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As April ends, migratory birds from afar migrate to breeding grounds and begin to make final preparations for the most important breeding season of the year. For bird lovers will also usher in the best shooting season, here, bird lover Jun also calls on everyone to abide by the principles of civilized bird watching and bird shooting, while enjoying the fun of nature, but also carefully care for the ecological environment, so that the beauty of natural ecology continues. Below, let's follow the lens of the bird lovers to enjoy the essence of April 2021 Bird Watching and the wonderful stories behind the works.
Photography Annual Competition
The Annual Photography Competition is divided into four categories around bird ecological photography, namely: behavior, environment, close-up, and creativity. Every month, the organizing committee of the competition selects the outstanding works that are shortlisted every month according to the four categories and enters the year-end finals. In April, a total of 35 excellent works were shortlisted, let us enjoy them together:
Behavioral "Fly"
Photography by Hezai
Species name: White Stork
Filming location: Nanling National Forest Park, Ruyuan County, Guangdong Province
Shooting equipment: Nikon D6+AF-s400mm f/2.8
▲ Picture description: The white bird is a national second-class protected animal, belonging to the large chicken class, inhabiting the evergreen broad-leaved forest and gully rainforest with dense forests and sparse understory plants. In Nanling Forest Park, Guangdong Province, there is a group of white oriole families. On this evening, the warm sunlight shone on the stone wall of the valley waterfall, leaving a golden light and shadow, at this time, just when the white bird flew over the valley, spread its wings and flew, the author immediately pressed the shutter, taking this harmonious and beautiful picture.
Environmental "Watch"
Photo by: A maverick tree
Species name: Medium egret
Filming location: Jimei Xinglin Bay Park, Xiamen City, Fujian Province
Shooting equipment: Nikon D7500+80-400G F4.5-5.6
▲ Picture description: There are a lot of egrets in Xiamen Xinglinwan Park, when I walked to the bridge, I found that there were egrets under a bridge to feed there, I felt that the composition was more interesting, so I took a photo, because the color was more messy, in order to highlight the focus, it was processed into black and white.
Behavioral "Coming Home"
Photography by Elephant_tJ
Species name: Double-horned hornbills
Filming location: Yingjiang, Yunnan
Shooting equipment: Nikon D5+AF-s800mm f/5.6
▲ Picture description: The first time I went to Yingjiang to shoot hornbills, I couldn't figure out how big the head should be. Bird guide said that the head of 600 and 800 is OK, it is best to bring 800, can shoot the details clearly. So the trip took a lot of close-ups, this is a two-horned hornbill male bird who rushed home to deliver food to the female bird incubating eggs in the hole.
Behavioral "Dancing Under the Silver Aperture"
Photography by hao_nj
Species name: Crested ibis
Filming location: Huainan
Shooting equipment: Canon EOS R5
▲ Picture description: The beginning of April is the hot love season of crested ibises, this pair of crested ibises are dancing together again, the silver on the river is shining, flooding with aura, capturing the moment with a large aperture lens, which is a beautiful and story-telling picture.
Environmental Category "Flying Snow Stone Chicken"
Photography by Wind Whisperer
Species name: Stone chicken
Filming location: Shanyin County, Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province
Behavioral "Formation Flight"
Photography by Bai Shuiyang
Species Name: Chinese Autumn Sand Duck
Filming location: Wucheng Village, Yongtai County, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province
Shooting equipment: Canon 1DX 2+EF 800mm f/5.6L
▲ Picture description: Every year from mid-November to March of the following year, the Chinese autumn sand ducks will migrate from the northeast to Yongtai Dazhangxi for wintering, they fly, fish, and play here, there are large stones in the middle of one of the rivers, the Chinese autumn sand duck must change the formation before flying over here, in order to maintain sufficient depth of field and reflection, on a windy and sunny afternoon, I record this moment with a lower sensitivity, a higher speed, and an aperture of F8.
