birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

We haven’t had anyone post to the BIF/BOW section in a few days, so, to generate some activity, I’ve gone to my archives and pulled out a few to show you. I haven’t had the opportunity to get out to any of the National wildlife refuges lately given the gov’t shut down. So here goes.
For the most part, our BOW posts have really been few and far between. They have been mostly Herons and Egrets and a few ducks, geese and swans. Most people enjoy the challenge of shooting BIFs but birds in the water offer their own challenges, especially if you are shooting birds in moving water such as at the shore or in the ocean. Keeping a bird in focus requires you to be alert to any wave motion, no matter how erratic it may be. Keeping your camera in the tracking focus mode is important as is keeping the focus point exactly where you want it. Wander off for a split second and the camera refocuses on the water. My Canon 7D allows me to adjust the sensitivity of this so that it will hesitate a bit before refocusing but not all cameras have that feature. I use single point AF and will keep the focus point on the body of the bird rather than the eye as the eye is such a small target that it is easy to have the point wander off. As long as I have enough DOF, I am usually OK. I try to shoot at f/8 or f/11. These were all with the camera and 500 mm lens tripod mounted
I decided to feature some birds that you may be unfamiliar with such as the Harlequin Duck and the Long-tailed Duck and one that most are familiar with but rarely see in its winter plumage, the Common Loon. These photos were taken at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park on Long Beach Island on the New Jersey Coast. You can walk out on the jetty and the birds are moved along by the tide running in or out. There are often at least a dozen different species of duck and a few rock type sandpipers to shoot.

A Comon Loon in its winter plumage


Three Male Harlequin Ducks, note the shallow DOF. Only the middle one is in focus at f/8.


Male Harlequin Duck resting in the ocean


Male Long-tailed Duck in intermediate plumage.

globetrekker Loc: Bend, OR

Nice shots!

I have noticed that BIF/BOW forum doesn't seem to be gaining much traction. Not a lot of posts. Not many views. I think a lot of hogs aren't even aware that it exists. Granted, not everyone is into BIF/BOW. So maybe the forum is doing about as well as can be expected. I am wondering if a little shameless self-promotion elsewhere in UHH from time to time might get more eyes on this forum. Just a thought. What do you think? Thanks for listening.

Sunfish 33 Loc: Merritt Island, Fl

Great shots of these beautiful birds! Thanks for the info. I've been slacking with my posts lately but am trying to get back on track. I have a photo I've been meaning to post here with a question but been so busy lately just haven't done it. I'll post it in a few minutes. Thanks again.

Lamar

snails_pace Loc: Utah

Nice images - especially so in that we don't have the ducks in this part of the country.

Is it OK to add a couple of loon images to this thread? They are not as good as these ... but I do have a question/ observation. I'll confess to having technique/ equipment envy.

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Feel free to post if you want to!

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Thanks, Lamar. Still hoping you will post something!!!

Sunfish 33 Loc: Merritt Island, Fl

I did.

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Globetrecker, you are right that we don’t get a lot of traffic here on the BIF/BOW forum. I have at times done some promotion in the General Photography and Photo Gallery Forums to little effect. There are several reasons for this and you have hit on one of them: people don’t know about it because it is somewhat hidden because Admin insists that they be buried under the “All Sections” header instead of just listed plainly with all the other forums. You then need to subscribe to it for it to show up on your list of forums.
The main reason, I believe, is that when you post on the BIF/BOW forum you don’t get the numbers of comments that you get when you post on the Photo Gallery. Let’s face it, people want positive feedback for their work and will post where they know they will have maximum exposure. I laugh when I see posts going on for 5, 6, 7 pages or more and I see that fully half the responses are “thank you” from the Original Poster! While it is nice to acknowledge each and every one who responds with a comment, its main function, for many, is to keep the topic at the top of page one in order to gain even more comments. It remains there until everyone who could possibly see it has and it finally sinks to the relative obscurity of pages 3 and beyond.

Another reason may be that we have been restricted to BIF/BOW only and I think we would get more traffic if we expanded to all bird photos. If you analyzed the postings to the photo gallery you would probably find that that is one of the most frequent topics. I was not involved in setting this forum up but was asked to assist Bob Howdy as a co-manager. Bob seems to have flown the coop as he has not posted anything to UHH since early July.

I will continue to work with the BIF/BOW forum for the time being and will comment on other posts about birds in whatever section they are in. I will continue to suggest that people go to our forum for more information when appropriate. You can help by doing the same.

Thanks for your concern!

Birdpix

globetrekker Loc: Bend, OR

Sooo well said! All the endless "thank you" posts do get old. I'm guilty of that a bit myself, though my posts never get multiple pages of responses.

I think broadening to include all bird shots would be a great idea.

I have occasionally mentioned the forum when commenting on posts, and will continue to do so.

oldmalky Loc: West Midlands,England.

It seems to me that there are people in other forums who are more interested in building there message count than posting in here. As has been said, several pages of thank you, or appreciate that, just look at major postings each day, look at chit chat that is going the same way with people just putting in a link then spending pages of two thumbs up

snails_pace Loc: Utah

Here are a few loon images I have from the last year.

The first is - I think - a yellow billed loon. I was VERY fortunate to see it. It was not that close to shore. They are rather rare migrants here. A quick look at the Utah rare bird list showed it was one they like to have reported/ documented. I'll have to investigate more.

The second is one from last year - taken late in the day. But it seems to have monofilament line in its bill.

Then a few weeks ago I found a loon .... I think it is a juvenile common loon .... heavy gray bill but seems to still have a lot of brown feathers. On closer inspection, it has a fishing hook and leader or lure stuck in its bill.

So it looks like the loons are either scraping up fishing tackle from the bottom of the lake ... or while people are fishing? I wonder how common of a problem this is.

yellow billed loon?


"hooked" common loon


juvenile common loon?


more fishing tackle?

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

That first one does look like a Juvenile Yellow-billed Loon and I would report it, although it was last year. Some one else may have seen it, too and nobody believed them because they had no photograph. I am no expert, though. The third is, as you suspect, a Juvi Common Loon.

If you don't already have a contact in Utah, here is a link you might find useful: http://www.utahbirds.org/

Very nice set of photos! Thanks for posting them.

vicksart Loc: Novato, CA -earthquake country

I'm enjoying looking at good photography though I have no photos of my own to offer. As always, thanks for sharing your talent and expertise.