Big blue, little blue and a shot of wild turkey

Steve Cavigliano

Hello All,

Been awhile since I've gotten away to shoot some birds. I had a chance to duck out of work a bit early and headed over to a park in the hills. I have been seeing some nice shots, posted on other forums, from this park and was hoping to get some decent bird shots. I had seen burrowing owl pics, GBH pics and the occassional white tail kite pic :lust

I got there and saw another shooter out. Coincidently, I had met him before in a camera store. I was picking up my Tamron 28-75mm and he was buying a 20D. That was in November. He now has a 1Ds MkII :rolleyes Anyhow, we continued to shoot the bull while we went lookin' for birds

We saw the GBH. He was very mellow. I think I could have gotten to within 3 or 4 feet of him :uhoh

Anyhow here's the Big Blue


Looking over his shoulder


Not much else around to shoot while we talked so I snapped off a few shots of a pretty Western Scrub Jay. The Little Blue :rofl





Heading towards another parking lot I saw some turkeys feeding on a hillside.

So here's the shot of wild turkey :rolleyes



All shot with the Bigma. Between 300-500mm's, ISO800 and F8.

It felt sooo good to get out shooting birds again. I sort of wish I would have seen some of those lil owls, but what the hay :dunno Maybe next time :


Comments or criticisms welcome


Thanks for looking,
Steve

Nir

Beautiful captures Steve! My favorite - the 1st blue jay shot.

windoze

nice to see ya out with the Bigma again ,
im kinda in a rutt right now not knowing where to go next....but anyway like them all and i guess the turkey is my fav, coz havent really seen too much of them in the wild.
Regarding the Bigma - sure does take alot of sun to get that f/8 doesnt it?? or are u upping the ISO??

troy

ginger_55

I have never seen a wild turkey, but I have a friend who has hunted them for many years...............rarely shoots one anymore, but he still enjoys the hunting. Turkey Calls abound in his life. From one season to the next, it is perfecting Turkey Calls.

So, I see your turkey as one sorry looking turkey, just showed up and hung his head.

No kidding, I would love to see a wild turkey.

Uh, what are these other forums?

Sounds like you had fun, looks fun. I got mostly white birds yesterday, at least no GGHs. I am starting to get excited when I see ANY bird, lately. Then on the way home from the doctor's. An easy run to the island and back, I got enough "white bird" shots to keep me on PS for longer than I would have wished. But I am very excited to get some shots that have eluded me in the past.

It was the tide, literally the tide, I think that gave me my birds. It was pretty much in, but the birds could still function on the rims of the marshes. Fresh Shrimp, diving heads (w/o a machine gun, I still got the head dive). All between here and there. After initial success, I took a slight detour, but not to any great place, just the "close to the house free place" where I got nothing the other night. Yesterday, I got the Ibis (es).

I would love to have been w you, I think that would be a ball. Andy owes you a visit about now, doesn't he? Seems it has been awhile.

I like the light on your GBH.

It looks like we have no light again today. Totally grey and it is almost 9 AM.

Hope to be responding to more bird posts from you.

I guess I will have to post this all over. I am finding it easier to pan w this lens than the 300. I got a lot of BIF yesterday. Partly due to the 20-30MPH winds, they were slowing the birds down. The only problem I have w panning now is that I am always on the wrong AF thing. Al servo, pans well, but can't compose and recompose. That has nothing to do with the lens, just an observation. This lens is "the big easy", I think that is what I would call it.

ginger

jwear

Hi Steve very nice set of shots but the turkey [hard to find] is my pick ,have not seen a turkey here since Andy's pictures .Great shot ,you sure show the color well

bfjr

Hey Steve
Great to see bird out of ya
and you even gave us a :food :eat shot in that last one, whada a guy :lol

All good ones

Steve Cavigliano

Nir wrote:

Beautiful captures Steve! My favorite - the 1st blue jay shot.

