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Originally Posted by NaturesPixel
Brilliant Tips  i try and get out along the 401 here in ontario.. they sit along sides of roads.. but you can also get ya self killed from the maniac drivers here...  |
What I really hate is how the raptors locally here completely ignore cars, so they tend to fly much much closer to me while I'm, say, driving onto the freeway onramp, then when I'm on foot.
I still can't believe that one person could have painted all those pictures.
Sibley is simply amazing. I despair, however, of ever identifying seagulls correctly. They're
hard! I just give up and tag them as "seagull" in Flickr. (sigh).
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... one more tip.. if you do take your book along... its best to take photos of the bird and ID him later...lol i see a few people trying to ID the bird.. and then look up with Camera and he is gone ....lol
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Ohman. Yeah, I can see how someone would think it really is a field guide, since it says so on the cover.
But it's too honking big for that. Actually, though, I started out taking the pictures just because I would need it to ID a bird later.
If you're coming at it from the photography side, without birding experience (like me), google is your friend. It can lead you to local Audubon society information--you can leech off their experience and information to find good birding spots, good birding/conservation practices, and what species are "in town" and when. The thing is that this is a dual-sided-thing. You have to learn about birds and birding to get good bird photos. And birders are crazy fun people who appreciate great optics and the crazy fun of photographers (although they usually prefer to attach a camera to a scope, rather than a mere lens).
Two people whose websites I like to go to for inspiration would be Daniella on the dpreview boards, whose
pbase gallery is stunning (and not just for the bird photos), and
the Bird Chick's blog.