Thank you for your kind thoughts. It is especially gratifying coming from someone with your abilities.

LittleRed

Thanks loads for your comments, they are truly appreciated. I have to agree with you on the Sandhills as I got very lucky with him. He was just showing off to his lady friend.
LittleRed

In my mind, the most beautiful of all the Egrets. Such a pleasure to see and photograph. In order to see these birds in the winter we have to travel close to 3000 miles, but dang it tis well worth it. They look and act just like ballerina's in their long white gowns.
The Sandhill Crane ain't no slouch in the dancing department, but it just doesn't have the beauty of the Egret.

Little Red

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Beautiful shots, especially of the Swamphen. Have many good shots of its cousin the Purple Gallinule but never have seen this critter. Something to try for in the future. Best wishes to you and yours for the upcoming year and keep the fantastic pics coming.

Little Red

Personally, I have found BBF to be a valuable additional tool in my pic-taking. It has allowed me to have many more keepers when in the field. Both I and my wife are avid nature photographers, especially for those avian creatures that fly sooooo guickly or "bounce" through the bushes. However it is not for everyone, each person must make up their own mind whether to like it or not. My wife tried but didn't really like it so reverted back to the old method. She seemed more comfortable using the "one button" method. But I can't argue to much about that as a lot of her pictures are as good and sometimes better than mine.
Firstly I must say that I use Canon equipment so what I will say relates to that equipment. All will be able to relate to other brands in some ways.
Following are the four main reason I like to use BBF on my camera.
1. For single shots - when shooting out of a blind at either a bird feeding station or water drip l can set my camera/tripod up and pre-sight and focus on a pre-determined location. This is usually a perch that the birds use before approaching the drip. Once I lock the focus on I then can relax in my chair with a remote and snap away whenever I want. No hunching over the camera. However the good thing is that if another opportunity should guickly come upon you, then you just unhook the camera and you've got BBF ready for the action.
2. Multiple shots of moving objects - this is where BBF really shines. For BIF or anything moving along the ground nothing can beat it. This fact has been born out by many previous posters so I won't linger her too much other than to say it sure makes life easier.
3. Close-up and Live View - I have found a great help in these two instances. In the old method I found that you had to set your lens to manual and not auto. If not then every time you touched the shutter your focus would move. With BBF you can leave your lens on auto-focus with the assigned BB, and as long as you don't touch it it will stayed locked. Then you can manually adjust the focus slightly till your satisfied and snap the pic. Again as in number 1 if another photo opportunity should quickly arise like a BIF then your lens is in auto-focus and your ready to go.
4. Handing Your Camera to Another Photographer - I have noticed in prior threads that this is a problem brought up a lot. Again I must say that this info relates t a Canon (T5i) and may not be true of other brands. When travelling with the missus there are times when we would like to have a pic of the two of us together (to send to our daughter to show how her inheritance was being depleted). Normally you would have to either instruct the poor volunteer on how to use BBF or return it to the default settings. Not so on my Canon. All I have to do is reset the camera to the "P" setting and it basically becomes a standard P&S with the focus contolled by the shutter button, like "normal" cameras. Heck, if you feel a little flash would be necessary put it on "A". All you get is a nice touristy picture, but that's all I would be looking for. Once this is done than go back to "Av", "Tv" or "M" and your back on BBF and ready to go.

Guess I'd better shut up, wife says once I git going I tend to blab too much. But basically these are the main reasons I like BBF and have found it to be an invaluable tool. So give it a honest shot, perhaps it may not be to your liking, but I think you will find it will be. Good luck with your picture taking in the New Year. From us up here in the cold shores of Gitchi-Gumie we wish all youse UHHers a Blessed Christmas and Helluva Good 2016.

Little Red

This definitely is a male Nashville Warbler. Two items to look for in identifying this bird is the prominent white eyering but more important the chestnut-red markings on his cap. This is usually is not highly noticeable unless he is excited or otherwise surprised. Take a close look at your photo and you can see a bit of this coloured cap showing. He is presently moving through your area enroute to his his wintering range in either Mexico or South America,

Yes, they are loveable and getting expensive to feed. Thanks for looking. Hoping to get your way this winter/spring. Would like one more crack at High Island for the migrants and the rookery.

Ron

Thank you fer viewing my feathered friends Swamp-Cork. Appreciate your best wishes.

Ron

Thank you for looking. Patience is a requirement when photographing birds. This hummer adopted our feeders as his own and defended them constantly until he headed south yesterday. So, he was a willing poser. No, these were not taken with a zoom lens, but rather a 300mm prime. Yes, they were cropped, but some not what I would consider severely. The distance to the Finch, Chick'd and hummers Was about 16', the Jay about 25' and the remainder at my feeder stations about 35/40' away. I should note I do very little PP. Am not really interested in this. I shoot onlY JPG and do very little corrections. When I moved from film to digital many moons ago I used a Olympus 3mp camera which came with a very basic editing program. Can sharpen, darken, lighten and a few other items. It still is the only editing program I use. I usually don't spend more than a minute or so on each pic. Guess I is just a bit lazy :-0. Again, thanks for looking and best of luck with your hummers.
Ron

Thanks Dennis for looking. Am gitt'n better every day. Will be back in the bush chasing these critters shortly.

Thanks for looking at my special friends and commenting.

Appreciate you taking a peek and your comment.

Thanks fer looking. The nice thing about this site is to be able to share what you can see.

Fall is fast approaching, and it seems to come faster as you grow older. Haven't been able to get out too much lately for various reasons so have been regulated to the deck. Thank God that I have many feathered friends that come and enjoy my feeders. Here is a selection that have visited me in the past few weeks.

Ron

Juvenile male American Goldfinch


Black-capped Chickadee


Adult and juvenile Chipping Sparrows


Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird


Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird


Juvenile male Ruby-throated Hummingbird


Gray Jay


Male Hairy Woodpecker


Juvenile Downy Woodpecker


American Crow who cleans the yard

I note a few people are talking about teleconverters on this thread. I must repeat what some have said the item you have been offered is NOT a teleconverter but a TeleConversion lens. A teleconverter is placed between your lens and camera body while a TeleConversion lens is attached to the filter end. A few years ago I used an Olympus SP-550UZ digital camera as my backup to my then Canon XSi. It had a 18X non-removable wide angle lens. In order to try and increase it's reach I also bought a Olympus TCON-17 TeleConversion lens to go with it. This is very similar to the one you found online. Although it did work it was hit and miss for the most part. I got some good shots but a lot more bad. The main problem with this combination was the auto-focus as it appeared to have a lot more searching for a focus point with the lens attached than with it off. But, it did work and considering that it came from an established company such as Olympus must suggest that this system has some merit. If your a bit adventurous and like to play around with your camera this might be worth a shot. Heck, where I live the $15 charge would just pay for a couple of worm-burgers at Mickey-D's. I had some fun with mine and can assure you that Olympus charged a lot more than the one you found ( or better, the one that found you)

Red