I finally managed to see a Little Ringed Plover (Flussregenpfeifer, lit. “River Rain Whistler) from up close! They’re so tiny and adorable, I love them! :-) Got really discouraged because I barely saw anything in the nature reserve today but he really brightened my day. Thank you Plover!
I saw this adorable swift baby looking out of its nest today. Never seen one that wasn’t flying so this was a great sighting! :-)
mjohanning Now • 100%
I know, right? It's quite amazing how far they travel and how they find their way! Another pair (probably even the same pair!) was seen at the exact same spot last year as well.
www.youtube.com
There is a pair of Red-Backed Shrikes in my neighbourhood that I haven't yet been able to see. I knew, however, where they typically hang out so I went there yesterday with my camera and tripod, set up the camera to point and potential perches and finally managed to see them and take a few short videos! Their German name, Neuntöter, translates to "Nine Killer". It is said that they kill nine things before they actually eat one. This isn't actually too far fetched as Red-Backed Shrikes kill insects, small rodents or baby birds and hang them up on thorny bushes and other plants for later. The bush the female is perched on later on in the video is a blackberry bush which has thorns.
mjohanning Now • 100%
From personal experience I can say that it runs very well at high settings! Nearly level 20 now and haven’t had any issues yet.
mjohanning Now • 100%
Ich folge Laszlo auf Mastodon und Pixelfed tatsächlich bereits :-) Einen Pixelfed-Account habe ich nicht, ich bin aber auf Mastodon und betreibe meine eigene Instanz für Vogelliebhaber und poste dort auch meine Fotos.
mjohanning Now • 100%
Morgens rausgehen und Vögel beobachten und fotografieren! Heute auch wieder gut vier Stunden unterwegs gewesen.
mjohanning Now • 100%
I do not mind at all! I used a EOS R10 with a Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 at 600 mm, f/8.0 and a shutter speed of 1/2000s. ISO was set automatically by the camera. Then some light editing in Lightroom afterwards.
mjohanning Now • 100%
I started last year with a really inadequate camera and lens. Only this year did I get a better setup. What kinds of lenses do you have?
Wagtails are always fun to watch! Here's a White Wagtail I saw on my morning walk hovering above the (honestly rather disgusting-looking) water with its mouth already full of insects.
mjohanning Now • 100%
Thanks a lot!
mjohanning Now • 100%
Thank you :-)
mjohanning Now • 100%
Yeah, anything above f/8.0 tends to be a bit too soft for me at 600 mm. At the lens' lowest focal length of 150 mm, using f/6.3 tends to yield the sharpest results. Also remember that the larger the aperture, the smaller the number (f/6.3 is a larger aperture than f/8.0).
The effect is greatly exaggerated by the focal length, yes. The background is mostly trees that are like 20 metres away.
And yeah, photographing birds can be a bit tricky. So fast!
mjohanning Now • 0%
Thank you very much! :-)
I used a Canon EOS R10 with a Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 at 600 mm and f/8.0. Larger apertures aren't that sharp with this lens, unfortunately.
Went for a walk and managed to take a photo of a bird I hadn’t been able to photograph yet: A Spotted Flycatcher! Its German name, Grauschnäpper, translates to “Grey Snatcher” — probably because it likes snatching flies and other insects!
mjohanning Now • 95%
Ich habe schon darauf gewartet. Auch bei Mastodon passiert das gerne. Da werden dann komplette Instanzen (vor allem die großen wie mastodon.social) einfach komplett blockiert. Da werden sicherlich jetzt einige Benutzer von Lemmy abspringen - verständlicherweise, wie ich finde. Ich selbst bin ja auch auf Beehaw und folgen vielen Communities auf lemmy.world. Ich habe sogar selbst eine eigene Community dort erstellt! Vielleicht erstelle ich mir dann noch noch einen Account hier auf feddit.de.
mjohanning Now • 100%
I’ve had plenty of others recommend the H2n to me, I think I’ll be getting that one. Thanks for the recommendation for the wind jammer, I’ll check if there’s one for the H2n from Rycote. :-)
macaulaylibrary.org
cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/555041 > Managed to get a decent recording of the Common Firecrest I heard today and it was a lot of fun! I mostly do bird photography, but I want to start recording birds' songs and calls with something that has better audio quality than my iPhone. > > Basically: Does anyone know of a good and not outlandishly (≤ €200) expensive audio recorder you can use? Preferably one that also has microphones that can deal with wind noise.
macaulaylibrary.org
Managed to get a decent recording of the Common Firecrest I heard today and it was a lot of fun! I mostly do bird photography, but I want to start recording birds' songs and calls with something that has better audio quality than my iPhone. Basically: Does anyone know of a good and not outlandishly (≤ €200) expensive audio recorder you can use? Preferably one that also has microphones that can deal with wind noise.
mjohanning Now • 100%
Common in the grand scheme of things, sure. But common for me? Nope. Especially the Firecrest is only rarely seen around here so it was exciting to finally be able to see it and also hear it sing :-) Same for the linnet, it isn't all that common either. The Common Redstart for example is also quite uncommon here, despite its name. You mostly only see Black Redstarts around here.
Where are you from that they're so common where you are?
mjohanning Now • 100%
I made !birding@lemmy.ml if you’re interested :-)
And you’re right about Merlin! I never fully trust it either, but in this case I just used it to confirm that the call I heard was, indeed, a firecrest. I don’t hear them too often so I wasn’t sure. I ended up seeing it as well.
