My first -and only- kingfisher

marlof

Last year, while we were in Zambia, we saw tons of nice looking birds. Since I'm not a birder, I was not prepared for that, having only the 200mm reach of my Sony DSC-F828. Big birds like storks etc. ended up recognizable, but when we met up with the tiny birds like this Malachite Kingfisher, I had to rely heavily on cropping.



This year I'll return to Africa, with my Olympus E-1, and 560mm reach. I hope I'll be able to catch some nice shots, also of the beautiful smaller creatures that live there.

bfjr

Your 1st not to shabby and a completing different looking one
Not only do you need big (lens) reach but lighting reactions to get a decent image.

Are yours as skittish and elusive ??

Allen

I like these kind of shots, not just a bird close up, but composed in a lovely natural
scene with sufficent bird details. I use a tcon17 with my 828 and still can't get out
there, but it helps.
Very nice,
AL

marlof

Thanks for your nice comments.

bfjr wrote:

Not only do you need big (lens) reach but lighting reactions to get a decent image. Are yours as skittish and elusive ??

I wouldn't exactly call them mine, since they're over 10 hrs flying from here (the malachite is specific for Africa, it's some sort of dwarf kingfisher, so a tiny small bird...), but yeah they were very hard to catch. Saw some real nice kingfisher doing it's thing (dive for food) in a hippo pool, but I was just not fast for that. Although I do not have the machine gun, I hope the 3 shots per second of the E-1 will be able to catch one of those dives if I see it next time.

Allen wrote:

I like these kind of shots, not just a bird close up, but composed in a lovely natural scene with sufficent bird details.

I like them too, but in all honesty this is just using the rule: don't try to masque what your camera is not, but use what it is to the fullest. The 828 was excellent in grabbing landscapes and larger wildlife. It only was good for birding when the bird was an accessory to the landscape (or large enough, like a stork). Tiny ones like this or the carmine bee-eater (as in the following shots) only made it as an accessory.

carmine bee-eater on top of a dead tree


carmine bee eater colony on the bank of the zambezi river

Harryb

You did better with your 200mm than I have with my 700mm in your king fisher capture.