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Bob D'A
Trad climber
Taos, NM
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Apr 24, 2012 - 02:36pm PT
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Blackcapped Chickadee on the hike this morning.
Busy little things.
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Slater
Trad climber
Central Coast
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Apr 25, 2012 - 11:53am PT
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sorry, had to bump the thread off the 3rd page with a Eurasain collard dove!
It's from my new Canon Powershot sx260 w/ 500mm lens!
Shot from my car, across the street.
OK birdies now I can carry this pocket size bazooka every where I go...
and not look like a nerdy birder w/ binocs and massive lens! I got a monocular to go with this stealth set up.
Stealth baby, stealth. They'll never see me coming...
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Slater
Trad climber
Central Coast
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Apr 25, 2012 - 12:15pm PT
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Turkey in a tree at school.
Neither shot did I photoshop or crop in.
Just two side by side comparisons.
The camera was out the door $299.
12MP & 500mm zoom and fits in my pocket.
I didn't know turkey's went into trees!!!
I always just see them walking on the ground.
Thought it was a taradactyl.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Apr 25, 2012 - 11:36pm PT
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Nice Turkey!
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Bob D'A
Trad climber
Taos, NM
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Apr 26, 2012 - 11:27am PT
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A few from today walk.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 26, 2012 - 11:45am PT
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This guy is bivying on my front door jamb today.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Apr 26, 2012 - 12:23pm PT
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Glad your door jam guest is not flat Reilly!
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Slater
Trad climber
Central Coast
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Apr 26, 2012 - 01:17pm PT
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yeah the wide angle is 24mm so that's pretty rad too.
Maybe we'll all hit the Yosemite Christmas bird count!?
Saw a bald eagle and peregrine and Pileated Woodpecker last time! Big sucker!
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Apr 26, 2012 - 10:34pm PT
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Toucans, motmots, and an owl...
Chestnut-billed Toucan
Tossing back berries. That thing is a weapon
Sadly, all my Keel-billed shots look like this
Mega-crop of a distant Collared Aracari
Emerald Toucanet, close up and curious
Broad-billed Motmot, looking like Samson after a haircut
Rufous Motmot. I was surprised by how BIG these bruisers are. I'm also impressed that Photoshop could pull any color or detail out of this, since it was taken at twilight and was basically a black image on my viewfinder. Moments earlier, there were two on this branch, doing the tick-tock tail-twitch.
Best tail in the game, although I think the Turquoise brow may be even more impressive
Spectacled Owl
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Apr 26, 2012 - 10:38pm PT
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Awesome stuff! Thanks Willoughby and welcome back.
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Slater
Trad climber
Central Coast
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Apr 27, 2012 - 12:23am PT
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Ooooh how exotic!
Like the colors!
Today's walk... walking never was so much fun!
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Bob D'A
Trad climber
Taos, NM
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Apr 27, 2012 - 10:08pm PT
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Two in the yard today.
Great stuff Slater and Willoughy.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 28, 2012 - 01:23am PT
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I know some of us spend some time thinking about digital photography. Slater's Canon SX260 is a revelation to me, and I can hardly wait until he points it as some surf breaks and climbs, as well as birds of course. I rarely put a whole out of the camera image on Supertopo. Instead I have a script that automatically enhances and shrinks using the open source software ImageMagick. Then I'll often crop it before posting. Here is my most recent Sandpiper photo with the straight automatic treatment that I've optimized over a couple years:
For convert I used the options " -contrast-stretch 0 -sharpen 4x0.2 "
And the same photo that I manually enhanced using Gimp. I like my automatic treatment better.
If there is any interest and when I have time I'll try a Photoshop session and just cutting and pasting the shrunk photo to compare. I keep the raw files but if the lighting is decent, I never use them.
Credit to Tony for helping me a lot getting the camera settings dialed in.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Apr 28, 2012 - 02:38am PT
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Thanks guys, I'll try to keep adding pics, but I upgraded to the latest Silverlight, and now my browser crashes every time I try to post one. Maybe I'll try Firefox.
I think there is a record for one of those at Bentson?
Can u imagine!
Holy moly...love ur birds
I can't imagine, at all. I believe you're thinking of Stygian Owl, which is pretty damn crazy too.
