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The only BSK seen at Werribee Treatment Plant near a nest that was probably used during winter. It's amazing compared to what the place was like during autumn and winter this year, it was full of BSKs and now you only see a few. Not sure if they come from surrounding areas to nest their each year or what. This was taken while Dave and Fozzie were waiting at the car as I chased this BSK down around near the conservation pond.

Went handheld as I couldn't be bothered using the tripod as I was stalking it down one of the roads of WTP. Later on in the day DaveB lent me his tripod which I used in the evening shots that I took of this same bird.


D70, 500F4 AFSII, 1.4X, SB800 + BB, Handheld
ISO200, 1/500, F/10, Multi-Segment

Awsome shot kipper . Wonderfully sharp . Great catch .

What can I say Darryl - superb.

Awesome shot as usual Darryl!!

I hope you realise that you are my new benchmark in bird photography that I hope to one day achieve.

When I get some holidays off work I'll have to arrange to meet up with you and hopefully you can impart some of your knowledge upon me.

As a side question: What font do you use in your sig? I've been looking for a nice "handwriting" font for a while now and that one is really nice.

Paul

Cheers Simon and Paul, appreciate the comments.
Paul believe it or not I was like you and was trying to find a font and I'm pretty sure this is one of the defaults. The font is Brush Script MT.

As for meeting up, as I said in the past in pms that I'm happy to meet up and you can try out my gear on your setup or vice versa. Out of interest did your 500 come with any sort of warranty? From what I could tell from your posts you seemed concerned about softness in your shots, if we met up this is something we could compare.

The 500 came with a 3 month warranty.

I am no longer concerned with sharpness as I have gotten some pretty good shots since. It was my technique that was lacking I think.

If/When I get some spare time then be prepared for me to PM you about that offer (...not likely to happen until next year). Thanks very much.

Paul

No worries Paul, if it doesn't fall within Xmas holidays then we'll have to work something out for a weekend or my roster days off.

Also you might want to organise something with Nicole or Dave, as they have a greater knowledge than I of Australian birds. I'm still learning all the various species. Over the past 6months I've tended to limit myself to mostly raptors. The others have a good knowledge of parrots/rosellas and the various water birds. I'm just starting to try and learn them.

Very nice work Darryl!

And I didn't lend you my tripod: your own is fine . It's a monopod with tilthead you need for chasing the birds... BTW, the current version of my monopod is the Manfrotto 681B (~US$50). Of course there are many factors that may guide you to other makes/models. The tilthead is only US$18 (plus the cost of a clamp, of course).

Beautiful shot kipper. Before you know it you'll have them eating out of your hands.
cheers
marco

Very cool. That is spot on.

That is simply beautiful Darryl.

Wow Darryl, another absolute pearler mate... Nicely exposed, sharp as a tack...