Sigma 150-500. First sunny day

Got my 150-500 on Tuesday, and the weatherman promised some sunshine today (Thursday). It was late coming so got some garden birds while waiting. Went down to the River Blyth when the sun did arrive. Inexpreienced at this birding malarky, so all comments gratefully received.

1. Blue Tit



2. House Sparrow



3. Eider Drake eating crab



4. Snow Buntings



5. Gobby Gull



6. Cormorant



7. Not a bird - but hey ho

Not bad at all .. 2 and 6 best of the bunch for me.

These are great! it's amazing what a difference a bit of sunshine can make. I especially like the snow buntings. I think it's the attitude of the front bird staring right back, and that big block of blue all around - very nice indeed. None of them look too shabby to me. How do find using the 150-500? it looks like a bit of a big beast. Were these hand-held or off a tripod?

Regards

Impressive set, No 6 particularly good but what is going on with the purplish vertical band on no4?

Davex.

Looks like an OOF object in the background to me. A post maybe.

Possibly, but I suspect No4 has been played about with, the same fl and aperture as no2 but much less dof. Not that there is anything wrong with that, just curious.

Davex.

Very good set indeed, thats a cracking lens you have there, are they hand held?

I can see you're loving that lense ! #2 - amazing how good sparrows look close up, #3 - great timing and #6 - ditto on the timing, for me.

Pretty good for an 'inexperienced birder' !

They look pretty good to me. Using a long lens is something I am working to master although the light lately hasn't been helping. I'd be very pleased to get shots half as good as those.

K.

Thanks for the comments - much appreciated. These were all handheld.

Dave, the pics have been cropped, had levels adjusted, sharpened and noise reduced. Nothing else.

Matt, early days, but at the moment taking the "Bigmos" out is like an expedition. I used to put my Tamron SP500mm or my Pentax 55-300mm in my bag with other lenses, and they were there just in case I needed them. With this beast, for now, I don't see me doing that. If I take it out, I think the rest will be staying at home.

As to the snow buntings in no. 4. All winter, people have been travelling miles from around here to get pictures of these in the harbour. This was a chance pic, Another tog was "stalking" them, and they flew off onto a wall, slap bang in front of me, as I was just walking along. Some distance behind them was a large blue storage container. I can't remember what the purple band is. Might be the door handle, discolouration due to rust, or maybe there was a pole just in front of the oof container

I love the shot of the eider drake and his crab snack

Look at the water drops - fantastic .

OK I'd have liked a bit more of his eye - but the actual action shot is great .

A truly great capture

Very well done. I do like #6 but even #7 is a great shot.