Oh the frustration

GTG

GTG

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1,660
Edit My Images
Yes
A few days after I decided not to buy a 600mm lens to pursue bird photography I realised that the birds hovering over my house every day are not common buzzards as I thought.

They are in fact lovely red kites. Too late now, I went for 70-200 and as you can see in this pic 260mm FF equivalent is not even remotely close to being long enough for these birds.

talk-9.jpg

talk-10.jpg
 
Just wait - or provide food on a regular occasion. I now have them flying over my house on a almost daily basis - at just over tree height... 70-200mm is perfect for that...
 
  • Like
Reactions: GTG
I purchased my 600mm last week as I noticed increased activity over the house,
Today I got a shot of a common buzzard, stretched even at 600mm as he was soaring real high,
Seen a few kites etc..
just a waiting game now and hopefully they come in a bit lower next time,
Still a nice shot, great bird to see albeit focal length,
My attempt this morning, flat out at 600 and a bit of cropping,
First time I’ve seen anything like it
https://flic.kr/p/F1DvFz
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: GTG
Liam_89 said:
I purchased my 600mm last week as I noticed increased activity over the house,
Today I got a shot of a common buzzard, stretched even at 600mm as he was soaring real high,
Seen a few kites etc..
just a waiting game now and hopefully they come in a bit lower next time,
Still a nice shot, great bird to see albeit focal length,
My attempt this morning, flat out at 600 and a bit of cropping,
First time I’ve seen anything like it
https://flic.kr/p/F1DvFz
Click to expand...

Buzzards are still lovely birds, they actually have a habit of sitting on lamp posts and I have observed that ever since I was I child and in 2 different areas.

I often pass them in my car but I keep thinking nobody will want to see a buzzard on a lamp post at a funny angle so I leave it alone.

Nice shot you had there anyway, they do fly low sometimes and have seen them have a good scrap with crows / ravens many times at low height.
 
Diving Pete said:
Just wait - or provide food on a regular occasion. I now have them flying over my house on a almost daily basis - at just over tree height... 70-200mm is perfect for that...
Click to expand...


Please do not encourage the Red Kites by offering food in residential areas........this will affect their behaviour in adverse ways.

Yes, I know they are fed at the Welsh feeding stations but that is not the same!
 
GTG said:
Buzzards are still lovely birds, they actually have a habit of sitting on lamp posts and I have observed that ever since I was I child and in 2 different areas.

I often pass them in my car but I keep thinking nobody will want to see a buzzard on a lamp post at a funny angle so I leave it alone.

Nice shot you had there anyway, they do fly low sometimes and have seen them have a good scrap with crows / ravens many times at low height.
Click to expand...
You'll have to be quick to get a decent shot of a perched one, after decades of persecution they seem to have evolved to be jumpy and very shy of humans when perched. Tried it a few times, only way I've been able to get a half decent (emphasis on "half") record shot is to take from the car but even then as soon as you stop you can tell they're getting ready to go.

Funnily enough speaking of red kites and feeding them, best place for Buzzard photography that I've found is Gigrin feeding station, there are a couple of buzzards which are regulars there, including a very leucistic one.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: GTG
Box Brownie said:
Please do not encourage the Red Kites by offering food in residential areas........this will affect their behaviour in adverse ways
Click to expand...

We go camping yearly at a place in Oxfordshire, in the last 18 months they have banned feeding so make them disperse... They didn't take kindly to it and they have started taking food out if people's hands (as they are going to take a bite as well!!) .

They were better a couple of months later
 
My 300 + 1.4 isn't long enough either, next up will be my 100-400 mk 1 plus 1.4 or 300 + 2x
I might even consider a crop body instead of FF plus a 2nd hand MK2 100-400 plus 1.4
500/600 too big, too expensive and hard to hand hold (for me).
Matt
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: GTG
Lovely read this, bless ya guys.................two words for ya field and craft.

Guys wildlife birdz or beasties isn't meant to be easy,it simply isn't easy full stop!!!!!!

