Bird Photography Advices And Photos

Hi bird photographers and nature lovers,

Here is an article about bird photography, with some advices and some of my photos.
I’m not really a bird photographer, but as I really like to photograph Wildlife and all kinds of animals, birds are part of it. So I thought about writing an article about bird photography, including some Youtube videos to provide you advices and tips. Then I have added some bird photographs that I took in the past, or a bit more recent after trying some advices.
What I aim here, is to try to write an article containing enough information to get you started or to help you (and myself) to improve your bird photography skills.

Basically, bird photography requires patience, and, depending on where you are shooting, to be fast enough to handle your camera and lens (holding, zooming, focusing etc.), most of the time a telephoto lens.
But must of all, you must practice and practice, and know your gear and how to set it.

First things first, the equipment. Here is a video from Tony Northrup on Youtube:

For more details about gear and everything, this video is quite complete I think. From Gless Bartley on Youtube.

If you want to start bird photography, here are some tips and advices from eHow on Youtube:

And if you can`t go in the Wild, woods or else, you can still do some bird photography in your backyard!

Here are some bird photography shots that I took. Hope you like them.
It’s far to be the results that I expect, but I will see a good start :)
The equipment that I used:
Camera: Canon EOS 400D and Canon EOS 7D.
Lenses: Canon EF 100mm F2.8 Macro (I used it on tripod with a remote control, as it’s for now, the only lens with a F2.8 aperture that I have – chickadee photos). Canon EF 100mm F2.8 Macro Review
Zoom lenses: Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L USM and Sigma 50-500mm. With the Sigma, I need to check a couple of things, because I find that I have sharper results with Manual Focus (when a bird is flying).

Wood ducks couple
F9, 1/1000 sec, 500 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL

Willow ptarmigan
F7.1, 1/200 sec, 500 mm, ISO500, Canon EOS 7D

Flying kite
F7.1, 1/1250 sec, 500 mm, ISO1600, Canon EOS 7D

Mesange
F6.3, 1/320 sec, 200 mm, ISO400, Canon EOS 7D

Cygogne nid
F6.3, 1/3200 sec, 500 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 7D

Willow grouse
F7.1, 1/320 sec, 500 mm, ISO320, Canon EOS 7D

White stork nest
F6.3, 1/5000 sec, 500 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 7D

Turkey vulture
F6.3, 1/1600 sec, 500 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 7D

Turkey vulture quebec
F5.6, 1/1250 sec, 138 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 7D

Red grouse
F6.3, 1/400 sec, 287 mm, ISO1000, Canon EOS 7D

Queue rouge
F6.3, 1/400 sec, 500 mm, ISO1000, Canon EOS 7D

Queue rouge nid
F6.3, 1/250 sec, 500 mm, ISO6400, Canon EOS 7D

Pileated woodpecker
F6.3, 1/1250 sec, 500 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 7D

Northern harrier
F5.6, 1/1000 sec, 203 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 7D

Northern gannet ansermoz
F11, 1/1000 sec, 500 mm, ISO1600, Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL

Northern cardinal
F8, 1/160 sec, 500 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 7D

Milan royal en vol
F8, 1/1250 sec, 500 mm, ISO1600, Canon EOS 7D

Kingfisher
F6.3, 1/1250 sec, 500 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 7D

Kingfisher fish
F7.1, 1/250 sec, 500 mm, ISO200, Canon EOS 7D

Kananaskis country 37
F6.3, 1/200 sec, 413 mm, ISO6400, Canon EOS 7D

Kananaskis country 27
F6.3, 1/250 sec, 373 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 7D

Kananaskis country 23
F6.3, 1/1000 sec, 373 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 7D

Heron
F6.3, 1/320 sec, 200 mm, ISO250, Canon EOS 7D

Great blue heron
F7.1, 1/400 sec, 373 mm, ISO500, Canon EOS 7D

Falcon
F6.3, 1/1000 sec, 500 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 7D

Falcon mating
F8, 1/1600 sec, 500 mm, ISO1600, Canon EOS 7D

Egret
F8, 1/1250 sec, 200 mm, ISO200, Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL

Clark nutcracker bird portrait
F9, 1/160 sec, 373 mm, ISO200, Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL

Canadian goose portrait
F8, 1/400 sec, 500 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 7D

Camargue 34
F8, 1/250 sec, 188 mm, ISO200, Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL

Camargue 24
F6.3, 1/3200 sec, 500 mm, ISO800, Canon EOS 7D

Bird silhouette
F6.3, 1/80 sec, 500 mm, ISO3200, Canon EOS 7D

Barred owl branch
F4, 1/130 sec, 145 mm, ISO6400, Canon EOS 7D

American robin
F5.6, 1/1250 sec, 203 mm, ISO400, Canon EOS 7D

Alpine chough alps
F10, 1/320 sec, 500 mm, ISO400, Canon EOS 7D

Some of the bird species in photographs:
– American Robin (Canada)
– Black Kite (Switzerland)
– Red Kite (Switzerland)
– Cardinal (Canada)
– Clark’s Nutcracker (Canada)
– Falcon (Switzerland)
– Goose (Canada)
– Hawk (Canada)
– Barred Owl (Canada)
– Red Grouse (Canada)
– Western Capercaillie (Canada)
– Turkey Vulture (Canada)
– King Fisher (France & Switzerland)
– Northern Gannet (Canada)
– Pink Flamingo (France)
– Swan (Switzerland)
– Pileated Woodpecker (Canada)
– White Stork (France)