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Evening all

Went down to Wilsons Prom today to get some birdies. Now unless I'm blind it really isn't the bird haven I've been told it is! Only saw the usual Eastern Yellow Robins and New Holland Honeyeaters that I see around here.... I was hoping for something new and different. Maybe the weather had something to do with it.

Oh well....

Anyway. Here is an Eastern Yellow Robin. Taken in a quite dark part of rainforest.... no light from the canopy at all

D70, 500 f4, ISO400, 1/100 @ F4, SB800 -1EV


Hope you enjoy
Paul

Did you go to any of the beaches? Apparently it's a good spot for shorebirds/waders.

You can ask Nicole as she went down that way over the Australia Day weekend. You might need to do your research (eg. aus birding mailing list) before you go down there, otherwise looking in some spots can be futile.

I went down to the beaches for lunch. Only saw seagulls and another bigger gull that crapped on the car... Grr.

I know what you mean about doing reasearch first... this was a last minute thing (my better half woke me up at 5am and asked if I wanted to go for some bushwalks )

Here's another one with the same settings except @1/80 sec. I don't like the background much... especially how it is divided. but it kinda looks like chocolate



Paul

way nicer robin shots than the stuff I posted on the weekend

Steve

I agree with you about the background on the second shot, Paul, but I also think the bird looks cramped or something; just doesn't seem a natural pose.

The first one, however, is an absolute gem.

Beautiful capture.

Thanks for sharing.

Paul the first shot works well...

Ok last one for today.

What do you guys think of this pose compared to the first one?



original:

The first one is great, the second one doesn't work aswell due to the unnatural pose.

The original shot works better for me as you can see the beak. Very nice.

I bought a field guide before I went and it listed what birds to look out for in certain areas. Around the boardwalk at Tidal River was good for Silvereye, Thornbills and Eastern Yellow Robins. I also saw Yellow-tailed black cockatoos drinking in that area.

The Lilly Pilly Gully Nature walk was pretty good for rainforesty type birds but also for nectar eating birds. Five mile road towards the car park seemed to be good for yellow-tailed black cockatoos but i didn't have too much luck. Apparently the gang gang cockatoos hang around in the evening near the information centre sometimes but i didn't see any. A trip to Shallow Inlet (the Sandy Point side) would definitely be worthwhile at the right tide for waders. I went to Millers landing for waders but the tide wasn't right. Heaps of swans! Finally I saw emus on the drive to the Cotters lake car park. I also saw emu tracks walking to Cotters Beach.

Thanks for the info Nicole. Will print that out and take it with me next time I go down.

Just took a look in your bird gallery. Very nice )

Thanks.

Another place down that way near Tarwin was Bald Hill Wetlands. It was steamy hot the day I was there but I still managed to see quite a few birds including a couple of different types of honeyeaters and a cuckoo.

Have to agree with Nicole - not seeing the beak drops the value of the shot quite a bit.

Manta wrote:Have to agree with Nicole - not seeing the beak drops the value of the shot quite a bit.

Value? How much you paying?

Thanks for pointing that out. I don't notice things like that

NikonUser wrote:

Manta wrote:Have to agree with Nicole - not seeing the beak drops the value of the shot quite a bit.

Value? How much you paying?

Thanks for pointing that out. I don't notice things like that

Hee hee. Sorry - didn't mean that kind of value! Shall we say "impact" instead of "value" ?

you pretty much need to see the beak. perceived eye contact is another big must.

Steve

Would you say the one without the beak has the eye contact and the one with out the eye contact has the beak?

Actually I like them all. Given the conditions you have done a really good job.

when I said perceived eye contact, you often get that that when the head is side on or slightly tilted to the camera. even if the bird isnt actually looking at you, there is perceived eye contact because you can see the eye.
you need to see the beak too though, so even if the bird is actually looking right at you , you will get a stronger shot if it isnt.
Disregard this for owls and some raptors of course. binocular vision, or both eyes facing front!!

Steve

So something like this is fine then:



(beak borrowed from a white faced heron.... all copyright in order )

Paul

What a hoot!

(Or should I say: Hooter!!)

That is hilarious!

Your first shot of Eastern Yellow Robin is a beauty. It is sharp, well composed, good lighting and background works well.

When photographing birds, it is (IMHO) paramount that the eyes are in focus. If the rest of the subject is in focus and the eyes aren't, then it simply doesn't work. When a person looks at a photo of a bird, they tend to naturally look at the eye first.

Excellent work

Cheers

Michael