Wild Birds of Europe

[Jan1977]

Bluethroat, right?

A bluethroat indeed, must have mistyped it somehow. Corrected it , thanks for the sharp observation

 

[Jan1977]

A Eurasian Teal:

 

[Jan1977]

And a tufted duck:

 

[pcs]

First Sedge warbler this year, next time with less reed in front

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

First Sedge warbler this year, next time with less reed in front
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So they have arrived! Cool. The hunt begins again! Well, mine that is...

 

[pcs]

Lapwing

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

It was such a wonderful day yesterday: warm, sunny, not too much wind so I went to Waterland. It was rather damp though and there was a lot of heat shimmer and wouldn't you know, the birds stayed at a distance. But it's still nice to have so many megapixels now!

First shot of the day.

On my way home. He was far away and this is a big crop.

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

Black-tailed Godwit. And of course I caught him flying away from me! Actually, later, a small group flew to where I could almost touch them but I had put on the 800/11 and it was impossible to focus on them!

And then I stumbled upon a couple of godwits not too far away just starting their mating ritual. The lady was in full control. She's the one on the right, the male is the "begging" one. Notice how both have their dorsal feathers fluffed up (I don't know the right word for it). The male then starts flapping his wings, moving around her. The lady seems to ignore him, pays him no attention or looks down on him from up high, as it were. But in the end he flies up and lands on her.

I shot the whole sequence. One of the things that surprised me was how long he stayed on her. It was as if he entered her multiple times, not just once. Until she was done with him and literally walked away from underneath him. Heat shimmer was still a problem as they were a distance away but not that much and shots are fairly decent. I will process and post more shots in the coming days.

 

[pcs]

Spoonbill

 

[pcs]

It was such a wonderful day yesterday: warm, sunny, not too much wind so I went to Waterland. It was rather damp though and there was a lot of heat shimmer and wouldn't you know, the birds stayed at a distance. But it's still nice to have so many megapixels now!

First shot of the day.
View attachment 19263

On my way home. He was far away and this is a big crop.
View attachment 19267

You've had a successful day! It seems as my gear gets better/bigger I suffer more and more from heat haze/atmospheric distortions etc. I guess some of the problems I attributed to gear earlier was also the air quality between sensor and subject