The African Crowned Eagle ( Stephanoaetus coronatus ) is one of the most powerful raptors in Africa. Like most woodland raptors it has relatively short and broad wings, similar to a Goshawk. But the eagle is much bigger and more powerful than the Goshawk. Some consider it the African equivalent to the Harpy Eagle ( Harpia harpyja ) of Central and South America. But those two species are not closely related.
Here is an amazing video from National Geographic showing the (unsuccessful) attempt of an African Crowned Eagle to catch a Water Chevrotain ( Hyemoschus aquaticus ).
The White-tailed Eagle has a wingspan up to 245cm (the females) and is even a little bigger than the Golden Eagle. Once close to extinction in many European countries, the White-tailed Ealge has made a phenomenal comeback and populations have increased in many countries including Norway, Germany or Poland.
I just came across this wonderful post why bird conservation is important. Many people ask why we should care about birds and other animals at all. The Birdfreak Team has published that very helpful list about why the conservation of birds is so important. Read it and pass it on to your friends. It’s even available as a printable PDF.
Do you go out birding during bad weather? If your answer is “No”, change your birding habits. It’s well worth it. Let me tell you a small story of my birding adventures last Saturday.
I was birding near the German city of Günzburg in a protected area called “Gundelfinger Moos”. This is an open country with some artificial lakes. I like that area as I always find something interesting there - for example, I’ve already seen Merlin, White-tailed Eagles, Great Grey Shrike and about 150 Greater White-fronted Geese there.
Last Saturday I was scanning the meadows for shorebirds (Lapwings, Ruffs) and raptors (Common Buzzards). The weather was bad. It was snowing and the light was very bad so that you could not see much colors in most birds. I had already spotted 5 Common Buzzards when I noticed the sixth “Buzzard” sitting on a small wooden pole. But I immediately noticed that there was something “wrong” with the buzzard. It didn’t take me long to realize that the long tail and the overall gizz were clear signs of a Red Kite, one of the most beautiful and most elegant birds in the world.
If I had stayed at home, I would never have seen the Red Kite. So getting up early and going out, even in bad weather was definitely worth it.
The next time you decide to stay at home, think twice. If it’s not a hurricane, going out birding might be a good choice. And remember. There is not really something like bad weather. There is only bad clothing.
Another note about the red kite: Because I am very familiar with the Common Buzzard, it was easy for me to immediately see that the bird was not a Buzzard but a Red Kite. It’s always good to know the common birds. For more about this, read my post: Do not neglect the common birds
There are many ways to improve your birding skills. Of course, the most important way is to spend a lot of time out in the field actually watching birds. Others are talking to other birders, reading books and more.
A very interesting way I recently found is to use a blog to learn more. I learned about this in the Teach me about birdwatching blog. Mel, the owner of this wonderful blog uses her blog to write about birds she finds and asks readers of her blog to help her identifying the birds and give her more information. When you see the number of comments in her blog, you will realize that it’s a very popular blog and many people are participating in it. I want to encourage you to help Mel, too. Remember: When you help someone, you almost always also learn something. Mel lives in Peru and when you have a field guide for Peru you can help her identifying birds she found and photographed. This will also improve your own ID skills for the birds in Peru.
If you think this is a great idea, just start your own blog. You can do that, for example, at Wordpress.com or at Blogger. If you have your own domain and web server or hosting contract, you can use the free and open source Wordpress software. birdingnet.com uses Wordpress, too (for the start page).
Today I want to write about which telephoto lens is best for a bird photographer.
Let me tell you in advance that this is my personal opinion. Nature photographers like to discuss this topic a lot, especially if a 500mm or a 600mm lens is best.
I will just start describing the various choices and what I use:
70-200mm
That’s a popular zoom range. Nikon offers a 2.8/70-200 VR. Canon offers a 2.8/70-200 IS, a 4/70-200 without IS and a 4/70-200 with IS (which I use). VR stand for “vibration reduction” and IS for “image stabilization” and describes a technique to reduce the vibration of the lens when hand holding it or even when on a tripod. The 70-200 lens is too short for most bird pictures, but can be handy for tame birds like swans in a park or if you want to photograph a landscape with birds in it.
300mm lens
A 2.8/300mm lens is used by many photographers. Both the Nikon and Canon lenses are extremely sharp and have very fast AF (Autofocus). But 300mm is still to short for most situations. That’s why you will see most photographers who use a 2.8/300 using 1.4x or 2x extender with the lens. The 2.8/300 lenses are not cheap and cost several thousand Euros or Dollars. A cheaper choice is a 4/300 like the Canon 4/300 IS (which I use, too). Those lenses are also very sharp but much lighter and cheaper. The downside is that you will lose AF with many cameras when using a 2x extender with that lens. My Canon EOS 40D will not autofocus with the 4/300 and a 2x extender. The current Version of Nikon’s 4/300 does not yet offer VR (the Nikon 2.8/300 does have VR).
400mm lens
Canon and Nikon both offer a 2.8/400 with VR/IS. That’s a heavy beast (the Canon weighs more than 5kg ) and very expensive. I do not recommend that lens for bird photography. It’s too heavy, in my opinion and 400mm is still not very much when it comes to birds. But keep in mind that many photographers use that lens successfully, especially with good 1.4x and 2x extenders.