Hours of waiting, hours of failing, again hours and hours of failure............................. a lens of long reach gets one a gnats b*llock closer,it allows us to be a bit farther away from an easily spooked subject. Both the the subjects mentioned here are stunningly awesome equally so. Both have eyes that will see one a mile away,so we have to find ways to make an image.

lads the guys that post these incredible images of the birds mentioned first know their birds,they aren't unsure how to ID a buzz or kite. Then they put together a statergy a way they might get those images. If they don't use paid for hides they will probably have spent eons in the field working out just how they can make an image

This thread sort of makes me think of the guys I see in the field big tripod big lens .What is it they say I wanna do wildlife,you have to live it you have to make an effort ,someone here said 420 isn't enough maybe it isn't maybe it is,but for me, it is if you simply try hard enough.


A caviat three years trying for a SEO,three years trying for frankly not one image I'm really pleased with. Weeks waiting in actual hours for nothing, while I watch the guys with that bit more reach a bit better camera a few more pixies succeed,ha maybe .;)

But my failure really can't really be blamed on of lack reach ,even though on the surface it might seems so. My failure is because I can't use my skillset at this site to get closer.

GTG this might make hard reading, if so bro I'm sorry, I have nowt against you or anyone that has posted here. I simply don't understand your frustration how could I ??

all the luck lads learn the craft get out there fail alot,sooner or later, if you try hard enough if you really try, the words above will appear to you as they do to me simply untrue

all the luck lads

stu
 
I ditto Stu's thoughts exactly as I think a shot gained while out in the fields on sat waiting in an hedge bottom gives one a sense of achievment etc, although with that said I don't decry anyone who sticks to reserves etc.
 
Nor do I Martin ,I just don't want anyone to feel that they are excluded from wldlife,by reach,which oft comes at expense. reach is wicked,but it isn't every thing. The two birds are large 4or5foot wingspans a peace,so with enough effort and a lot of luck I really do think at 300,or 400mm one can get some great stuff,GTG's 70-200 if it's the 2.8 is meant to take an ext well,from reading.

In some ways I wish folks talked more about FC with their images,as I feel it's a lost discussion and it really helps the next guy

cheers

stu
 
Some people don't have that amount of time, yet still love viewing wildlife. Some people work 6 days a week and spend time with family on their day off. Just sayin.....
 
Some people don't have that amount of time, yet still love viewing wildlife. Some people work 6 days a week and spend time with family on their day off. Just sayin.....
 
Stuart Philpott said:
Lovely read this, bless ya guys.................two words for ya field and craft.

Guys wildlife birdz or beasties isn't meant to be easy,it simply isn't easy full stop!!!!!!

Hours of waiting, hours of failing, again hours and hours of failure............................. a lens of long reach gets one a gnats b*llock closer,it allows us to be a bit farther away from an easily spooked subject. Both the the subjects mentioned here are stunningly awesome equally so. Both have eyes that will see one a mile away,so we have to find ways to make an image.

lads the guys that post these incredible images of the birds mentioned first know their birds,they aren't unsure how to ID a buzz or kite. Then they put together a statergy a way they might get those images. If they don't use paid for hides they will probably have spent eons in the field working out just how they can make an image

This thread sort of makes me think of the guys I see in the field big tripod big lens .What is it they say I wanna do wildlife,you have to live it you have to make an effort ,someone here said 420 isn't enough maybe it isn't maybe it is,but for me, it is if you simply try hard enough.


A caviat three years trying for a SEO,three years trying for frankly not one image I'm really pleased with. Weeks waiting in actual hours for nothing, while I watch the guys with that bit more reach a bit better camera a few more pixies succeed,ha maybe .;)

But my failure really can't really be blamed on of lack reach ,even though on the surface it might seems so. My failure is because I can't use my skillset at this site to get closer.

GTG this might make hard reading, if so bro I'm sorry, I have nowt against you or anyone that has posted here. I simply don't understand your frustration how could I ??

all the luck lads learn the craft get out there fail alot,sooner or later, if you try hard enough if you really try, the words above will appear to you as they do to me simply untrue

all the luck lads

stu
Click to expand...

Not hard reading, i can ID a bird if it is close enough to actually see it and not a brown blob in the sky. Forgive me, i don't have binoculars usually used for the task of long distance ID of birds at this time.
 
Jelster said:
Some people don't have that amount of time, yet still love viewing wildlife. Some people work 6 days a week and spend time with family on their day off. Just sayin.....
Click to expand...

