Ive been birdin' (And some rare catches)

[Messiah Khan]

I went over to Silverdale RSPB reserve this Saturday. I got quite a few good shots, and it was overall a very nice day.

1. A Small Egret
http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs19/f/2007/245/7/c/Stalk_the_shallows_by_MessiahKhan.jpg
2. Three Spoonbills
http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs21/f/2007/245/8/0/Three_spoons_by_MessiahKhan.jpg
3. Spoonbills flying
http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs21/f/2007/245/6/2/Flying_spoons_by_MessiahKhan.jpg
4. A Great Egret
http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs20/f/2007/245/e/1/The_lonely_king_by_MessiahKhan.jpg
5. Great Egret
http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs20/f/2007/245/c/f/The_king_hunts_by_MessiahKhan.jpg
6. And least not last, a very heavily cropped 600mm shot of a Bittern.
http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs21/f/2007/245/5/7/Bittern_love_by_MessiahKhan.jpg

:)

[Ajophotog]

Nice set MK, I like #5 best, his stance is great. :)

[Venomator]

Nicely done MK ... :thumbs: ... we'll make a Twitcher of you yet ... :D ... second shot of the Great Egret is a really good capture ... ;)


BTB ... the small Egret is, technically, a Little Egret ... :lol:




:p

[IanC_UK]

none of them are rare are they ? ;)


Joking aside, some very nice catches and the Bittern will have Twitchers making a mess in their trousers lol

[theMusicMan]

Lovely images there Messiah, great opportunity for a catch of that Bittern though... one to add to the collection.

[Miss McT]

#5 is still my favourite - love the stance. They're all beautiful birds...but WOWEE the Bittern turned out well :clap: It was sooooooo far away you could only just see it with the naked eye and even then it only looked like a light patch in the reeds! :woot:

[oldgit]

A departure from your usual macro shots. Not a bad set ***.

A few look to have a white ballance problem. They are a tad yellow.
I think a couple of them would benifit from a tad more PP un the USM area.

[Messiah Khan]

BTB ... the small Egret is, technically, a Little Egret ... :lol:


You say potato, I say potato (Hmm, that doesn't work when typed does it.:thinking:) :p

A departure from your usual macro shots. Not a bad set ***.

A few look to have a white ballance problem. They are a tad yellow.
I think a couple of them would benifit from a tad more PP un the USM area.

Its not a white balance problem, It was the evening light giving a golden glow. I tried adjusting the white balance to neutralise the colour cast, but I much preferred it with the colour of the light that was actually there.

All of them have been sharpened using high pass. The reason they might look a little soft is due to them being shot at 600mm using manual focus and most are cropped a fair bit. I was also having to use my jumper as a beanbag on the hide window which wasn't ideal.

[photostar_1]

I love the one of the birds taking off.....super!

[Messiah Khan]

I love the one of the birds taking off.....super!

Cheers Carole. You should have heard it when they flew off, the clatter of everyones cameras going off was hilarious. Everyone started laughing once the bedlem stopped.:lol:

[madmitch]

Nice shots MK, love the Spoonbill take off and to get a look at the Bittern is an achievement let alone a photo. :clap:

[Messiah Khan]

Nice shots MK, love the Spoonbill take off and to get a look at the Bittern is an achievement let alone a photo. :clap:

Cheers Mitch. Have to say I felt quite lucky to see all these rarities on the same day.:) The twitchers were going crazy over the Bittern though.:lol:

[Ewan]

I like the one of the spoonbills flying - nice work! And Ven's right it should be Little Egret :D

[Bev]

#4 & 5 do it for me, looks like a great day was had. Excellent images.