Chestnut tailed starling in a temple grounds Singburi

Was trying to get a good shot of a sunbird bouncing around when this flew into frame.

Think its a female

Chickens do fly, after the kids throw them in the air!

I don't know why, but this made me laugh. Funny picture

The kids thought is was funny to, (10 to 12 year olds) .... I don't think the chicken found it all amusing!

Pigeons in Chiang Mai 2013

Pigeons in Chiang Mai 2013

IMG_2860resized.JPG

Looks like they saw you coming!

Male Scarlet Backed Flower Pecker in a local park.

Something went wrong then lets try again.

Male Scarlet Backed Flower Pecker in a local park

.

The book says these things are between 8.5 and 9 cm assume that includes the tail, however they look much smaller.

They leap around in trees at great speed and are rarely still for more than a heartbeat.

Just seeing them in a tree where they are out in the open, out of all the leaves and branches is hard enough then by the time I have lifted the camera and picked them up in the viewfinder they usually bounce away before I can get a focus.

Its a bit like trying to get a pix of the ball in a ping pong game.

If I am lucky enough to get a focus on one there is every chance it has ducked behind something just as I push the tit

They do however seem to stay still on power wires for a bit longer, dont know if it charges their batteries or what.

Will keep trying and one day will get a good one.

The White-fronted Scops Owl Kaeng Krachan

White-crowned Hornbill Krung Ching Waterfall (Nakhon Si Thammarat)

I mean it! The White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) - Krung Ching Waterfall (Nakhon Si Thammarat)

His drumming on bamboo yesterday was deafeningly loud...

Rufous Woodpecker - Mae Hia, Chiang Mai

a quick roadside snap snack this morning in Chiangmai...

Pied Bushchat (female)

a young bird on my local patch (one of the best places in CM to see this raptor) fairly recently fledged....

Rufous-winged Buzzard (Butastur liventer) - Mae Hia, Chiangmai

local patch again...

Wire-tailed Swallow (Hirundo smithii)

"Yellow is the colour of my true love's hair... In the mornin' when we rise... In the mornin' when we rise... That's the time, that's the time...

I love the best."

.

Common Iora - one of my fave' garden birds

Small Pratincole nesting down by the river, they nest on the sand and the eggs are the same color as the sand

The nests are very difficult to find because when anyone or anything approaches they leave the nest and put on a show of being injured, flopping around to draw you away from the nest.

When they think you are far enough away they will up and fly off.

Birds in the key of kieow...

Green Bee-eater

Coppersmith Barbet

Goshawk, which lens are you using?

the only lens that would get me anywhere near where i want to be for distance bird photography, would be the canon 500mm f/4 with a 2x tc... problem is the $10k price tag & the weight.

so i don't use 'a lens' as such.. i use a Canon SX50hs superzoom for bird shots, has its limitations but overall it works quite well once mounted on a good tripod. (and has a greater reach than the lens combo mentioned above)

Farther to the white rumped shama in post 98:

Female Erawan National Park Kanchanaburi

Sooty Headed Bulbul in my garden North of Phetchabun.

Asian Brown Flycatcher in my garden North of Phetchabun.

A Shikra that I managed to sneak up on whilst he was perched overlooking a rice paddy. North of Phetchabun.

Grey-breasted Prinia

same same... but different.

Plain Prinia (x2)

An Asian Barred Owlet appears to be playing hide and seek as I stalked it in a pine forest Khao Kho Highlands near the campsite at Thung Salaeng Luang National Park HQ.

3 from yesterday at Doi Inthanon.....

Golden-throated Barbet - near the 2nd checkpoint

Blue-whistling Thrush - Namtok Wachiratan

Flavescent Bulbul - the Summit

Amazing quality of images Goshawk !!! My canon lenses won't get that quality, although perhaps I should take along a tripod more often!

But usually the birds fly away too quickly too

Here is one, but not near the quality to make a good pic! (Hand held!)

A couple of shots of a Green Billed Malkoha that started visiting the garden when it was really hot March/April(came for water and a bathe).The first shot is not my best but I was trying to show just long this birds tail is!! For a big bird he is quite shy and hides in the trees a lot-not exactly photogenic.

White throated Kingfisher SJ

Here is one I was lucky enough to spot yesterday

Amazing quality of images Goshawk !!! My canon lenses won't get that quality, although perhaps I should take along a tripod more often!

But usually the birds fly away too quickly too

Tripod is good but more important (to me) is the head. Make sure it's of good quality. I use a Manfotto 2-way fluid video head with quite a long 'arm'... it's buttery smooth in operation & great for tracking your subjects

The best way is to find the busiest wave of bird activity in a given location then strategically & stealthily position yourself with the sun/light behind you and then........ wait.

Wait for them to come to you rather than vice versa - once i'm satisfied in my mind that the perfect stage is set, i simply await the players....

Large Niltava - Doi Inthanon (insect in its beak)

....these specialist mountain birds are easily heard but can be tricky to photograph as they're mid-story to canopy dwellers usually in dense dark forests. For this particular one i had to really push up the iso (degrades quality) then post process to bring out the image. It's far from a great shot, but it took me ages to get it.

An Eastern Jungle Crow to start a new week. Photographed in Khao Kho Highlands near the campsite at Thung Salaeng Luang National Park HQ. Handheld using Sigma 150-500mm on Canon body.

Excellent photos as per usual, Goshawk. You must spend a far bit of time at it. The ones I get are just lucky snapshots.