Birds Near Your Home and in the 'hood!

[Asher Kelman]

Rarely do I manage to catch any wild birds near my home. By the time the 70-200 is put on the camera they are gone and once again regret that I sold my 300 2.8 anyway! However, today, an important visitor arrived and perched on the top of a California Oak tree which is on its way out with oak root fungus.*

Anyway, today was not the day for pictures as some of you might know that my 5DII has to go to Canon CPS for bent pins and the 5D Mark One has not been returned from a loan! My Ricoh at 50 mm will not make it so I resurrected my trusty 1DII and was shocked to find that the AF doesn't work so I decided to go with MF. I added the x1.4 extender to my 70-200 2.8L IS and tried to MF on the bird. Traffic stopped to find out what was going on and then a jogger warned me to go inside since he saw someone buzzed by two of these.

Anyway, I tried my best to focus manually and now realized how I have been spoiled by the AF and also by a large LCD screen and live view in the 5DII. Today made me want to have even a Canon Rebel 550 T2i which would have given a x1.6 multiplication of the frame and put more pixels on the bird.

So this is what I got!

Asher Kelman Raptor in the hood​

So who can name this raptor? Forgive me, any purist here, I admit to imperfectly removing excess twigs that bothered me! It's worth noting that if the oak tree was not ill with fungus, then the canopy of leaves would have hidden this bird. Interestingly, a hummingbird kept on fluttering around and the raptor wasn't at all disturbed!

Asher

*Something affecting about 30% of the trees in the Northern USA. With too much water the fungus thrives and the trees die.The mushroom, I'm told is delicious but I didn't dare eat it, LOL!

 

[Asher Kelman]

I also dug up my Eos 3 film camera and took some images on Fuji film. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Asher

 

[Tom Robbins]

Asher,

My guess, and this is only a guess, is your bird could be a Cooper's Hawk. There are a couple other possibilities, but without a view of the nape of the neck, wings, and etc., a more positive might be tricky. There might be a few raptor specialists out there who can say for sure with a glance.

Young Cooper's Hawk​

A lady friend and I were photographing spring warblers at a local arboretum a few years ago when this young adult landed to take a quick bath in a pool. We both moved slowly as we each took a series of photos, and the bird didn't seem to mind at all. Opportunities like this are rare, but when they occur, they often involve a juvenile or young adult.

Tom

 

[Asher Kelman]

Tom,

Thanks for the matching picture. It looks close. This one looks young. It's amazing how it puffs out its feathers. It seemed to be preening. The beak seems to be a much lighter color. Maybe that's just a function of age. What lens were you using. I'm now thinking of getting a 7d and a 300 mm f4.0 lens. With my x1.4 converter I'd do better!

Asher

 

[Winston Mitchell]

Tom maybe right. It's either a Cooper's Hawk or a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Size info would help. The Cooper's Hawk is about three times more massive than the Sharp-Shinned Hawk.

 

[Tom Robbins]

Asher,

Cooper's Hawk, and some other raptors, have bills that change color as they mature. Same is true for eye color.

The lens was a Canon 600mm f/4 IS with the Canon 1.4x extender. This lens also works very well with the 2x extender with some loss of acuity, but it was acceptable to me when photographing small Midwest song birds. The 500mm version is excellent - some say even better optically than the 600, but I eventually sold it as it was rarely taken outside after buying the 600.

Camera body at the time was either the Canon 1D, or the MKII version. These bodies can auto focus with less light than other members of the Canon lineup. If you are serious about bird photography, one option would be a 1D series body with the 400mm f/5.6. I believe this combination will auto focus with the 1.4x extender.

Tom

 

[Asher Kelman]

Asher,

Cooper's Hawk, and some other raptors, have bills that change color as they mature. Same is true for eye color.

So that fits in.

