The Bird Thread

What are ye birders shooting with, some fabulous pictures in this thread.

Amazing, I’m quite jealous you have a regular owl hide.

@ELbowloh Great selection too, thanks for sharing.

I shoot with a Fuji Xt3, usually with a 100-400, sometimes with a X1.4 teleconverter. I coughed up for the big ol’ 150-600mm but if I’m honest it’s only half decent in bright conditions due to the restrictive f5.6-f8 aperture.

I would definitely not describe myself as a birder, I don't know enough! I like wildlife and it's easier to see birds in the UK over pretty much anything else,so that's what I end up photographing.

I have a Nikon D500 that I got second hand and a Sigma 100-500.

I'm terrible at doing anything with the pics, I have thousands saved that I've not edited or barely looked at. I need to pull my finger out and get some printed.

Id love to have a big 600, but they're so unwheildy. I make do with a 300 as it's quite portable.

I recently bought a second hand 150-600 lens for my canon 7d2. It is heavy but it’s getting me more pleasing shots than I was getting with the old 80-200mm magic drainpipe I was using before. Yes, it’s not a fast lens and it is not as crisp as some, but I can go out and pretend to be sort of serious.

And yes, really lucky with the local wildlife particularly as we are not in a remote area by any means.

The redwings have arrived in Peckham. There's a tree outside my house with about 8 in.

Took myself out for a cheeky little lunchtime ride yesterday afternoon and was rewarded with a close encounter with a barn owl. Was mere metres away from it as it came across the road and headed up across the fields. Wasn’t tempted to stop to try to get a shitty phone camera shot as I was blowing my way up a steep fucker of a hill, but after I came over the top I met it again by the gate to a field. Managed to get possibly the worst ever photo of a barn owl in existence once I got my cold fingers working.

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nice! there used to be a pair of barn owls on my usual short loop, nesting in a farm building (looks like a purpose-built hole in the eaves for them). I've not been riding much for a bit, but getting back on it and hoping to have my usual escort up the last climb

Waxwings making a show here, which has the twitchers out in force.

Local FB pic of said bird…

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Went for a wander around a local harbour for lunch (to get some cake and bread), saw a few nice water birds, bit blurry mind.

I think Redshanks are one of my low key faves.

need to up my duck ID game to see what the were.

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Goosander.

Did the first stage of the North Downs Way today (Farnham to Guildford). Saw a total of 11 raptors, including 4 having an aerial battle. Could only positively ID one as a buzzard due to the cloud cover making it hard to see any of their colours/patterns. Also saw a bullfinch which I was equally excited about.

buzzard due to the cloud cover making it hard to see any of their colours/patterns

Easiest way is tail shape. Rounded for buzzard, cutout V for kites.

Yeah definate buzzard then

Goose and a what?

Another goose.

spotted a lovely cormorant making friends today, and my favourite of all the ducks!

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Some great photos on this thread.

When we moved to the Welsh valleys back in the summer, I tried to set up some feeders, and eventually found the right spot that can be seen from the house with binoculars but is sheltered enough to make the songbirds feel safe (we've got resident sparrowhawks, tawny owls, and buzzards here).

It's super busy down there with all sorts: goldfinches, siskins, dunnocks, a nuthatch, long tailed tits, blue tits, so many sparrows, all that. I reckon about 30 birds are relying on the feeders now so it's getting pricey to keep them full!

Anyway my mother-in-law lives in very urban and mostly birdless Boston and really wants to see what's going here, so any recommendations for a fixed stills/video camera setup? My first thought was GoPro but battery life is obviously short. There's no mains power or wifi, and the only fixing point is directly across a 2 metre wide dirt lane from the feeders. Or do I just pick up the cheapest old DSLR and longish lens setup I can find to grab stills from the garden?

Maybe get a trail camera? You can set them up so that they take photos/video when there is motion. They therefore don't use much battery. Mine is quite an old model, but lasts weeks on a charge (it has 8 AA batteries for long life). Then again, from 2 metres away, they'd be fairly distant.

How far away is the garden? You might need quite a long lens, which can be quite expensive. most DSLRs have a compatible 70-300mm which are affordable.

Cheap old SLR and a cheap, long lens.

In fact I have a D300 that’s in great nick that I’m not using. Dm if you’re interested.

Just found this thread too, I’m on the Long Mynd in Shropshire these days so seeing much the same fayer as Trigs, with the addition of a greater spotted woodpecker, some red polls, and a fair number of collared doves.

I get up onto the hill early most weekend and see some pretty impressive kite action also.

Phew, dreamy spot to live in, that! I first went over that way for a hillclimb up the long mynd, and was really impressed by how nice shropshire is.

Thanks y'all - trail cameras do look like they'll not have the range, plus on reflection also not keen for my farmer neighbour to think I'm spying on his land.

Just found a reasonable deal on a Canon 100D (tiny thing that I used to have and enjoy) with a 75-300mm kit lens, so that's probably the ticket