(1 to 100 of 131 replies)
Hello, everyone!
Some time ago our group organized a series of contests and routinely featured selected photos to showcase your talents and allow you to share your most interesting photos with other members of the group.
As you may be aware 30 April was National Bird Day and to celebrate Flickr wants to highlight all the awesome bird photography on Flickr! From bird lovers, to bird watchers, to the snapshots of the bird on the feeder outside your window - we want to see your bird photography! Whatever it may be - we invite our group members to share your favorite bird photo and the story of how you captured it.
To include a photo in your discussion reply, include the Flickr photo URL between brackets. For example: "[YOUR PHOTO URL GOES HERE]."
Thanks for sharing your photography with us. Photos and stories shared in the thread may be featured in a Flickr gallery and on the Flickr blog!
Some time ago our group organized a series of contests and routinely featured selected photos to showcase your talents and allow you to share your most interesting photos with other members of the group.
As you may be aware 30 April was National Bird Day and to celebrate Flickr wants to highlight all the awesome bird photography on Flickr! From bird lovers, to bird watchers, to the snapshots of the bird on the feeder outside your window - we want to see your bird photography! Whatever it may be - we invite our group members to share your favorite bird photo and the story of how you captured it.
To include a photo in your discussion reply, include the Flickr photo URL between brackets. For example: "[YOUR PHOTO URL GOES HERE]."
Thanks for sharing your photography with us. Photos and stories shared in the thread may be featured in a Flickr gallery and on the Flickr blog!
(1 to 100 of 131 replies)
One of my favourite birds is the Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus), so I was delighted to spot a nesting pair with chicks in their nest just a short distance from where I worked at the time in York, UK. I used to wander through the campus at the University of York in warmer months with a packed lunch, spotted the nest in the central lake and decided to visit again the next day with my camera, tripod, cable-release, a 500mm lens and 2x teleconverter. I spent a happy 60 minutes taking several shots and during which time, the male bird arrived several times with fish to feed the chicks. The lighting was sublime, with plenty of sunshine producing lovely reflections of the fresh green foliage from lakeside willow trees and I was lucky enough to bag one of my favourite bird shots using mirror-up mode to ensure vibration was minimised shooting at effective 1000 mm. 
Anna's Hummingbird (male)
our garden is somewhat of a nectar smorgasbord for hummingbirds. they like to eat, flit around and then perch on the comfy tomato cage at coffee time. anyways, I found a twig of the same thickness with some nice lichen on it, and staged it close by. like just two seconds later, the alpha male, Big Bob, who had been checking me out earlier while I was pulling weeds, lands right between the wickets, wanting to play. He lets me come right up to him... the 400mm zoom from about 7 feet away brought him full frame, and I dialed the aperture in at f/20 to get the little pork chop fully into the depth of field. It was overcast, but noonish, with a light that was bright and totally to die for. When everybody was all comfortable, I said 1 2 3 alakazamm stick out your tongue, held my breath, and pushed the button ;0
our garden is somewhat of a nectar smorgasbord for hummingbirds. they like to eat, flit around and then perch on the comfy tomato cage at coffee time. anyways, I found a twig of the same thickness with some nice lichen on it, and staged it close by. like just two seconds later, the alpha male, Big Bob, who had been checking me out earlier while I was pulling weeds, lands right between the wickets, wanting to play. He lets me come right up to him... the 400mm zoom from about 7 feet away brought him full frame, and I dialed the aperture in at f/20 to get the little pork chop fully into the depth of field. It was overcast, but noonish, with a light that was bright and totally to die for. When everybody was all comfortable, I said 1 2 3 alakazamm stick out your tongue, held my breath, and pushed the button ;0
Spring migration has afforded us a lot of really great opportunities here. One of my favorites was that we were able to see a Kirtland's Warbler -- a real rarity over here on the west coast of Florida! He was patient enough to pose for people on the two day layover he had here.
