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by Kim on Mon May 15, 2017 10:26 pm
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I have had a reasonable 6 months with my new D7200 and the Tamron 150-600mm lens learning bird photography.

I do 100% natural in the wild shots just sitting on a camp stool and photographing the birds that turn up. I have got the settings on my camera to a stage I am more than happy with the number of keepers. Manual Exposure with Auto ISO in AF - C with focus priority and VC turned on and handholding. I set my shutter speed to 1/500sec and that works well with the VC on.

Identifying the different bird species is a real struggle though I find. I have books plus 3 good Australian websites that I use but on the best site they use such small images I struggle to see them well enough for identification. The other sites the images are hit and miss.



http://www.birdlife.org.au/bird-profile ... honeyeater for example is the better site but the images are small.

Any help or tips on making the identification process easier?


Yesterday I was lucky enough to get shots of a pair of raptors, see the link below, and I think they are brown Falcons but I am not sure. There was smoke haze so the image could be sharper but I am going back today to see if they are still around as it is clear.

http://img.gg/8499elU
 

by SantaFeJoe on Mon May 15, 2017 10:39 pm
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I can see the images pretty well on an iPad by enlarging. They are pretty detailed, so I think you may find it hard to get better images on most sites. I will look for a better site for you.

Joe
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.  -Pablo Picasso
 

by SantaFeJoe on Mon May 15, 2017 10:51 pm
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Here is one. If you click on a bird, more images appear. Again, on an iPad, they enlarge fairly well. What sites are you looking at so that I won't duplicate a link?

http://www.ozanimals.com/wildlife/Bird/ ... -Prey.html

Joe
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.  -Pablo Picasso
 

by SantaFeJoe on Mon May 15, 2017 11:01 pm
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Here's another:

http://www.virtualoceania.net/australia ... rect=false

Joe
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.  -Pablo Picasso
 

by SantaFeJoe on Mon May 15, 2017 11:09 pm
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One more. Sorry about the multiple posts, but I can't do it any other way from my iPad. If you click on many of the images, they wil be enlarged.

http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/finder

Joe
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.  -Pablo Picasso
 

by Mike in O on Tue May 16, 2017 9:52 am
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Post here...there is always a smarty pants that will correct your ID. Seriously, IDing is part of photography, you will get better. Join a birders group, they tend to be really knowledgeable.
 

by baldsparrow on Tue May 16, 2017 11:38 am
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Kim wrote:
Any help or tips on making the identification process easier?
Getting comfortable with bird identification takes a lot of work and a lot of time ... the field guides are useful and you should always have one with you but they are not exhaustive and birds of many species vary a lot from the "book" depending on season, age, sex, what they are doing and other factors. By far the best method is to join a local birding club and go out with them on guided field trips where there are experienced birders who will be very happy (birders are like that) to help you and to point out field marks you would not otherwise see. There comes a day when you "get it" but finding birders to help you is the answer to making those early steps. Putting the camera down on occasion and just concentrating on the birds themselves is also part of the process.
 

by SantaFeJoe on Tue May 16, 2017 5:05 pm
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You and Mike must photograph in a very different place than many of us do. Most birders I have run into are at odds with photographers for some unknown reason. There is a visible animosity coming from them that is very apparent. I get the feeling that they think we are disturbing their "babies" in a way that they don't feel that they do. It's certain that to photograph our quarry, we don't use mist nets or handle the birds! Maybe in Australia, Kim will have a better experience with them.

Joe
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.  -Pablo Picasso
 

by baldsparrow on Tue May 16, 2017 5:34 pm
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SantaFeJoe wrote:You and Mike must photograph in a very different place than many of us do. Most birders I have run into are at odds with photographers for some unknown reason. There is a visible animosity coming from them that is very apparent. I get the feeling that they think we are disturbing their "babies" in a way that they don't feel that they do. It's certain that to photograph our quarry, we don't use mist nets or handle the birds! Maybe in Australia, Kim will have a better experience with them.

Joe

Birders pretty well all carry cameras these days, if only to confirm a sighting of a rarity and have no problems with photography and photographers ... EXCEPT those who push to the front, bait owls, spook a bird people are looking at and generally seem to be more interested in the photograph than the bird. OK, these are very much the minority but when they turn up they spoil it for everyone. There are also a heck of a lot of photographers who will post pictures of birds on facebook and local discussion groups seeking a free identification service ... that really causes irritation, especially when they don't say please. As a birding friend said to me once, "If I want to take photographs the first thing I will do is read the manual - why can't these people get a field guide". Having said that, I guarantee that 99/100 birders will be helpful and assist you in a field identification if you approach them ... that's how we all learned to ID birds and it's good to pass the help along down the years. 

As for mist nets and banding - that is not done by the regular birder. That is ONLY done by licensed and trained banders as part of a scientific study. The birds are unharmed.
 

by Kim on Tue May 16, 2017 6:50 pm
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Thank you for the replies and information.

Joe you pretty much nailed the links thanks. I do not have an iPad or a tablet of any kind only my laptop and desktop system and neither of them will enlarge the images.

Baldsparrow you reply was helpful as it gave me insight that most struggle with ID in the early stages and it is not all dumb me. Your line about the birds looking much different from the images in the field guides is so true and that really confuses me often.

I had thought about finding a birding group but wondered what they thought of photographers, maybe I will give it a go and see. I do feel restricted in my options though as given my arthritus I can not walk around much at all.
 

by Andrew_5488 on Thu May 18, 2017 12:46 pm
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Kim wrote: Any help or tips on making the identification process easier?
Once you're stuck,the best option in my opinion is to ask people who know more.
I use this website when I have questions regarding bird ID:
http://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=114
 

by Vivek on Fri May 19, 2017 10:18 am
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Another option is to use ebird.org and look at the species lists from birding hotspots that are nearby. Save for the rarities, this has almost always worked for me. Just another thought. Ebird has become indispensable for my research.
-- Vivek Khanzode
http://www.birdpixel.com
 

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