PeterHG's seventh Big Year

[Soukous]

14 hours ago, Galana said:

That new Camera certainly seems to make things look easy. Love the Grebes but I always do.

 

I'm sure that some of that is down to the skill of the photographer 

[Zim Girl]

Well done getting past the 100, Peter.  Great variety of birds from Portugal!

[TonyQ]

Excellent additions with your new camera - what did you get?

[PeterHG]

Thanks for the kind words @xelas @Galana @Soukous @Zim Girl @TonyQ!

11 hours ago, Soukous said:

I'm sure that some of that is down to the skill of the photographer 

I am hesitant to confess how little….

 

4 hours ago, TonyQ said:

what did you get?

I got the latest Olympus ( well, no longer Olympus, it’s now OM-systems): the OM 1. Especially for birds in flight it is a very good camera and a real upgrade from my previous Olympus.

[PeterHG]

 Cetti's Warbler. Arkemheen, March. More common every year, but mostly found by its characteristic call. Always tricky to get a photo.

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by PeterHG
removed the count

[PeterHG]

114 /NL 70. Song Thrush. Flevoland, March.

 

[PeterHG]

115 /NL 71. Wood Pigeon. Amersfoort, March

 

[PeterHG]

We made a little trip the the pier of IJmuiden, always a relaible place to find this pipit. Other than this it was very quiet.

 

116 /NL 72. Rock Pipit. IJmuiden, March

 

[PeterHG]

In our local area a rarity had been spotted. Patiently scanning all the groups of geese, I found it. In fact there were two, but so far away that an EBC of one of them was all I could manage.

117 /NL 73. Red-breasted Goose. Arkemheen, March

 

 

Also present:

118 /NL 74. White Wagtail. Arkemheen, March. Not evryone's favourite, I know

 

 

119 / NL 75. Redshank. Arkemheen, March. 

 

 

120 /NL 76. Meadow Pipit. Arkemheen, March

 

 

 

[Dave Williams]

Nice additions Peter. The Cetti's looks like a young one?

[xelas]

On 3/31/2022 at 11:09 PM, PeterHG said:

the OM 1. Especially for birds in flight it is a very good camera and a real upgrade from my previous Olympus.

An impressive body, and in the hands of an experienced photographer it shines not only with BIF! 

[PeterHG]

1 hour ago, Dave Williams said:

The Cetti's looks like a young one?

Thanks, Dave. Well, it can't be a young one yet and I heard it call out a few times, but it does have a youngish appearance. In fact, looking at the photo it looks more like a brownish Chiffchaff than a Cetti's Warbler. There's no mistaking the call, however. Or was it another bird that called and was I mistaken in thinking this was the one? Your words have caused me to revisit the photo (unfortunately the only one).

When I submitted it to an online ID site for Dutch Bird Observations just now it suggested Siberian Chiffchaff with 97% certainty. Well it has been completely wrong before even with this kind of percentage, but perhaps I'd better retract my count and try for another one later. Thanks for your observation!

[Galana]

Never mind the pseudo Cetti, that Red-breasted Goose takes care of the point in my book. Well done indeed..

[PeterHG]

The local park produced some additions, too.

 

120 /NL 76 (I'll stick to this number on account of the Cetti's. Saves me renumbering a lot of photos). Robin. Amersfoort, March

 

 

121 /NL 77. Common Pheasant. Amersfoort, March

 

 

122 /NL 78. Eurasian Sparrowhawk. Amersfoort, March

 

[PeterHG]

And a few hours again at the nearby wetlands.

 

123 / NL 79. Little Ringed Plover. Arkemheen, March

 

124 /NL 80. Canada Goose. Arkemheen, March

 

 

125 /NL 81. Garganey. Arkemheen, March. This is where the new camera really shines. The Garganey suddenly flew past me. I had the 300mm with 1.4 extender attached( 840mm full frame equivalent) and that would usually slow down the AF just enough for me to miss the shot. Not now, however. I managed a burst of 7 shots, of which 5 were in focus. I'll probably leave the extender on more than before if performance is this good. 

 

[Kitsafari]

wow that was a super sharp shot of the garganey in flight! not that the others were not brilliant too.  

[Zim Girl]

Great picture of the Garganey!

[Dave Williams]

23 hours ago, PeterHG said:

Thanks, Dave. Well, it can't be a young one yet and I heard it call out a few times, but it does have a youngish appearance. In fact, looking at the photo it looks more like a brownish Chiffchaff than a Cetti's Warbler. There's no mistaking the call, however. Or was it another bird that called and was I mistaken in thinking this was the one? Your words have caused me to revisit the photo (unfortunately the only one).

When I submitted it to an online ID site for Dutch Bird Observations just now it suggested Siberian Chiffchaff with 97% certainty. Well it has been completely wrong before even with this kind of percentage, but perhaps I'd better retract my count and try for another one later. Thanks for your observation!

 

My thought re the young one too. Much too early other than a freak of nature. Sorry you lost the tick but hopefully you'll find another.

[lmSA84]

Beautiful shot of the Garganey! 

[Galana]

Super Garganey, super camera(man)

[michael-ibk]

Beautiful additions Peter, especially the Garganey.

[xelas]

On 4/6/2022 at 12:20 PM, PeterHG said:

if performance is this good. 

The performance IS that good!

[pedro maia]

What a shot (of the Garganey)!!

[Dave Williams]

I am reluctant to post my EBC Garganey having seen yours Peter. A belter.

[PeterHG]

I went to the province of Zeeland for a weekend with my (basically non-birding) brother. We visited some nice areas together and both enjoyed the walks there. He even brought his camera and 150-600 lens to try his hand at some bird photography. So, even if the purpose of the weekend was to do some good brother-to-brother talking we also spent time birding. I had learnt that not far from where we were staying there was a heronry that had also become home to a few Black-crowned Night Herons. A very rare bird in our country, so we drove there in the morning to see if luck was on oir side. The heronry is on an island covered in trees and bushes, so seeing one is not a given. But we did find one and it even allowed us some photos, before it flew off to the middle of the island.

 

126 /NL 82. Black-crowned Night Heron. Zeeland, April

 

 

On our way back we visited a small wetland area, where I managed to find another addition.

 

127 /NL 83. Mediterranean Gull. Zeeland, April

 

 

And this morning I reconnected with one of my favourite birds of the local wetland area.

 

128 /NL 84. Bluethroat. Arkemheen, April