Our encounter was on his last afternoon in the area, and it was a bit of a difficult time for us! With an hour drive to get there and an exhaustive search with several other birders around the sea grapes he'd been sighted in earlier that day, we found him. It certainly made for a very special day!
Another fantastic warbler, Cape May Warblers, have also been traveling through the area and giving us some great photo opportunities, though they're not the rarity that the Kirtland's was. This one was flushed as we were looking for the Kirtland's above.
Our encounter was on his last afternoon in the area, and it was a bit of a difficult time for us! With an hour drive to get there and an exhaustive search with several other birders around the sea grapes he'd been sighted in earlier that day, we found him. It certainly made for a very special day!
Another fantastic warbler, Cape May Warblers, have also been traveling through the area and giving us some great photo opportunities, though they're not the rarity that the Kirtland's was. This one was flushed as we were looking for the Kirtland's above.
As I was walking and thinking, it is over a week sense seeing a hummingbird. This Anna hummingbird was just sitting in a bush early April. She was 6 feet away. I was using a 300mm lens and had time to manual focus. This is the clearest picture I have taken of a hummingbird as you can see zooming in.
Looks like everyone likes this one too. Walking through the same park but up om the top of a tree.
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This the my First image posted from my new Sony A7r5:
The focus tracking works so good. I don't know if I will ever use the A7r4 again.
Looks like everyone likes this one too. Walking through the same park but up om the top of a tree.
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This the my First image posted from my new Sony A7r5:
The focus tracking works so good. I don't know if I will ever use the A7r4 again.
Although I’ve been a keen photographer for many years I never really mastered bird photography, and it’s something I want to pursue more. Obviously a certain equipment level and technique are probably a must, but really patience and a bit of luck are equally important. So here’s one of mine from just a couple of days ago, and I’ve had some encouraging feedback from Flickr members far more experienced than me. Here’s to more…!
My typical subjects are inanimate, but I do often find myself in a situation involving birds. Being more of a landscape photographer, I typically don't carry the requisite long lenses, so my bird portraits tend to be more environmental rather than close up studies. In this case I was photographing a bridge about a hundred yards opposite. As I turned around to go back to the car, there in the rapids stood this heron, so intent on acquiring lunch that he/she completely ignored my presence on the nearby shore. For several minutes, it stood so deathly still that, in combination with IBIS, I was able to slow the shutter speed down to be able to blur the rushing water, yet capture a sharp image of the subject. As I was mere feet away, my longest lens, a 75mm, was actually close to the perfect focal length. Luck certainly played a huge role in this shot. Hopefully others will find it interesting. 
The last few weeks have brought some opportunities I've wanted for a long time, including a good look at a Baltimore oriole, a long-elusive photo of a scarlet tanager . . . and a barred owl sleeping just ten or twelve feet off the trail at eye level.
Here are those favorites and one other:
Nectaring Baltimore oriole
My first-ever leucistic cardinal (a female)
Finally the elusive scarlet tanager
And a barred owl sleeping 10 or 12 feet away at eye level
Here are those favorites and one other:
Nectaring Baltimore oriole
My first-ever leucistic cardinal (a female)
Finally the elusive scarlet tanager
And a barred owl sleeping 10 or 12 feet away at eye level
This is a Bananaquit. The picture was taken when vacationing on Aruba, the island where i grew up. She was nesting just outside of the apartment we were staying at. Long before I moved to the Netherlands, there used to be a Banaquitnest in a broken frontdoor lamp at our house. I'm pretty sure they reused that nest a couple of times.
Red-Tailed Hawk
A bit of luck was involved capturing this shot a year ago this month. I had never caught a raptor in flight before (at least no photo worth saving). I was in the eastern part of San Diego county at the Culp Valley camp ground on what has become one of my favorite short hikes (an easy, groomed, accessible trail of about 1 mile round trip). I spotted this hawk perched on a large bolder. I attached my telephoto lens (Canon EF 75-300mm) and would take a few shots, walk a few feet closer and take a few more, repeating this a few times. I got about 30 meters from the bolder before it decided I was close enough and took off. But before it flew away, it circled a few times just overhead to get a better look at me and rewarding me with this photo.