Where did you go in Costa Rica?
Please give us a little Blue print for birding and surfing.
Whelp, this was my first time, so I'd hardly say I nailed the perfect trip. Further, due to airline shenanigans, a little bit of rain, and the ziplining demands of my friends, I lost a couple days of what was only an 11-day trip to begin with. That said, it was good! I did a day at La Selva on the Caribbean side, which I HIGHLY recommend for several days (stay there, too - it's worth it). Then I did two nights at Rara Avis, which I can't recommend for folks on a tight schedule. Killer spot, and a cool experience, but the forest is DENSE, the birding is tough, and you burn up too much time getting back there. Then two nights in Santa Elena (1.5 days of birding). I spent 9 hours in the Santa Elena Reserve, and it was killer. Next morning, I cruised around a bit, and parked it for a few hours at the Monteverde Gift Shop hummingbird feeders. I think I had eight species of hummer there. Then I sorta birded by car on my way down the mountain and around the Gulf of Nicoya to Malpais. Spent the rest of my trip there, surfing.
If you really wanted to do THE birding/surfing trip, and you only had two weeks, I'd probably pick a mountain locale like Santa Elena, or possibly one closer to San Jose, and then go down to Carrera National Park for several days. This spot is right at the junction of the drier NW Pacific, and southern Pacific ecological zones, so it's a tremendous convergence of the two fauna. Plus, you're just a short hop from the ferry over to the Nicoya. I'd also like to visit Cabo Blanco next time I'm in Malpais. Malpais was awesome, but I think I was glad to be there in April, as the season was winding down. Super friendly locals, laid back, nice, but I think it's a big ol'party Dec-Feb. April's a pretty nice time for the birds too. Gobs of passage migrants (Chestnut-sided Warbler and Swainson's Thrush were probably the most common species of the trip), and lots of breeding and and displaying and nesting. Lots of molt too, which made for some ratty looking birds (mountain birds and migrants), but c'est la vie.
Okay, here's another batch:
Rufous-tailed Jacamar at Twilight. I saw several of these taking dustbaths in the road, and nearly ran one over
Big surprise of the trip was finding this pair of nesting Great Green Macaws. They took turns going into the cavity, and would walk up and down this branch to access it
I kept a respectful distance, so this is a monster crop from miles away
Violet-headed Hummingbird
Purple-throated Mountain-Gem
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BrassNuts
Trad climber
Save your a_s, reach for the brass...
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Apr 28, 2012 - 09:25am PT
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Very cool tropical bird pics Mr. W! Looks like a great trip. Here's Callie checking out the hummers at the Monte Verde gift shop - quite the variety there (sorry for the lame P&S photo...)
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Apr 28, 2012 - 09:33am PT
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Oh, that was fun! They buzzed so close to my face I could feel it. They could have cared less we were there. Stumbled upon this place and ended up staying for hours.
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BrassNuts
Trad climber
Save your a_s, reach for the brass...
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Apr 28, 2012 - 10:44am PT
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A few shots of an American Dipper at a stream near my office. Very cool birds, beautiful song and entertaining behavior, diving into rough water and all!
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Apr 28, 2012 - 06:29pm PT
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Getting ready to spend a three-day weekend in the Ramsey Canyon AZ area. Tips from you guys on must-go-to places? I have books, but hearing from you guys is always better.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 28, 2012 - 07:14pm PT
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BN, great shots of a hard-to-shoot and John Muir's favorite boid!
Am I delusional or is that a White-eared? Where is Monte Verde?
Is it Mesa Verde, NP? Can't be a White-eared then but the crown looks green
but the throat is red (purple in White-eared)? A hybrid White-eared/Broad-tailed?
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Apr 28, 2012 - 07:21pm PT
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Reilly - Monte Verde in Costa Rica. I need to get my guide (or Willoughby will chime in) to remember what the birds were. LOTS of hummers!
The Dippers have one baby in their nest. It's been fun watching dad feed while mom hangs in the nest with junior. They are amazing -how they move around under water is baffling. Dave got a soft shot of one with a mouth full of little green worm/larvae/something gross. Wondered what they were gleaning under the water.
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