Backyard Birds

[wigz]

Well, front yard birds at my brothers place in a small seaside town near Mackay.

The ducks wander down the street for the residents to feed them and there are a lot of curlews there also.

1. Plumed Whistling Duck. Very handsome birds and usually fairly shy.


2. Radjah Shelduck. These are supposed to be uncommon or rare outside the Northern Territory but this is one of a pair was wandering along a suburban street looking for handouts


3 Radjah Shelduck protrait


4. Bush Stone-curlew. This was so close I had to extend the top of the frame. I have never seen so many in a relatively small area

[HansE]

Hope they are not feeding them bread. It is nice to have them wondering about. I like all the pics but the water on the ducks back in #3 in particular Alan

[wigz]

Thanks Hans. No, not feeding them bread, they buy some type of duck food for them.

[Isac]

Lovely to have them waltzing down the road getting fed by locals. As long as it's healthy tucker for them, they'll keep hanging around. Nice to share the planet with our animals. Great photos Alan. Nice to have 500mm to capture good clean images. TFS

[wigz]

Thanks Isac. My problem here is that the 500mm was too long at times.

[Isac]

In have the Sigma 150-500 and my issue with that lens is sometimes it's to close even at 150mm.

[MJ224]

Lovely shots, the little Curlew is particularly good.

Agree with the sentiment about lenses being too long sometimes. I suppose that's where zooms score. But I religiously stick to my Olympus (2X crop) 300mm f4 prime, and sometimes have the 1.4 TC attached. This is a great setup for birding. But if I am off snaking, I use the 40-150mm zoom, as it does give more flexibility when confronted by a reptile. Also when photoing aeroplanes, flexibility is needed..

[wigz]

Thanks Mark.

I originally used a Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 zoom with a 1.4 TC but 420mm was a bit short and the Sigma focus was a bit unreliable. My keeper rate and sharpness improved with the 500mm PF f/5.6. I have a TC for it but it needs good light to focus well. It's fairly rare that I miss the zoom and am compensated by focus speed and feather detail for birds.

600mm f/4 or 800mm f/5.6 equivalent angle of view sounds excellent for birds.

[David_MC]

Excellent shots Alan. Like that Shelduck portrait.

[wigz]

Thanks David. It's not often I can get close to those duck species,