A bit of luck was involved capturing this shot a year ago this month. I had never caught a raptor in flight before (at least no photo worth saving). I was in the eastern part of San Diego county at the Culp Valley camp ground on what has become one of my favorite short hikes (an easy, groomed, accessible trail of about 1 mile round trip). I spotted this hawk perched on a large bolder. I attached my telephoto lens (Canon EF 75-300mm) and would take a few shots, walk a few feet closer and take a few more, repeating this a few times. I got about 30 meters from the bolder before it decided I was close enough and took off. But before it flew away, it circled a few times just overhead to get a better look at me and rewarding me with this photo.
Shore and seabirds are another big favorite of ours -- it helps that they're a bit bigger than warblers too!
One thing about shorebirds is that you can really observe some interesting behaviors if you take a few minutes to watch them. One day while on the beach, we came across a Black-bellied Plover who kept flicking something out of some debris near a tide pool. Turns out it was a crab! The two squared off and circled one another like a pair of Old West Cowboys, and the crab managed to fend the plover off long enough to escape into the tide pool.
Another great migrant arrived a bit earlier than the Kirtland's Warbler posted above. It was a very lost, young Black-legged Kittiwake who quickly became the darling of the local birders (and us, who visited him twice within the week!). Like every young star though, the fame got to his head and he got a little greedy and ended up getting hooked by a fisherman. He went to rehab and was released, but like so many stars of days gone by, he came back to where he first found fame -- and easy food!
He's still there at the same pier, and many of us local birders drop by to see him, but sadly, he may never regain the fame he had in his younger days.
One thing about shorebirds is that you can really observe some interesting behaviors if you take a few minutes to watch them. One day while on the beach, we came across a Black-bellied Plover who kept flicking something out of some debris near a tide pool. Turns out it was a crab! The two squared off and circled one another like a pair of Old West Cowboys, and the crab managed to fend the plover off long enough to escape into the tide pool.
Another great migrant arrived a bit earlier than the Kirtland's Warbler posted above. It was a very lost, young Black-legged Kittiwake who quickly became the darling of the local birders (and us, who visited him twice within the week!). Like every young star though, the fame got to his head and he got a little greedy and ended up getting hooked by a fisherman. He went to rehab and was released, but like so many stars of days gone by, he came back to where he first found fame -- and easy food!
He's still there at the same pier, and many of us local birders drop by to see him, but sadly, he may never regain the fame he had in his younger days.
North American Cat Bird.
Arrived back in NY yesterday for fifth year. Announced itself by landing in a bush just over my head waiting for me to throw it a piece of cheater or swiss, it won't touch processed cheese and then head for the Forsythia Clump. Last years disappearance in mid June about a month ahead of previous years made me think maybe one of my two ferals had gotten it. HAPPY TO SEE IT BACK.
I was testing my new vintage Nikkor 180mm f2.8 AI lens by taking photos of my cat and I noticed that her gaze was locked on something. I looked back and took a photo of what she was looking at, a tiny sparrow. National Geography in my own backyard. I found it interesting that the colors of the cat's fur and the bird's feather matched and had almost similar patterns.
I was sitting in my car eating a peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich when I noticed this Western Tanager in the low branches of a Douglas fir tree. I had heard him singing earlier and thought "That'll be the day when I get his picture". But always having a camera at hand I focused on an exposed branch, made my settings, and was about to put the camera down when "Voila!!!" he landed on this very branch. I had time to rotate vertically and he was gone and back singing in the heights of the upper canopy. I like how the sweep of his body is complemented by the lichen covered bit on the lower part of the branch.
We went to the Oregon coast for a friend's birthday last year and a flock of Sanderlings constantly traveled up and down the coast looking for sand crabs. These tiny shorebirds have such a personality. When one would find a sand crab, the rest would give chase.
