Share Wildlife (of any kind)

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

(I couldn't find (within 10 pages search or in already discussed topics feature) any Sharing thread for wildlife animals, local or otherwise, random or planned)

Yesterday I chanced upon one of the cutest creatures I have ever found:

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/160s    ISO 1600

A Water Vole, a tiny little mammal that is very shy and skittish, not easy to find. My mistake, I doubled checked the information and it's actually a little rat, about the size of a fist.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/160s    ISO 2500

The difference between rat and water vole is the tail of a vole is fluffy and small (and I thought it was the opposite).

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/100s    ISO 1600

It wasn't afraid or even worried about the ducks, running about like a boss.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/160s    ISO 2500

It was still quite skittish and it went down into the water multiple times as I was trying to get a lower angle.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/100s    ISO 1600

Voles don't dive straight into the water and this one was going quite quickly and gently into the water which made me think initially that maybe it's not a rat.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/100s    ISO 1600

There were 3 of them at one point, running and jumping around but I couldn't get close enough.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/100s    ISO 1250

I did manage to get 2 of them in the frame, one on the left side sniffing the water and one on the right side, heading into the reeds, into a dark tunnel shape (maybe a nest), you can just make out the back.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/100s    ISO 1000

One of them walked up on a stick in the water, looking around and had a glance at me as well (I was about 5 meters away on the other side, a fence, a footpath and a small brick wall).

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/100s    ISO 1600

The little fellow was running around the bench while on the bottom left side you can just make out another one.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/100s    ISO 800

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Rats are cute, and highly intelligent. Unfortunately, in this part of the world, it is hard to share space with them: they want it all!

 

[WoodWorks]

That rat on a stick!

 

[davect01]

Rats are cute, and highly intelligent. Unfortunately, in this part of the world, it is hard to share space with them: they want it all!

And can be highly destructive to our stuff

 

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

And can be highly destructive to our stuff

I would say the same about humans, just a matter of perspective. I don't fault nature and wildlife being nature and wildlife but I do fault humanity for being irresponsible ... but that's a topic for a different kind of discussion that would be better to have elsewhere.
I am hoping this thread is joined by others to share wildlife images.

 

[davect01]

I would say the same about humans, just a matter of perspective. I don't fault nature and wildlife being nature and wildlife but I do fault humanity for being irresponsible ... but that's a topic for a different kind of discussion that would be better to have elsewhere.
I am hoping this thread is joined by others to share wildlife images.

Um, ok.

I'll send over the bill and the little bugger that chewed up the wires in my wife's car that cost us $600 to fix just last year.

Do I blame it, no. They were just doing their thing and living life. But I'm not happy when they cause damage and cost us money.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

A couple of years ago, my wife and I stood and watched a colony of rats in a roadside drain, where damage had exposed them. It was lovely just to see them.

Yes, they are pests. Somebody probably knows the economic cost. But they are creatures too, with their own magic. And photographic potential.

 

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

Lots and lots of ducks:

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    28mm    f/2.8    1/200s    ISO 200

Close up:

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    140mm    f/5.0    1/200s    ISO 1250

A pretty little Morehen duck:

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/200s    ISO 2000

Afloat duckies and a youngling seagull:

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/500s    ISO 1000

A young seagull on the pond's little duck house:

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/200s    ISO 1600

 

[Antonio Correia]

ILCE-7M3    FE 135mm F1.8 GM    135mm    f/5.6    1/320s    ISO 1000

 

[Will Focus]

Lots and lots of ducks:
View attachment 117778

Close up:
View attachment 117779

A pretty little Morehen duck:
View attachment 117780

Afloat duckies and a youngling seagull:
View attachment 117781

A young seagull on the pond's little duck house:
View attachment 117782

I'll bet that Morehen duck doesn't win many paddling races. I never would have guessed that to be a duck. Looks more like some type of weird chicken.

 

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

I'll bet that Morehen duck doesn't win many paddling races. I never would have guessed that to be a duck. Looks more like some type of weird chicken.

They get picked on quite often for being so small ... and they are a lot noisier too.

 

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

Last weekend I was focusing on getting ducks mid-air, to test the C-AF, to see if I can still manage it after months out of practice:

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 2000

"In for the landing"

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 2000

"Touchdown"

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 1250

The shutter speed seems to have not been enough but I am quite happy with the motion blur for the sensation of speed.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 6400

I was very happy with this one, the C-AF does an exceptional job of keeping the duck in focus and this one was my favourite of this burst sequence.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 2000

"Putting the breaks on"

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 2000

I love this shot so much because the duck's head is hidden and, for some reason, it gives the duck a very powerful feeling, a lot more than the one above (which is the same duck in the sequence burst).

