Wader Flypast

[erwinx]

Taken in India. All 45 AF points active/AI-Servo aka the 'Ring of Fire'

[crazypaladin]

Fantastic...

How did you lock focus on the flying birds? I tried but my results are somewhat blurred...

[Fred]

Excellent images you've got, well done!

[Jeff]

Must be one memorable trip.

#1 is my favorite.

Now these are really good motivators!

[Garion]

Excellent series, looks like a fruitful trip for you. Do you have the ID for all of them?

[Newguy69]

Wow, simply beautiful and excellent flying shots. Well done

Cheers

[CYRN]

excellent shots...

btw what is ring of fire?

[Garion]

Originally Posted by CYRN excellent shots... btw what is ring of fire?

Think he's referring to the 45 pt AF of the 1D series which are arranged in an elliptical pattern, hence the term 'ring of fire'. Judging by the photos, seems perfectly suited to capture action shots of bird in flight.

Time to start saving...

[CYRN]

Originally Posted by Garion Think he's referring to the 45 pt AF of the 1D series which are arranged in an elliptical pattern, hence the term 'ring of fire'. Judging by the photos, seems perfectly suited to capture action shots of bird in flight. Time to start saving...

looks like have to start to eat bread for a long long time...

BTW, what lens was used? cheers

[chngpe01]

Excellent series.

[erwinx]

thanks for your comments guys.

The 1 & 2 are Black-winged Stilt, 4 is Pied Avocet. No.3 is probably a sandpiper but these are tough to distinguish waiting for an expert to ID since the birds there are slightly different. Even if the same species, they may still have slightly different colours.

Not sure who originated the phrase 'ring of fire' but its been used by various websites, eg: Arthur Morris. As Garion pointed out, it denotes the elliptically arranged 45 AF points active on AI-servo mode, I relied fully on the camera to acquire and lock focus.

[Lensman]

for pix 1, I liked it very much. Could it show a little more of the bird's shadow in the waters ? Makes a very good mirage....

[Murray Smith]

That is a Black Tailed Godwit. We have thousands of the Bar Tailed in NZ but the Black Tailed is quite rare. BTG is listed for all of the Indian subcontinent according to Salim Ali & Dillon Ripley in "A pictorial guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent."

As usual superb shots.

Thanks

Murray Smith

[erwinx]

Originally Posted by Murray Smith That is a Black Tailed Godwit. We have thousands of the Bar Tailed in NZ but the Black Tailed is quite rare. BTG is listed for all of the Indian subcontinent according to Salim Ali & Dillon Ripley in "A pictorial guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent." As usual superb shots. Thanks Murray Smith

Thanks for the ID, you are indeed one of the resident bird experts in this forum

by the way, many nature and wildlife books are much cheaper if bought in India. I bought Collins Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (Grimmett & Inskipp) for S$28. Funnily enough, inside it states "printed in Singapore" and "For sale in India, Bangladesh.. etc only". In Singapore the same book costs S$60, but i suspect the printing quality of the more expensive edition may be a little bit better.

[Murray Smith]

My salim Ali cost me R120 way back that was about 12 S$.

Never regret buying bird books .

Murray Smith

[skfoo]

Nice shots! Well done!

[eel]

Stunning! especially #2!