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