Winged Wednesday 5/11/2022

Eric Gofreed

Eric Gofreed

Well-Known Member
Last week I posted the Scott's Oriole. My contribution for today's Winged Wednesday are the Bullock's and Hooded Orioles, the other two orioles that nest in the forest behind my home. Of course I am fortunate to have three orioles but I have other birds that come here to nest. Look for some of them in next week's Winged Wednesday.

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Male Bullock's Oriole on Red Yucca

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Next click of the same male Bullock's Oriole

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Male Hooded oriole

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Female Hooded Oriole
 
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Ken Rennie

Ken Rennie

Well-Known Member
Not garden birds this time but Red Kites. They have a similar wingspan and length to Ospreys but are slimmer and about 2/3 of the weight. Brilliant flyers and can be seen flying seemingly without moving their wings changing direction with a twitch of their large v shaped tails. They are mostly carrion eaters but unlike crows do not stop and eat but fly past at high speed, like Ospreys, and pluck their food from the ground. Most of my successful images taken at 1/8000s and auto ISO (4000 and 6,400). Reducing the noise was difficult as even Topaz denoise AI couldn't discriminate between feather detail and noise so I have had to apply multiple localised areas of noise reduction and sometimes blur to produce these. At this size 1600px you are unlikely to spot the noise. Shot with a Sony A7R4 and Sigma 100-400 wide open at f6.3. I would have loved a 500f4 to reduce the ISO and soften the background. I couldn't follow the kites as they stooped so decided on manual focusing on their food and shot bursts as they dived. Perhaps the skilled bird photographers here could pan with them and may have cameras and lenses capable of tracking them but I couldn't. Ken
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This image shot using auto focus as the kite flew high above me and decided to change direction. I should have reduced the shutter speed down to 1/2000s but just forgot.
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Eric Gofreed

Eric Gofreed

Well-Known Member
Ken Rennie said:
Not garden birds this time but Red Kites. They have a similar wingspan and length to Ospreys but are slimmer and about 2/3 of the weight. Brilliant flyers and can be seen flying seemingly without moving their wings changing direction with a twitch of their large v shaped tails. They are mostly carrion eaters but unlike crows do not stop and eat but fly past at high speed, like Ospreys, and pluck their food from the ground. Most of my successful images taken at 1/8000s and auto ISO (4000 and 6,400). Reducing the noise was difficult as even Topaz denoise AI couldn't discriminate between feather detail and noise so I have had to apply multiple localised areas of noise reduction and sometimes blur to produce these. At this size 1600px you are unlikely to spot the noise. Shot with a Sony A7R4 and Sigma 100-400 wide open at f6.3. I would have loved a 500f4 to reduce the ISO and soften the background. I couldn't follow the kites as they stooped so decided on manual focusing on their food and shot bursts as they dived. Perhaps the skilled bird photographers here could pan with them and may have cameras and lenses capable of tracking them but I couldn't. Ken
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This image shot using auto focus as the kite flew high above me and decided to change direction. I should have reduced the shutter speed down to 1/2000s but just forgot.
View attachment 49031
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Great read. The photos are just beyond awesome, Ken. Envy envy
 
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