philrichardson

<p>Ring-billed Gull</p><div></div>

<p>White-crowned Sparrow</p><div></div>

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<p>Duplicate post, funny server activity ...</p>

<p>Thank you for the comments Mark, William and Marcel. Yes, Mark the RWB seem to love cattails. You could also listen to the calls online so you could have another clue if they are there. Although they love to perch high, they aren't always visible. Mark, I love the coloring on those Mandarins. Nice capture. David, that pelican has so much detail he looks like he is frozen in the sky. And I usually don't get to see them with the breeding bump.</p>

<p>Allen's Hummingbird. Managed to get some good light on his gorget, taken last week at a local wildlife reserve.</p><div></div>

<p>Double-crested Cormorant chewing with his mouth open ...</p><div></div>

<p>Tommy, if at all possible, I would rent the 7D before you buy it to see if it solves your problem. As I said above, I have the combo you are talking about. Shots of birds in trees are very difficult. For a static shot, I end up using the smallest spot focus to get close, then going to manual focus to see the bird clearly through the branches. I think you could do the same on the 60D. For birds in flight against trees or a busy background, I use spot focus again and hope for the best. </p>

<p>As to the lack of IS, it would be nice in some cases, but most of the time, subject movement, even on static birds can be such that the shot would be ruined. So I always shoot above 1/640. But the general rule is that the 400 5.6 requires good strong light to use. Cloudy days and shadows create major problems for the lens, especially with the 7D.</p>

<p>David, I found your comments about the autofocus on the 7D with AI Servo very interesting. I have the 7D also and I am very happy with it as a birding body. But at times I have a hard time acquiring quick focus with AI Servo. I thought maybe I didn't have one of the custom settings quite right. It's reassuring that the 5DIII does a significantly better job. I can hope for the possibility of getting one some day or the new version of the 7D. By the way, I also use the 400 5.6L almost exclusively for birding and am very happy with that also. But I haven't used any other birding lenses (except to rent the 600 f4.0L for a day) so I don't have anything to compare it to. I just think I am able to get good images on occasion with the combo. However I could hope for a much better keeper rate.</p>

<p>Love the bird shots. Here's a Black Phoebe take-off.</p><div></div>

<p>In answer to your first question, I am using the 7D with the 400 5.6 L for birding and I am extremely happy with the combination. So yes, it is a very serious contender in my view. </p>

<p>As to your second question, I am not at all familiar with the Pentax cameras or lenses. I don't know what the learning curve will be for you, but if you are very serious about bird photography, going through it now is better than later. Is this something you may want to pursue beyond the 400mm range to the 500, or 600 or 800, or even more with teleconverters? If so, this is a good time to switch (most people use tripods with those bigger lenses). I realize you talk about financial limitations so that is a factor now, but your circumstances may change. As you go above 400mm, the bigger lenses are huge sums of money. Still, I would say investigate Nikon and Canon if you want to get serious. They are the two big players for the best birding systems. </p>

<p>I handhold the 400 5.6 so I can react quickly to opportunities and have increased flexibility to move in the field. It is a relatively light lens and I could handhold it throughout a day-long session if necessary. I have handheld the 600mm 4.0 Canon lens for short periods, but at almost 12 pounds, it is very limiting. I do not use a teleconverter. Even though there are ways to get around the loss of AF, it isn't worth it to me. Someday I may get a Canon 500mm lens, the newer lighter one, with the plan to handhold.</p>

<p>So it comes down to how serious you want to get about birding. I will give you one solid vote for the Canon system you proposed, the 7D/400 combo.</p>

 

<p>Nice photos everyone! Too many good ones to highlight. And thanks for the comments Rick. The Yellow-rumped Warbler is not hard to find in my area.</p>

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<p>Yellow-rumped Warbler taken at the local wildlife reserve</p><div></div>

<p>I guess that's an incentive to become a member. When I want to get on the site, I always sign in immediately for that very reason, the loading of the pages is much slower when not signed in. Of course your experience is probably affected as well by the speed and quality of your internet service provider connection.</p>

<p>I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the member-logged-in vs not-logged-in experience and the extra ads that have to load.</p>

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<p>I am using IE9 also (with Windows 7) and I haven't had the specific problem you are describing. On rare occasions the pages don't load at all, but I assume that when the site is undergoing maintainance.</p>

Townsend's Warbler about to be banded, weighed, measured, sexed

then released. It was caught in a mist net in Point Reyes.<div></div>

<p>A Morro Bay sea otter at sundown, resting after a hard day’s work.</p><div></div>

<p>Northern elephant seals on a beach in Point Reyes. One has just given birth to a calf, as evidenced by the red sand and the swarming seagulls. The red was washed away by wave action in less than five minutes. I saw two births while I was there. Both the males and females stay on the beach with their pups for 3-5 weeks until they are weaned, going without food themselves.</p><div></div>

<p>For some reason I got a lot of "no server availble to handle this request" messages just now. Here goes ...</p>

<p>Here are three shots from a trip along the coast last month to north of San Francisco.<br>

Monterey cypress female seed cones, Point Reyes.</p><div></div>