Wild Birds - share yours.

[wildheart]

Inspired by Aussie Ben.

Lets share our wild birds, its time to grab the cameras. The only rule is that you must have taken the picture yourself - no googling. Share the birds in your garden, in your town, anywhere - there is no limitations and ALL birds are welcome!

I am sure bird watchers will agree with me on this one - birds are by far the most difficult to photograph because they move so fast!

I take photos for the pleasure of it, I do not use photoshop or do any editing, so no matter what that birdie looks like - share it.

I'll start with my picture.

The BATELEUR - Berghaan Afr.

They occur in the open savanna in Sub-Saharan Africa. They pair for life and lay one egg in a nest that they use for many years. It is one of the easiest birds to spot because of the beautiful colors.

Here is a 29 second clip of the Bateleur and you can also hear the incredible funny sound that they make.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INR-eKZFBJg"]YouTube - Bateleur[/ame]

The young look like something out of a scary movie - It is UNREAL! A photo wont do it justice so look at the vid. We zoomed in at the end - SCARY!

(I removed the sound cause you wont understand a word of what we said.)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIpuEb6SGcU"]YouTube - Eagle[/ame]

 

[apatrimo94]

Well, in my exception, I'm going to google because I have a horrible camera and it's really hard to get good pictures of birds around my house.

I live in a wooded area by a lake, so I see a lot of wildlife around my house.

Here's a few I normally see everyday:
Robins

Blue Jays:

Great Horned Owl:

Yellow Breasted Chickadee

Black Capped Chickadee:

Woodpecker:

Red-Tailed Hawk:

Canadian Geese:

Then in the winter, most of these birds migrate south and the only birds I really see are cardinals:

 

[Spiritbird]

AP this is fantastic!! I especially like the hawk and the owl. You should work for the Audubon Magazine when you grow up!!

 

[_Cass_]

All I usually see are robins, crows, and partridge! But when I am in California is a different story.... On hot days in Calgary we get Hummingbirds, I
have a couple pictures of them I just need to figure out where they are.......

 

[madparrotwoman]

Wow, wonderful birds, that blue jay is simply stunning!

 

[parrotqueen]

I get mourning doves, white-winged doves, Long-billed and Curve-billed thrashers, Abert's Towhees, Costa's hummingbirds, Anna's hummingbirds, Ruby-throated hummingbirds, Lesser and greater goldfinches, Verdins, Northern Mockingbirds, Boat-tailed grackles, several species of quail, Red-tailed hawks, Harris hawks, Great-horned owls, and the occasional Prairie falcon.

I unfortunately have few pictures, but I'll go and find them for you guys.

 

[wildheart]

Dont you like the Bateleur?

Must I not share more?

 

[parrotqueen]

Of course, I love it! I should have said something, sorry!

They're beautiful; I love the birds of prey. It was fun hearing that strange 'barking' sound the Bateleur made. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Ratzy]

They are beautiful! I'm going to try to get some pics afterschool today. In the mean time, I will list a few that I have seen in my garden.
Sacred Ibis
Straw-necked Ibis
Great Egret
Cattle Egret
White-faced Heron
Australian Pelican
Pacific Black Duck
Maned Duck
Purple Swamphen
Red-rumped Parrot
Rainbow Lorikeet
Crimson Rosella
Eastern Rosella
Sulphar-crested Cockatoo
Long-billed Corella
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Common Bronze-wing
Peregrine Falcon
Black-shouldered Kite
Whistling Kite
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Little Eagle
Welcome Swallow
Barking Owl
Southern Boobook
Red WattleBird
Yellow-rumped Thornbill
Scarlet Robin
Eastern Yellow Robin
Northern Shoveler
House Sparrow
New Holland Honeyeater
To name a few of the birds I see in my garden.

 

[Aussie Ben]

This is a great thread wildheart! Those are some great photos and vids!

Here are a few more I have taken (again up on the Murray)...

Australian Pelican with his big Belly-Can. They are so graceful in flight:

A 'Little Eagle'. Identified by the white pattern under its wings. Just after this photo it swooped down for a catch of fish:

'Pied Cormorant' - Strange looking birds:

 

[wildheart]

Wow, what perfect pictures Ben! What camera are you using, or should I rather ask what lens? Shame the poor Little Eagle, what happened to his name? I love the waterbirds, they are indeed so graceful!

