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Swallows and...My feeble attempts at birding

Author	Post

Posted by Robert: Mon Aug 22nd, 2016 14:28

1^st Post

In a nearby shed I have found a Swallows nest.

I can get as close as I want, the birds are feeding four chicks which are crowded into the tiny nest.

D3, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 MF, @ f5.6, 1/60sec ISO800 SB800 on TTL etc. Taken on CH @ 11fps. The flash kept pace for 9 exposures.

D3A9882

D3A9883

D3A9884

D3A9885

D3A9886

D3A9887

I also took some with the D300s, giving me an effective 450mm focal length.
1/60sec, f5.6, ISO800 SB800 on TTL etc.

DSC_1699

DSC_1688

DSC_1703

This last image seems to have a ghost image of the bird. it must have moved as the exposure was made but frozen by the flash.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by Robert: Tue Aug 23rd, 2016 01:10

2^nd Post

The sparky spots on the adult bird are caused by raindrops, the birds don't seem to feed during heavy rain but once it reduces to fine drizzle then they start feeding again.

Are the images too large? I used to keep my images to 1024 pixels wide but I am assuming many here have large monitors or retina displays nowadays?

I had a peculiar experience when I uploaded the image files to Flicker. The images were all exported from Lightroom as JPEG's in an identical batch, I dragged and dropped all the images to the upload page of Flicker. The three images from the D300s all uploaded OK, none of the D3 images, which were smaller file sizes would upload. I had to use the import 'chose file' method to upload the D3 image files.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by jk: Tue Aug 23rd, 2016 02:41

3^rd Post

Like the second one of the set best.

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Still learning after all these years!
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Posted by Robert: Tue Aug 23rd, 2016 15:16

4^th Post

Thanks JK, I left two out because they were too similar to their neighbours. I couldn't decide on a particular one and it seemed a good idea to include the sequence since I had the set.

Perhaps an opportunity to use a high speed camera to record the feeding process.

It's quite remarkable in a way. The chicks mouths are closed until the adult approaches, then the chicks all open their mouths wide in unison, as though the adult makes an inaudible call as they approach. The chicks can't always see the adult because they sometimes approach from different directions which the chicks can't see. There are at least two adults, possibly three, who are feeding the chicks. Despite the chicks all being open mouthed, they seemed to be being fed in turn pretty fairly by the adults.

I tried several times with the D300s to get some nice pix of the feeding but the shutter rate wasn't fast enough, the adult only stays for half a second or so to pass the food to a chick before flying off for more. I thought the D300s might have been better with it's longer effective focal length but the slower shutter rate let it down, only allowing two or three shots, none of which were prime.

____________________
Robert.

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