Local Birding/Nature Trails

I did some Google searching and found we have quite a few nature/birding trails all very close to me here in the Tallahassee area of Florida.

So I will be heading out to some of them soon to get some new meat to shoot.

Oh, there is one of these parks where the workers will put up life-like birds for you to photograph from a tripod. Birds that don't move. They do that in Australia ya know! (j/k)

Hopefully I will eventually encounter the Bald Eagle, which we actually have plenty of here, the Osprey that I see quite often even downtown areas, Kites and all sorts of wading birds. Of course we have tons of Hawks. One lives and hunts at one of the downtown shopping malls. I saw him knock a pidgeon out of the sky right in front of me two weeks ago. He landed on it and gripped it with his talons and took off. What was strange was he was in the middle of the roadway with cars on either side of him. The car in front of me could have rolled their window down and touched him.

Anyway, hope to see some new birds soon!

Can't wait to see the new species of birds you can photograph! I live near a Nature Park and absolutely love getting out there.

​How are you liking the D90 for birding?

Deezey said:

Can't wait to see the new species of birds you can photograph! I live near a Nature Park and absolutely love getting out there.

​How are you liking the D90 for birding?

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The D90 to me is a fantastic camera but it is the first "pro-sumer" camera I have ever had in digital. I know it lacks in areas that the 7100 blows it away. For the money though I am not sure I could have chosen a better camera.

Birding, well, that is another story. I am learning it but it is a bit difficult. Have yet to try birds in flight but will soon. I am trying to figure out my auto tracking modes and what works best for me. Since I just got a lens that is useable for birding maybe I will have some shots posted soon.

My biggest issue right now is we have been under cloud cover for a couple of weeks. It should break soon though and get some nice sunshine.

I hear ya. The D90 is my first dSLR period. And I am more than happy with my purchase. The only reason I asked is because I do a lot of woodland birding and find the D90 can struggle a bit. To be honest my glass plays a big part in that too. But I like to hear input from fellow D90 users that are into birding.

If you're into birding then getting connected with your local Audubon Society is a great way to learn about where you can go both locally and throughout your state to see some great birds. If you're in the migratory paths of some species then Cornell Ornithology Labs maintains an email list that will send out sightings of birds rare to your particular area (eBird). I'm on lists for NJ and PA and have been watching daily hoping for a Snowy Owl to set up residency around here again this year (we had one 2 years ago that parked at a reservoir 10 minutes from the house - I went just about every day).

For serious birding you need at least a 300mm, and if you can't go 300mm f/4 with a 1.7-2X then the Sigma 150-500mm is almost a must. The 12MP's of the D90 works fine, but from experience more MP's are a huge plus. I used a D7000 for two years before transitioning to a D600, which isn't a great birding camera, and went back and forth about a D7100 just for birding before deciding on a D800 which serves as a better all around camera for me. For birds I will often shoot in one of the cropped modes, if only to reduce file sizes since I'm going to be cropping 95% of them anyway.

Going out hunting for birds is great fun and surprisingly good exercise. If the weather is fine, I could be out walking for 10-12 hours a week. I've been on 9.30am shift starts this week and as it's summer it's light here by 5am. I'll walk the dog for 15-20 mins(Bullmastiff so that's enough), then go out shooting for an hour. I'll then do 2-3 hours on both Saturday and Sunday. If I'm on early shifts I change the routine to the afternoon. Throw in holding a 2kg plus rig up to my eye for long periods and I'm fitter that I've been in a long time. No matter how many time's I go out, there always seems something interesting to shoot.
Happy hunting Mike.