Of all the Kingfishers that we have the Woodland Kingfisher are the most vocal. We can hear them before the sun rises and long after the sun has set - crazy birds! But I must say, they make a beautiful sound and it really makes the bushveld alive.

This is not the best photo that I have but the only one that I have on my laptop:

Here is a vid that we took of a male displaying and singing his heart out to his girl:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcgeBqjDJt8"]YouTube - Woodland Kingfisher[/ame]

We have around 10 types of Kingfishers in SA:

Here is the Pied Kingfisher:

The Giant Kingfisher just after a dive:

The rest are on my computer at home.

 

[Aussie Ben]

Great photos Linky, you have a very good eye for framing a picture! I love kingfishers, although the one in the video looks like he's had too much coffee.

I am using a Nikon D70s Digital SLR with a AF-S VR-NIKKOR 70-200mm 1:2.8G lens. Zoom is not that great, but its fast, it can stop the rotor blades of a helicopter . Super high quality image too, so I can crop my images if i want, to compensate for low optical zoom.

 

[wildheart]

I have the Canon EOS 400D Digital and the Sigma DG 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 lens, BUT, I STILL havent read the book and only know 5% of the functions. I've never had the time yet and that is a lousy excuse.

I agree with you on the King having too much coffee - they REALLY are crazy birds!

Hie-hie, I've just noticed that the vid has a Brown Snake Eagle in it as well - clearly I did not edit until the end!

 

[Aussie Ben]

BUT, I STILL havent read the book and only now 5% of the functions.

They come with instructions? ooo you mean that thing that says 'read before use'....who needs that lol, just go have fun

 

[wildheart]

THANK YOU! - You understand me!

 

[joshua.alvin]

That is really fantastic photo shoot in bird of wild life. I think be a responsible people we have take good care the wild life. Stop killing all endangered species or maybe catch them to have a business.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Yellow Breasted Chickadee

Is someone's leg being pulled?! What's a yellow breasted chickadee? That's a goldfinch.

 

[Ratzy]

I'm going to have to use pics that aren't mine as well. Every time I try, either my camera goes flat or they fly off lol. I did get some of my own pics but it is hard to photograph when 1, there are two masked lapwings trying to kill you and 2, when a magpie is trying to get at your eyes.
The infamous masked lapwing, note the poison spurs.

http://www.idilium.com/Australian_Wildlife/birds/plover_02.jpg
The Australian white-backed magpie.
http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au/images/Magpie_Australian3_Cook.jpg
The crimson rosella.
http://www.paradiseearth.com/Bird Articles/Crimson Rosella.jpg
The eastern rosella.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...sella_(Platycercus_eximius)4_-bird_feeder.jpg
Red wattlebird.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3663/3604867659_53eb88df06.jpg
Rainbow lorikeet.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/neerav.bhatt/S...Dax0zC0LpIc/s288/Rainbow-Lorikeet-Closeup.jpg
White-faced heron.
http://www.raydrew.net/images/White-faced-heron_DSC1510w.jpg
Purple swamphen.
http://www.ozanimals.com/image/albums/australia/Bird/Z-JR-purple-swamphen.jpg
New holland honeyeater.
http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au/images/Honeyeater_New_Holland_Fullagar.jpg
Laughing Kookaburra.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Laughing_kookaburra444.jpg
Galah
http://www.trevorsbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/galah_20081110_002.jpg
Red rumped parrot.
http://www.animalsites.net/news/gallery/red-rumped-parrot/red-rumped-parrot-3.jpg
Maned duck.
http://www.fermeklassique.com/images/MANED-DUCK.jpg
Pacific black duck.
http://barriegmjamieson.com/Black duck Jamieson.jpg
Australian shelduck.
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/NDG/Ducks/Shel/AussieShelDr.JPEG
Wedge-tailed eagle.
http://www.mahrouyeh.com/uploads/widlife_birds_wedge-tailed_eagle2.jpg

 

[parrotqueen]

Here are the pics! Taken with my handy little digital camera.

A precious moment captured; my dad holding out a feeder out to a hummingbird.

A Harris hawk in mid-flight.

Another Harris hawk, on my neighbor's playground.

These were all taken back when we lived in our last house. I hardly see half the wildlife I used to.