PC's fifth attempt

[Soukous]

@Peter Connan I've fallen a bit behind with recent posts on the Big Year front but Some of your latest shots have been wonderful. I particularly like the Greater Striped Swallows as I have been trying to capture them in flight myself. They move fast eh?

[Peter Connan]

Thank you very much @Soukous. They do indeed rather get a move on! Almost as tough as the Martins...

[Peter Connan]

62) Cape Sparrow

 

Gewone Mossie

Passer melanurus

 

 

11 January, Home

[Peter Connan]

63) Red-faced Mousebird

 

Rooiwangmuisvoel

Urocolius indicus

 

 

11 January, Home

 

 

16 January, Joubertshoop, Timbavati

[Peter Connan]

64) Crested Barbet

 

Kuifkophoutkapper

Trachyphonus vaillantii

 

Another bird that has really taken to urban gardens!

 

11 Jaunary, at home

 

17 February, Timbavati

[Peter Connan]

65) Olive Thrush

 

Olyflyster

Turdus olivaceus

 

 

Now some bad news for @xelas. For a couple of years, we both believed the Karoo Thrush was basically an Olive Thrush with a yellow eye-ring, but this series probably puts paid to that:

 

 

 

 

A juvenile bird:

 

These birds follow a practice called leaf-tossing when looking for food:

 

All taken in my garden in January and February

 

[Galana]

They do hybridise in overlap areas and those two are definitely overlapping!!.

[Peter Connan]

Thanks @Galana

 

Are you saying we were right, and that that sequence thus deserves 2 points?

[Galana]

2 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

Are you saying we were right, and that that sequence thus deserves 2 points?

Well not really. Only the birds would know that.

I could flip the coin and suggest that perhaps the distribution charts I have does not have Olive in Gauteng and that all your sequence may be Geelbeklyster.

Your call!

[Peter Connan]

What a minefield.

 

Let's just say they're definitely both Thrushes for now...

 

Thanks @Galana

[Peter Connan]

66) Red-knobbed Coot

 

Bleshoender

Fulica cristata

 

16 January, Bonaero Park Dam

 

 

28 January, Marievale

[Peter Connan]

67) Yellow-billed Duck

 

Geelbekeend

Anas undulata

 

 

16 January, Bonaero Park Dam

 

Ducks often raise themselves out of the water and flap their wings to get rid of some water. A take-off run would normally be more horizontal than this.

Edited March 11, 2018 by Peter Connan

[elefromoz]

@Peter Connan, the Malachite Kingfisher is just beautiful and you have some nice garden visitors too

[Peter Connan]

Thank you @elefromoz.

 

 

[Peter Connan]

68) Red-billed Teal

 

Rooibekeend

Anas erythrorhyncha

 

 

 

16 January, Bonaero Park dam.

[PeterHG]

Some great additions again @Peter Connan ! That second Coot shot is brilliant!

[Peter Connan]

Thank you very much @PeterHG

 

69) Black-shouldered Kite

 

Perhaps my favorite small raptor, it is often seen hovering over a field of grass, from where it will swoop down on an unsuspecting mouse or other prey.

 

16 January, Bonaero Park dam

 

The following shots are a bit of a cheat, having been taken on the 31st of December last year, but show territorial fighting behaviour which, though not uncommon, seldom happens within photographic range.

 

 

 

 

[Peter Connan]

70) Purple Heron

 

Rooireier

Ardea purpurea

 

 

 

 

Like most other Herons, these birds stalk silently and patiently until striking out suddenly to catch small fish, frogs and so forth in shallow water.  But Purples seem to prefer being in vegetation rather than on the shore of an open body.

[Dave Williams]

Collection building nicely Peter.

 

[Peter Connan]

Thank you @Dave Williams.

 

[Peter Connan]

And here, finally, is the shot I discussed with @Galana way back in post #33, the FNLYB, AKA the Bumblebeebird, AKA

 

71) Yellow-crowned Bishop

 

Goudgeelvink

Euplectes afer

 

16 January, Bonaero Park dam

 

 

and 28 January, Marievale (in company with @Tdgraves

 

Notice how they erect the feathers on their backs to really display the yellow. The mating display is a short, rapid, meandering flight, making catching them in flight insanely tricky. To make it worse, they seldom fly higher than the tops of the reeds, which means the autofocus is generally drawn to the background...

 

If you are a Nikon user with a relatively new, relatively high-end camera, Group Area AF helps a lot, as it is programmed to always focus on the closest item under the active focus points. Then all you need to do is keep those four points on the bird...

 

More to the point, these three photos were all taken with different focus settings. The first with Group Area, as described above.

The second with a single point.

The third with Dynamic Area, with all points active. The latest batch of cameras can be set up such that these focus modes are activated by pressing buttons with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand only, no need to use the left hand or twiddle rotary controls, which to me is what makes these cameras worth their asking price.

[lmSA84]

@Peter Connan - great shots and thanks for the technical info.

 

I've trying to improve my skills and have setup my camera up as group focus as standard, back button AF as single point and the central button on the joystick as 72pts. I haven't mastered it by any means but I was otherwise just leaving it in single focus.

 

What is the Bumblebees display season? 

[lmSA84]

@Peter Connan - great shots and thanks for the technical info.

 

I've trying to improve my skills and have setup my camera up as group focus as standard, back button AF as single point and the central button on the joystick as 72pts. I haven't mastered it by any means but I was otherwise just leaving it in single focus.

 

What is the Bumblebees display season? 

[Peter Connan]

@lmSA84, display season for them is high summer, Dec to Feb probably the highest activity.

 

If you say group area as standard, does that mean it is activated by the shutter button? If so, that has a serious disadvantage in that you cannot stop focusing at will.

 

One of the biggest advantages with back-button focusing is that, when you are not pressing the button, the camera is not focusing. As a result, you can focus on a fixed point and wait for something to pass through that focal plane.

 

In the thread on the D500 in the photography section, i have described my AF settings in some detail, and also the reasons why.

[Galana]

6 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

FNLYB, AKA the Bumblebeebird,

Great stuff but I am still too busy working on the acronym to start fiddling with the focus!

What a memory you have!