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Peter Connan's small-to-medium year 2015


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Posted

Common Starling

 

Stellenbosch Airfield and Strandfontein

 

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Posted

@@Peter Connan

 

Oh boy, what a treat will be going out on a birding with such an expert! Not only you know about birds, but your experiences with BIF ... just priceless !!

Posted

Pied Avocet

 

Strandfontein

 

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Posted

Glossy Ibis

 

Strandfontein

 

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Posted

Cattle Egret

 

Strandfontein

 

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Posted

White-backed Mousebird

 

Camdeboo NP

 

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Posted

Grey Heron

 

Strandfontein

 

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Posted

Red-billed Teal

 

Strandfontein

 

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Posted

Cape Spurfowl

 

Strandfontein

 

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Posted

Hartlaub's Gull

 

Strandfontein and Strand

 

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Posted

Kelp Gull

 

Strandfontein and Strand

 

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Posted

Greater Flamingo

 

Strandfontein

 

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Posted

And now perhaps (at least in terms of sharpness and colour) perhaps my best BIF images so far:

 

Great white Pelican

 

Strandfontein

 

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Posted

~ @@Peter Connan

 

OK, I give up.

There's no way that in my life's remaining span I'll ever even remotely approach the quality of your masterful pelican images.

As my dad used to say: “they're as good as it gets!”

Thank you!

Tom K.

Posted

Thanks @@Tom Kellie

 

Actually, the reason is that these pelicans must be the easiest birds I have ever photographed. They allowed us to get pretty close, and when they did fly away, they circled around and came back to land in the ideal direction for the light.

 

Sometimes it's all down to luck.

Posted

@@Peter Conan

 

While the pelicans are really great, they are biiiiig birds, and they do allow a photographer to approach them closely. Thus, my pick on this page is "The Running Flamingo"!

Posted (edited)

Thanks @@xelas

 

@@xelas and @@Tom Kellie, I once saw a tv program that "proved" that Michael Schumacher's reactions were very similar to "average Joe". They did subjected Schumi and four normal guys to the old "drop the ruler" test, and indeed the results were very similar.

 

The conclusion was that Schumi's advantage was that firstly he could drive so well that he did not need to think about it, and secondly he new exactly what his car was going to do next, and also had a pretty good idea of what the guys around him were going to do. All of which of course comes purely from experience.

 

In my estimation, bird photography is the same story. Thus it's not really any sort of innate skill, just constant practise and equipment.

 

This is very different from the type of stuff @@twaffle does, which is very definitely strongly underplayed by skill and artistic vision.

 

Anyway, that's 157 species, with just a couple more to come. Not a particularly big year.

Edited by Peter Connan
Posted

Thanks @@xelas

 

@@xelas and @@Tom Kellie, I once saw a tv program that "proved" that Michael Schumacher's reactions were very similar to "average Joe". They did subjected Schumi and four normal guys to the old "drop the ruler" test, and indeed the results were very similar.

 

The conclusion was that Schumi's advantage was that firstly he could drive so well that he did not need to think about it, and secondly he new exactly what his car was going to do next, and also had a pretty good idea of what the guys around him were going to do. All of which of course comes purely from experience.

 

In my estimation, bird photography is the same story. Thus it's not really any sort of innate skill, just constant practise and equipment.

 

This is very different from the type of stuff @@twaffle does, which is very definitely strongly underplayed by skill and artistic vision.

 

Anyway, that's 157 species, with just a couple more to come. Not a particularly big year.

 

~ @@Peter Connan

 

For that reason both @@xelas and I will be in your home country within one week's time to practice our photography!

Granted, @@xelas at a more sophisticated level, and yours truly fumbling around with f/stop settings, but practice nonetheless.

I hope that @@twaffle will bring her artistry back to Africa sometime in 2016!

BTW: If 157 isn't a particularly big year, then 2015 was a petite year for me!

Thank you for your post above.

Tom K.

Posted

Bokmakierie (Juvenile):

 

Near Clocolan

 

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Posted

Cardinal Woodpecker

 

Karoo National Park.

 

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Posted

Cattle Egret

 

Strandfontein

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Posted

European Bee-eater

 

Karoo NP

 

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Posted

Booted Eagle

 

Cammdeboo National Park

 

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Posted

Rock Martin

 

Near Clocolan

 

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Posted

Sabota Lark

 

Karoo National PArk

 

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