The lens was a Canon 600mm f/4 IS with the Canon 1.4x extender. This lens also works very well with the 2x extender with some loss of acuity, but it was acceptable to me when photographing small Midwest song birds. The 500mm version is excellent - some say even better optically than the 600, but I eventually sold it as it was rarely taken outside after buying the 600.

Do you have a tripod and gimbal mount or is this freehand? That's one heavy lens to lug around!

Camera body at the time was either the Canon 1D, or the MKII version.

I used my 1D II as my 5DII is out of service. However, the autofocus wouldn't work even when I cleaned the contacts.

These bodies can auto focus with less light than other members of the Canon lineup.

In dim light, the 5DII misses focus about 10% of the time!

If you are serious about bird photography, one option would be a 1D series body with the 400mm f/5.6. I believe this combination will auto focus with the 1.4x extender.

Tom,

I am thinking about the 1D Mark IV but the 7D has a X 1.6 multiplication factor and should give more reach. The 7D is also supposed to be more advanced than the 5DII in grabbing focus.

Are serious bird photographers going for the 7D or is it really not good enough? The pictures at least to 6400 ISO in DPreview look very close between the Rebel 550, the 7D and the 1D IV.

Asher

 

[Don Cohen]

Asher,

You might want to check into the pixel density comparison between the 1DMkIV vs the 7D, which I think should take into account the multiplication factor and help you decide.

Another factor is that I believe it requires a 1-series body to have AutoFocus at f/8, which I'll often encounter with various lenses and teleconverters. I'd double check on that as far as the 7D, but in the past, a 1-series body was required.

 

[Tom Robbins]

Asher,

I hear ya, man.

The "reach" of a 1.6x sensor compared with that of a 1.3x sensor has been discussed frequently for almost a decade now. A 1.3x cropped to 1.6x dimensions would amount to the same result, as long as there were no other variables. However, the number of pixels per area differ for the 7D v ID MKIV. I think.

All this is a preamble to my opinion: Dunno by golly, beats the beejeebers out of me!

Perhaps more important is the ability of a body to auto focus. For the last few years, Canon has given top dog status to its 1D series bodies. All others are a stop behind. I don't know if this is true for the 7D, but if not, it would certainly be a break with the past. I'm sure someone reading this will be able to fill in the blanks.

A carbon fiber Gitzo 1548 and Wimberley gimbal head are used as support. Hand holding the 600mm was never an option with the 600mm. However, you are on the money about the weight of the assembly. I had no problem hauling the package around a few years ago, but passage of time has limited my ability to do this.

Another observation, if I may. After some years of chasing birds with better and better equipment, it eventually dawned on me that there was not a great deal of room for creativity, interpretation, originality, and imagination with a 600mm plus focal length lens. The light and setting will change from day to day, the subject will change from season to season, and yet the end result will simply be a variation on what many others have already done. This works well for many, but I fell off that wagon a while ago, and I think I've found better fish to fry.

Tom

 

[Asher Kelman]

Tom,

I happen to admire the bird in the branches and by selective removal, (yes a sin to the factive folks), I try to get a balance for my eye. The bird, of course is perfectly balanced! The real thing to do would be to fly a little quadricopter up there and shoot the thing with a fisheye lens! Then we'd see something really different.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Asher Kelman Raptor in the hood​

I have a sense that the bird might be preening its feathers. It looks like one removed one is in its beak! This does give a better view of the breast and wing feathers. Nothing like the superb quality your 600 mm lens delivers but for me it was a great novelty, even though at the limits of my ability to manually focus at that distance, LOL!

Asher

 

[John Angulat]

Hi Asher,
Great shot. I'm imagining you muttering and softly cursing for the lack of equipment.
For many of us, visitors such as these are a rarity.
I'm going to go out on a limb (no pun intended) and guess Coopers Hawk.
I had a one-time visitor to my backyard and I beat the internet to death trying to find out what it was.
The best I could find was Coopers have red eyes and Sharp Shinned hawks have yellow eyes.
Beyond that I'm stumped and maybe Don, Eric or Jaime can help us identify both yours and mine.