A close second would be this Scissor-tailed Flycatcher taken near the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in Oklahoma. One of my favorite birds....
A close second would be this Scissor-tailed Flycatcher taken near the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in Oklahoma. One of my favorite birds....
Hello! This is simply a "pet shop parakeet", but I loved how regal it looked perched on its branch behind the glass. Though I'm not a fan of pet shops, I love animals and birds, and feel that commemorating them in photographs, like their free brothers and sisters, is a wonderful way to show my appreciation. This is an Indian ring-necked parakeet (sometimes called a parrot). 
I always love seeing these birds! This pair of baltimore orioles nested right about this bathing area in Central Park, whose nest was actively occupied with their eggs at the time . It was a treat to see both taking a break form nesting duty and take a bath together. The male flew up first and gave his a lady an extra few minutes break, he was quite the gentleman.
The Great Blue Heron
Every spring they return to nest in this old tree on a tiny island in Stow Lake at Golden Gate Park. During this time there can easily be 5-7 nests on the same tree. Early spring they gather branches from nearby trees for a little nest renovation. A little later in the spring you can often see the the young one heads sticking out.
They are easily seen, but to photograph them at the nest a longer lens is useful. Here I am using a Sigma 100-400 on a crop sensor a6400. However if you walk around the lake it is pretty common to see one much closer.
Every spring they return to nest in this old tree on a tiny island in Stow Lake at Golden Gate Park. During this time there can easily be 5-7 nests on the same tree. Early spring they gather branches from nearby trees for a little nest renovation. A little later in the spring you can often see the the young one heads sticking out.
They are easily seen, but to photograph them at the nest a longer lens is useful. Here I am using a Sigma 100-400 on a crop sensor a6400. However if you walk around the lake it is pretty common to see one much closer.
Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin, Florida, has a large population of osprey. You always want to be looking up in the trees as you walk down the trails as you're likely to get hit from above with pieces of fish that the osprey have caught. I happened to see something falling and looked up to find this osprey with his catch of the day.
During the pandemic I was allowed to work from home. Being Springtime I lunched every day on my back porch and discovered a Cardinal nest in the tree just outside the screen. I was privileged to watch them every day as mom sat on the nest and dad brought food to her. I also got to see the chicks from day one as they clamored for food and water, right up until the last one left the nest. Mom and Dad were both very attentive throughout. This photo is of the proud parents as they ate up on my feeder before returning to the nest and the little ones.
We recently purchased a Z5 so both my wife and I could shoot at the same time.
My 500mm lens broke the year previous, and getting it repaired during covid wasn't happening. So I was testing out the Manual Focus features of our new camera. The camera show you little glittery sparkles where it is focused.
We set out in a park with no agenda. A local to the park told us about the hummingbirds were starting nest building. He said she comes back every 20 minutes or so. Well we stood in that spot for about 2 hours. Dark clouds rolled in overhead but there was some low thin bright clouds to the left and right, Making this beautiful soft sideways light.
The female Anna's hummingbird came in close, I dropped low to get eye level, and to put a darker background behind her. I nailed the focus!
My 500mm lens broke the year previous, and getting it repaired during covid wasn't happening. So I was testing out the Manual Focus features of our new camera. The camera show you little glittery sparkles where it is focused.
We set out in a park with no agenda. A local to the park told us about the hummingbirds were starting nest building. He said she comes back every 20 minutes or so. Well we stood in that spot for about 2 hours. Dark clouds rolled in overhead but there was some low thin bright clouds to the left and right, Making this beautiful soft sideways light.
The female Anna's hummingbird came in close, I dropped low to get eye level, and to put a darker background behind her. I nailed the focus!
