A day out birdwatching (pic heavy!)

[Turnstone]

Last saturday my better half and I went out to a wildlife sanctuary that is famous for its birds. They have large water areas and some places are perfect for wading birds. On saturday there were more than 1000 Lapwings resting, and even more black headed gulls. Lots of different ducks. We saw herons and a stork. A Redshank and two Greenshanks, and even some Dunlins. A black swan and a Snipe. We didn't see the short-toed eagle, which was the rarest visitor there on this day.

I took lots of pictures, here is a selection of them. I hope you like them!

A small group of Dunlins


A Lapwing is bothering the Greenshanks


Lots of Lapwing pictures... beautiful birds, and they came closer and closer


















Not the beauties amongst the ducks, but the Shoveler is called Spoon Duck in German 






A juvenile Moorhen














A Teal

[sawman]

Those are some awesome photos.  I like to feed the ducks nearby but they're so fat because everyone feeds them I'm surprised they can still swim 

[Top-Gear-24]

Great pictures   .

I've been thinking about doing this too, just the thought of using stealth and patience to take this kind of pictures seems very "unstressing" to me.

[nuphoria]

They are lovely, thank for sharing them Turnstone 

The lapwings really are gorgeous

[Chako]

Nice photos. What lens did you bring with you?

[ryan1835]

Nice photos. What lens did you bring with you?

Thats the first thing I think of when I wee pictures these days sad isn't it?

Lovely pics turnstone

[Chako]

Sad? Not to an equipment junky...and let’s face it, most photographers are. 

[Turnstone]

Nice photos. What lens did you bring with you?

Thats the first thing I think of when I wee pictures these days sad isn't it?

Lovely pics turnstone

Thanks!

Any details are left in the exif data. Its a Canon 300/4,0 L lens with image stabilisation, combined with a Canon 1,4 teleconverter. I got both used many years ago, a nice combination. Exellent image quality, and not too heavy. Most of the time this is still too short for decent bird shots (look at the dunlins, how small they are and what I did to fill the frame...! I was really lucky that the lapwings came so close...), but I can't afford a longer lens (and I am not willing to carry a longer lens  )

[Sean]

Great shots! 

[David]

Nice pics!

[J-sews]

Those are indeed some lovely photos

[specgrade]

 Nice pics. The photo of the duck (pic 14, I think) its eye is amazing. Yea, I notice stuff like that...kinda freaky really. Nice capture.