Birds in Nebraska and Iowa

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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
Try to keep the ISO as low as possible on overcast days by adjusting the shutter speed and aperture setting. The tripod and cable release will certainly help. If it is a rare bird or activity that you have captured, you just have to make do with what you got. No one here is going to complain.

I have put in enough shutter time with my various camera, lens, and teleconverter combinations to know high how I can push the ISO settings on each one in various lighting conditions and still get a decent photo after cropping.
 
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Terry O

Well-Known Member
In my experience with 1.5 or 2X multipliers you have to expect some loss in performance. This image looks pretty good to me, particularly being hand held. Btw, I don’t usually consider a sunny day my friend, photo wise. Too bright and often too contrasty to get a really optimal exposure. Just my opinion, of course.
 

Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
In my experience with 1.5 or 2X multipliers you have to expect some loss in performance. This image looks pretty good to me, particularly being hand held. Btw, I don’t usually consider a sunny day my friend, photo wise. Too bright and often too contrasty to get a really optimal exposure. Just my opinion, of course.

Terry is correct about bright sunlight. There is a (rare?) condition of light overcast when the light is diffusive and just right for bird photography with no back lighting or shadows.
 

Tom Z

Member
ISO down(640), Apeture preferred f8. Very rare in a neighborhood is the Cedar Waxwing. I was sitting on the deck watching the Oriole feeder and out of the corner of my eye, first one then 2.
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Tom Z

Member
3 birds from an Iowa State Park called Preparation Canyon about 60 miles north east of Omaha. Most birds deep in the trees and no sun but bright cloudy day. This the Loess Hills of western Iowa. Loess is a particular type of dirt(soil) common to this area. Big piles forming bluffs at the edge of the Missouri River.
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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
Any guesses as to the ID of the blue bird with the black skullcap in the first photo? The woodpecker looks like a red-headed.

Both the Audubon Society and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology excellent websites for ID-ing birds.

Orchard oriole


Red-headed woodpecker

 

Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
That would be the Gray Cat Bird. Makes interesting noises that some times sounds like a mew.

Thanks, Looking at their breeding range, we don't get them west of the Cascades.

 

Tom Z

Member
One of the things I like to do is look on Google Earth. A place name came up near a small town north of Lincoln NE. The Jack Sinn wildlife management area. Reading a plaque mounted on a rock in one of the small parking areas, we find that Jack Sinn was a Nebraska Game and Parks Commissioner a number of years ago. There many acres of land set aside for wildlife. Some fields and some wet lands. Saw this little bird there. The Dickcissel named for his song.
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On the way back from the 40 mile one way drive we stopped at Memphis State Recreation Area and saw a mess of geese and a Blue Jay. We have Blue Jays around the house but they don't sit as still as this one did.
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Terry O

Well-Known Member
Super interesting shots. Its really nice to see birds that we in the Pacific Northwest don't get.
 

Tom Z

Member
Thank you both. I am getting more alert to some of the different ones as I drive down the rural roads with my camera on my lap. Could be a country song in there somewhere.
 

Tom Z

Member
Took a journey north of Iowa into northern Minnesota. Found some young Loons on the Lake.
 

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Terry O

Well-Known Member
I enjoy seeing the results of your “drives down rural roads”. :) Loons are among my favorite birds. Thanks for your efforts.
 
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