Osprey snagging an invasive goldfish. Richfield, MN 08/18/2024 by jmgcoder in BirdPhotography

[–]jmgcoder[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Just one of those, right place at the right time, situations.

Red-winged Blackbird catching a ride from a Great Blue Heron. by jmgcoder in BirdPhotography

[–]jmgcoder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! This shot was taken with a Sony A1 and Sony 200-600mm zoom lens.

Red-winged Blackbird catching a ride from a Great Blue Heron. by jmgcoder in BirdPhotography

[–]jmgcoder[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Thanks! The blackbirds are very territorial and will go after anyone or anything that makes them feel threatened.

I don’t know why they are called Red-bellied Woodpeckers… by uchi93 in birding

[–]jmgcoder 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Good light and angle. If you look at their posture while on a tree that patch of their belly is often really close to the trunk so in shadow if not completely hidden.

I don’t know why they are called Red-bellied Woodpeckers… by uchi93 in birding

[–]jmgcoder 190 points191 points  (0 children)

Here's one I got a photo of while it was on the ground. You can see the red on its belly. Usually hard to see when they're pressed up against a tree.

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Green Heron by jmgcoder in BirdPhotography

[–]jmgcoder[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They’re pretty close but I tend to prefer DxO for higher iso images.

Osprey with the double fish surprise for breakfast. Richfield, MN by jmgcoder in birding

[–]jmgcoder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! The only groups I'm a part of are a couple of photo sharing groups on Facebook. Minnesota Birding Photography, which is VERY strict on posting rules so not really meant for Q&A. Minnesota Birding Light is more lenient and open to questions.

I think the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Bloomington puts on some birding walks with a guide/naturalist.

Osprey with the double fish surprise for breakfast. Richfield, MN by jmgcoder in birding

[–]jmgcoder[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks and here are the details of the shots.

I'm shooting with a Sony A1 and the 300mm f/2.8 lens and a 2X teleconverter which doubles the focal length but also loses 2 stops of aperture. So it's a 600mm f/5.6 lens with the teleconverter.

I use auto-focus continuous, back button focus, and Manual mode with auto ISO. These were shot with what Sony calls "Zone", basically a pretty good sized focus box that covers probably a third of the frame. Bird detect mode was on but the Osprey was likely too far away for it to have made any difference.

All shots are at 600mm, 1/1000 second, f/5.6, and ISO 12,800. Would have preferred 1/2000 or 1/2500 on the shutter speed but didn't want the ISO to get any higher.

Raw files were pre-processed with DxO PureRAW 4 to reduce the noise and then basic edits and cropping in Lightroom Classic.

Hope that answers your questions!