Close, but no cigar . . .

Jock Elliott

Hall of Famer
Location
Troy, NY
Ever since we saw bald eagles at Peebles Island, I have been casually chasing what I think of as the Holy Grail of bird and wildlife photography: birds in flight.

At Peebles Island Saturday, we were walking the perimeter trail on the north side -- the trail is elevated at good 30 feet or more above the water. A couple of geese came booming in:

P900 Peebles Island Parks day 033.jpg

I started panning, panning, trying to zoom . . . I triggered the shutter. The P900 proved that it can snap focus on a closer-in object with astonishing speed:

P900 Peebles Island Parks day 034.jpg

Yesterday, I decided to bring the "little" camera (the LX100) to Oakwood Cemetery. At full optical and digital zoom, it can go to 300mm e. A couple of male mallards got into it over a female:

LX100 Oakwood skies and geese 020.jpg


Finally one of them flew away:

LX100 Oakwood skies and geese 021.jpg

Still not the quality I want to achieve but it sure is fun chasing after it!

Cheers, Jock
 
I used to shoot a lot of birds. It's a specialty that takes consistent practice, patience, and often challenging lighting conditions. And of course some camera systems do it better than others. For some reason I lost interest. I will shoot those lucky moments when a song bird lands in a tree 20 feet away or birds in the zoo, more domestics on a local lake. But I no longer spend an entire day at it. Looks like you're having fun! My bird gallery Birds
 
When I focused on wildlife for hours at a time, here's a few samples of what I got with the Panasonic FZ50, a 2006 bridge camera with a max 420 mm equiv. focal length. Apologies for low quality and bad composition/cropping. This was my first effort in wildlife photography. All taken at Bolsa Chica, Huntington Beach CA, over a 2-year period.

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More: Apologies for low quality and bad composition/cropping. This was my first effort in wildlife photography. All taken at Bolsa Chica, Huntington Beach CA, over a 2-year period.

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More: Apologies for low quality and bad composition/cropping. This was my first effort in wildlife photography. All taken at Bolsa Chica, Huntington Beach CA, over a 2-year period.

One of those is a Kestrel, right? Awesome shot!

And Luke is right: part of the fun is trying to get the shot.

Cheers, Jock
 
when I had my 5D Mk2 and Mk 3 with 100-400 L lenses, and less of a tremor........I managed to get quite reasonable results. Sadly, I am not up to it any more. Even with a tripod.

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Hanningfield Swan
by Pete Tachauer, on Flickr

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Kestrel in Flight - Heybridge
by Pete Tachauer, on Flickr

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Maldon swans in Flight
by Pete Tachauer, on Flickr

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Lapwing in flight, Rainham RSPB
by Pete Tachauer, on Flickr

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Hanningfield Flyers
by Pete Tachauer, on Flickr

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Brent Goose, Wanstead
by Pete Tachauer, on Flickr

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geese Lake Meadows
by Pete Tachauer, on Flickr

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geese Lake Meadows
by Pete Tachauer, on Flickr
 
One of those is a Kestrel, right? Awesome shot!
And Luke is right: part of the fun is trying to get the shot.
Cheers, Jock

Kestrel, yes. Trying to get the shot and failing miserably 100 times over, discourages most people from going any further. But like so many things in life (example: driving solo for 2500 miles in 50 hours), just knowing that it's possible can get people past that discouragement. A shrink I talked to once explained 'knowing' - that knowing from someone else's experience is intellectual, and doesn't do it for people. But patience and some research can get a person there.
 
I still go to my old haunts when I get time. Even if the shots I get are a pile of ordure.........it is a place where I can listen to nature, hear the wind, the rain, feel the sun, hear the birds.......where I can "unthink" I love to unthink. I can recommend it to everyone!
 
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