Thanks Nir

These Jays are nice to look at, but they make a heck of a racket :uhoh When they're around every bird for miles knows there's someone coming

Thanks for looking,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

windoze wrote:

nice to see ya out with the Bigma again ,
im kinda in a rutt right now not knowing where to go next....but anyway like them all and i guess the turkey is my fav, coz havent really seen too much of them in the wild.
Regarding the Bigma - sure does take alot of sun to get that f/8 doesnt it?? or are u upping the ISO??

troy

Thanks Troy

Yeah, it was nice to go out with that big ole lens on again. I've been using wide lenses for the past few weeks and with my eyesight teles are so much more fun to use : If you're in a rut, there's always the zoo I've wanted to go the SF Zoo since I got my 20D/Bigma, but haven't been able ot make it yet I'd love to get some gorilla shots that are anywhere near as nice as some that you've posted

Yes, it does take lots of light to shoot @ F8. I was shooting between 5-6pm so the light was fairly decent. But if my subject was in the shadows, the speed dropped like a rock Like the shadowed Blue Jay shot. It was taken at 500mm and the speed dropped 1/160 :uhoh Seeing as how I was handholding the Bigma, I'm suprised it came out as decently as it did.

Thanks for your comments,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

ginger_55 wrote:

I have never seen a wild turkey, but I have a friend who has hunted them for many years...............rarely shoots one anymore, but he still enjoys the hunting. Turkey Calls abound in his life. From one season to the next, it is perfecting Turkey Calls.

So, I see your turkey as one sorry looking turkey, just showed up and hung his head.

No kidding, I would love to see a wild turkey.

Uh, what are these other forums?

Sounds like you had fun, looks fun. I got mostly white birds yesterday, at least no GGHs. I am starting to get excited when I see ANY bird, lately. Then on the way home from the doctor's. An easy run to the island and back, I got enough "white bird" shots to keep me on PS for longer than I would have wished. But I am very excited to get some shots that have eluded me in the past.

It was the tide, literally the tide, I think that gave me my birds. It was pretty much in, but the birds could still function on the rims of the marshes. Fresh Shrimp, diving heads (w/o a machine gun, I still got the head dive). All between here and there. After initial success, I took a slight detour, but not to any great place, just the "close to the house free place" where I got nothing the other night. Yesterday, I got the Ibis (es).

I would love to have been w you, I think that would be a ball. Andy owes you a visit about now, doesn't he? Seems it has been awhile.

I like the light on your GBH.

It looks like we have no light again today. Totally grey and it is almost 9 AM.

Hope to be responding to more bird posts from you.

I guess I will have to post this all over. I am finding it easier to pan w this lens than the 300. I got a lot of BIF yesterday. Partly due to the 20-30MPH winds, they were slowing the birds down. The only problem I have w panning now is that I am always on the wrong AF thing. Al servo, pans well, but can't compose and recompose. That has nothing to do with the lens, just an observation. This lens is "the big easy", I think that is what I would call it.

ginger

Hiya Ginger and Thanks

Yeah, I seldom see wild turkeys too. I think the last time was with Andy at another park in the East foothills There were lots of them, but they were way more skittish than the GBH. If I got within 25 feet, they'd bolt
So I got lots of wild turkey butt shots too.....



Ahhh well, whether shot from the front, the side or the rear, they are pretty colored birds.

One of the other forums I mention is here A recent post about the park I visited is here Coincidently, the shooter uses a 400mm F5.6 :

I was just excited to get out and shoot. Meeting another shooter added to my enjoyment. That we got any decent shots was just icing on the cake....lol

Good luck with those "white" birds. They are so tough to expose well if the light is harsh at all :uhoh

You are right about Andy. He will be out in about 10 days :eat He's sold his 200mm, as well as his 70-200mm I think , so I don't think that we'll be doing any birding :cry Maybe some beach shots

Ging, I think you're gonna be gaga over that lens soon. I've seen so many people get such great results from it that, as I mentioned in one of your threads, I'd love to be able to afford to pick one up I love the Bigmas zoom capabilities, but the 400 F5.6 is a sweet tele prime. Especially for that price

Thanks for your comments,
Steve

Osprey Whisperer

WHen you mentioned "WILD TURKEYS" ...I thought you were talking about Harry, Ben, and Jeff. Some nice shots you have here , Steve. Well done. I recognize that first guy. He lives out back.


