Zvezda & Alex are still in the game - BY #9

[xelas]

3 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

No Hoopoe?!? You know it deserves to be posted.

 OK, since you are twisting my hand .

 

[xelas]

30 minutes ago, BRACQUENE said:

Listen to Stravinsky's Le Rossignol ( French and Russian version ) or Handel 's famous 13th organ concerto " The cuckoo and the nightingale " without forgetting the standard British song made popular by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra " A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square " 

 

My friend, if only I would have an ear for such music ...

[xelas]

31 minutes ago, pedro maia said:

The nightingale brings me back memories of how I nearly missed it by having the camera in the car boot…

 

Luckily nowadays we are bringing the mobile phones with us.

[xelas]

As I have time to kill and weather is lousy and to keep my mind off the food, here are several BIF tries. As mentioned I have used an older DSLR (D7200) to check it if it would be an option to bring to Botswana.

Surely not even close to what a modern ML bodies can do, but still able to produce a sharp photo. 

 

It is easier to get good photo of birds that has colours like Common Buzzard and Ruff.

 

 

 

[xelas]

Those white ones are tough to nail exposure properly, and I am struggling even with post-processing them. Great White Egret and Common Tern

 

 

[xelas]

The black&white birds are probably the worst to expose properly. White Stork, Northern Lapwing and Black-winged Stilt.

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

6 hours ago, pedro maia said:

The nightingale brings me back memories of how I nearly missed it by having the camera in the car boot…

 

I remember the desperation in your face!

 

Great BIF Alex, especially the Lapwing and Stilt.

Edited May 3 by michael-ibk

[xelas]

6 minutes ago, michael-ibk said:

Great BIF Alex, especially the Lapwing and Stilt.

 

Thanks Michael, yet I am looking forward to see yours!

[michael-ibk]

Patience young Padawan - but hope to get to them before we leave!

[TonyQ]

Great sightings. The Owl is stunning.

You did well with the three black and white birds in flight

And you got some ice-cream 

[michael-ibk]

The best one Tony!

 

[TonyQ]

A monster!

[xelas]

34 minutes ago, TonyQ said:

A monster!

 

No, this one is Dolce Vita! As far I remember, they do not have Monster. But we can always suggest the idea?!

[xelas]

54 minutes ago, michael-ibk said:

Patience young Padawan

 

A Padawan I might be (among birders) but young I am only in heart, and Patience is certainly not my middle name . 

[Galana]

21 hours ago, BRACQUENE said:

British song made popular by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra " A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square " 

Erm!! British song British songstress.  Would rather remember it as one from the Forces Sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn than other transatlantic johnny come latelys.

No matter. A worthwhile trip indeed. that 2nd LE Owl gets the medal for me.

[xelas]

1 hour ago, Galana said:

that 2nd LE Owl gets the medal for me.

 

Thanks Fred. Although Owls must be among the easiest birds to photograph once you spot them. Just sitting still for ages.

[xelas]

Rainy Friday makes me browse through past photos of this year, and I have found one that is good enough to be posted.

 

Škocjanski zatok    4-Feb-2024
 

 

BY 231  /  SI 053

Cetti’s Warbler  -  Cettia cetti

 

Edited May 4 by xelas

[PeterHG]

Excellent BIF shots, Alex. Perhaps exposing them correctly may be more difficult in the white/ black-and-white birds, but you nailed the focus! Tack sharp…

[Peter Connan]

Great photos and what an ice cream!

[xelas]

T

On 5/4/2024 at 5:24 PM, PeterHG said:

you nailed the focus!

 

The old(er) DSLR cameras are not yet to be thrown in the bin! Yes, not every BIF photo in series is sharp, but those that are, came out pretty well!

 

 

56 minutes ago, Peter Connan said:

Great photos and what an ice cream!

 

There are many other varieties (of ice cream ) and they are all delicious!

[Kitsafari]

i'll have to lose a kg in weight to gain a kg with that monster of an ice cream but gosh does it look delicious.

 

Great BIFs.  

 

 

[xelas]

6 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

i'll have to lose a kg in weight to gain a kg

Why loosing when one can gain .

[Peter Connan]

Well I can't answer for Kit, but in my case I would then also need to gain a whole new wardrobe. Feeling rather constrained around the middle as it is...

 

I do feel I need to ask though: why are you bringing the D7200 to Africa? Or rather, why not the D500?

Edited May 7 by Peter Connan

[Zim Girl]

On 5/4/2024 at 12:08 PM, xelas said:

 

Thanks Fred. Although Owls must be among the easiest birds to photograph once you spot them. Just sitting still for ages.

I knew there was a reason I liked them so much .

[xelas]

4 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

I do feel I need to ask though: why are you bringing the D7200 to Africa? Or rather, why not the D500?

 

A good question that I do not have a good answer for . Maybe because D7200 is a tad lighter, and it does have very useful U1 and U2 modes; with D500 I tend to forget about exposure compensation settings. 

Maybe because it already has 250k clicks on it. Maybe because looking back in time, it gave us so many such nice photos. Nostalgia?! Anyway, I will bring D7200 to Namibia to test it in before having it as a sole body in Botswana.