Hoopoe - at last !

Whilst for some these birds may be commonplace I haven't seen them for many years, and then I read on a bird blog that a pair had been spotted at Shanghai Zoo (this zoo is not your normal zoo - there are copses, ponds and huge tree lined fields and it's easy to walk around for an hour or so without even seeing an enclosure - hence heaven for much of the local and passerine birds). So off I went and after 3 hours of shooting other wild birds and some squirrels (and as most other people had left and the light was fading) I decided to call it a day. I was walking back through a field that earlier had been full of school children, and now not a soul, when suddenly from behind there was a whoosh and lo and behold the Hoopoe couple swooped past my head and landed not 20 yards (metres) in front of me - talk about luck !

K5 & DA*300. ISO 320 - 500 / F4 / 1/500

[IMG]http://frogfish.smugmug.com/Other/Birds/Hoopoe/1228076501_ZGkFD-XL.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://frogfish.smugmug.com/Other/Birds/Hoopoe/1228036152_BMGxK-XL.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://frogfish.smugmug.com/Other/Birds/Hoopoe/1228000495_SBKgt-XL.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://frogfish.smugmug.com/Other/Birds/Hoopoe/1228041357_4UWgQ-XL.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://frogfish.smugmug.com/Other/Birds/Hoopoe/1228068330_zNWyy-XL.jpg[/IMG]

Unfortunately I had reduced the shutter speed to give me better ISO levels for the feeding shots and when they suddenly took off I could do nothing but snap away knowing they were going to be blurred. However it did show two things 1) how lovely these birds are in flight and 2) how good the K5 & DA*300 are at tracking BIF .... look at how far away and how small in the shot the Hoopoe is in the last of these 3 shots.

[IMG]http://frogfish.smugmug.com/Other/Test-Shots/Hoopoe-1/1228069702_vxfQ2-M.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://frogfish.smugmug.com/Other/Test-Shots/Hoopoe-2/1228069760_tPudA-M.jpg[/IMG]

Oops must have reached the limit of images per post - here is the last one :

This is with the 300 so the bird must have been between 80 & 100 yds away by then, yet still in focus and tracking perfectly.

[IMG]http://frogfish.smugmug.com/Other/Test-Shots/Hoopoe-3/1228069909_mbrBc-M.jpg[/IMG]

What a stunning bird and shot's, very impressive.

Yeah, common as muck up here on the NE coast of England Kevin

Very nice set

Great shots and a wonderful looking bird - i like the first two shots especially - well taken

Regards

Actually, quite common here in central/south France. Not arrived yet this Spring.

However, those are pretty super photos.

nice indeed

Thanks, Frogfish, for bringing these wonderful birds a little nearer!
The closest I've been so far is a picture - in "The Birds of Britain & Europe"!

Grand images of a lovely creature.

Thanks for letting me see.

Roger.

Well done Froggy

these are better than any Hoopoe I've ever taken, although come to think of it thats not much of a compliment as I've never shot a Hoopoe

I'll start again;

Well done Froggy, some excelent shots.

Lovely to see one showing off its crest. Well done.

They are very common in my part of Spain but I haven't seen one this year yet.

We've got cuckoos and migrating cranes around at the moment. No shots yet, but still hoping.

Good shots.

Looking at the exif on the flight shots;

Camera Maker: PENTAX
Camera Model: PENTAX K-5
Image Date: 2011-03-23 17:17:39 (no TZ)
Focal Length: 300.0mm
Aperture: f/4.0
Exposure Time: 0.0020 s (1/500)
ISO equiv: 1250
Exposure Bias: -1.30 EV
Metering Mode: Center Weight
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No (enforced)
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Photographer: Kevin_Harding
Copyright: Kevin_Harding


Ant reason for -1.3EV?

also on the last "ground" shot

Camera Maker: PENTAX
Camera Model: PENTAX K-5
Image Date: 2011-03-23 17:16:27 (no TZ)
Focal Length: 300.0mm
Aperture: f/4.0
Exposure Time: 0.0020 s (1/500)
ISO equiv: 400
Exposure Bias: -1.30 EV
Metering Mode: Center Weight
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No (enforced)
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Photographer: Kevin_Harding
Copyright: Kevin_Harding

Was there a specific reason for manual exposure?

Best regards

Thank you to everyone for your comments - it seems the Hoopoe is a popular bird and IMO with good reason, it is unusual, lovely and that crest is wonderful when it shows it off !

So thanks for taking the time to say you enjoyed them ; Snappyhappy, Alan (you lucky Sod ! Common as muck huh !), Mat, Darkskies, Roy, Roger, Fatspider, Peter & K10D !

re; EXIF questions.

Yes, I find the K5 & *300 combination, using TAv, seems to over-expose slightly, particularly when shooting against the sky, so I dial the EV compensation back a little.

Also when the light is poor, or unusual, I prefer to choose all the settings myself so often switch to Manual Exposure, a touch of under-exposure is OK to bring the shot back in PP rather than let the camera use a higher ISO value and maybe introduce a little too much noise.

I forgot to change the EV compensation settings when I found the Hoopoes on the ground rather than in the sky for the Heron series I had been shooting !

Herons : link

I was joking Kevin

Oh OK ! I remember seeing a lot of these birds two or three times about 35 - 40 years ago when I lived on the Wirral. So it could have been true !

Absolutely amazing birds - #2 with the crest up is a classic catch.

But a sighting in Shanghai pales into insignificance compared to the kudos of actually having seen one on the Wirral