Flight

[OldSchool]

Hi all,

I'm not much of a wildlife shooter mainly because I don't have the skills (and my field lens is a simple 70-300 that I use to shoot my kids soccer games). But, I am spending the next six months in the Yucatan and have had some excellent opportunity. I'll have to say that I've studied some of the bird shots posted here. Many are most excellent. If you'll indulge me, I'll post a few. I'm also not much of a birder. So, help me out in the IDs (Sorry I didn't post this to the ID thread.).

Thanks for viewing...

Tim

[Knight]

Superb Captures , they seem frozen in flight Beautiful sky . Again well done

[paulnj]

Tim, these look like a petrel of some sort to me, but I honestly don't know. Did you by chance get these from a boat(in the southern US you need to go out to sea to find them).

These are very good shots to ID a bird, but I just have no knowledge of seabirds... yet.

[OldSchool]

Thanks Night & Paul,

To answer your question Paul, I was on a small boat. We took a tour of the inland marsh that is part of the Rio Legartos nature reserve. I have many other shots of egrets, herons, pelicans, etc. that I will post here as I process them. I hope I don't get tedious.

It's funny, I read the post below about baiting the animals. We were quite guilty here. These "petrels" are as common here as sea gulls in the states. They expect a little propina as you leave port.

Cheers,
Tim

[swmdrayfan]

Tim,
Those are terrific shots. You give me some hope with the 70-300. We've got a Cooper's Hawk flying around the neighborhood here, and I'm lying in wait.
John

[OldSchool]

Thanks John.

Actually, I shot all the above with an 18-70 (D70 kit lens). They birds were pretty close. Photos that follow will be with a Sigma 70-300.

Cheers,
Tim

[paulnj]

Yikes, now these look like laughing gulls That is my final answer ;)

[drg]

Doesn't look like there is anything wrong with your skills at all! Nature and wildlife photography is often about a serendipitous occurence. That and patience. I've had about 15 minutes a week of patience for sometime now! (or is that spare time, mhhmmm?)

Looks like you took good advantage of the opportunity and got fine shots of the petrels/gulls/??

Six months in the Yucatan!! There's all kind of new photographic opportunities. I hope you are taking a big drive to store all those images on or have access to a fast internet connection! Keep us updated with a 'photo blog'. There's some great wildlife possibilities there and some almost surreal landscapes! Have a great time!! How soon are you off on your journey?

[OldSchool]

Thanks for the comments DRG. And, I did get a BLOG going (site recommended by Mig from pr.com). Here's the adress...

http://t3sadventure.blogspot.com/

BR,
Tim