One of my favorite picture moments was when I had the chance to capture a beautiful male quetzal in a secluded area close to Cerro de la Muerte in Costa Rica. There was a couple nesting but the exchange between the male and the female happened really fast and you needed to wait for a long time before having a few seconds glimpse of the beautiful pair out of the nest. One early morning we had the chance to observe the male for a bit longer, as he remained sitting for a few minutes on a tree branch near the nest. That was when this picture could be taken (conditions explained in the picture's page):
When I was a young boy growing up in the city limits of Buffalo, NY, in the late 1960s, I saw a drawing of a Wood Duck and could not be convinced that it was a real bird. Surely this creature was the figment of someone's imagination. Mind you, my bird experience up to that point was limited to pigeons, robins and house sparrows, but I was fascinated by their flight, beauty and resourcefulness to survive. Fast forward 30 years and I had bird feeders, baths and nesting boxes on my suburban property and was adding species to my life list, but had never tried watching water birds. In 2017 I began a hobby of digital photography and quickly found myself capturing mostly photos of birds. It was at this point that I made getting a great photo of a Wood Duck a high priority. This turned out to be quite a bit more difficult than I thought it would be. Getting close, from the correct angle and with flattering lighting (subdued lighting is a must to capture the full range of colors) all at the same time proved frustratingly hard. Finally the perfect photographic storm came together at the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park in Albuquerque, NM in April 2022. From behind the permanent concrete blind at the Observation Pond my opportunity finally arrived. Armed with an Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 300mm f/4 lens and 1.4x teleconverter I took the photo that was my destiny from nearly 60 years ago. It was one of many highlights of a fantastic week in the American Southwest.
Some of my favorite birds are Black Skimmers. There's something about the way that they fly and race one another, their weirdly-long lower beak, and the juxtaposition between aerial elegance and grounded awkwardness that's just endearing. Recently we had the opportunity to see a flock larger than any other I've seen -- more than 200 birds on a small slice of beach! They took turns taking up into the air and racing in pairs and groups down to where the Least Terns nest and back again, and it was just marvelous to stand and watch. Of course, I couldn't help but take a few photos of the action.
It's hard to pick just one. I chose this one because of the colorful yellow warbler in the frame, taken at the Rio Fernando Wetlands park in Taos, New Mexico. The indigenous population in taos are know as "the people of the red willow" which grows in wet areas and along rivers and streams here. The warbler is perched on a red willow.
I may have some more impressive shots (or not) but this has to be my favorite bird photo. Canoeing out on the lake in mid-fall this big loon had been hanging around the area, but always kept well away.
We started to head in as the rain rolled in, and it allowed us to pass by while it just floated and preened, drifting out to the middle of the lake. After some time preening it gave this great flapping display while we drifted on by eventually leaving the loon behind us and out of range for me to turn anymore.
We started to head in as the rain rolled in, and it allowed us to pass by while it just floated and preened, drifting out to the middle of the lake. After some time preening it gave this great flapping display while we drifted on by eventually leaving the loon behind us and out of range for me to turn anymore.
I've lived near the Royal National Park in Sydney, Australia for many years now, and had never seen an Azure Kingfisher. Many people in local photographic groups posted photos, and I contacted many to find the location. Even with that information, I still struggled to find one.
Then one day, this happened !!
Then one day, this happened !!
As I am not sure how to add a photo to a reply, this might not work, but at the moment, this is my favourite photo taken in my back garden.
It was taken with the intention of showing off the iridescence in the plumage of a common European Starling. Three flash units were used - two on the bird and another on the background.
Taken in Stone Harbor, NJ. Early morning with glassy conditions on a salt marsh tidal pool, this Black Skimmer came in over one end of the pool and made repeated sweeps back and forth over the length of the pool. I was using a Canon 7D Markii with a tripod with gimbal head and a PGD tracker on the hot shoe of the camera.
Just the right time (before taking off). Needs zooming to appreciate all the details.
My Lovebirds couple Blu & Luce who recently gave birth to two amazing beautiful puppies...
Luce (to the left, just about to fly) is a Agapornis Roseicollis Lutin
Blue (to the right, actually mainly green with a touquoise tail) is a Agapornis peach-headed ancestral.
