Jay

Gallery: AvianPosted September 28, 2010100 views13 comments

Taken from the hide out in my yard.

Compared to the other garden birds, these jays are massive, luckily I use a zoom lens and can quickly zoom out when they land, well, that's the plan anyway, quite often they're just too quick for me

For such a big bird they are very timid, one click of the shutter and they're off so you have to "wait until you can see the whites of their eyes" as they say, before firing.

They have tiny feet too but don't be fooled by their looks, I've seen one swoop down and kill a smaller bird and fly off with it, they can be nasty when they want to be.

I was only about 9 feet or so away when I took this.

Sony A350
Tamron 200-500 (borrowed off my son)
1/200th second
f8
ISO 400
200mm
+0.3 stop exposure compensation
Centre-weighted metering
Tripod

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Lee fisher on September 28, 2010 at 1:41 PM

As said before mate, top drawer

Lee

Registered on September 10, 2010, 13 Posts, 89 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on September 28, 2010 at 1:59 PM

Lovely detail. There's nothing like getting close to the subject to get the most detail.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Sally King on September 28, 2010 at 2:19 PM

Lovely bird. Talk about the whites of their eyes. Nice details and light. The mossy perch is great too as is the nice complimentary background.

Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on September 28, 2010 at 3:36 PM

Well done. Love the detail, and the eye.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on September 28, 2010 at 5:43 PM

Beautiful colors Geoffrey and detail looks good. I like the perch too. My eye wants more room at bottom for the tail.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on September 28, 2010 at 8:30 PM

Interesting plumage. You really caught some nice details in the face and the wing.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on September 29, 2010 at 12:28 AM

Very good image quality Geoffrey. I like the color of the background for this bird as well. He does look rather muscular, sounds like a bit of a bully. I have not witnessed such aggression in the Bluejays around here.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Danny Laredo on September 29, 2010 at 8:28 AM

Excellent expo detail and BG. Only nit would be I would like a bit more space at the bottom for the whole tail.

Registered on March 18, 2008, 71 Posts, 332 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Saunders on September 29, 2010 at 10:17 AM

A wonderful look at this species. I only wish ( as I'm sure do you ) you'd gotten the whole bird in the frame including tail.

Registered on February 6, 2008, 321 Posts, 3035 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on September 29, 2010 at 5:53 PM

Sweet shot Geoffrey.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on September 29, 2010 at 11:38 PM

What a great image here. Lots of detail. Fun to see a bird we don't have here. Just well done, indeed.

Here's a trick I've learned in my back yard. I turn on a radio-not too loud-the birds adjust to the noise and it camouflages the sound of the shutter.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Andy Shepherd on September 30, 2010 at 10:56 AM

This is a very fine capture Geoffrey, I know only too well how difficult to photograph these birds are. The image has superb detail and sharpness, wish it was one of mine.

Andy...

Registered on September 24, 2006, 123 Posts, 1254 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on October 1, 2010 at 1:55 AM

Wondeful composition and background, I like the feather detail and sharpness, excellent job.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments