Bird Portraits - Post Yours!

[fotoi]

 

[K9Kirk]

Here's a great blue heron with a large catch, taken at Myakka River State Park in Sarasota, FL.

12312606-studio25 by Kirk Behymer, on Flickr

 

[K9Kirk]

European kestrel
View attachment 3018

Nice set, Levina! I like that you made a home for zoo pics, personally, I don't care for them much. Big applause for that.

 

[Jack Dawe]

Puffin
View attachment 3108

 

[Jack Dawe]

 

[fotoi]

Wigeon

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

Nice set, Levina! I like that you made a home for zoo pics, personally, I don't care for them much. Big applause for that.

Thanks, Kirk.
Yes, I think there is definitely a place for Zoo pics but I thought it better to make a separate, dedicated forum for them so everybody knows what's what. I'm glad you approve!

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

Here's a great blue heron with a large catch, taken at Myakka River State Park in Sarasota, FL.

12312606-studio25 by Kirk Behymer, on Flickr

Great shot, Kirk. It's backlit in exactly the right spot!

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

View attachment 3141

Magnificent bird. And great pics, Ira.

 

[A1original]

 

[RichardB]

Interesting. I was in the Bird Portraits thread and noticed someone posted a shot of a bird in flight. I'm beginning to see the wisdom of having a thread like this where no such distinctions are made.

 

[fotoi]

Mallard hen

 

[K9Kirk]

A reddish egret with a tiny morsal. Taken at Ft. De soto back in '21 with my old gear.

12312190-studio-25 by Kirk Behymer, on Flickr

 

[K9Kirk]

A barred owl. Again, taken with the old gear at Circle B Bar Ranch in Lakeland, FL.

11142493 f-studio-252 by Kirk Behymer, on Flickr

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

Interesting. I was in the Bird Portraits thread and noticed someone posted a shot of a bird in flight. I'm beginning to see the wisdom of having a thread like this where no such distinctions are made.

Sure. But people have been accustomed to the different threads and posted in them for years. Having an All Birds thread doesn’t mean they will switch to it.

I remember a former POTN member. After we launched the other site and people started all the different bird threads, he PM’d me. He was angry about all the bird threads and said he sure wasn’t going to visit them all to look at the birds. I told him that there was little we could do about it, that people start the threads they need and want. I told him that he didn’t have to visit all the threads if he didn’t want to. That it was his choice. After a while he moves to Cameraderie as the staff there prefers the big bulk threads and they don’t like threads to branch off. And what does he do? He starts new bird threads! They had only one thread for birds: Show Birds. He started a Birds in Flight thread. And a Ducks and Geese thread and a few others. But also on FOPF he started new threads like the Herons and Egrets thread and the Birds in Pairs thread. Just saying that people like different types of threads, even when they say they dislike them. So it’s not at all certain this catch all thread will work. Time will tell.

 

[RichardB]

Sure. But people have been accustomed to the different threads and posted in them for years. Having an All Birds thread doesn’t mean they will switch to it.

I remember a former POTN member. After we launched the other site and people started all the different bird threads, he PM’d me. He was angry about all the bird threads and said he sure wasn’t going to visit them all to look at the birds. I told him that there was little we could do about it, that people start the threads they need and want. I told him that he didn’t have to visit all the threads if he didn’t want to. That it was his choice. After a while he moves to Cameraderie as the staff there prefers the big bulk threads and they don’t like threads to branch off. And what does he do? He starts new bird threads! They had only one thread for birds: Show Birds. He started a Birds in Flight thread. And a Ducks and Geese thread and a few others. But also on FOPF he started new threads like the Herons and Egrets thread and the Birds in Pairs thread. Just saying that people like different types of threads, even when they say they dislike them. So it’s not at all certain this catch all thread will work. Time will tell.

People are contradictory…

 

[Jack Dawe]

Having an All Birds thread doesn’t mean they will switch to it.

In effect the current Portraits thread is an 'all birds' thread, so I'm not sure how this thread is going to be any different. How do you define a bird portrait? One that shows just the face?

 

[Jack Dawe]

Woodpigeon

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

In effect the current Portraits thread is an 'all birds' thread, so I'm not sure how this thread is going to be any different.

You are not wrong, Jason. The difference is it will also take birds in flight.

How do you define a bird portrait? One that shows just the face?

The Bird Portraits threads on all forums are not portraits in the traditional meaning of the word. It basically means: perched birds. As opposed to birds in flight. The All Birds thread would not make that distinction, you can post perched birds as well as birds in flight in it. But that could actually be a bridge too far. Even the former POTN member who was so against splitting up bird threads started a separate thread for birds in flight on Cameraderie.

So what do we do?

 

[Jack Dawe]

So what do we do?

Good question! My purely personal view is that it's just confusing to have both a portraits thread and an all birds thread. I think they should be merged - it doesn't matter under what name. Perhaps one could also merge the Birds of Europe thread as well, though personally I prefer it being separate. Another possibility, but one that would be a lot of work for you, is to reorganise all three threads into two - one for European birds and one for North American birds. That would encourage threads for birds of other countries (I had one for New Zealand birds on FOPF and we already have one for Australian birds here), which might or might not be popular with others. Should one also merge birds in flight? Perhaps, but shooting birds in flight is an art in itself which probably deserves its own thread.

The problem is that the more threads you merge the faster the resulting thread moves and that can make it difficult to keep up with, especially if you only visit the forum occasionally. Personally I like having threads for specific familes like waders, warblers etc (I started most of them). Threads organised on this basis ought to be manageable, I think, and would help the main thread to run at a more even pace. There are those who don't like these catch-all threads and prefer to post individual birds in their own thread. I'm fine with that - I've done it myself elsewhere in the past - but it is these threads that increase the overall number. Also I noticed that such threads often got fewer 'likes' than posts in the broader category threads, which suggests that some people were just not bothering to look at them. But ultimately it's a choice for the poster.