A few more shots from the other day at Forsythe. Except for the Northern Shovelers these were taken with the Canon R6. Any one else shooting with the Canon Mirrorless cameras? I'd be interested in your reactions.

Courtship Flight

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I like what I see!

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Male and Female Northern Shovelers

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Glossy Ibis

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Haven't posted in quite a while. Here are some examples of recent work. Enjoy

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Pretty definitely a Merlin. The notch on the bill is diagnostic of the Falcons. The size and coloration says Merlin. The reddish belly is typical of Pacific Coast birds. They say that Falcons are more closely related to the parrots than to the other raptors which seems strange until you look at the shape of a parrots bill and you see the similarity. If the back feathers and the wing coverts (The upper part of the wing that is visible when folded) is gray, it is a male, if brown: female.

Pretty definitely a Merlin. The notch on the bill is diagnostic of the Falcons. The size and coloration says Merlin. The reddish belly is typical of Pacific Coast birds. They say that Falcons are more closely related to the parrots than to the other raptors which seems strange until you look at the shape of a parrots bill and you see the similarity. If the back feathers and the wing coverts (The upper part of the wing that is visible when folded) is gray, it is a male, if brown: female.

Sorry it has taken so long to get back. Your settings seem to be ok. Shutter speed for that telephoto lens is fine. Spot focus is appropriate and AI servo is correct. In the first picture, nothing seems to be perfectly focused. The bird seems to be moving quickly from left to right. Were you panning with it? Or did you keep the camera stationary? If the camera was stationary, perhaps the shutter speed was too slow. If you were panning, which IS mode were you using? #2 is best for panning but #3 will work also. The second shot does not allow me to download it so I can't enlarge it to see enough detail. You can repost it.

What focus mode were you using? Area? Multi point? Single point? One shot or servo?

Cool!

Nice trio of mergansers!

Very well done!

Were these done at a raptor show or were these birds wild?

Juvenile Aplomado Falcon, Red-tailed Hawk and Great Gray Owl.

No, we are not trapping the adults. The risk of injuring an adult is too great. The young are retrieved from the nest site whether it is a natural site like a cliff or a man made structure like a tall building, bridge or tower. While the chicks are attended to, the adults will usually fly around squawking at us. Some are quite agressive and will physically attack any one near the nest site. That is what was going on here. This female was hyper agressive and attacked my lens. I stopped taking photos after only a few incidents so as not to risk injuring her and putting her offspring at risk. The male never put in an appearance.

Nicely done! Tough subject, good practice!

You've given yourself an almost impossible task with this series. Not only is the sun high in the sky but you are shooting towards the sun so the bird is backlit. The only solution with these shots is to use an editing program that will allow you to lighten the bird and darken the sky. That is not impossible but is rarely fully satisfactory. You need to train the birds to cooperate and not fly with the sun at their back, LOL!

I've used Blurb and the quality is very good.