Pedro does it again, 2nd Year!!

[pedro maia]

#152, 2/5, Mistle thrush, Parque Urbano doJamor

 

 

Again not the best pictures.

[Galana]

I have to ask. Are you really sure that is a Mistle Thrush and not Song Thrush? It looks awfully 'yellow/brown' to me.

[Soukous]

I was thinking the same, It is hard to get a good view of the markings, but they do look a lot like inverted Vs, which would make it a Song Thrush.

[pedro maia]

@Galana, @Soukous, I’m sure both of you are right, , I go back to #151 and I’ll have to find a Mistle thrush, thanks!!

[Soukous]

13 minutes ago, pedro maia said:

@Galana, @Soukous, I’m sure both of you are right, , I go back to #151 and I’ll have to find a Mistle thrush, thanks!!

 

sorry, I know how hard it is to keep your score moving. 

[pedro maia]

14 minutes ago, Soukous said:

 

sorry, I know how hard it is to keep your score moving. 

 

No problem, my mistake. 

Last year I saw the mystle thrush twice and no song thrush, so far this year I saw twice the song thrush, I just hope that doesn´t mean nothing.

Anyway, lockdown measures are going to ease a bit starting from next monday and I´m planning to go to the Lezíria where I should get at least a couple of new additions, in nearly two months new species must have arrived.

[Galana]

1 hour ago, Soukous said:

sorry, I know how hard it is to keep your score moving. 

Me too but look on the bright side. You can still score the Mistle Thrush (some times known as Storm Cocks in Britain) later in the difficult times through which we are living.

[pedro maia]

Yesterday afternoon I went back to the Lezíria after almost 2 months, I was hoping for a better result but it was quite windy and I was only able to get two new species, one of them a not so easy one but I wasn´t able to get a good picture as it caught me by surprise.

 

#152, 4/5, Purple heron, Lezíria Vila Franca de Xira

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by pedro maia

[pedro maia]

#153, 4/5, Collared pratincole, Lezíria Vila Franca de Xira

 

Last year I only saw this species once so I was more or less hoping to find it but I thought I wouldn´t, at first I didn´t recognize it ans only started to shoot the camera when it was almost gone and the fence didn´t help either, maybe later I can get a better picture.

Edited May 5, 2020 by pedro maia

[pedro maia]

#154, 5/5, Black kite, Pancas

 

[Tdgraves]

Are you sure about your kite @pedro maia ?

[pedro maia]

10 minutes ago, Tdgraves said:

Are you sure about your kite @pedro maia ?

 

I wasn´t sure at all, I think it looks a lot like a red kite but by location and time of year it should be a black one, since I don´t trust my ID skills I asked in the Portuguese birding forum and black was confirmed.

[Galana]

2 hours ago, Tdgraves said:

Are you sure about your kite @pedro maia ?

I looked closely when posted too.

I was happy it was a Black. The Carpal patches contrast much sharper with the whiter secondaries in Red.

[pedro maia]

Today I woke up very early, couldn´t go back to sleep so at 5:30 I got out and went to look for nightjars, needless to say I didn´t find any, nor did I find the next goal (little bittern).

 

With the sun already shinning this guys were singing, or shouting, really loud, this one was the first I was able to photograph:

 

 

I was surprised to be able to see a few of them although it took me a while to be able to take some nice pictures, one of them was in a part of the reed that was lower than the road, a bit distant but that was when the P900 did it´s job, even if not all the pictures were "reed-free":

 

#155, 7/5, Great reed warbler, Paul da Barroca

 

 

I´m pretty happy with this pictures:

 

 

 

 

[Soukous]

Very nice pictures.

I also thought about getting up early this morning, but decided not to.

[Galana]

I got up early too. Breakfasted and out the door by 07.30 and it was true in both our cases. The early camera really gets the bird.

Nice one.

[Dave Williams]

Excellent GRW shots Pedro, especially the third one.

 

[xelas]

Out of bed at 9:30, no birds for me today . Must change tactic tomorrow .

 

@pedro maia nice photos. Add a bit of sharpness and contrast to your in-camera settings.

[TonyQ]

Really nice photos, well worth getting up for!

[Galana]

7 hours ago, xelas said:

Add a bit of sharpness and contrast to your in-camera settings.

Same model Camera P900 as mine. I think we have a common problem.

[PeterHG]

A beautiful Great Reed Warbler @pedro maia ! One of my favourite reed birds, but unfortunately it has become very rare over here.

[pedro maia]

On 5/7/2020 at 4:58 PM, xelas said:

 

@pedro maia Add a bit of sharpness and contrast to your in-camera settings.

 

I think the P900 doesn’t allow to do that but I’ll have to check, that’s a problem for me, I hate the damn settings, I don’t have the patient to read instructions and also in the momment o shooting the camera I forget to use some settings I already know, it’ s as stupid as that.

 

 

[pedro maia]

Thanks everybody for the comments.

[Soukous]

On 5/8/2020 at 12:17 AM, Galana said:

Same model Camera P900 as mine. I think we have a common problem.

 

34 minutes ago, pedro maia said:

I think the P900 doesn’t allow to do that but I’ll have to check, that’s a problem for me, I hate the damn settings, I don’t have the patient to read instructions and also in the momment o shooting the camera I forget to use some settings I already know, it’ s as stupid as that.

 

It can be done @pedro maia, the manual is easy to obtain from the Nikon website - these are the 2 pages you need

 

 

 

Actually there has probably never been a better time to play around with the settings on your camera, make good use of your lockdown time.

What I suggest is that you pick a subject and then take a series of photos, making an adjustment to a specific setting for each photo, until you get a result that best meets your preferences. Then use those settings. Once they are in the camera you don't have to think about them.

[pedro maia]

Great, now I have homework .

 

Thanks @Soukous, I´m going to check that.