divebomb

[aladyforty]

this bird is tiny and I only just managed to get him as he is so fast. They dive into the tree at such fast speeds.

[eric s]

It makes you wonder why they doin't hit anything! One of those mysteries that I don't understand.

Nice action shot, that bird was really moving!

Eric

[ferny]

Fast reflexes!

I think (hah!) that the reason why they don't hit branches is because they see things at a higher speed than us. Our eyes view things at around 50fps. Birds see things at a much higher rate. So everything normal to us is slow motion to them. Weaving between branches is easy. That's the reason why you can never hit a pigeon with your car. No mater how hard you try. :lol:





Note - I don't try to run over pigeons.

[geoffs]

ferny wrote:

That's the reason why you can never hit a pigeon with your car. No mater how hard you try.

Note - I don't try to run over pigeons.

Well, ferny, how wrong you are :-)

Disclaimer: I don't try to run over pigeons either, but...

Perhaps 20 years ago, while driving to work in an urban area, I saw a flock of pigeons on the road in front of me. I was going perhaps 30mph and didn't slow down because this road always had the pigeons on it and they always had gotten out of the way previously. This time was different. As I reached the flock I realized that they were slow to fly away and it really appeared as though I might have hit one or more of them. However, I could see in my rear view mirror that no pigeons had been left on the road so I felt much relieved and kept driving on. Strangely, as I continued my journey to work on city streets, I noticed that people were giving me wierd looks as I drove by. When I got to work I decided I better give my car an inspection and when I got around to the front of the car I was spooked by the sight of a pigeon wedged into my front bumper. The pigeon's upper body and head were erect and pointed forward - it sort of looked like a figurehead at the front of the car. Surprisingly, it was still alive. I got a 2x4 and used it pry the bird out of the bumper and it immediately flew off apparently uninjured.

So, yes, at least I can hit a pigeon with my car...

[photosbyvito]

haha...funny story geoffs...i have a funny story about hitting wildlife, lol

i was riding my bike (i'm 15 ), on a slight downhill, but i was flying, lol. as i was riding up ahead i see a squirrel trot out into the road, and i notice a car coming behind me (i'm on the shoulder) the squirrel quickly runs to the side of the road to avoid getting hit, by the car, and i came within 4 inches of running over that little squirrel....on my bike....lol

it was rather amusing...haha

anyway, nice shot alady! i love watching birds dart into the trees, thanks ferny, for the explanation of how they do that....that makes sense....

here we go....this is a good example of a shot, that the bird isn't really that close, but is still interesting, and compositionally strong..actually, shots that the bird is farther away are normally more compositionally strong...

ok...i'm done..lol

Vito

[geoffs]

photosbyvito wrote:

(i'm 15 )

Vito, I've heard you state your age on this board in another thread before, but everytime you say that you're only 15 I am just amazed. Your maturity and knowledge for "just 15" is nothing short of unbelievable.

[photosbyvito]

thanks geoffs i've learned a lot here....and i like to read...

Vito

[Chako]

Hmmm...I did witness a strange event involving a pigeon and 3 cars.

We were driving behind a line up. I saw the pigeon fly low about 4 car lengths in front of us as we were all going at speed. It apparently struck the first car in such a way that it was tossed up over it. The pigeon thendid a glancing blow on the second car's roof topbehind it. Bounced off that roof, to the roof of the third car before us. It then fell to the side of the road. We pulled over as well as two of the participating cars, only to find the pigeon getting up. It shook its head a little, tried to walk, and sat down once. Then it got spooked by all of us going to inspect it on foot,and flew off as if nothing ever happened to it. That is one tough bird!

Aladyforty, very nice photo. Did you use sport mode? I have only recently tried it out although owning the camera for about 4 weeks now. Quite impressive on birds. Here is a shot I would have never gotten otherwise.

[eric s]

I don't know photosbyvito, personally I had a lot of fun at 15. I really don't see it as a need for a . More like a :P, and on occasion a .

Actually, I had more fun in highschool than college. College was work.. I was paying to go there, after all, so I worked to get something out of it (and had fun too.) Highschool had less pressure, less work (wasn't as hard), and more fun.

I believe sports mode uses focus tracking (I don't own the rebel, I own the 10D.)If so it can work well, but it can also produce out of focus shots because it doesn't work in focus priority mode. So it will try to take a picture while the focus is trying to adjust for tracking reasons. So while I do use it, I wouldn't use it all the time.

Eric

[photosbyvito]

lol....it was only a because i don't have a car to almost run a squirrel over with....lol

other than that....15 is awesome

Vito