But I’ve had Merlin misidentify things before. It heard part of a Song Thrushes singing and thought it was an oystercatcher 😬
cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/548613 > I always take a walk around my office during lunch. Finally managed to see and also record a firecrest. Such a tiny but cool-looking bird!
I always take a walk around my office during lunch. Finally managed to see and also record a firecrest. Such a tiny but cool-looking bird!
https://beehaw.org/post/545914 > Seeing a glowing (b)orb in the trees is always a delight! So here's a male Eurasian Bullfinch (Gimpel / Dompfaff in Germany) after just having preened, his feathers still slightly fluffed up. > > He was sitting in a tree really far away, but spotting him was simple — so colourful! Saw him on the weekend in North-Western Germany.
Seeing a glowing (b)orb in the trees is always a delight! So here's a male Eurasian Bullfinch (Gimpel / Dompfaff in Germany) after just having preened, his feathers still slightly fluffed up. He was sitting in a tree really far away, but spotting him was simple — so colourful! Saw him on the weekend in North-Western Germany.
mjohanning Now • 100%
Coole Aktion! Hätte mich damals auf jeden Fall angesprochen. Bin nur leider selbst ein paar Jährchen zu alt 😅
mjohanning Now • 100%
Ja schon, nur das Problem ist hauptsächlich das ein Großteil aller PeerTube-Instanzen solche Inhalte verbreitet. Die wenigen die es nicht tun haben meist auch nichts sehenswertes. Nur selten mal gibt es welche mit guter Moderation und auch gutem Content.
Ist natürlich alles rein anekdotisch, vielleicht gucke ich nicht richtig.
mjohanning Now • 100%
YouTube durch PeerTube zu ersetzen wird wahrscheinlich schwierig. Betreibe selbst eine PeerTube-Instanz und wie viele komische Schwurbelinstanzen da mit meiner föderieren wollen ist unglaublich.
Ich kenne nur zwei gute. tilvids.com (nicht deutsch) und https://video-cave-v2.de/ (deutsch).
mjohanning Now • 0%
Thank you for your answer! :-) I am sorry for not seeing that post!
This frequently happens to me - I open the website and I am briefly logged in as another user as can be seen at the top right corner. It takes about a second and then I'm logged in as myself again. Managed to take a quick screenshot before it changed back. The website theme is also changed from what I have it set to. I find it a bit concerning how frequently this happens. Anyone have any idea as to why this happens?
mjohanning Now • 100%
Ist gut möglich, dass sich ein Baum in dem Glas spiegelt und sie meinen, sie können da dann langfliegen. Am allerbesten sind ist hier eine Art "Milchglasfolie" mit ggf. Mustern drin, damit man noch durchschauen kann.
Kannst ja auch mal beim NABU schauen: https://www.nabu.de/tiere-und-pflanzen/voegel/helfen/01079.html
https://beehaw.org/post/526754 > I really like how this photo turned out! I took it one evening a few days ago in North-Western Germany. A very common bird around here with a distinctive call you can hear basically everywhere.
cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/518744 > I was playing a game and heard a lot of loud cawing outside that sounded a bit "off", i.e. not like the cawing of the regular crows. > > Therefore, I decided to look outside and saw this rook perched on a cable right next to my window! > > Its beak is probably slightly open because of the heat. If I remember correctly, this is how bird's try to dissipate heat (their form of "panting", I guess) since they cannot sweat.
I was playing a game and heard a lot of loud cawing outside that sounded a bit "off", i.e. not like the cawing of the regular crows. Therefore, I decided to look outside and saw this rook perched on a cable right next to my window! Its beak is probably slightly open because of the heat. If I remember correctly, this is how bird's try to dissipate heat (their form of "panting", I guess) since they cannot sweat.
I was taking a walk (as I always do) on Saturday morning around my neighbourhood. There's a couple of ponds around and on the bank of one of those ponds, I saw two strange ducks. Their bright yellow beaks really caught my attention and I took a couple of photos, but I thought they were just strange mallards. Upon further research once I got home, however, it turned out that these ducks were, in fact, Yellow-Billed Ducks! They are only native to some parts of Africa. Not sure how or why they came here to North-Western Germany! Maybe escaped pets?
I was taking a walk (as I always do) on Saturday morning around my neighbourhood. There's a couple of ponds around and on the bank of one of those ponds, I saw two strange ducks. Their bright yellow beaks really caught my attention and I took a couple of photos, but I thought they were just strange mallards. Upon further research once I got home, however, it turned out that these ducks were, in fact, Yellow-Billed Ducks! They are only native to some parts of Africa. Not sure how or why they came here to North-Western Germany! Maybe escaped pets?
cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/498187 > After having eluded me for months, I finally managed to see a Green Woodpecker again! I often hear their laugh-like call, but haven't been able to see them for a while. They're one of my favourites! > > If you haven't heard their calls yet, I strongly encourage you to go to YouTube and listen to them — they're fantastic. They really sound like someone's laughing at you.
After having eluded me for months, I finally managed to see a Green Woodpecker again! I often hear their laugh-like call, but haven't been able to see them for a while. They're one of my favourites! If you haven't heard their calls yet, I strongly encourage you to go to YouTube and listen to them — they're fantastic. They really sound like someone's laughing at you.
I know these guys are frowned upon in the US, but they are a pleasant sight here in Germany! In fact, their numbers in many of their native habitats (for example here in Germany) have actually been declining in the past years, so I am always happy to see some of them running around. This particular bird was collecting some bugs and insects to feed to the young birds that were nearby. He ruffled his feathers a bit which is when I took this photo — looks so fluffy!