Female Blackcap, feeding on Apple.

Testudo Man · 8 Feb 2016

First Blackcap sighting for me this Winter, and its a lovely Female. I normally sight the males more often than not, so its nice to capture a few images of a Female.

Cheers Paul.

Female Blackcap, feeding on Apple. 7th-Feb-2016. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

The Weasel · 8 Feb 2016

Very envious of these, Paul...the female Blackcap is my fav bird ( or is it the Common Snipe

) and it's a bird I really want to photograph this year, so congrats on the shots.

Kodiak Qc · 8 Feb 2016

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Good flash insertion and use here… lovely!

gramps · 8 Feb 2016

Lovely birds but very territorial and will chase anything else off ... well done on the captures

Testudo Man · 8 Feb 2016

The Weasel said:
Very envious of these, Paul...the female Blackcap is my fav bird ( or is it the Common Snipe ) and it's a bird I really want to photograph this year, so congrats on the shots.

Cheers Andy, she was a real surprise, i was taking some shots of Blackbirds feeding on the apple drops, the sun came out, and she came out of nowhere, and landed right in front of me, where she spent a minute feeding on the apple...This was a bonus for me, since i had spent over an hour searching for some Brambling, (which i never did find on the day)!

Kodiak Qc said:
•
Good flash insertion and use here… lovely!

Not sure what you mean by flash insertion? but yes, shes a lovely little bird.

gramps said:
Lovely birds but very territorial and will chase anything else off ... well done on the captures

Thanks for that, yes, these birds can be quite vicious...Ive had both male and female in my garden, through some winters, and they will always try to control the bird table.

Cheers Paul.

Kodiak Qc · 8 Feb 2016

Testudo Man said:
Not sure what you mean by flash insertion? but yes, shes a lovely little bird.

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Did you have the Sun directly in your back?

Testudo Man · 8 Feb 2016

Kodiak Qc said:
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Did you have the Sun directly in your back?

Yes, the low winter sun was out in force, directly behind me, for 3 of the images...but the light changed slightly, for the darker image.

Kodiak Qc · 8 Feb 2016

Testudo Man said:
the low winter sun was out in force

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This lucky incidence lead me to believe you might have used a flash… brilliantly!
Sorry, my mistake… I was never so lucky!

Testudo Man · 8 Feb 2016

Kodiak Qc said:
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This lucky incidence lead me to believe you might have used a flash… brilliantly!
Sorry, my mistake… I was never so lucky!

Its very rare (in my opinion) that a flash works with wild bird photography, most of the images that i see(when flash is used for birds) fails. Flash shows up real bad in the eyes of a bird, in the few images that Ive seen.
The catch light in these Blackcap's eyes, is the sun. I was approx 25 feet from the bird, my Nikon V1 does not have a flash

Cheers Paul.

Kodiak Qc · 8 Feb 2016

Testudo Man said:
Its very rare (in my opinion) that a flash works with wild bird photography

•
I have seen a lot of successful birds/flash takes… more then
your cool and lucky shots with the perfect Sun incidence!

cruso · 8 Feb 2016

A very nice set

Testudo Man · 8 Feb 2016

Kodiak Qc said:
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I have seen a lot of successful birds/flash takes… more then
your cool and lucky shots with the perfect Sun incidence!

No doubt you have mate...Im just wondering how anyone can shoot images of wild birds using flash??? How do you set up such shots? I doubt any of the forum members on here, in this bird section, use flash for their wild bird photography??? if they do. Id like to see some examples?!

For me, i take "spare of the moment"..."as it unfolds"...natural wild bird images, that occur, when Im out and about.

Cheers Paul.

Kodiak Qc · 8 Feb 2016

Testudo Man said:
Id like to see some examples?!

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Paul,

maybe this could be of some interest:

http://www.digitalbirdphotography.com/7.1.html

Testudo Man · 8 Feb 2016

cruso said:
A very nice set

Cheers Kevin, i guess the mild winter this year has meant much fewer sightings of Blackcaps...well, for me anyway.

Kodiak Qc said:
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Paul,

maybe this could be of some interest:

http://www.digitalbirdphotography.com/7.1.html

I may well read that later? but just having a quick look at those images, confirms my beliefs, which are, for the most part, "flash" for wild bird photography (especially in the eye department) equals fail.

Cheers Paul.

wezza13 · 9 Feb 2016

Lovely set of images.

I was hoping to see a Blackcap or two yesterday whilst out walking in the local woods, but didn't

Did see my first Goldcrest though, watched it for about 5 minutes amongst the holly bush

wardy07 · 9 Feb 2016

Really lovely shots of a superb looking bird. I love seeing Blackcaps, both male and female but you have really captured this one very well and in great light.

Peteaud · 9 Feb 2016

Very nice.

BillN_33 · 9 Feb 2016

they are beautiful warblers

Testudo Man · 10 Feb 2016

wezza13 said:
Lovely set of images.

I was hoping to see a Blackcap or two yesterday whilst out walking in the local woods, but didn't

Did see my first Goldcrest though, watched it for about 5 minutes amongst the holly bush

Cheers, if the weather gets colder, it might just bring a few more Blackcaps our way soon.
Goldcrests are little jewels for sure, i have at least 2 of em fly through my garden, along with a mixed flock of Tits.

wardy07 said:
Really lovely shots of a superb looking bird. I love seeing Blackcaps, both male and female but you have really captured this one very well and in great light.

Thanks for that, yes, the bright sunlight behind me, certainly helped with these images.

Peteaud said:
Very nice.

Cheers.

BillN_33 said:
they are beautiful warblers

Indeed they are.
Several years ago, i had a long staying pair in my garden, and at one point, i saw the male with nesting material in his beak! I got all excited about the prospects of a Blackcap nest in the garden! But nothing came of it!

Cheers Paul.