BMP

ginger_55

Thanks, Steve, I already love it. Was just now dozing on the living room couch, have the door open, the rains have given this part of town a temp break, so I awoke looking out the door. There are small privacy fences between yards, a little bird on it.

I thought how cool it would be to sit on my couch and shoot "birds". Snuck in here to get my camera. Bird is gone, but I am ready! I did shoot some flowering shrubs, while on couch.

I just have to say that I find this hilarious: ANDY NO LONGER OWNS A 200mm lens, SO NO BIRDING!

I must say he did get some good birds with that 70-200, amazed me, and was the prime reason I remembered to up the exposure yesterday to get birds in the light colored sky.

Never fear, you all, Steve go ahead, take him birding. Andy is up for just about anything, particularly if it is challenging. I have seen some ab fab bird shots w wide angle lenses. I know they are not PS tricks, soooooooooooo, I personally rose to the challenge a month or so ago. A GBH was around before a storm at the rookery. I took some regular shots, remembered my promise to myself to shoot wide w birds. This is w my 17-40:




That is a GBH lower left, at the rookery, such as our wetlands at Magnolia are called. It is one of my favorite bird shots. (May be difficult for others to see the bird) It reminds of some paintings from my childhood. Or something more recent from a Spielberg production.

Tell Andy that I am sure he can do much better at shooting birds with his wide, than I ever could w mine. Different perspectives: you w the Bigma and him with the wide.

I am glad you got a chance to go out w the "men", shoot the breeze and the birds. Places where the wild birds go, them are nice places for us, too.

ginger

Harryb

Hey Steve,

Its great seeing your shots again and these are a pleasure to view. Just because Andy doesn't have any long glass at this moment (who knows what he will pick up in the next few hours) doesn't mean you can't shoot birds. You can use Andy as your beater. Have him go ahead to flush the birds while you get flight shots.

Steve Cavigliano

jwear wrote:

Hi Steve very nice set of shots but the turkey [hard to find] is my pick ,have not seen a turkey here since Andy's pictures .Great shot ,you sure show the color well

Thanks Jeff

These little guys were on a West facing slope and it was late afternoon, so they were lit up very well (maybe too well ). Their irredescent colors were shimmering

Yeah, I agree that we don't see alot of wild turkeys. Either while shooting or posted in the forum. They are fairly rare. I'd sure like to get a few TIF shots one of these days.

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

bfjr wrote:

Hey Steve
Great to see bird out of ya
and you even gave us a :food :eat shot in that last one, whada a guy :lol

All good ones

Thanks Ben

Nice to be back birding I dunno how these turkeys would taste They looked pretty tough....lol And I think I like em better with their feathers on :

Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Bird Man Photographer wrote:

WHen you mentioned "WILD TURKEYS" ...I thought you were talking about Harry, Ben, and Jeff. Some nice shots you have here , Steve. Well done. I recognize that first guy. He lives out back.


BMP

Thanks BMP

I think the 3 Amigos you mention above are beyond their Wild Turkey days Now that he's retired, I think Harry's drinks have little umbrellas in 'em :lol

As far as the GBH living in your backyard, him and about 50 other exotic species......lol You lucky dog It's sort of a take off on the American Express commercial. You don't even have to leave home to shoot them

Thanks for your comments,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

ginger_55 wrote:

Thanks, Steve, I already love it. Was just now dozing on the living room couch, have the door open, the rains have given this part of town a temp break, so I awoke looking out the door. There are small privacy fences between yards, a little bird on it.

I thought how cool it would be to sit on my couch and shoot "birds". Snuck in here to get my camera. Bird is gone, but I am ready! I did shoot some flowering shrubs, while on couch.

I just have to say that I find this hilarious: ANDY NO LONGER OWNS A 200mm lens, SO NO BIRDING!

I must say he did get some good birds with that 70-200, amazed me, and was the prime reason I remembered to up the exposure yesterday to get birds in the light colored sky.