Behavioral "Water Fairy"
Photography by Bach 6320
Species name: Ribbon bird
Filming location: Yang County, Shaanxi
Shooting equipment: Nikon D5+AF-s 800mm f/5.6
▲ Picture description: Every early June, the ribbon birds will come to Yangxian to give birth. The ribbon bird in Laiyang County is divided into two kinds of variegated varieties of pure red and pure white that are occasionally seen in red and white. Ribbons like to be clean and dive several times a day. This picture was obtained 4 years ago in The Wild Auction of Liyun Lake in Yangxian County. The inability to observe where the bird is taking off, coupled with the extremely fast flight speed, makes it extremely challenging to operate the camera to lock on to the target and focus.
Feature "Musk Pheasant Peeping Military Intelligence"
Photography author: Shoot beautiful birds all over the world
Species name: Musk pheasant
Filming location: Amazon rainforest in northern Peru
Shooting equipment: Nikon D850+ AF-s800mm f/5.6
▲ Picture description: The pheasant is a relatively large bird species in the Amazon region, and it is also the least evolved bird, which is closer to archaeopteryx. Young birds have undegraded claws in the middle of their wings, resemble reptiles and can swim.
Environmental Category "River of Time"
Photography by Yi Gu
Species name: Heron
Shooting equipment: Canon EOS-1D X2+EF200-400mm f/4L+2x
Environmental category "Little Man in the Backlight"
Photography author: Learn to shoot
Species Name: Little Lycaena
Shooting equipment: Canon EOS-1D X2+EF600mm f/4L+1.4x
Environment "Homeland"
Photography by: Xingzhao 31
Species name: Black Stork
Shooting equipment: Nikon D850+80-400mm
Filming location: Pingshan County, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province
Environmental Category "Buddha's Edge"
Photography by Xiao Sanhu
Species name: White Horse Chicken
Behavioral "Dance"
Photography by: Empty Hazy Yunlong (Xuzhou)
Species name: Red-crowned crane
Filming location: Red-crowned Crane Nature Reserve in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province
Shooting equipment: Nikon D5+AF-S600mm/F4
▲ Picture description: The red-crowned crane, which belongs to the national first-class protected animal, is commonly known as the crane.
The red-crowned crane belongs to the national first-class protected animal, commonly known as the crane. The red-crowned crane is a species of crane that gets its name from the red meat crown on its head. It is a bird species unique to East Asia, and because of its elegant posture, clear colors and noble posture, it has the meaning of auspiciousness, loyalty and longevity in the culture of this region.
The Red-crowned Crane Nature Reserve in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, is located in the Yellow (Bohai) Sea Migratory Bird Habitat on the eastern coast of China, and on July 5, 2019, the Yellow (Bohai) Sea Migratory Bird Habitat was included in the World Heritage List, filling the gap in the type of coastal wetlands in China. At the end of November, a large number of red-crowned cranes fly more than 2,000 kilometers to winter in the Red-crowned Crane Nature Reserve in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, and then migrate back to the Songnen Plain habitat in western Heilongjiang Province at the end of February and early March. Before moving north, the Acheng crane, which is just beginning to bloom, and the red-crowned crane that is in the reproductive development period will gradually enter the estrus period. Dancing, that is, they are courting, belongs to a kind of reproductive behavior.
You see, the dance of the red-crowned crane tends to start with a slightly tense gaze posture caused by bending over, sometimes adding a parallel movement. From bending down during walking, spreading wings to jumping, it indicates the beginning of the dance. Some start with picking up food, which is enough to show that the ancients' "foodization" teaching dance is not nonsense. Some dances have fixed objects, and there are also collective dances that constantly replace partners. Group dance often has jumping kicks, chases and races, accompanied by a bow that quickly flaps the wings and a continuous flexion action, when the flexion is stopped, immediately enter a series of "prescribed" actions such as gradual gathering, bending over, looking up, and shouting. In dances with partners, it is generally one side that bends over, and the other party does a high position such as stretching up or jumping, and the two sides alternate. But when the rhythm is out of tune, both sides do the same thing at the same time.