I know bro you are speaking to one sadly.(oh they'd have me working ten if they could ). It's incredibly hard in the winter for those that graft from dawn till dusk seeing all these amazing chances from a van window in amazing light and have it rain all day on ya day off no sunrises or sunsets to shoot under for months is not easy buddy. But It is what it is if ya want to view wildlife or make an image you try your best to make the time. .

But time and wildlife are inextricably linked the more you know of your subject the more time with it the more chances come ,you will also start to predict behaviours so anticipate them and hopefully capture in your images.

But whether or not I've just pulled nearly 60 hours,isn't really that relevent to me trying to get another guy closer,because he hasn't quite got the reach he would like. He can study his subject and learn alot at home maybe use a paid for hide set up for a photgraphy,but fieldcraft means that guy needs no one. It also means he will be more likely to be in the right place at the right time,so for a time pressed guy thiis is a monster benefit as he's more likely to get chances in the little bit of time that guy or girl has.

Steve if ya want something you try to find a way,I know first hand what you are saying it really doesn't help me progress and wildlife is probably the worst choice for a busy guy like me Look, if I shoot landscape the mountain is gonna be there when I turn up we can't ever say that with wildlife,it's just the more ya know about your subject the more chance you will get ,the more you are able to apply field craft the closer to subject,one gets,which is why I posted

cheers for the thoughts buddy Ahh mate to not do what I do for so many hours and to just live this
 
GTG said:
Not hard reading, i can ID a bird if it is close enough to actually see it and not a brown blob in the sky. Forgive me, i don't have binoculars usually used for the task of long distance ID of birds at this time.
Click to expand...


ere kiddo what ya name?? Great stuff:) I'm so chuffed I didnt' offend as that wasn't my intention ,but the words don't always come over as one wants in web land. I'd tried to post to you before on this thread but deleted because of concerns over folks flipping out,why I dunno, i'm trying to help but folks do tis the web. I don''t think we have spoken before

Bro have a dig about what a bird watcher means by the jizz of a bird,ha hope I've got that right it's a bit of a risk:D I guess I'm not really a birder,just a nature nut. Part of this is way a bird moves wing beats flight pattern,etc etc................. it's like s set of almost subliminal clues that will give you that id without the binos sure the binos are gonna help,mate but not necessarily a must exactly like your long lens that's what I'm tryiing to get over

. Buzzards and kites use thermals etc in some ways very similar in the air but the kite is sort of floppy stare at them mate the more you stare the more you'll see.......... it comes, again time .Sure at a given distance the kite might have a discernable pale head or forked tail wing shape ,but at the dot distance, the way it's moving will often give you massive clues to IDs. Be very clear I am no expert I can't iid every bird here,bloody LBJ's do me for a pastime,but the fact remains the more ya know of a species the more clues one has

Field craft mate, so difficult to really articulate but this reply along with the whole thread made me feel you are missing out on a few things that could help,but if no one mentions then no spark is lit in your mind.

take care kiddo all the luck
 
Some Red Kites have a sense of humour. I was waiting outside the A&E of the local hospital yesterday with a kite circling overhead :exit:
 
sphexx said:
Some Red Kites have a sense of humour. I was waiting outside the A&E of the local hospital yesterday with a kite circling overhead :exit:
Click to expand...
frankly I think they all have leastways if they know we use a camera,Rich,I have so many similar stories,walked out of a house I was working on and stared into the beauty of the ajoining countryside,to see kite ,peregrine and buzz all do fly by's in the next few mins,I'll never forget that.
hope the A&E outcome was good bro

stu
 
Stuart Philpott said:
frankly I think they all have leastways if they know we use a camera,Rich,I have so many similar stories,walked out of a house I was working on and stared into the beauty of the ajoining countryside,to see kite ,peregrine and buzz all do fly by's in the next few mins,I'll never forget that.
hope the A&E outcome was good bro

stu
Click to expand...
Thanks! My head had a disagreement with the floor, only 2 tiny zygomatic fractures but lovely black eyes etc. Red kites are two a penny round here, very very low flying over the roads which can be a distraction when driving and they circle over my garden — particularly if the ducks are lying out resting ;)
 
Gravity costs me too,tis harsh:( but glad your ok
. We have few here do see them ,what a thing mate when I was a kid there were no buzz here and kites numbered in the twenties for the UK Now. it's too cool, the kites will become and more numerous like the old days feeding of our waste we are even better at waste now than we ever were sadly.