Here's the stranger from my backyard (I'm guessing Sharp Shinned):

 

[Asher Kelman]

John,

What a great shot with impressive Zeiss-like colors and wonderful contrast. Yes, the 600mm may be heavy, but the picture is way beyond the quality of the 70-200 with a 1.4 extender.

John Angulat: Stranger in My Garden
​

Your guy is magnificent; such a handsome coat! Is our best fashion really just emulating this? That birds should have such good tailoring never ceases to amaze me. Men must wear fine coats to emulate the authority of lions and such raptors! This hawk of yours has more flair than Hamid Karzai's so flamboyant Chapan! Certainly this birds coat is as regal and while we try to protect both, (and neither is loyal), the wild animal at least makes no pretense of liking us!

Asher

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, John,

Exquisite!

Best regards,

Doug

 

[John Angulat]

Asher, Doug -
Thank you kindly!
I'll never rival our talented wildlife shooters here at OPF, considering this is a one-off, poke your lens out of the bedroom window photo.
I got lucky that day.
Sadly, he's not been back for months.
I hear him calling off in the distance now and again, but no visits.
Odd, since in the past he found my bird feeders to be a place for easy prey.

 

[Asher Kelman]

My hawk came back last night, but he had turned and the flare from the sun was too hard for me to get a good picture. I spent some time trying to extract a picture but failed miserably. The IDII may be great with AF working, but for me, with MF, the rotation of the collar on the 70-200 is too slight to define focus, or else there's some mismatch between the viewfinder and the plane of focus. I did adjust that the green numbers to be in sharp focus with the diopter correction in the eyepiece, but that didn't help the focus yesterday! However, I did get some art derivatives that were pretty, LOL!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Thanks to Canon CPS in Irvine my 5DII is working once again. The replacement for the CF card slot was about $180 so I now have 21 MP to devote to the Hawk as opposed to 8 MP from the Canon 1DII although with the factor of x1.3, the 8MP is worth 10.4 MP for this task.

Still a doubling of pixels available for the bird is hopeful even in the absence of real birding lenses. I have to make do with my 70-200 2.8M IS and the x1.4 multiplier extender.

I tried to figure out exactly what the bird was doing. I realized that it always had the breast feathers facing the sun and in fact was puffing them out. Also it was undergoing a persistent and continual labor of preening and removing feathers that for some reason bothered it. I never saw a feather flutter down so I wonder if it actually eats them!

So these creatures really keep themselves busy. There's no pediatrician, no hair stylist and no dry cleaners. This bird is born with enough smarts to figure all this out for itself! That's the thing about evolution! Only the fittest survive!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

One bird that is a challenge is the tiny fast moving humming bird! The individual agapanthus blooms are 2" in length!

Asher Kelman: Hummingbird in Garden June 2010 #1

5DII 200 2.8L IS x1.4 1600 ISO (Shown at X 0.5)​

I hope you might post your birds in the 'hood!

Asher

 

[Don Cohen]

One bird that is a challenge is the tiny fast moving humming bird! The individual agapanthus blooms are 2" in length!

Asher Kelman: Hummingbird in Garden June 2010 #1​

5DII 200 2.8L IS x1.4 1600 ISO (Shown at X 0.5)​

I hope you might post your birds in the 'hood!

Asher

You are absolutely right - hummingbirds are extremely difficult to photograph, and I think you've done quite well for yourself with this image!!

And if you're asking for some bird shots taken at home, here are a couple of Bluebird shots taken in my backyard several years back:

Canon 1D (Original Model) with 600L/f4 IS and 2x II Teleconverter
ISO 800, f/8, 1/500 second
550EX with Better Beamer at -1 2/3 EV​

Canon 1D (Original Model) with 600L/f4 IS and 2x II Teleconverter
ISO 800, f/8, 1/250
550EX at -2 EV​

 

[Clayton Lofgren]

feeder

I haven't got the prettiest bird, but probably have the ugliest feeder. I could not find one here, so I used an IV bottle and a bit of red rag.

