Taking pictures of birds is definitely one of the hardest types of photography. Hours or even days of waiting, trying not to scare your subject, heavy telephoto lenses and bad weather are just a few of common obstacles you will definitely face!
It gets much easier after you’ve been through a couple of shootings though. These 36 bird photographs below are excellent examples of what good skills combined with patience can get you (and gear of course).
Golden Eagle | By Niklass Nilsson | Nikon D3s
Brown Babbler | By Dave Montreuil | Nikon D7100
Little Bee-Eater | By Nigel Voaden | Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Eagle | By Nicolas Bouvier | Leica AG M9
TheDuck1 | By Moritz Becker
Ruffous Hummingbird | By Wes Aslin | Nikon D300s
Short-Eared Owl | By Fredrik Grahn | 5D Mark III
Blue Peacock | Bruno Doinel | Pentax K-30
Male Cardinal | By Cheryl Rose | Canon EOS Rebel T2i
Yellow-billed Hornbill | By Magdalena Juriks
Eagle Festival | By Ahmed Zulkamal | Nikon D300
White Wagtail | By Ma’en Abdel-Jawwad | Nikon D5100
Eagle Owl Shifnal Farmers Market | By Jason Dale | EOS 5D
The Bird And His Bokeh | By Alan C. | Nikon D300s
Pardal-Espanhol | By Joaquim Antunes
Eagles on værøy | Rolf-Arne Vaag
Eagle 1 Ready For Takeoff | By Rene Rodriguez | Canon EOS 7D
Eagle | By Mike Seamons
Snowy Owl in Flight, Ottawa | By Rudy Pohl | Nikon D7100
Eagle and Dragonfly | By John A. McCrae | Pentax K-5
Glittering-bellied Emerald | By Paul Jones | Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Saffron Finch | By Paul Jones
Merlin Falcon | By Jen St. Louis | Nikon D7000
Cardinal and Blue Jay Confrontation | By Jay Diaz (aka Koolpix)
Juvenile Great Horned Owl | By Dever Vileneuve | Olympus E-5
Blue Jay | By Robin Denyar | Canon EOS 7D
Flamant Rose | By Alexandre Alacchi | Nikon D7000
Sperbereule | By Maik Schwarz | Canon EOS-1D X
Red Kite Portrait | By Jeffuk39
Sparrow | Dale Morton | Canon EOS Rebel T4i
Flamant Rose | By Marine Prunieres | Nikon D3100
White Wagtail | By Toshihiro Gamo | Nikon D5100
Canard Colvert | By Fran Sight | Canon EOS 70D
Date Night Prep | By Kristina Truluck | Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Pied Kingfisher | By Dave Montreuil
Barred Owl | By Lindell Dillon | Canon EOS 7D
Male Red-billed Firefinch | By Dave Montreuil
You don’t need the most expensive gear, that’s only useful when you know what you are doing. A lot of the images above were taken with entry level cameras!
Here is a list of all the cameras used (lenses not included, but it’s mostly telephoto; 200mm and longer).
Canon
- Canon EOS Rebel T2i
- Canon EOS Rebel T4i
- Canon EOS 70D
- Canon EOS 7D
- Canon EOS 5D Mark III (and older series)
- Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
- Canon EOS-1D X
Nikon
- Nikon D3100
- Nikon D5100
- Nikon D7000
- Nikon D7100
- Nikon D300s (and older version)
- Nikon D3s
Other:
- Pentax K-30
- Pentax K-5
- Leica AG M9
- Olympus E-5
Wow, great selection of photos! And, thank you for including one of mine!
These are really gorgeous photography! If the birds have already found the food, you can start shooting. Find a beautiful perch, twig or rotten stump and put them on the feeder or near it. If you’d like, find some decorations to add to the scene—berries, for example. They will make the composition of your shots more lively.
Stock Image