Mate black eyes,cool camo best get out there:D Saves on the mascara huh,sorry how could I not;)
take care:)
 
Stuart Philpott said:
Gravity costs me too,tis harsh:( but glad your ok
. We have few here do see them ,what a thing mate when I was a kid there were no buzz here and kites numbered in the twenties for the UK Now. it's too cool, the kites will become and more numerous like the old days feeding of our waste we are even better at waste now than we ever were sadly.


Mate black eyes,cool camo best get out there:D Saves on the mascara huh,sorry how could I not;)
take care:)
Click to expand...

Do you have any examples of your wildlife / bird photography to show us. You are talking like you are the expert but do you actually do bird photography ?
 
no expert buddy not at all:) learning da rope;),but yup birdz wildlife is my thing. I adore it mate if I could i'd live it

Buddy my time is very compressed,so of late I've really tended to specialise on the hares, They amaze and fascinate me. i've been an animal bird /nature nut since childhood buddy,so what I'm trying to share with you is not so much about image making ,you probably know more, than me mate mate it's the nature stuff that will allow you to get closer.

Here's my flickr buddy see what you think. I do stress no expert, especially the image making side. I'm around two years in on the image making side i've only been able to have PS recently,it's an expensive game this sadly But I do know a bit about getting close to a beastie because that side I've been trying to learn since childhood.

.GTG i've always seemed to be able to get close,I've had fox cubs dancing round me feet all manner of wonderful things,I also paint a bit,my obsession always nature. So the camera is sort of a way for me to share those mad encounters and play with my creatively it's fun painting with light.

anyway kiddo here's my flickr still like to know your name?? :)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/104924133@N07/with/37317491080/

here's also a link to a thread about hares here in wildlife. They might not be the best images in the world,I would hope not because for me i've only scratched the surface and have so much to learn. But they do back up the fact that somehow I am getting very close to lets face it an animal totally built for flight and it's that that I'm trying to open your eyes too

but me expert NO MATE

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/hares-with-updates.650427/

take care
stu
 
GTG said:
Do you have any examples of your wildlife / bird photography to show us. You are talking like you are the expert but do you actually do bird photography ?
Click to expand...

Stu's posted a ton of stuff in the bird section and also in the wildlife section. If you take a look through the threads, you'll see them.

Do you have any examples of your stuff? I can't recall ever seeing anything from you but am now interested in doing so.
 
wezza13 said:
Stu's posted a ton of stuff in the bird section and also in the wildlife section. If you take a look through the threads, you'll see them.

Do you have any examples of your stuff? I can't recall ever seeing anything from you but am now interested in doing so.
Click to expand...

Who asked you ?
 
traindriver said:
Have to say Stu some of those Hare pics are fantastic.
Click to expand...

Wow thanks kiddo, that's incredibly kind,we graft for 'em bro but it's all a work in progress, We;ve been out most of the day after them again,(OH buddy can I have your name too please),but I wasn't up too scratch maybe we got something,I haven't really looked yet.Ha mate I'm still trying for the boxing i've been so close so many times have seen it all,but just can't nail it down
Sadly that's it for me now until next week,that's the hardest bit for me, waiting for the next chance to try

Hey wez cheers bro,maybe GTG hasn't seen any because of late I've just been so damn busy I haven't been able to physically post so much,:( Mind I'm easily missed,all that camo I just blend in to the bkg buddy:D

@Picturegirl,can I have your name too please, many thanks aswell.:)

@GTG, waddaya think mate I'd love to hear what you think good or bad makes no odds, But your honest opinion I would like, you asked me to show you what I'm trying to work towards

I'd still ask for your name,please. kiddo I came here and posted because I rarely can help anyone everyone seems to know more about the workings of a camera and editing than me.

Mate so many ,so so many have tried to push me forwards,at times one needs to at least try and give a bit back if I can't it's cool,no worries

cheers all must dash,I need to see if I stuffed those couple of chances or no

seeya

stu
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top