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Hen Harrier

Isle of Mull

 

Hen Harrier

 

Hen Harrier

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Please note this batch are all trained birds performing.

Taken at Dullstroom Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Centre.

Barney.jpg

Barney-2.jpg

Fish.jpg

Fish-3.jpg

Fish-6.jpg

Kaalwang-4.jpg

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Wow, @Peter Connan, trained birds or not, you certainly made excellent use of the opportunity. Great BIF shots!

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Thank you very much @PeterHG

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Last week we spent a few days away in Cape May, New Jersey which is a birding hot spot on the east coast of the USA, as it is on a major migration flyway. In the fall, there is a very famous hawkwatch there run by the Audubon Society in conjunction with the Cape May Bird Observatory. We were lucky to have west and northwest winds and spent almost the entire day on the platform in Cape May Point State Park, whirling around trying to photograph the seemingly endless stream of falcons (it was a big day for falcons...different species come through at different times during the fall. This day saw over 600 Kestrels and 300 Merlins, among others.)  Anyway, here are a few shots from that day, it was a blast!

 

American Kestrel

 

JZ8_7174b.jpg.58ae920afcd649465b887dfc76aef454.jpg

 

Cooper's Hawk

JZ8_7082a.jpg.36320feba1ba43903e6a94d31b795b21.jpg

 

 

Belted Kingfisher

JZ8_7054a.jpg.6caed6fff4401f2af063f5d53e0bc335.jpg

 

American Kestrel

 

JZ8_7025a.jpg.4fca7ed767ec8975957e8d04a5618779.jpg

 

Blue Jay--not an easy bird to catch in flight. There was a flight of about 500 this day.

 

JZ8_6991a.jpg.861f03608dbb00951834524436ce14a4.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wow! That sounds like a fantastic spot Janet

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By comparison with @janzin's day out my recent BIF shots are rather mundane. Here in northern Germany the migrating birds are mostly geese; 

Specifically Greylag and Barnacle

 

Greylag Geese

 

Barnacle Goose

 

Barnacle Goose

 

Barnacle Goose

 

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Greylag Geese

There are currently lots of them around in the mornings

 

Greylag Geese

 

Greylag Geese

 

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and, for once, light and wind were in my favour for this hunting Kestrel, even if it was a bit distant

 

Kestrel

 

Kestrel

 

Kestrel

 

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Love the last one!

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A rare sunny day gave me the opportunity to drive up to the Baltic coast to explore a couple more sites in search of new species for my BY.

 

Of course being by on the coast, the most numerous birds were Gulls. I've never liked Gulls very much. Partly, I suppose, because they are always around and often a nuisance but also because I am not brilliant at identifying them.

 

But, if they are there I'll photograph them, and they do give good opportunities for bird in flight shots.

 

My first stop was at a reserve to the East of Kiel called Bottsand.

 

Herring Gull

Herring Gull

 

Herring Gull

 

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

 

I was surprised to see so many Curlews skimming across the wave tops. 

I'm constantly puzzled by how a bird that looks quite large when standing on the ground looks so compact in flight.

 

Curlew

Curlew

 

Curlew

 

Curlew

 

My favourite shots though were of a Wigeon that took off from the beach in front of me. I'd been waiting for it to launch but, of course, at the critical moment I happened to be distracted by something else.

 

I did catch it though

 

Wigeon

Wigeon

 

Wigeon

 

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Next stop was about 30km East, around the town of Hohwacht.

Hohwacht is primarily a holiday resort, but at the end of October it was all but deserted. The season, combined with Covid restrictions meant that pretty much all facilities were closed.

 

close to Hohwacht is a reserve called Sehlendorfer Binnensea, a large lake or inland sea. It is a favourite spot for migrating birds to stop, although at the moment they are almost exclusively Greylag Geese.

 

Just as the weather closed in I spotted a Kestrel hunting over the reeds. 

Kestrel

 

Kestrel

 

At one point it hovered quite low, giving me a better angle

Kestrel

 

Kestrel

 

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Dave Williams

The easiest way of getting a flight shot is when you have a clear background so the camera locks focus fairly easily.The result though can be fairly boring.BH2I3543original.jpg.640c7e78553828f01a85cb6f7c49b87c.jpg

 

Photoshop CC have added a new sky replacement tool ( just lick on the edit menu) which makes it easy to change the background with virtually no effort.BH2I3543stormy.jpg.0d80ccf73986bbe291edfab038fb6795.jpg

 

You have several options to chooseBH2I3543clouds.jpg.5cd883e807f621329e34feb401d6d521.jpg

 

A novelty but I think it will soon be past it's sell by date!BH2I3543.jpg.32b412f7eea2bcfdf7e4d17bdc4b5817.jpg

 

Something to play with for the time being though!!

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15 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

Something to play with for the time being though!!

 

If you can afford Adobe Photoshop CC. 

I stopped using Photoshop when they went to monthly charging

 

and I actually prefer the first shot with clear blue sky anyway. 

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Dave Williams

At the risk of going completely off topic I guess the decision to sign up to Photoshop is dependant on the amount of use you have for it. I resisted until it became too much of a bind converting RAW in to TIF to allow me to use my recent camera images in CS6. Photoshop CC is the best that’s available imo and so £8 a month  is reasonable for the almost daily use I get out of it.... even if I am only trawling through old images. 
As for the added sky backgrounds they took minutes and without any attempts to fine tune them. No doubt they can be toned down to look more natural. Nowadays one wonders how much of a photograph represents the original view but I stick by my opinion that a plain sky is petty boring!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Given that I spent a week in September looking for one (or more) on Mull, it was a wonderful surprise to see one unexpectedly in Hamburg of all places.

 

White-tailed Eagle

(a little bit over-sharpened)

 

White-tailed Eagle

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The past couple of weeks I have been searching for migrating swans, Whooper or Berwicks, without any success. There are, however, lots pf Mute Swans around.

 

Mute Swans in flight

 

Mute Swans in flight

 

Mute Swans in flight

 

Mute Swan in flight

 

Mute Swan in flight

 

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Grey Heron

 

Grey Heron in flight

 

Grey Heron in flight

 

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Cormorant

 

Cormorant

 

Cormorant

 

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and its,,,, another Buzzard

They seem to be everywhere I look at the moment

 

Common Buzzard

 

Common Buzzard

 

Common Buzzard

 

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There are still occasional groups of migrating cranes honking overhead, and the low winter sun gives decent light

 

Common Crane

 

Common Crane

 

Common Crane

 

Common Crane

 

Common Crane

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Back in the UK again, at last.

For some reason I seem to have more success getting pictures of geese in flight than I do of geese on the ground

 

Tundra Bean Goose

Tundra Bean Geese

 

Tundra Bean Geese

 

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European (also referred to as 'Greater') White-fronted Goose

 

White-fronted Geese

 

White-fronted Geese

 

White-fronted Geese

 

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I was also very fortunate to catch sight of a Barn Owl hunting over the reedbeds of a nearby creek.

 

Barn Owl

 

Barn Owl

 

Barn Owl

 

 

the light changes a bit a the bird moves across in front of the afternoon sun and it gets further away

Barn Owl

 

Barn Owl

 

Barn Owl

 

Barn Owl

 

Barn Owl

 

Barn Owl

 

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What a lucky sighting - great pictures!

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