Happy Monday everybody!
This week lets look at those shots that you took that weren't quite right - the ones where the bird just turned (or took off) at the last second or there was something that didn't quite work (if you haven't deleted those shots!).
All my photos seem to be near misses!
You mean like this one?
M-L
the Grey Butcherbird on Saturday
M-L
This little Grey Fantail just wouldn't stay still!
This Bullers Albatross hid his beak behind the fishing rod
The White Chinned Petrel went up the wave, while the boat went down!
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
just one more "bottom" from me
M-L
Pacific Gulls are very rare in Qld, the easiest way to identify a PG is by the very large bill, unless they yawn that is
Peter
For over a week i was watching and hearing 2 female Satin Bower Birds moving around the trees and bush in the yard behind where i was working, she just would not let me get a clear shot. Always a branch in the way.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
Brandon (aka ihewman)
Another cloudy drizzly day at the wetlands today. I spotted a Black-Shouldered Kite hovering for food so i went to a bushy tree to hide in hoping the Kite would come to the dead tree near me to eat his catch.
Well i didn't have to wait long for him to come but he landed in the tree i was hiding in
he was eating something but can't see what.
Who is that down there?
I got my eye on you Shorty.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
Haha rawshorty! I love the red eye.
Araminta, I was wondering how you get all your photos so clear? Is there a particular setting that you use?
E-C
Thanks, Elsie.
M-L cheats, she uses a Sony
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
A lovely little Golden whistler
Whats different about a Sony? I use a Canon :)
I guess,you know; Sony > Canon
Brandon (aka ihewman)
Does using Pentax count as cheating as well? Or self inflicted torture for the lack of supertelephoto lenses?
Having taken several nice(ish) photos of the wren for insurance, I repositioned myself to try and get a clear shot through the sticks. Sadly, he didn't like it and decided to leave, leaving this behind:
Actually I didn't know Nathan
I'm don't know a whole lot about cameras :P So am I cheating too? 
ihewman, I didn't photoshop it
It was hopping around on the branch and I must have caught it mid hop 
Haha, funny conversation
Yes Elsie, as Shorty said, I use a Sony, just like Nathan does
(the SLT-A 77V, combined with Sony lenses, for birds 70-400mm, if I can get close enough, like Frank and Janet yesterday, I use my DT 18-55 kit lens, also have a SAL 100mm F2.8 Macro )
Lachlan, my husband uses a Pentax K-5 and an Olympus, but he always says: I wish I had a Sony.
As for the settings, Elsie, no secrets here, I do most of my bird photography on AF and let the camera do what it does best. Don't have photoshop.
Birds are fast moving objects, unless they are lame ducks
, no time to fiddle with settings, by then the birds will be gone.
M-L
The golden whistler got tired of me taking photos of him
What sort of camera and lens do you have Elsie?
My guess would be that Araminta can get very high shutter speeds, which would freeze the image and make it look clearer- please correct me if I'm wrong (which, I have been told, I am). The more minor brands (Pentax, Sony, Olympus, Fuji) tend to have features like that to help them compete with the larger firms, and being able to be used at higher ISOs looks really good...
One rule of thumb I have heard is that to get a clear image you have to use a shutter speed of at least equal to that of the focal length of the lens. So, I have a 300mm lens, and 1.5x crop camera (Canon is variable, but many of the recent ones like the 7D are 1.6x), and should use a shutter speed of at least 1/450. For small birds which either move fast or flap their wings a lot, I have read blogs recommending about 1/1000, but that can be hard to get in a dark forest. From what I saw on 'Look at him now', I guess this doesn't apply to Sony though!
I just posted a few details for Elsie & Lachlan under "Look at him now"
M-L
Thanks Lachlan and Araminta
I didn't mean to hijack the thread 
Sorry!
All of them got away...
M-L
so did they
M-L
Hey, I'm just as guilty of hijacking the thread as you are.
Funny, I don't feel guilty at all...
When I visited Fraser Island, Dad and I went for a bushwalk near the Boomerang Lakes. Of course, I figured as the weather was bad, I wouldn't see any birds and only brought my kit lens with me... And ran into a Red- Backed Fairy Wren in a lovely position on the path. So, I ran back the the truck to get my lens and ran back to try and get a photo of it. Needless the lesson to never leave your camera (and lenses) behind was reinforced:
The only time I ever have managed to have a male fairy-wren in a good position and close up, I was out of focus and missed the shot I wanted before he was gone
Thats so sad cassie! I can't even try to count the amount of times hat has happened to me
That happened to me too cassie,last year I saw a Golden Whistler for the first time,and still havn't seen one since:
I would like to add. I shoot Nikon but a lot of other newer model cameras from different brands let you do this. It lets you specify the minimum shutter speed and maximum ISO to use when trying to achieve a particular shutterspeed. Choose ISO depending on what you are comfortable with and the conditions. If you think your camera output with ISO set to 3200 for example is fine than use it. If you will crop you may want to use less etc .You set this depending on conditions and what you are trying to take photographs of. I also have custom presets. I normally have one mode programmed for stationary birds and another for birds in flight (BIF). My primary lens for birding is 300mm and that is on a DX format 1.5x crop sensor.
So I have preset 1 set for stationary birds.
Min shutter speed 1/450
MAX ISO 1600 (will change this to higher if its dark)
Preset 2 (BIF)
Min shutter speed 1/800 (Depends on the bird and how much you want to freeze the motion)
MAX ISO 3200
Also note that if your lens/camera has VR/OS (stabilisation) you can shoot at much lower shutter speeds for stationary subjects. The Sony's have image stabilisation on the body so all your lenses will benefit.
I was born to live and I live to die.
Ah, good. Another person who has to use shutter speeds above 1/200 to get good results!
I tend to find that the maximum that I will be willing to take the ISO up to is 3600 as well. Seeing as I use Pentax gear, and follow much the same guidelines as you do, maybe all the brands' cameras are really the same, and have been repainted to look different? Now, if only Pentax would let me bung a Canon 400mm lens on my camera as well!
Thank for your help!
missed the Great Egret taking off, could have been.....should have been....but wasn't
M-L
A girl's bottom (Superb Fairy Wren)
I know there is a blodge on the sensor
, it's been cleaned.
M-L
I have heaps of those.
This is my most recent near miss, taken today on my walk home from the shops near the carpark. I saw this lone Long billed coralla sitting in a tree and went to take a shot when a Raven or crow (I can't tell the difference) scared it away, thankfully it landed in a nearby tree and to the rest of the flock :)
Here is a near miss from South Eastern Colorado, USA..... something different, for you down under.
Hope you don't mind the interjection of birds from elsewhere...this is a Black-headed Grosbeak that got away.
Phil