A friendly little bird

[DickyOZ]

I went for a bush walk hoping to see a few birds, but all I saw was a Grey Fantail as the light was fading.


I decided to head back through the mangroves; a big mistake - the sand flies were fatally attracted to the insect repellent I was wearing. Then I saw a male Mistletoe bird in the Casuarinas and tried to creep up on it. But it stayed hidden and gave little chance for my 75-300mm lens.

The female was there too.

At that point the sand flies got too much for me to stand still and I danced around trying to swat the little B...s. By the time I'd got them off my legs, arms, ears and face I thought the birds would have been long gone. But the male obviously took pity and put on a show.











I'm afraid that is about the limit of the resolving power of that lens in poor light
Dicky.

[Dave Humphries]

Good set Dicky, under the circumstances.

The 1/320s shutter speed used in most (all?) is certainly sufficient for your handholding abilities, but a little slow if the bird moves; on some, the head is slightly smudged, if viewed at 100%, but sharp enough.


If he'd really taken pity on you, shouldn't he have eaten all the sandflies?

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[rtbaum]

A very nice series, Richard. Isn't it ironic that greater the discomfort, the greater the opportunity for nice shot

[DickyOZ]

Good set Dicky, under the circumstances.

The 1/320s shutter speed used in most (all?) is certainly sufficient for your handholding abilities, but a little slow if the bird moves; on some, the head is slightly smudged, if viewed at 100%, but sharp enough.


If he'd really taken pity on you, shouldn't he have eaten all the sandflies?

Thanks Dave, alas he is a seed-eater not a carnivore. In my haste I switched to a 'MySet' to get burst mode and didn't check the ISO which I normally set to 1600 for low light (used in the first three photos). The last time I updated the camera firmware and re-entered all my preferred options into 'MySets' I forgot to change ISO from Auto to manual. With a lens that's F6.7 @ 300mm I really need a higher ISO than Auto selects so I can keep a decent shutter speed. I'm updating the Mysets right now. Hopefully I will see the pair again.

[dje]

Some good captures there Dicky, I admire your perserverance!

Dave

[Wavelength]

A beautiful narration...excellent poses; which is your camera and lensmake?

[DickyOZ]

A beautiful narration...excellent poses; which is your camera and lensmake?

OM-D E-M1 and Zuiko 75-300mm II (F4.8-6.7)

[bnnrcn]

Nice series Richard

[IzzieK]

Richard...what brand of deodorant were you using again? I am laughing here but I agree with Randy -- the timely bits and itches brought out the best of your shots...I like #1 best...and all the rest too.