http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5004/...7aaf9bf9_z.jpg

Boundary Bay.

I saw the Sandhill Cranes today... They flew away from me :(

But then I found them!!!!! I got two feet away from them as they walked towards me. I was going nuts inside but didn't lose my composure. Some lady got right up in their face and was snapping photos with a 50mm and I heard those birds can be aggressive?

I'm so happy I got my membership because Reifel was great today, although in order to get crisp in flight photos I had to jack up my ISO which I hate doing. Stupid noise, I hate you!!

Senna... thank you so much for the tip on the outer perimeter of Reifel. 90% of my time was spent there. After everyone leaving I was able to sneak in a few shots of the Saw Whet Owl. Such a huge crowd around the little guy, no wonder he was hiding haha.
And I can't get decent photos of the Great Horned Owls. What's the deal? I suck!!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5047/...ce7af2c8_z.jpg

Sandhill Crane!!!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5161/...81076aa1_z.jpg

The shots I took of the cranes were the best out of 712 photos taken yesterday. I was able to use the lowest ISO setting and slower shutter speeds so everything turned out great. Keep in mind I was ultra close to the birds. The in flight photos of the Coopers Hawk and Bald Eagle are terrible comparing to the cranes. I don't know how I'm ever going to purchase crazy equipment in order to get wicked photos. I'll have to work with what I have and be patient. Hopefully The bird can come close to me like the cranes did but that's kind of rare.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5005/...11a28ee5_z.jpg

Coopers Hawk or Northern Harrier. I think its a Harrier.

I hate the noise.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5166/...f130d109_z.jpg

Male or female?

Left: one of the parents. Right: the baby. AFAIK, the sex of the baby is not known.

It's gotten quite big since last summer:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...C2363-Edit.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...246-Edit-1.jpg

great shot.

^
Thanks! This is from the same day...

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5082/...e3fd7b3d_z.jpg

gotta love those low angles.

Reifel was pretty cool today. Crane bit the dude a few minutes later. It was kind of funny.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5169/...d3005349_z.jpg

What sorta lens do you need for this kinda thing.. is a 70-300 on a crop good enough?

I think a 70-300 should be fine. I use to go there just with my 18-200mm VR and get some decent photos.

I now use a 300mm f4. It's not great in my opinion. I'm poor so I try to get in as close as possible to the bird. Even though most of the birds at Reifel are fairly use to humans, especially the ducks, I still don't want to scare them off so I try to sneak up on them without making a sound. I then wait until I see the bird fly then I snap away.

There was some guy who decided to do a "stop and chat" with me, I don't know why but he went on how I should get all this gear but sadly I don't have 30k to blow like he does. He had a few Canons with 800 and 1400mm lens. I never knew they made a 1400, unless he had a bunch of converters on it. He told me about the new gimble head and tripod he just bought in the morning and how great it was, I was like... ya, cool, right on... there I was with my shitty broken tripod and tiny 300mm. :thumbsup:

Canon made a 1200mm f.6L IS lens, but not a 1400mm EOS. The guy was a douche...probably has low self esteem and needs to show off to show people how "superior" he is.

^
lol. You're probably right on that! He went on about his Leica lens and how superior it is compared to anything else and then started to praise film SLR. I asked him, so why you shooting digital? haha
I didn't really care.. I still have fun at Reifel with or without my equipment :)
On the way back home the Northern Hawk Owl swooped right in front of my car I thought I was going to hit the poor guy! Man, talk about suicidal tendencies.
I still can't get a good shot of him but I'll keep on trying as much as I can.

anybody watch the news the other day about the eagles? since they ran out of fish, they're left with only picking the garbage @ the Vancouver Landfill, on 72nd Street in Delta. hence all the big birds in that area. probably could get some interesting shots if you could spend some time there, but it's not allowed.

^
Yea I heard about that and I read in the newspaper that some of the eagles went down further south to catch fish?
Lots of Eagles around that area. I heard they cut down some of the trees where one of the nest was near Boundary Bay Airport? I was actually thinking of going down there right now cause I'm so damn bored at home.

I'd join you if I weren't in Whistler.
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Rats :(
I would have had a photo buddy
Next time Senna.

I made a movie in the meantime from yesterday. Best part is near the end.


I'm gonna go for a walk...

Correction, it was the Canon 1200mm F5.6L (no-IS). The longest lens with IS is the Canon 800mm F5.6L IS.

Mike, great video too! Really enjoyed the last part when they were calling! I would have had my camera going at them pretty good when they were doing that. Thanks for sharing! More eagle pictures people! Since we don't have many here (or none that i can find) i need you guys to fill my void!

I'll post some more Eagles soon. I visit a few places every chance I get trying to get that swooping for some fish photo.

I went to Reifel today and came back with this...

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5163/...7600cff4_z.jpg

beauty!

Nice Saw Whet shot!

Thanks Senna! There's two of them now and the Great Horned Owls are side by side getting ready to breed I guess?

not sure if this belongs in birds.

http://www.epicdevelopements.com/wp-...1/01/birds.jpg

^^^That's pretty cool!