Birding/bird photography

[pgengler]

Is anyone else into birding and/or bird photography at all? It's something I've been interested in lately, and I'm really struck my how similar the whole thing is to the aviation hobby: lots of common birds (gulls, etc. are like JetBlue; the sort of thing we get plenty of), excitement over the uncommon/rare birds, keeping lists of desired catches, and everything. It's also another excuse to get a nice long lens.

Until yesterday, the only bird photography I've done was snaps of ducks and gulls and the like that I saw while I was out spotting and there was a pause. Well, yesterday I brought my camera to work and during lunch, took the subway up to Union Square Park to get some photos of the Scott's Oriole that's living there. This is an extremely rare visitor for NY; this bird usually lives in the southwest/Mexico. For some reason, it ended up in New York City, where it's been for at least a month now. Unfortunately, the clouds were out yesterday, but the bird was very cooperative for photos, coming down out of his tree to gnaw at an apple on the open ground, and posing on top of the tree.

http://photos.pgengler.net/photos/2008-02-07/scaled/IMG_1637.jpg
http://photos.pgengler.net/photos/2008-02-07/scaled/IMG_1650.jpg

[NIKV69]

I love birds and get a ton of different species at work, Canada Goose, Brant, Osprey, Egrets, Mallards etc. I should skip a few evening rounds and shoot some this year. We have an Osprey that nests right off our 14th hole and I see him flying overhead with fish all the time. It's awesome. Also the birds out here are so different than the east coast. Near the Casinos you see Owls all the time. They are so cool. One hunts small rodents every day right in the same spot and just sits for long periods of time waiting. Nice pics and nice catch Phil. That bird is def a long way from home.

[adam613]

I like photographing birds, but I don't really know the different species...I may get more into it now that I have a somewhat capable camera... :)

[hiss srq]

I am not big on birds but I like a good pair of blue jays myself. :borat: :wink:

[lijk604]

I started bird photography this summer. It's a challenge, as you rarely use f8 and ISO 100!
Sometimes cloudy days can be better for bird photogrpahy, less blown-out whites.
Next time you go to Howard Beach for aircraft shots, go down the road to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
It's a little quiet there now, but spring supposed brings a ton of birds to the area.

Here are some of my best so far:

Great Egret (Stony Brook, NY)
http://jjcjklos.smugmug.com/photos/197477773_oyqiR-L.jpg

Great Egret inflight (Dune Rd. Southampton, NY)
http://jjcjklos.smugmug.com/photos/197478116_bXTMR-L.jpg

Cormourants (Tiana Beach, Dune Rd.)
http://jjcjklos.smugmug.com/photos/197478656_W8LCe-L.jpg

Great Blue Heron (East Patchogue, NY)
http://jjcjklos.smugmug.com/photos/214984266_pKLPz-L.jpg

Black Crowned Night Heron (Sayville, NY)
http://jjcjklos.smugmug.com/photos/216505533_QkEJD-L.jpg

Blue Jay (Patchogue, NY) -- not the kind Ryan likes. :lol:
http://jjcjklos.smugmug.com/photos/219488478_jWtde-L.jpg

Ospreys (Heckscher Park, NY)
http://jjcjklos.smugmug.com/photos/201935301_evUwx-L.jpg

[cancidas]

not really interested in it myself, but i do have a pic of one of the central park hawks in my backyard. it was in the tree for about 10 minutes total, right around the time when they were very much in the news for flying the coop.

[Tom_Turner]

I enjoy shooting birds occasionally...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2379/2122126084_25f1a17e7b_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1247/1425168789_e439185174_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1072/1217137701_248a68aefb_o.jpg

[Greg_NY]

Beautiful shots lijk604,

For the Osprey shot, what lens did you use?

This is definitely something I am going to try.

[lijk604]

Beautiful shots lijk604,

For the Osprey shot, what lens did you use?

This is definitely something I am going to try.

Thanks! The Osprey was shot with a 70-200 f/2.8 w/1.4x converter.
They were on top of a 20-25 foot pole, and I was about 10 feet from the base of the pole.
The opsrey didn't seem too concerned that I was near (no screeching) but were watching my every move.