Never fear, you all, Steve go ahead, take him birding. Andy is up for just about anything, particularly if it is challenging. I have seen some ab fab bird shots w wide angle lenses. I know they are not PS tricks, soooooooooooo, I personally rose to the challenge a month or so ago. A GBH was around before a storm at the rookery. I took some regular shots, remembered my promise to myself to shoot wide w birds. This is w my 17-40:




That is a GBH lower left, at the rookery, such as our wetlands at Magnolia are called. It is one of my favorite bird shots. (May be difficult for others to see the bird) It reminds of some paintings from my childhood. Or something more recent from a Spielberg production.

Tell Andy that I am sure he can do much better at shooting birds with his wide, than I ever could w mine. Different perspectives: you w the Bigma and him with the wide.

I am glad you got a chance to go out w the "men", shoot the breeze and the birds. Places where the wild birds go, them are nice places for us, too.

ginger

Ginger,
I like your wide shot So much greenery I think it looks even better than a tighter shot of the GBH would have I agree about the painting-like quality of the shot. Very Kewllllllll


You know, I really don't feel too bad about Andy not having any long glass. He's so talented, I can't come close to him on people, landscapes or food shots but I sort of hold my own with the wildlife shots. If he started taking birding seriously, it would likely lead to me feeling inferior about my bird shots too ....


Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Harryb wrote:

Hey Steve,

Its great seeing your shots again and these are a pleasure to view. Just because Andy doesn't have any long glass at this moment (who knows what he will pick up in the next few hours) doesn't mean you can't shoot birds. You can use Andy as your beater. Have him go ahead to flush the birds while you get flight shots.

Thanks Harry

Andy makes a terrible beater. He gets close to the birds and his stomach starts rumbling, scaring the poor birds to death or places otherwise unknown Plus he's big and noisy I guess you don't need too much stealth to shoot street pics in NYC....lol

J/K, if he wants to shoot birds, birds it will be. But, I think he's going to want to do some landscape/beachscape shooting Plus, the food is better over by the beach :eat

Thanks for your comments,
Steve

Trish323

Hi steve,

So after your vacation from wildlife shooting...how does it feel to get back to it??? Nice shots Difficult to stop shooting the birds...I keep trying...but....

Steve Cavigliano

Trish323 wrote:

Hi steve,

So after your vacation from wildlife shooting...how does it feel to get back to it??? Nice shots Difficult to stop shooting the birds...I keep trying...but....

Thanks Trish

Well, I feel more comfortable within my element Plus, I have the right equipment for this type of shooting I've always enjoyed shooting birds, even with my somewhat short armed Sonys. But, having this big lens makes it even more enjoyable Not to mention, the fairly clean ISO800 shots.

Give it up Trish. If I lived down there by you and Harry, I'd be shooting even more birds....lol I don't think you're gonna be able to "kick the habit" very easily

Thanks for your comments Trish,
Steve

snapapple

Beautiful shots Steve. I love the light and feather detail in the first two. The Jays also look very expresive. Nice shot of the turkey. Maybe Kodak would like for Thanksgiving time.:D

Ric Grupe

All keepers!
But I like the quizzical look on this one.



Probably making sure that's not a Nikon in your hands! :lol4

Steve Cavigliano

Ric Grupe wrote:

But I like the quizzical look on this one.



Probably making sure that's not a Nikon in your hands! :lol4

Thanks Ric

Well I had my Bigma attached and he might have been worried that it was part of a gun instead of a camera......lol When fully extended it swings around like those 16 inch guns on the Missouri

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

snapapple wrote:

Beautiful shots Steve. I love the light and feather detail in the first two. The Jays also look very expresive. Nice shot of the turkey. Maybe Kodak would like for Thanksgiving time.:D

Thanks Snappy

Good input on the turkey. Might be the only chance I'll ever have to win a KPOTD.....lol I'd like to get a closer shot though This one was taken from about 30 feet away and doesn't really show much feather detail. Nice colors, but not much detail

Yep, I agree about those little jays. They are noisy, nicely colored and also fun to watch because they are so expressive. Cocking their heads this way and that. Investigating everything and every noise. Challenging any other bird that comes close.

They sort of remind me of Andy while he's downing a plate of ribs

Thank you for your comments :

Steve