UK Corvids in Flight
/forum/topic/832449/0

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squidfish
Registered: Feb 16, 2006
Total Posts: 623
Country: United Kingdom

Hi

I have been working on a mini project lately to get some flight photos of the UK crow species. The main reason for this is they tend to get a little overlooked as being 'boring black birds' which they are certainly not. Another good reason is that I can photograph jackdaws and rooks in my office car park during my lunch hour which beats staring at a computer. The other photos here were taken at a site I have been feeding for a long time to try and get some jay flight photos which I will come on to later.

Starting off with the Magpie, a much maligned bird here in the UK but very beautiful and an exposure headache!


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The Carrion Crow


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The real targets for this project were rooks and I had some real fun with them. Now most people think of these as a black bird but they are far from it when the sun hits them. I have done a couple of photos first in B&W as this is how most seem to see them.
In the good old UK drizzle


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This is how I see them with their wonderful blue and purple sheen


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Some jackdaws also started appearing with the rooks.


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To finish off I am still working on the jays which are proving very tricky but now getting close to getting some shots. I managed this one the other day doing a rocket impression.


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Cheers

Rich


72chevelle454
Registered: Dec 04, 2005
Total Posts: 13799
Country: United States

Great inflights love all the poses you captured. The first of the magpie is wonderful.

C.



surfnron
Registered: Dec 17, 2004
Total Posts: 13854
Country: United States

72chevelle454 wrote:
Great inflights love all the poses you captured. The first of the magpie is wonderful.

C.


+1 ~ Ron



danjacquitaylo
Registered: Jun 13, 2005
Total Posts: 14654
Country: United States

Excellent IFs set. I like them all.
Dan



Rob Tillyer
Registered: Nov 17, 2007
Total Posts: 10090
Country: Canada

Very cool post Richard. Hard to pick out a favourite. I agree that this is an interesting family of birds; people call them pests when actually they go around picking up after us.

Rob



HOWARD KEARLEY
Registered: Jul 16, 2008
Total Posts: 5930
Country: United Kingdom

Beautiful series Richard!

Howard



ms_yuan
Registered: Jun 13, 2003
Total Posts: 2249
Country: United States

These are wonderful! It's great to see the rooks in a new light. Well done!



greg pasek
Registered: Apr 26, 2007
Total Posts: 149
Country: United States

Gotta love that last jay! Nicely done.



OntheRez
Registered: Jul 16, 2008
Total Posts: 1277
Country: United States

Richard,
I'm guessing a rook and a raven are closely related?? Maybe same bird with different name. They certainly are incredible in the sunlight. Love the jay style rocket!

Robert

BTW make sure you put a crow/rook pix or two over on Wacky Roger's "Big Black Bird" thread.



Karl Witt
Registered: Jul 11, 2007
Total Posts: 25594
Country: United States

Hey Rich.....

That is some dedicated fantastic shooting work here sir! Wow, impressive poses, outstanding exposures and fine presentation make these very intersting. Great job in showing the differences, keep up and keep sharing the fantastic efforts!

Karl



KirkB
Registered: Sep 13, 2008
Total Posts: 5436
Country: United States

Wonderful series Richard... really very well done.
The techs are extremely good including your exposure control on some tricky subjects.
You captured some really cool IF's and all with great eye contact.
These are all very good but I especially enjoyed #1 and the last two.

Excellent work.

Kirk

P.S. It would be helpful for critiquing purposes to number your images.



Martin Good
Registered: Mar 16, 2008
Total Posts: 19291
Country: Switzerland

That is a super one of the Magpie, Richard. They are very hard to get near to here and I suspect in most places.
Well done on bringing these great pics of the crow family, its often disregarded and not one thats easy to get the exposure right on either, but you did a great job on these. Love your B&W ones too!
Very nice one of the rocket Jay. Would have been even better with some wing span but thats often the luck of the draw.
Martin



Tim Kuhn
Registered: Nov 29, 2006
Total Posts: 31125
Country: United States

very beautiful and an exposure headache We live for the challenge!!!!

This is a fantastic set Richard, the techs are superb

9, 10 and 11 stand out for me! Not a bad way to spend the lunch now is it?

Tim



BearCreekLar
Registered: Sep 22, 2009
Total Posts: 4854
Country: United States

Wonderful set Richard,
I really like the way you presented these and Love the last shot!!
Larry



Josh S
Registered: Mar 14, 2007
Total Posts: 2075
Country: United States

Great work.



Dick on Aruba
Registered: Mar 12, 2007
Total Posts: 4913
Country: Netherlands

Beautiful series Richard, well done

Dick.



surfnron
Registered: Dec 17, 2004
Total Posts: 13854
Country: United States

Very well done Rich. Great poses, wonderful exposures and well composed ~ Ron



morris
Registered: May 22, 2002
Total Posts: 17545
Country: United States

These are wonderful Rich.

Morris



squidfish
Registered: Feb 16, 2006
Total Posts: 623
Country: United Kingdom

Many thanks for your replies.

Robert rooks and ravens are a different species. I haven't got round to the ravens yet but have a site to go and try for them this winter.

Tim its definately a good way to spend your lunch. I like to have a lunchtime project close to the office as a an hour spent with camera is a good stress relief in the middle of the day.

I am going to try the jays again tomorrow morning and hopefully will get one in flight showing its wings! The main problem with the jays, apart from being very shy, is their flight tends to be quite erratic.

Cheers

Rich



waldr_p
Registered: Apr 18, 2008
Total Posts: 2463
Country: United Kingdom

Hi Rich,

These are super shots. The Magpie images are really eye catching and I think your second Jackdaw shot is a great capture.

Well done on the Jay in flight, they are such nervous birds it is tough enough to see one let alone get a decent image. Look forward to seeing more from this project.

Paul.



noelle
Registered: Mar 21, 2008
Total Posts: 5092
Country: United States

an hour spent with camera is a good stress relief in the middle of the day.

Very good point Rich! I could not agree with you more

I really like your images, especially the first Magpie



Johnny Bravo
Registered: May 03, 2004
Total Posts: 8858
Country: United States

DAMN nice work. You really did a nice job on managing the light/exposure on those black and white jays. Not easy!!



jwrfoo
Registered: Mar 19, 2006
Total Posts: 13
Country: United Kingdom

Those are superb shots - nice to see someone else who's a fan of the Corvid family.

-j



Sean Bellay
Registered: Feb 22, 2007
Total Posts: 573
Country: United States

They are all fantastic bu that first black and white shot is awsome!



Mort2k
Registered: May 17, 2009
Total Posts: 115
Country: United Kingdom

Great shots, love #1

Great to see some english shots on this great site

Rob



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