What birds or bird have you seen today – communal thread, I hope!

Very exciting catch for me, an Osprey on the Isle of Wight, long way off so as not to spook and sun shining on its perch, but I am well pleased with catching the shot even its not my best picture....
- I too would be very excited Steve - great find and captures (y)

Russ
 
Can't quite believe my luck, went back today and Osprey was still in residence and joined by a Heron not more than 20 ft away as they waited for lunch !
Unfortunately the weather was not playing nicely, so high ISO to get shots

Osprey a3-1.jpgHeron a2-1.jpgHeron a1-1.jpgOsprey a2-1.jpg
 
Whichever type they are; they're the same.

Looks like a pair of Shag's to me :)

Les

Sorry chaps but I'm pretty sure Niel was right when he said top was a shag and bottom Cormorant

The larger bird (lower), I feel sure, is a cormorant. But the thinner bird (above), standing on the next rock? I would have said shag.

Sorry Neil, I know you have 'no' tagged in 'edit my images' but hopefully you don't mind me showing the difference between the two

edit 1.jpgEdit.jpg

The head shape is the biggest give away, more wedge shaped on the Cormorant, steeper forehead on the Shag
Note the white cheek on the Cormorant, smaller white patch on the shag. Also, although not so obvious in these shots, but the yellow on the bill extends a lot further on the Shag (y)
 
Sorry chaps but I'm pretty sure Niel was right when he said top was a shag and bottom Cormorant



Sorry Neil, I know you have 'no' tagged in 'edit my images' but hopefully you don't mind me showing the difference between the two

View attachment 293859View attachment 293860

The head shape is the biggest give away, more wedge shaped on the Cormorant, steeper forehead on the Shag
Note the white cheek on the Cormorant, smaller white patch on the shag. Also, although not so obvious in these shots, but the yellow on the bill extends a lot further on the Shag (y)


That's wonderful, thank you. What puzzled me was that they roosted side by side. The gulls round here often assemble in mixed species groups. I didn't expect the cormorants and their cousins to do the same!
 
Can't quite believe my luck, went back today and Osprey was still in residence and joined by a Heron not more than 20 ft away as they waited for lunch !
Unfortunately the weather was not playing nicely, so high ISO to get shots

Could be they are part of the Osprey project at Poole harbour

 
Another from same day, subject was in a tree in shade with bright sunlight behind, any hints on how to avoid blown sky would be appreciated - thanks in advance
View attachment 294072
Do you shoot raw ?
And do you use lightroom?
If so you can just adjust the highlights to help bring back the sky.
better IMO to blow out the sky though than have a dark underexposed bird.
 
Last edited:
subject was in a tree in shade with bright sunlight behind, any hints on how to avoid blown sky would be appreciated

Exactly what Peter said, especially what I've highlighted in bold

Do you shoot raw ?
And do you use lightroom?
If so you can just adjust the highlights to help bring back the sky.
better IMO to blow out the sky though than have a dark underexposed bird.

In this situation, it would be near impossible to get the correct exposure for the subject and not blow at least some of the sky .

Trying to compensate for a back light bird in bright sunlight would only underexpose the bird, leading to even more noise when trying to lift the shadows.

There is an option to reduce the blown sky in post, especially if you shoot raw but it depends how much pp'ing you want to do.

I photo a few owls during the summer and regularly find meself in this situation, bird perched in dark canopy, backlit and bright sunlight through the trees. My advice is work two raw files, one for the bird, one for the background and use a soft edge brush to blend the two using layers.

Sounds complicated but once practised a few times only takes minutes (y)

Nice Cormorant (?

Yes (y)
 
Last edited:
Do you shoot raw ?
And do you use lightroom?
If so you can just adjust the highlights to help bring back the sky.
better IMO to blow out the sky though than have a dark underexposed bird.
Thanks for your advice, I do shoot in Raw and use an older version of LR badly - I tried various adjustments but the sky is simply blown and not there. My winter project will be learning how to use LR properly. As a born again photographer I am concentrating on learning how to make best use of my kit whilst the sun shines ! -

My next experiment will be 'bracketing' and understanding how to blend layers, etc
 
There is an option to reduce the blown sky in post, especially if you shoot raw but it depends how much pp'ing you want to do.

I photo a few owls during the summer and regularly find meself in this situation, bird perched in dark canopy, backlit and bright sunlight through the trees. My advice is work two raw files, one for the bird, one for the background and use a soft edge brush to blend the two using layers.

Sounds complicated but once practised a few times only takes minutes (y)
Thankyou for your advice, PP is not my favorite pastime however, I appreciate I need to learn more about using LR - new winter project !
 
Thankyou for your advice, PP is not my favorite pastime however, I appreciate I need to learn more about using LR - new winter project !


Im afraid I don't use LR so I cannot help you there I'm strictly a Photoshop 2020 man :)

Les
 
not posted on this thread for awhile mostly because I’ve seen very few birds over the last few weeks, so today decided to call into the local wetlands and came away with birds on a feeder!

Great Coal tit and a blue tit, (Thanks Les)

Blue Tit & Coal Tit by Steve Vickers, on Flickr

Coal Tit by Steve Vickers, on Flickr

and a Swan

Swan by Steve Vickers, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
not posted on this thread for awhile mostly because I’ve seen very few birds over the last few weeks, so today decided to call into the local wetlands and came away with birds on a feeder!

Coal t it and a blue t it, I think

Blue Tit & Coal Tit by Steve Vickers, on Flickr

Coal Tit by Steve Vickers, on Flickr

and a Swan

Swan by Steve Vickers, on Flickr


Nice shot Steve, the top image has a Great Tit on top of the feeder and a Blue Tit to the side buddy :)

Les
 
Tree sparrow.

tree_sparrow.jpg


Don't see these very often in the garden, so thought it was worth a grab shot.
On a very dismal and wet morning through a rain streaked kitchen window (that's my excuses out of the way!!), heavily cropped.

Howard
 
Back
Top