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 2000

The next one in the sequence was quite interesting as the floating duck house and the female duck below the frame line up so well vertically, hence why I chose to crop this was to emphasize the position of the subjects a bit more.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 2000

The next one doesn't feel as good as the other ones BUT I still love the position of the wings and the added reflection below the duck landing as it got closer to the water.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/250s    ISO 640

I kept this frame (out of the same sequence) because of the motion blur on the wings and the few drops of water right below the duck (no, it's not duck poop) gives a little bit more context to the action.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/500s    ISO 2000

A very young seagull decided to crash the "Feeding the Ducks Party" and it was swinging around, probably to find the best position to take advantage of the ducks. It was flying quite low on the water at times and I am very happy I got the right moment even though I had to crop quite a lot for "only" 200mm.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/500s    ISO 2500

The C-AF worked quite well, at least moving from side to side, but it did struggle for a few frames which were strange as I expected the white on dark green to not have any issues like that.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/500s    ISO 3200

I love the idea of birds in flight but the best framing that I would love to get is with foreground and background to give a bit more sense of perspective and 3D effect BUT the camera struggled to keep the C-AF on the bird as it got closer to the tree (on the top left of the frame).

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/500s    ISO 4000

Another favourite of perspective, getting head-on incoming birds in flight is not the easiest job to do even for more high-er end cameras ... and the fact that I was at 200mm where the subject was about 15-20% of the entire image I was quite happy(il)y surprised it worked so well.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/500s    ISO 3200

Luckily seagulls don't give a flying poop about humans and where you are ... and this one was quite close to me as it was circling around the pond.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 12800

"Touchdown" I was quite surprised that I got almost all the highlights back in post because of the very high contrast between the background and the bright feathers.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 10000

Back to the ducks, I do find that 10 FPS may not be as much headroom for capturing "all" the moments of the action as there's quite a bit of action jumping between each frame ... compared to the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III *cough* OM-1 *cough*.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 5000

"Did I get it right, cousin?"

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 16000

"FLY AWAY EVERYONE" (Kids were trying to spook the ducks).

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 10000

"Peaking"

 

[fractal]

ILCE-7RM2    200mm F2.8    200mm    f/3.5    1/500s    ISO 100

 

[DaveC]

ILCE-6000    E 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 G OSS    350mm    f/6.3    1/200s    ISO 200

 

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/500s    ISO 125

One of the best picture I made of a Buzzard despite being heavily cropped as I have only one lens and it goes to only 200mm.

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 200

I am so happy with the RAW files of the Sony a7C because on my (now sold) Olympus cameras I was struggling to get accurate shadow and contrasty details even with the Olympus 100-400mm f 5-6.3 (though I had that lens only a few months and I didn't get to learn all the ins and outs of it like I did with the Panasonic Leica 50-200mm f 2.8-4 and the 1.4x TC though that lens struggled even more).

ILCE-7C    E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071    200mm    f/5.6    1/1000s    ISO 125

I got lucky with this shot because that small bird just photobombed my burst sequence but I do love the fact that both have the same orientation so if you squeeze your eyes hard enough you might think the Buzzard was trying to catch it.

 

[Will Focus]

View attachment 118011
One of the best picture I made of a Buzzard despite being heavily cropped as I have only one lens and it goes to only 200mm.

View attachment 118012
I am so happy with the RAW files of the Sony a7C because on my (now sold) Olympus cameras I was struggling to get accurate shadow and contrasty details even with the Olympus 100-400mm f 5-6.3 (though I had that lens only a few months and I didn't get to learn all the ins and outs of it like I did with the Panasonic Leica 50-200mm f 2.8-4 and the 1.4x TC though that lens struggled even more).

View attachment 118013
I got lucky with this shot because that small bird just photobombed my burst sequence but I do love the fact that both have the same orientation so if you squeeze your eyes hard enough you might think the Buzzard was trying to catch it.

Great images! That is a hawk, by the way, and I've yet to get one in flight as good as you did in these.

 

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

Great images! That is a hawk, by the way, and I've yet to get one in flight as good as you did in these.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/natureuk/entries/dcd6c3da-9952-40c2-884f-15cfdbabc9bd

I used this to double check the classification because I mistaken it (again) with a Kestrel (which are smaller, rounder and more svelt and hover better then a helicopter).
That Buzzard (that's what they call it in the UK) was above the neighborhood where I live, I got out of the house and 3inutes later I noticed it flying right above me, which is a first for me (as I usually find them out in the fields and away from noisy places). They have extremely good eye sight (unless you hear it, it will see you before you see it) so if you wanna get close you need either good camouflage (passive or hide) or stay inside the tree line and get lucky to pass close by.

Most interesting about them is I can find them have air battles with the many Corvus that we have in the area, sometimes a flock of 4 or 5 would try to force it out of their territory, but when these happen there's a high chance that even 600mm won't be enough reach as they can get quite high in the air and, trust me, you don't want to run after them (trees and ditches are quite painful when your gaze is stuck in the sky, don't ask me how is know this).

 

[TedG954]

Stealthy Egg Thief

ILCE-6600    FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS    87mm    f/4.0    1/640s    ISO 100