Photographed free in my studio by natural daylight on a black background and standing on a real hazel bonsai trunk.
My Lovebirds couple Blu & Luce who recently gave birth to two amazing beautiful puppies...
Luce (to the left, just about to fly) is a Agapornis Roseicollis Lutin
Blue (to the right, actually mainly green with a touquoise tail) is a Agapornis peach-headed ancestral.
Photographed free in my studio by natural daylight on a black background and standing on a real hazel bonsai trunk.
The entire Lovebird Family! (Just posted in the Group stream today)
There we have the puppies together with the parents (in the centre, left Blu and right on top
of him Luce, his wife and mother of the two brat puppies here to the far left and far right).
It's amazing how colourful they are and the different tones & hues of their plumage.
This is a photo of 2 weeks ago...Today it's the 2nd month Birthday of the pale pistachio green one while the deeper green with plum coloured head has been 2 months old two days ago. (Whole story and description can be found in my 6 photos series)
There we have the puppies together with the parents (in the centre, left Blu and right on top
of him Luce, his wife and mother of the two brat puppies here to the far left and far right).
It's amazing how colourful they are and the different tones & hues of their plumage.
This is a photo of 2 weeks ago...Today it's the 2nd month Birthday of the pale pistachio green one while the deeper green with plum coloured head has been 2 months old two days ago. (Whole story and description can be found in my 6 photos series)
One of my favourite birds is the Australian Pelican because of its warped sense of humour. Here's one which flew off a bollard as I walked towards it down a short jetty, only to land on another bollard only a few metres away, as if to reinforce the idea that I had zero chance of catching it. Of course, it may have just been practising a Pilates exercise!
I had just run out of battery on a cold December day, but I saw some really beautiful light on the Minneapolis skyline. I remembered I had swapped out a low battery earlier that might still have a bit of juice. I'm shooting the skyline, and then for kicks decided to shoot some of the mallards that were hanging out in the last patch of open water before the ice closed in on Lake Harriet. Suddenly, a FREAKING BALD EAGLE FLEW INTO MY FRAME AND GRABBED A DUCK. It was crazy. It flew out to the middle of the lake and started eating it. Then after a few minutes, it carried the dead duck back over its friends as if showing it off. Kind of a jerk move. Nature is metal. Red in beak and claw, I guess. Anyway. felt super lucky to have witnessed that, and to have been able to capture it. 
This is one of my favorite bird photos because it is the one that got me into birding. A pair of Cedar Waxwings were building a nest above the cabin my partner and I were staying in, and they kept visiting a nearby downed log for materials. Since then we've seen a Waxwing on almost every trip we've taken together.
I'm not much of a bird photographer, and this heron is certainly not a very special bird, but the setting was special because you can't tell that this is in a small man-made pond in a residential neighborhood, right in the middle of the city. That's why I had chosen the title "Metropolitan Biotope".
I entitled this, "If We Just Ignore It, It May Just Go Away." This was taken this spring at Donnelly Wildlife Management area in a brackish pond/lake. The place was literally overflowing with alligators of all sizes. These roseate spoonbills were taking a siesta but it looks (to me) as if they're deliberately looking away from the alligator. The birds...and there were a variety of yellow legs, stilts, and various herons out there too...seemed very unconcerned about the alligators.
Went on my first safari with OAT in March. Best trip EVER and I've traveled with this company once a year, just about, while working and this was my 18th trip.. Happened to be in Tanzania in time to catch the wildebeest migration. Anyway, we also went to Ngorongoro Crater to see the wildlife living in that ecosystem. We stopped for lunch and had to hunker down in the 4X4 because kites would swoop down and pick off your food if you sat outside. Once done eating, I went walking around the small watering hole we were parked at. This marabou stork was posing for pictures. So ugly, he's cute? Looks like he has a fur jacket on. He definitely wasn't shy.
