wings42 Loc: San Diego, CA

I used to think these brown ones were a separate species. Two different birds, taken at Liberty Station, San Diego with Nikon D7000, Tamron 18-270. Any suggestions welcome.

Western Gull juvenile


Western Gull juvenile

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Thank you for sharing

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Nice job on the Gulls! Most of the gulls have several stages of color before they gain full adult plumage. Some take as long as 3 years, Western Gull included.

oldmalky Loc: West Midlands,England.

Yep thats the answer, the juveniles all show degrees of brown

wings42 Loc: San Diego, CA

BirdPix,

I took the liberty of checking out your picture galleries.

Producing bird pictures comparable to yours is my goal as a photographer. Your equipment is better than mine but I believe that if we traded cameras and lenses your pictures would look a lot like the ones in your galleries, and mine would look a lot like the one's I'm taking now...maybe with some slight improvement because of your superior lens.

It's been about a year since I've started with DSLR photography...so much to learn and master. You've inspired me.

And thanks for your good work helping to save the birds that my wife and I love so much.

David

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

David,

Thank you for the kind words! I would be a liar if I said that top quality equipment doesn't provide an advantage but there is a steep learning curve with any long lens. Keep at it. Learn the strong points of the equipment you have and work them to your advantage. Most of all, get out there and practice. Learn from your mistakes and, most of all, have fun!

wings42 Loc: San Diego, CA

Thanks for the wise advise.

I do have fun with this every day. Lots of frustrations, but most days at least one picture is a keeper or my camera magically freezes time so my wife and I see something that would otherwise be invisible. For example, last year I shot about a dozen rapid fire pictures of two White Tailed Kites interacting noisily in the air about 300 ft. away. The downloaded pictures were just sharp enough to reveal that one had a gopher in it's talons that the other was trying to steal. We'd have never seen that without the camera, my fervent intention, taking lots of pictures every day and good luck. You and other master nature photographers are an inspiration, creating and sharing examples of what is possible.