We spent Sunday night in Onuma................
And very relaxing it was too. It was cold and snowing but the tame Nuthatches and tits were around as per normal...................
The eastern races of Great Tit and Nuthatch are not as colourful as those in the UK.
Actually these have been split into new species: Eastern Great Tit and Siberian Nuthatch.
Marsh Tits are the same though (unless this is a Willow Tit, I'm hopeless at separating them).
The above photos were taken with the 100-400, a much better option than the 500 for small birds up close.
Also around were Black and Greyheaded Woodpeckers, Great Egret, Kingfisher and 2 White Tailed Eagles.
I tried using the teleconverter on the 500 f4 to get the Smew. It wasn't a success, even with a tripod. I tried a male Goldeneye with the same crappy results. I gave up and took the 1.4X off and snapped a few shots of the lone wintering Bean Goose instead.
The hotel had free movies on demand, I watched 'Oblivion' and 'Rush'. A very nice place to stay in fact...............................
All great images and I love the Bean goose.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Margaret...............
DeleteSome lovely images there. Keep trying for the Smew!
ReplyDeleteThanks, hopefully I'll get lucky soon. Or get a BIF of one at least.
DeleteHello Stuart!:) Adorable captures of the Nuthatch.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteThe new 100-400 has a much improved minimum focus distance, so is even better for small birds I guess.
ReplyDeleteThese were taken with the older MK1, if I talked about buying the new MK2 (on top of my recently acquired 500f4 and 7D MK2) my wife would divorce or even try to kill me.
DeleteInteresting to see your Hokkaido version of the bird formerly known as Great Tit. Ours are all-grey on the back but there are one or two reports of birds that look more like yours with a greenish nape. I must keep looking !
ReplyDeleteWasn't it split into 3? I think Northern (Europe), Eastern (mine) and Southern (yours)?
Delete