 

[Clayton Lofgren]

Those bluebird shots are really nice. That is some judicious use of flash.

 

[Asher Kelman]

You are absolutely right - hummingbirds are extremely difficult to photograph, and I think you've done quite well for yourself with this image!!

And if you're asking for some bird shots taken at home, here are a couple of Bluebird shots taken in my backyard several years back:

Canon 1D (Original Model) with 600L/f4 IS and 2x II Teleconverter
ISO 800, f/8, 1/500 second
550EX with Better Beamer at -1 2/3 EV​

Canon 1D (Original Model) with 600L/f4 IS and 2x II Teleconverter
ISO 800, f/8, 1/250
550EX at -2 EV​

Don,

This is a handsome fella! Funny that bright obvious color that good get a flashy bird eaten is also going to get him a good date! Why on earth don't they become obvious just when they want a good time! Or is it that raptors don't like blue? I like the quality of the feathers. The better beamer is a great tool here in providing the extra light to counteract the 2 stops loss. What distance do you think the bird was?

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

I haven't got the prettiest bird, but probably have the ugliest feeder. I could not find one here, so I used an IV bottle and a bit of red rag.

Clayton,

I had no idea that the flower you used was in fact, of your own clever design. It certainly fooled me and that handsome hummingbird! It's utterly amazing that these things fly. i was amazed that my hummingbird visitor buzzes around the hawk in the giant California oak tree and the hawk doesn't bother to give chace. Maybe it's allergic to the green feathers, LOL

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

So far, we have 3 hawks, 2 hummingbirds and one bluejay. Who has our next fine feathered guy in the 'hood?

Asher

 

[Ruben Alfu]

This is a red-tailed hawk in Central Park (we can say that area of the park was technically in my neighborhood). According to some people I asked, this bird is very likely a relative of "Pale Male", a famous local resident.

Ruben Alfu : Red-tailed hawk
Canon EOS 350D digital, Sigma 70-300 F4-5.6 APO DG macro

​

 

[John Angulat]

Nice one, Ruben.
There's a good chance it is related to Pale Male.
There aren't too many nesting pairs in Manhattan.
If you're into this stuff, here's a good link for NYC: http://urbanhawks.blogs.com/urban_hawks/

 

[Don Cohen]

This is a red-tailed hawk in Central Park (we can say that area of the park was technically in my neighborhood). According to some people I asked, this bird is very likely a relative of "Pale Male", a famous local resident.

Ruben Alfu : Red-tailed hawk
Canon EOS 350D digital, Sigma 70-300 F4-5.6 APO DG macro​

Nice one, Ruben! Central Park, of all places! I had seen some news reports about the other hawks mentioned in NYC.

Asher:

I'd estimate both bluebirds were perhaps 25-30 feet or so away.

 

[Ruben Alfu]

Thanks very much John, and thanks for the link, it's so great there are people documenting these amazing birds in the city!

Don, I'm so glad you like it. This was the second time I saw a hawk in CP, the first time it was chasing another bird at a super speed, perhaps 10 to15 feet above ground, it was impressive!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Ruben Alfu : Red-tailed hawk
Canon EOS 350D digital, Sigma 70-300 F4-5.6 APO DG macro

​

I like your red-tailed hawk, Ruben! It has an awfully good tailor, LOL! With his head turned so far round, one has the benefit of the dark head and matching darker back as opposed to the lighter breast feathers of my young little hawk.

Have you done any processing like change the contrast or sharpening or is this a jpg as shot, just reduced in size?

Asher

 

[Ruben Alfu]

I like your red-tailed hawk, Ruben! It has an awfully good tailor, LOL!​

Thanks so much Asher! hehe, that's a good one, that's because it's just a flight of branches to 5th Avenue

Have you done any processing like change the contrast or sharpening

Asher

Yes, both, and cropped, maybe an 80% of the original frame.​