Still have a week and change to share wildlife shots here before the gauntlet comes down, so let's keep things rolling along!As I mentioned in my last post, late winter just before the clocks roll forward an hour, is the prime time for birds-in-flight shooting here - thousands of birds will pass by in an hour or two, with a dozen or more species spotted without ever having to move - pick a spot, stand there, and let them come to you from every direction.I did move around, mostly just because I'd get too bored standing in one spot - and the following shots were taken mostly on Feb 25th with all the BIF action, plus a few additional non-BIF shots from the following week, on Friday, March 3rd.  All shots taken with the A6600 and most with the FE 100-400mm GM OSS lens.  The last two non-BIF shots from the following week were taken with the FE 200-600mm G OSS lens.As usual, all shots are posted at 2400 pixels on the long side if you view them in original size:Great egrets are indeed great in flight - one of the larger wading birds in Florida, they always look so elegant in flight, and especially when the breeding plumage gives them the green around the face and those long back feathers.The big wood stork is definitely one of our biggest waders - close in wingspan, and thicker in body and head than the egrets and herons.  This one was wet from a recent bath, and also hauling some sticks home to fortify the nestMale boat-tailed grackle flying by - always love catching their iridescent sheen in the sunThis great egret was flying high, and was casting its own shadow on its wingAll stretched out with its gear down, this great egret was approaching its nest, calling out to its mate to alert them to its arrivalSqueezing a non-BIF into the day, I always love seeing great egrets doing their mating displays, fanning out their aigrettes like peacocks to attract a mateA cattle egret soaring past - also showing its lovely breeding plumageA tricolored heron flying low over the water as sunset approachesThe tricolored herons are particularly colorful in breeding plumage - the legs turn red, the bill turns bright blue, the eye becomes a rich redA closeup of a tricolored heron flying close past me in the clear sky and sunset light at my backAnd the glossy ibises are indeed very glossy when the low sunset light hits them while wings are all spread outOur other big wading bird, the great blue heron.  Funny enough, they're actually not around in as big numbers this time of year - they've learned to start their nests earlier in Nov/Dec so they can hatch and raise their chicks and leave their nests before all the other birds come in to nestAnother wood stork flying past with a fresh new cypress branch for its nest, with the last of the sunset light about to hide behind the trees and the horizonAnd then into the following week - I was out early Friday morning taking some friends from up north for a birding trip around the wetlands...I had been telling them about the previous 4 months having a rare nightjar hanging around, but that it hadn't been sighted in a month...wasn't I surprised to find the chuck-will's-widow back again just in time for them!This was the first sighting of it reported in more than a month - we had thought it had left - instead, it was in a new patch of forest a few hundred feet away from where it had been hanging out for 4 months.  Even better, for people who had never seen this bird, they were able to see it up close - it was just 8 feet away, allowing for some tight closeups with the 200-600mm lensComment away, ask questions, critique if you desire.  Why not?  It's all ending soon anyway!

Beautiful bird shots! Shooting birds is not really my thing, I more enjoy macro. But every time I try, I end up with a bird silhouette against a bright sky. How do you get your birds to show up in detail against the bright sky?

ParietalPenguin wrote:Beautiful bird shots! Shooting birds is not really my thing, I more enjoy macro. But every time I try, I end up with a bird silhouette against a bright sky. How do you get your birds to show up in detail against the bright sky?It can get tricky when the bird and the sky are different colors - a black bird in a bright white sky is harder than a white bird in a light sky.Generally, I find center-weighted metering to work best for BIFs - it lets the metering work the whole scene, but emphasizes whatever's in the middle, so the bird gets a little more priority.  Then I dial in some EV that I think I may need given if the bird is going to be very high contrast difference.Many thanks for looking and the comments!