A Grass Snake and a Spoonbill

[Geoff F]

A couple of items which may be of interest but definitely not high quality photography.

On the path of a bird marsh I discovered a dead Grass Snake which had been cleanly bitten in two and with other bite marks on the tail section.



Taken with my Sigma 150-600 bird lens at 430 mm. 1/640 F11 Iso 800. Why didn't I drop the Iso? It was on a tripod and the subject was dead! Admittedly, I was attempting to back off to get a focus point and my tripod was unstable on a rough narrow sloping path so I wasn't thinking clearly. Then I switched to my 24-70 lens and got closer, but those shots failed to achieve equally good lighting from that angle. So I returned to my first shots.

There has been a Spoonbill at that site for a while but it spends most of its time sleeping in a distant reedbed where I struggle to find acceptable angles and lighting and the images are too small.



7D with 150-600 Sigma Sport lens. 1/800 F11 Iso 400.
And from another angle I am sure this bird is laughing at my photographic attempts.



1/640 F11 Iso 800. After a bit more thought, maybe try a 4 x 5 ratio, or square?


Maybe next time I will find it closer and at a better light angle.

[Cantab]

Geoff, I particularly like the last photo: quite a collection of avian expressions from birds all at close quarters. The heron is looking up at the water that the ?? bird is showering down on it.

What are the two black birds? My initial glance saw them as crows but a closer look suggests otherwise.

The current crop ratio works for me.

[Shadowman]

Nice efforts.

[Wavelength]

Nice images

[Geoff F]

Thanks.

The black birds are Jackdaws, Bruce. Like small crows, which also occur at that site, but the head/neck markings are obviously different at close range.

With that image, which is a substantial crop, I initially left the fence post in the scene to create a better balance then wondered if it was too dominant. Maybe it is sufficiently dull in tone and texture to make a balancing element without overly dominating the birds?