ornithography: may 06, 2013

Rock Dove (Columba livia domestica)

ISO800 180mm f/8.0 1/100sec

  

ISO 800 300mm f/5.6 1/200sec

These birds are very loyal to us humans. Most of them have become dependent to us, like the ones in these pictures, they are homing pigeons. You can bring them anywhere and expect them to navigate back home. They were used as messengers in early times. I don't think many of us have gone this close to them. My hope is that these pictures will give you the feeling. They are very gentle yet smart!

Manual exposures using available light from the sunset is so beautiful!..If you are serious with photography, 

always shoot manual mode!

Pacific Swallow (Hirundo tahitica)

Hanging right outside of our guitar room today, you hardly ever see these guys on a perch so whenever I get the opportunity I will always take it. 

ISO 1600 1/640 f/8.0 300mm 450d tamron 70-300mm LD

You will always see them in pairs. They love coastal areas but have learned to live in forested area.

Spotted today: Striated Grassbird (Megalurus palustris) - though very common, my wife spotted it for me. Hope to get a picture of it. 

avian photography may 2, 2013

Golden-bellied Flyeater (Gerygone sulphurea)

ISO 1600 300mm f/6.3 1/800sec canon 450d tamron 70-300mm LD

This guy flew back and forth gathering materials for their nest nearby. You can see him holding on to one of it. Flyeaters are so hard to photograph because of their active nature.

these critters wouldn't stop moving

Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris)

ISO 1600 300mm f/8.0 1/2000 sec canon 450d tamron 70-300mm LD

Kingfishers hanging out in the pines at Faith Academy. I was trying to get the two together in one shot but I was too slow and the other one flew off. 

Eurasian Tree sparrow (Passer montanus)

ISO 400  300mm f/8.0 1/160  sec

If you do not know this bird, you are either colossally dumb, blind or just apathetic. They have adapted to live near humans, city birds they call them, and can be found just about anywhere in the world. Taken by my lovely wife who loves birding too. I am teaching her to expose manually and  maybe later on she'll allow me to buy a 1D and a 100-400mm L IS lens with 1.4x and 2x teleconverters so we can both take pictures. Hehe.

and a DOG!

Flea? Flee? ..Whatever! Both spelling is related to him. You flee if he gets out of the gate and I am sure he has 'em in her body (explains hes "gentleness"). This Bethesda dog "love" me and I "love" her too..hope he accepts the Lord someday. I heard he also hates Toby Huyssen!

avian photography may 1, 2013

I didn't want to bring my camera today but I decided to pick it up the last minute before leaving. I was expecting to not have any time to shoot today. But around sunset at Bethesda,  right before pressing the doorbell to go to rehearsals, I saw this beautiful brown shrike right on the wire. Quickly pulled my camera out and just shot away.

This is by far the most beautiful avian picture I have ever made, the time was perfect, golden hour they call it. This bird can hear the reflex of the shutter of my camera.

He reacts every time I take a photo. But he stayed just enough to get around 10 sharp images.

Brown Shrike

You can see his bandit mask

They are known to be very aggressive. They can be seen attacking other birds. They prey upon smaller birds, lizards and insects and are known to impale their prey. They love hanging out on wires and thorny bushes.

shooting info: ISO 800 300mm  f/8.0 1/800 manual  in available light EOS 450D Tamron 70-300mm LD

Saturn Opposition 2013

saturn

Taken using the celestron 4se, EOS 450D. Seeing condition were not that good, shot through an open area in the back of my house. I only had a 30min window for imaging and I am glad this is better than what I took last year February.

For some reason, celestron tracked pretty good.

avian photography april 30, 2013

Unknown, can someone help me identify this..

I heard a new bird sound this morning at school so I brought out my camera, I knew it was something different, this bird was being chased by a swallow and he landed on this fence and I was able to take a photo of him.

I am not sure what kind of bird it is or maybe it's someones pet or something, but I saw another one fly passed my position so they might be breeding or something.

7:55PM edit: I thnk this is some sort of yellow parrot.

Lifer list:

1.  Golden bellied Flyeater  
2.  Long tailed shrike        
3.  Olive backed sunbird      
4.  White Collared Kingfisher
5.  Pacific Swallow          
6.  Black naped Oriole        
7.  Yellow vented bulbul      
8.  Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker
9.  Pied Thriller            
10. Elegant Tit              
11. Brown Shrike              
12. Large billed Crow        
13. Eurasian Sparrows        
14. Blue throated bee-eater  
15. Pied Fan tail

beetle

avian photography april 26, 2013

Golden-bellied Flyeater (Gerygone sulphurea)

Flyeaters fly in tandem ..caught this couple talking to each other

Olive backed sunbird

Tree Lizard very well camouflaged from predators

Large Billed Crow vs. Black Naped Oriole

While imaging the bulbul, A black bird caught my attention, the lone crow was attacked by the orioles. The thing is, the both species have a very aggressive behavior. I had to scramble to take decent photos of the event but not fast enough.

crow and oriole

Pied Thriller

Large billed Crow in-flight

crow

tree lizard

Philippines Pygmy Woodpecker

Antonov AN-124-100 in manila

I also spotted a rare bird! Flight RA-82047

(confirmed here http://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/volga-dnepr-airlines-vda)

I love anything and everything that flies! (controlled flight, that is!)

Today was the first day for me to see a russian heavy lifter plane, It was the Antonov AN-124-100 from the Volga-Dnepr airlines.I kind of know how most of the planes sound when they passby.

I can hear differences between airbuses, 747s, C-130s, ATR turbo props and small planes. Of course this one sounded way different than the normal ones so it got my attention.

With the four Ivchenko Progress D-18T turbofans spewing out 229.5 kN (51,600 lbf) each. It sounded louder and meaner than 747s (which is always the loudest).

avian photography march 26, 2013

Three species in one photo..let's take a closer look of the two..

Blue throated bee-eater (Merops viridis)

White collared Kingfisher

All pictures were taken at Morong, Bataan.