Jim's little warm-up

[JimS]

 

#25 Common starling (Sturnus vulgaris): Hyde Park, London UK, 2 December 2023

[JimS]

#26 Common/Eurasian magpie (Pica pica): Hyde Park, London UK, 2 December 2023

 

[xelas]

I can see you have mastered the new gear in record time, Jim!

[JimS]

Back to the water birds, a couple of rails that are pretty easy to spot throughout the UK. Even a fledgling birder like me knows Coots and Moorhens, but until recently I'd have needed to refer to a guide to remind myself which is which.

 

#27 Eurasian coot (Fulica atra): Hyde Park, London UK, 2 December 2023

 

#28 Common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus): Hyde Park, London UK, 2 December 2023

 

[JimS]

 

#29 Graylag goose (Anser anser): Hyde Park, London UK, 2 December 2023

 

 

[JimS]

#30 Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca): Hyde Park, London UK, 2 December 2023

 

A goose that's actually a duck. Another non-native.

 

[JimS]

#31 Northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata): Hyde Park, London UK, 2 December 2023

 

[JimS]

#32 Tufted duck(Aythya fuligula): Hyde Park, London UK, 2 December 2023

 

 

[JimS]

#33 Common pochard (Aythya ferina): Hyde Park, London UK, 3 December 2023

 

 

 

[JimS]

 

#34 Song thrush (Turdus philomelos): Oxfordshire, UK, 11 December 2023

 

An EBC if ever I saw one. Walking the dog this morning I heard this long before I saw it, and with only my phone to capture the moment once Merlin identified the song.

 

 

I did get some video though to record the song, just in case anything thinks Merlin got it wrong:

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by JimS

[Galana]

The sound on the Video is more like an Ostrich.

[PeterHG]

7 hours ago, Galana said:

Video is more like an Ostrich.

[JimS]

Now I have a few more to add from the latter half of December. I don't think I'll achieve my half-century, but there are still a few more days so I won't discount it.

 

#35 Common blackbird (Turdus merula): Thame, Oxfordshire, 19 December 2023

 

Common enough, but until now not one presented itself while I had a camera within reach.

OM-1, Olympus 100-400mm @400mm, f6.3, 1/400s, ISO 20,000

 

#36 Great tit (Parus major): Thame, Oxfordshire, 28 December 2023

 

Snatched a record shot while the focus was still on the foreground branch...

OM-1, Olympus 100-400mm @400mm, f7.1, 1/400s, ISO 200

 

...and she took flight before I had a chance to refocus (I believe it's a 'she' as the field guide tells me the black stripe down the chest would be wider between the legs if it were male).

OM-1, Olympus 100-400mm @400mm, f7.1, 1/400s, ISO 200

[JimS]

#37 European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis): Thame, Oxfordshire, UK, 28 December 2023

 

The Merlin app told me it could hear these while walking my dog one recent evening, but I couldn't see them in the gloom. Better luck at the same spot this morning with clear sunny skies.

OM-1, Olympus 100-400mm @342mm, f6.3, 1/500s, ISO 200

 

OM-1, Olympus 100-400mm @400mm (cropped), f6.3, 1/500s, ISO 200

 

#38 Great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus): Marlow, Buckinghamshire, UK, 28 December 2023

 

I was hopeful a walk by the river might add to my score. It did, but only by one.

 

Adult (male or female? Plumage is same or very similar?)

OM-1, Olympus 100-400mm @400mm (cropped), f6.3, 1/400s, ISO 1600

 

Juvenile

OM-1, Olympus 100-400mm @400mm (cropped), f6.3, 1/500s, ISO 500

 

[JimS]

#39 Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla): Oxfordshire, UK, 23 December 2023

 

This took me a while. It was silhoutted against the light, and I "only" had the 40-150mm lens so I couldn't make out what it was at all at the time and only just got around to revisiting the photo and pushing the exposure a few stops in Lightroom. Galana's law told me it would be a Brown-headed or Brown-hooded something or other. I'd copied the image onto my phone, so I tried the identification feature in the iPhone's photo app, and it told me immediately I had a blackcap. Suspicious at first (this being a blatant flouting of Galana's law) I checked the field guide which confirmed the female of this species does indeed have a chestnut (not black) cap. Modern sensibilities have not reached these poor birds yet, the females still forced to take their partners' names!

 

Apparently it's quite unusual to see them in the UK at this time of year. We have several 100,000s of breeding pairs which leave for warmer places in autumn; at the same time around a 1,000 migrants come to overwinter in the UK from other (even colder I assume?) parts of northern Europe.

 

OM-1, Olympus 40-150mm @150mm (cropped), f2.8, 1/500s, ISO 400

 

 

[JimS]

On 12/12/2023 at 8:44 AM, PeterHG said:

 

That would be quite a sight around here!

 

At least I now managed to see another while I had my camera, so here's a slightly more convincing record shot

 

Although something about this makes the bird look photoshopped into the picture as the edges seem too sharp, but I honestly did very little to this apart from a fairly small amount of denoise and sharpen. I know the Olympus 40-150 f2.8 lens has a great reputation for its sharpness wide-open, but I didn't expect it to make images look fake!

OM-1, Olympus 40-150mm @150mm (cropped), f2.8, 1/500s, ISO 1250

 

[TonyQ]

@JimSyou are making excellent progress with some lovely photos 

[PeterHG]

I agree.  Beautiful shots of Goldfinch and Grebe!

[michael-ibk]

Seconded. I love Goldfinch, and you got very nice photos indeed. 

[xelas]

Although not named the Redwing shot is superb and a great advertisement for 40-150 f/2.8 lens. You should try your best to get to 50; if not next Big Year starts in just 3 days 😊.

[JimS]

3 hours ago, xelas said:

Although not named the Redwing shot is superb and a great advertisement for 40-150 f/2.8 lens. You should try your best to get to 50; if not next Big Year starts in just 3 days 😊.

Ah… I mistook this for a song thrush. Now I see the red on the flanks… so this is what a redwing looks like!

 

Assuming my prior song thrush was actually a song thrush, that makes the redwing number 40.

[xelas]

Only you can say if the other bird was a Song Thrush, however, Merlin app recognized its voice so that shall suffice. Speaking of Merlin there is also a Photo ID, try it. Not 100% but it works well enough for me.

[Peter Connan]

Wait, what? The app tells you what birds are around by listening?

That seems a bit intrusive to me, a bit "big brother is watching"?

 

Nice progress all the same though!

Edited January 2 by Peter Connan

[xelas]

5 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

Wait, what? The app tells you what birds are around by listening?

Not all the time but you can record the song and the app will give you possible birds. 

[Peter Connan]

Ah, that sounds a lot less intrusive. Thanks @xelasand sorry for going OT @JimS