Miss January...

Ms. January (yeah, doesn't make much sense and I can't even tell you the sex of this 'ere bird, but I also can't seem to avoid the joke...)  This is the featured shot for January in my 2012 Calendar. 

I shot this in Santa Cruz at Natural Bridges State Beach where the local birds seemed quite used to people getting close - that allowed me the rare opportunity to shoot this Egret landing quite near me.

Big Birds...

Some early season hummers...

It was totally overcast today when my son and I went for a walk, so most of the bird shots I got have a uniform white background in them. I was surprised to find manzanita bushes in bloom (just in this one microclimate) and hummingbirds feeding on them - I never got any shots of actual feeding, the nectar in a single manzanita flower must be very limited, and the birds were moving around very quickly from flower bunch to flower bunch... Lucky for me, this one chose a branch very close to the dirt road to base his operations from...

(click a photo to see a larger version of it)

Preparing for flight (look closely and you can see typical bird preflight preparation going on :D)...

Launching on a different sortie...


Taking a break in the bush...

All shot with the 5DII @ ISO 1600, 100-400L+1.4x Kenko TC (w/ taped pins), hand held, and cropped to varrying degrees and processed in Lr.

First shots with the DA* 300mm...

Nice lens!
:D...

(click the photo to see a larger version...)

Bees...

w/ the -F 1.7x adapter...

A Damselfly...

A duck...(no TC for the following shots...)

not sure what these guys are, I think maybe bank swallows...

And a bumblebee video (somewhere in the upload process, the quality got a bit mangled, full size looks better...)

click the screenshot to link to the video...

Vulture Tree...

I came upon these turkey vultures this morning alongside the road - very photogenic (if they weren't so ugly)...

The basking tree...





Preening...


Catching some rays...

All shot with the Tamron SP 400mm F4, on a tripod f/7.1, 1/2000 sec., ISO 400 (last is f/9 & 1/500)

A country drive...

Went out on a long, winding, virtually untraveled road fairly close to here. I drove mostly in 1st gear at idle with my long lens on the camera in my lap... This allowed me to come across many birds and critters, though mostly the birds all look about the same, perched on the barbed wire.

Here's a few of my favorites. Shot with the Tamron SP 400mm f/4 + the Adaptall 1.4x TC.

There were a few flowers in the background of this shot. I think this is a Grasshopper Sparrow...

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I think this is a Western Kingbird...


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A killdeer tries the old "broken wing" routine on me...


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Ground Squirrel Buffet...


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Osprey!

I went to a spot where I knew there was an Osprey nest today to see what I could see... The light was bad and the nest was too distant for good shooting from the roadside pullout (and with my son in his car seat I can't exactly leave the truck), but when one of the pair left, the other bird soon headed for a pine near to another loop in the road. I didn't expect it to still be in the tree by the time I packed up and drove over there, but the bird exceeded my expectations...

All shot with the Tamron SP 400mm f/4 with the Tamron Adaptall 1.4x TC. From the point where I originally set up I was able to move about ten feet closer at one point, but the significantly closer images are crops...

Click the photos to see a larger version...

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My two favorites of the series...

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6.

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cosumnes river preserve...

Got to check out the Cosumnes River Preserve yesterday and shoot a few photos. I was using the Sigma 50-500mm (the Bigma) on a Kenko 1.5x teleconverter on my Pentax K20D, and while the results weren't universally good, they weren't universally bad either - I did get some sharp photos, and it was a good time...

I'm no bird expert, so feel free to fill me in on names I don't know or correct me on what I got wrong ;).

Here are some of the better shots...

(click to see a larger version)...

Egret


Black Necked Stilt (identified by Marc L, a real bird photographer. - Thanks Marc.)





Red Wing Blackbird


Sandhill Cranes


???


Great Blue Heron

big birds in the foothills

got some cool bird pics today...