Bird Weekly – Photo Challenge

Birds

This week Lisa’s challenge is birds in or near water or snow.

Bird Weekly – Photo Challenge – Birds in or Near the Water or Snow

We don’t get a great amount of snow over here in Norfolk (thankfully) but on occasions a storm will hit.  The last big one was in March 2018 and it was called ‘The beast from the east’.  Many birds saw sanctuary in gardens where food was a bit easier to find.  Some of you may recall my post

https://blhphotoblog.wordpress.com/2018/03/02/woodcock-snipe/ and the two very unusual visitors that pitched up on our lawns.  Other species were more expected.

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Fieldfare (Turdis pilaris)

The Fieldfares are large members of the Thrush family that breed in Scandinavia.  In autumn  flocks migrate to the UK looking for berries.  In my garden they were fond of apples but were aggressive towards any other birds that wanted a feed.

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Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba)

You have to feel sorry for the insect eaters.  This wagtail looks very disheveled.  Long cold, snowy spells can be fatal for small birds.

Tricky photographing in snow.  The whiteness really messes up the exposures.  By shooting RAW you can at least bring out hidden detail with shadow protection in post-processing.  Not such a problem for water when it’s reflecting an azure sky.

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Redshank (Tringa totanus)

Hope you like this weeks offerings and please visit Lisa’s blog https://oureyesopen.blog/2020/12/18/bird-weekly-photo-challenge-birds-in-or-near-the-water-or-snow/   If you have any good shots for the theme why not post them and join in.

34 thoughts on “Bird Weekly – Photo Challenge”

  7. I detected a Thrush family in the first shot – fuller body, yellow bill but as you would expect, never experienced a Fieldfare – quite the intricate feathered bird you got there and managed to preserve the detail with the snow background – I tend to underexpose in snowscapes so I can get the detail locked and then bring the exposure back up in the digital darkroom – definitely always in RAW out in the field. That Wagtail looks a bit like our Black-Capped Chickadees. Along with CJ, like the sharp colors in the blue water reflection – too bad the challenge this week wasn’t large birds that sit in trees, I would have been all over that one ha!

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    1. As you can imagine I don’t have much opportunity to photograph in snow (thankfully) so settings are a bit hit and miss. I was shooting these through double glazing as these are very wary birds so just glad anything came out!
      One thing I didn’t mention on the Redshank shot was the pool had a thin layer of ice on the margins. That image is as old as most of yours too!
      If nothing is posted before the 25th I’ll take this opportunity to wish you and Linda as good a holiday as possible and here’s hoping we can ‘go for it’ in 21.

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      1. Amazing shot through glass – wow. Fortunately you are going back in time for the challenge where I’m just trying desperately to get caught up ha! Happy holidays to and your family as well (how’s the “Lemming” doing lately .. taking liberty that I am allowed to use that term) – definitely looking forward to ’21 when we can stretch out our retirement wings!

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      2. Hi B. It’s a sad situation with the Lemming. She’s stuck in Berlin and can’t come home and we can’t visit due to all the covid restrictions. She still has one job but the boyfriend is out of work so money is tight.
        I do so hope next year comes good, don’t think I can stand much more of this. Our government has just announced more restrictions, now we can only meet our friends on the 25th all other plans are now binned.

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  8. Fabulous birds this week! So happy to see birds in the snow even though they probably were not too happy about it. The wagtail looks a bit shaken by the situation. Wonderful reflection of the redshank! A lot can be done in post processing if you know the tools. Great advice about shooting raw. I shoot both raw and jpg. Most of the time my jpgs are good enough but occasionally I have to pull the raw image. 🙂 Many of my photos are archives & taken with my old equipment. Right now, I’m just not getting outside. I can tell the difference since I got my wide angle lens that I have now.

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    1. Thank you Lisa. Always good to go through the old files finding memories. Right now I’m waiting for my pension fund to come through then I’ll blow a bit of it on a new ‘super zoom’. That will give me more impetus to get out .

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      1. I bought my 2.8 200mm wide lens and didn’t use it for 6 months. It was too heavy to carry into the woods. I have a lightweight 210mm that I carried on hikes but it didn’t take very good photos. They were okay. Then when I lost my job in March, I started a daily workout routine and got stronger. Now I can carry my big lens on long hikes with no problem. Guess something good came out of covid. LOL! 🙂

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  12. Pingback: Bird Weekly Round-Up – Week #28 – Our Eyes Open

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