How 'bout some big bad birds! (and a gator and bug)

This past weekend, some very nice light out in the wetlands for a little birding:

Great blue heron closeup:


Cattle egret landing:


Red-shouldered hawk up in a tree:


Northern harrier looking for prey:


Pretty little kestrel (a small hawk) in a tree:


Belted kingfisher got himself a fish:


And it's not all about the birds...there are other big, bad denizens out there, like the gator resting in the sun:


You heard of 'BIFs' for birds in flight...but how about a 'DIF', of a dragonfly in flight:

 

Thank you Paul and Erich.


I always love shooting the raptors - they're cool looking whether sitting still or flying.

 

Thank you Joanie. ; For those, I was shooting with my A580 DSLR, using my old faithful Minolta 300mm F4 APO lens with a 1.4x matched APO II teleconverter. ; It's a nice combo for birding and wildlife - not too heavy, and hand-holdable, and fast enough to keep up with anything. ; I do shoot with the mirrorless too, when I want to travel lighter - it does a respectable job too, though the tracking speed of the DSLR still pays some benefits over mirrorless.