Canon also offers a 4/400 IS which is very light. That would make a great lens for flight photography and many photographers use it successfully. Some claim that it’s not as sharp as Canon’s 4/500 and 4/600. Canon also offers a very light and small 5.6/400 (without IS) which is very popular for birds in flight as it can be handhold for a long time.
200-400mm lens
Currently only Nikon offers a 4/200-400 lens. Canon does not although many Canon photographers (including me) would love to see such a lens. The Nikon lens is a dream of a lens. Very sharp and fast AF. Together with Nikon’s great D300 and it’s 1.5 crop factor, that lens would be like a 4/300-600 – a dream for bird and wildlife photographers. The downside of the lens is the high price.
100-400mm
Canon offers a very good 4.5-5.6/100-400 IS and Nikon a 4.5-5.6/80-400 VR. They are much cheaper than the 4/200-400 from Nikon and also much lighter. The sharpness is good, although not as good as with the 4/200-400 or 2.8/300. AF is slower due to the smaller f-stop. Nikon’s 4.5-5.6/80-400 is particularly slow, especially when used with an entry level DSLR from Nikon.
500mm
Canon and Nikon both offer a 4/500. Canon already introduced IS many years ago for this lens. Nikon recently (finally!!) came up with a new version of it’s 4/500 with VR. For me the 4/500 is the perfect bird lens. I love my Canon 4/500L IS. Those lenses are very sharp, f4 is still good, and they deliver amazing quality with a 1.4x extender and even with a 2x. I can handhold it for a while and have used it successfully for birds in flight like Black-headed Gulls, Griffon Vultures and Cinereous Vultures. It will still fit in a backpack that you can take with you on a plane. It’s cheaper than the 4/600 and although heavy (the Canon around 3.9kg). it’s still much lighter than the 4/600. That are the reasons why I chose the 4/500 over the 4/600. I use it a lot with a 1.4x extender on my Canon EOS 40D. That’s a dream combination for bird photography, as is Nikon’s 4/500VR together with the D300.
Eurasian Tree Sparrow, EOS 40D, EF 4/500L IS, 1.4x
600mm
The 4/600 lenses from Canon and Nikon (recently also with VR) give you a longer reach than the 4/500. That’s the only advantage of the 4/600 over the 4/500, but a significant one. If you are shooting a lot of shy birds and don’t have to travel by plane a lot, the 4/600 might be a better choice than the 4/500.
The best would be to own both, the 4/500 and the 4/600 but that’s quite an expensive option. I do not own the 4/600.
800mm
Recently Canon introduced a new 5.6/800 IS. It’s lighter than the 4/600 but more expensive. I would prefer the 4/600 + 1.4x as this is a more flexible solution but I am sure some bird photographers will be very happy with Canon’s new 5.6/800.
200-500mm
That lens does not yet exist. But what’s needed is a 4/200-500 with IS/VR from Canon or Nikon with a weight not over 3.5kg and the optical quality of Nikon’s 4/200-400. That would be the killer lens for bird photography. The zoom advantage would be great and allow for a much better composition of an image without the need the change your position of the lens (which is often not possible). I really hope that Canon or Nikon will come up with such a lens in the future.
You can buy some of the Canon lenses described here in the birdingnet store. There you will find the Canon equipment I use currently or used in the past (the 100-400L witch I replaced with the 4/70-200 and 4/300).
birdingnet.com gets a German sister. I’ve just launched birdingnet.de. It will have a German translation of the raptor FAQ, tips for watching birds and also information about bird conservation in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It’s still very new and a work in progress - but what on the web isn’t :-). If you speak German, give it a visit and let me know what you think about it.
This is another great bird blog I recommend reading: Born Again Bird Watcher.
John Riutta, the blog owner writes regularly about interesting stuff in the birding and bird world. He also writes regularly about conservation. Recently he has written an interesting article about a ridiculous fine levied against two poachers in Cypress who killed 52 Red-footed Falcons.
I’ve added a shop birdingnet.com. It’s powered by amazon.com and there is also a version powered by amazon.co.uk.
In the shop you find many great bird books and also the photographic equipment I use myself for bird and nature photography. All the items in this shop (books, cameras, lenses) are products I recommend. I either own those products, owned them some time ago or know the products from other ways. For the books I may own an older edition or the hardcover edition while I’ve inluded the cheaper paperback edition here.
I’ve included only products I think are worth purchasing. I’ve not included any books or other products which I think are bad.
The above does not apply to the items in the sidebars (like “Listmania!” or “Similar Items”) below the “Browse by Category” navigation bar. Those sidebars and products are choosen by amazon. But check them out too, as there are very good recommendations among them.
I hope you enjoy the selection of products. If you buy them here, it helps me to keep working on birdingnet.com.
Please let me know what you think of the shop. If people like it and buy products there, it helps me continue working on birdingnet.com (and I have big plans as I want to make birdingnet.com on of the best birding sites out there).
Check out the The Hawk Owl’s Nest birding blog - http://www.hawkowlsnest.com. It’s a very interesting blog written by Patrick Belardo about birds, bugs and botany. He is a very active blogger with many interesting articles about birds, spiders, insects and other interesting subjects. He also writes about conservation. I’ve also added this blog to my link list.
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