Not Lepidoptera (Birds) - 3

[Mikhail]

Nice Pheasant Dave. Did you get any peasants, or aren't they in season yet?

Misha

[Piers]

1st October to 1st February (or 31st Jan for Dave - the season is one day shorter in Northern Ireland)

[Gruditch]

Hmmmm Robinson's game pie, you got to try one Felix. You can tell the season is just about to start, the back roads around here are over run with game at the mo.

Gruditch

[Dave McCormick]

1st October to 1st February (or 31st Jan for Dave - the season is one day shorter in Northern Ireland)

Never actually knew that before, thanks for info. A lot of the pheasants here are only starting to become mature, and the don't seem to know (usually) how to use their wings. When a car or tractor comes down the lane, the birds just run, even try to run through fences before they get the hint that it does not work, and fly away.

[Zonda]

This is why they have beaters. Pheasants will run a mile before they fly. Essentially lazy birds, and when they do fly it's not very far. They do fly fast however, and i suppose that is part of the reason we see them in the British countryside. Oh! they taste quite nice as well. Sometimes i get them in my garden, after the birds food spillage, the cocks can be quite aggressive, and territorial. One of my neighbours, an elderly woman was forced to go and fetch a broom to see one off. he was famous in these parts, and we used to call him 'His lordship'.

[Piers]

Hmmmm Robinson's game pie, you got to try one Felix.

Right, just off to Sainsbury's...

[Zonda]

Jamie Olivers succulent game pie

[NickB]

First Greater Spotted I've seen at my nuts this year!

[Gruditch]

Don't think this bird thread is going to get going again Nick, but here's a Robin I got with the new camera anyway.

Regards Gruditch

[sahikmet]

Lovely picture, what is the new camera please? As you saythis thread is gonelong enough, do you think we should start a new one?
Cheers
Sezar Hikmet

[Gruditch]

Cheers Sezar, Canon 7D

do you think we should start a new one?

We're in December and haven't needed a "Not Lepidoptera" thread yet, but we can only talk nonsense for so long.


Regards Gruditch

[NickB]

... but we can only talk nonsense for so long.
Regards Gruditch

Speak for yourself ...... ....surely no problem to continue?
7D - I see Santa came early, eh? I'll probably only get a bag of soot from Santa
N

[Zonda]

I reckon it'll be next Christmas before i get my D300. By then Nick will have given it a good road test, and the price will be under a grand. Or maybe it'll go down after chrimbo, and i'll get a body in the January sales. Meanwhile i soldier on with the D200 and the bigmos. You wanna see my biceps now.

I posted this on UK Bird Photographers, and they said it broke most of the rules.

[geniculata]

rules are there for breaking!

gary. very interesting composition that.

[NickB]

I reckon it'll be next Christmas before i get my D300. By then Nick will have given it a good road test, and the price will be under a grand.

I will be testing my D300 in sub-zero temperatures in the back of beyond in Finland over the new year....and it will be under a grand by then too! (Sigh!) Meanwhile, keep up the good work with "The Brick" (or D200 as it is known )

N
Re: rules ....it is always better to ask forgiveness than permission, in my experience!

[Zonda]

Gawd,,, well good luck Nick. That's gonna be cold, and don't cough in the mountains, i'm thinking 'avalanches'.

[Gruditch]

I prefer my camera body to be a bit weighty, how much does the Brick weigh.

Silhouetted Little egret.

Regards Gruditch

[Zonda]

That is very arty Grud,,, like a Japanese print. The 'brick' is quite heavy, but i was in the construction business for 30 odd years, and bricks are easy for me. Or they used to be...

[NickB]

I prefer my camera body to be a bit weighty, how much does the Brick weigh.
Regards Gruditch

Nice egret!
With no battery or anything else attached D200 claims 830gm as body weight - actually D300 claims 825gm; D200 is slightly bigger and therefore less easy to handle and feels more bulky...
So it looks like that bicep training has been for a good cause, as you'll only shave 5gm with a D300, Zonda. (D300 feels a lot lighter; used my fiancee's D200 - which was christened by her as "The Brick" after she'd used the D300)
N

[Gruditch]

830gms, That's a nice weight, my two new body's are 810 and 820gm, nearly 100gms heavier than my old body's. A little chunkier and better weighted when you have a larger lens fitted. I hate the mini DSLR body's, whats the point of making it smaller, it still ain't going to fit in your pocket.

Regards Gruditch