OK, these are my first serious attempts at shooting birds. I now have a great appreciation for you birders.

I was using my 2x TC with my 70-200 locked at the 200mm setting. And I was only about 15' away using a 1.6x imaging sensor. Man, how long of a lens must one have to shoot truly wild and wary birds?! A telescope?

Still far from getting the kinds of active, mid-air shots that I've seen here. Workin', or at least thinkin', about it though!

It's not easy is it :) I use less mag than you do and have alot of trouble getting tight usually. But I assure you feeder birds are usually much tougher.

I stalk my prey like the hunter / gatherer the humans evolved from :D

Nice shots! If this is your first attempt at bird photography then you have done very well indeed!

You did very well here Loupey. I'm not an expert bird shooter, but I'm getting better. My method is to sit and wait. I built a blind to sit in along some woods on a friends property. It works good for deer and turkey. I but up some bluebird houses over the winter and have been hanging out around them to get some shots. After watching them for a while, you get their patters down and can almost predict what branch they will land on before the return to the nest. With 5 hungry mouths to feed inside the nest, the adults are very active and give me lots of opportunities. Lots of other birds to watch and shoot while waiting also. I take a lawn chair with me, and will just sit in the shade next to a bush about 35' away for a couple of hours.

I have added a few new bird images to my gallery from yesterdays outing.

Thanks, Mark and Michael, for your comments! You know, I can't believe its been exactly 1 month since I started shooting birds. I must have shot a couple hundred shots of only birds this month. It is a completely different approach for me. Although I'm not an impatient guy, I am also not used to waiting for them to come to me :) With macro work, I can usually go out and find something to shoot when and where I want to. I realize that actively stalking birds is yet another approach.

I came very close to buying a 400mm f/5.6L this weekend at a camera show and auction that came to town. I was thinking how cool it would be to use that specifically for birding (along with my 2x TC). I must say that birds make exhilerating and rewarding subjects!

Michael, thanks for the tip about the gallery. I since updated mine - I didn't quite know how that worked over there. Seems pretty cool.

Shooting bird is as tough to quit as shooting heroin pal..... good luck controlling that addiction :D

The fact that I even considered plunking down $1200 for a lens only for birding reveals that it may be a bad addiction indeed :p

When you start debating dropping $5K for the 400DO IS and a longer prime, get back to me for the meeting location of the Addicted Bird Shooter . I don't have that left on my card or I very well might have one :wink:

I can picture it now.... a couple of dudes (or is it duds) out in the field with beautiful white lens but wearing barrels (or nothing at all).

Sounds like another photo project.