Wildlife December 2012

[annew]

They made an excellent job of it!

[Anthony Darby]

This is not faked. http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid621950116001?bckey=AQ~~%2cAAAAAGfncP4~%2cGEGqcvZXqq-10O9kiblOp3u1Y4HDxYAG&bctid=1845844183001#.UJxwV3YFAlE.email

[Michael J Campbell]

 This is a pic I took of a  Fish pond in a garden in California.

[mark smyth]

Here are some bird photos I took with my new Nikon 3200 and 300mm lens. In the new year I'll be getting a 150-500mm lens. Anyone got one, Nikon fit, you don't want?

Brent goose
Brent geese flying
Oystercatchers in flight
Pintail
Pintail in flight
Purple sandpiper
Ringed plover in flight
Rock pipit
Turnstone

[TC]

Excellent pictures Mark.  I told you your camera equipment was fine and it just required practice.  The sigma 150-500 is a good choice of lens if you realise it's limitations.
Shooting moving objects on a dull day at f6.3 requires an increase in the ISO setting reducing the quality somewhat but is still very acceptable.
However, being realistic, not many people can afford a Nikon 400 mm 2.8 tele lens which costs as much now as my house did in 1971 !!

ps where did you get the sunshine ?

[Anthony Darby]

Here's a wee cicada on one of house outside Christmas lights. I just followed its call to locate it. It may be a North Island Clay Bank Cicada (Notopsalta sericea)? They are often found around houses.

[mark smyth]

ps where did you get the sunshine ?

Good to know you like the photos. Last Sunday was a lovely day over here just like today. Two of us headed down to North Bull Island, Dublin. A very high tide was due to bring birds closer to a causeway. As its a bird reserve they didnt have much fear but still kept their distance.

One more from there. Part of a large flock of Knot.

[MargaretB]

486 seal pups on the beach at Horsey in Norfolk yesterday, including several happily sleeping on the path.  One of the wardens told us that two pups spent a fortnight in the car park last year after their mothers had returned to sea and eventually were carried back to the beach on stretchers!  What a great shape this one is.

[ranunculus]

Lovely picture, Margaret.  Three from Lincolnshire in late November.

[Rob Potterton]

Hello, please can anyone identify this bird of prey spotted in the San Francisco bay area about 3 weeks ago. Thank you.

[mark smyth]

Rob it looks like a Broad-winged hawk. Its in the same family as our Buzzard - Buteo platypterus

[Anthony Darby]

I always thought a loud, ringing, bell-like call was a bell-bird, until I managed to tie the call the the bird. An Eastern Rosella (Playcercus eximius). Managed a brief snap of one in the birch tree bordering our house this evening.