The pair dance is a unique posture formed by the symmetrical jumping of two cranes in sync. This classic gesture is also what bird photography enthusiasts dream of when photographing red-crowned cranes.
Environmental "The Trickster"
Photography by Tony Lee
Species name: Blood pheasant
Filming location: Kashinigami Kawanishi
Shooting equipment: Canon 1DX 2+EF 600mm f/4
▲ Picture description: The photo was taken on March 11, 2021, in order to take a picture of the snow version of the blood pheasant ecology, and another friend lurked near the location where the blood pheasant may pass before dawn, about 10 o'clock, several male blood pheasants foraged through my lurking bushes, of which this male blood pheasant took up guard work, monitoring the surrounding situation, lurker, vigilant, who is the voyeur?
Environment Category "Dream Water Town"
Photography by Xinwei
Species name: Snow Goose
Filming location: Vancouver
Shooting equipment: Canon 1DX+EF100-400mm
▲ Picture description: The dense weed is dense, slow down the camera speed, and use the panning method to pull out the lines and forms of the grass, so that its effect is not so realistic, showing a kind of illusion and reality, ethereal and illusory effect, which is retained as material. A group of snow geese flew in the sky, and a beautiful picture flashed in my mind, called up the film, used multiple exposures, quickly adjusted the parameters, and took this photo. Later, it is adjusted to black and white, and the clouds and foreground of the sky overlap like the distant mountains in the fog, and the birds are in this dreamy scene, which makes people feel relaxed.
Environmental category "A different perspective on the seagull"
Photography by Tangshan Tule
Species name: Seagull
Filming location: Liuzhuang Bridge, Haihe, Tianjin
Shooting equipment: Nikon Z6+14-30mm
▲ Picture description: Every winter, a large number of red-billed gulls will come to Tianjin Haihe Liuzhuang Bridge nearby, where people watch the gulls and feed the gulls, which has become a beautiful business card of the Haihe River. In the past, I used to use telephoto to shoot a single seagull in various aerial postures, but this time I thought of shooting at a different angle with an ultra-wide angle.
Behavioral Category "Suddenly"
Photography by Lao Zheng
Species name: Great Egret
Filming location: Xiamen Island
Shooting equipment: Sony a1 +FE 200-600mm
▲ Picture description: The beautiful Xiamen Island, because of its relationship with the egret, is also known as "Heron Island". The egrets of Heron Island live "rich" and never suffer from "food". The West Causeway Gate of Yundang Lake is their natural restaurant. Whenever the tide rises, the gate of the West Causeway will be opened, and the turbulent sea will roll a large number of small fish into the lake and jump around, becoming the "plate meal" of the big fish in the lake. The egrets that wait by the lake early on keep flying to the surface of the lake and prey on small fish. It constitutes a unique picture of big fish, small fish and egrets in the same frame. In the shooting, because the big fish jumping out of the water is only in the blink of an eye, and it is impossible to predict the specific location of the big fish jumping out of the water, therefore, only by closely following the egret flying to the surface of the water, accurately focusing, and pressing the shutter for continuous "blind" shooting, it is possible to "bump" into the desired beautiful picture. The best shooting season of the year is from April to mid-October. During this period, the sea temperature is relatively high, and the big fish in the lake are active. Sony A1 camera, Sony 200-600 lens. IOS:800，F8，S:1/2000。 30 consecutive shots.
Environmental "Cute Baby"
Photography by Mai Kai-kamma
Species name: Spoon-billed sandpiper
Filming location: Yancheng, Jiangsu Province
Shooting equipment: EOS-1D X 2+EF600mm f/4
Behavioral "Two Loves"
Photography by: Bird's eye view of the world
Species Name: Black-winged sandpiper
Filming location: Weihe River, Xi'an
Shooting equipment: Canon 1DX 3+EF600mm f/4+1.4X
▲ Picture description: Every time spring comes, the happiness canal by the Weihe River in Xi'an will always interpret a scene of lingering love story, the protagonist is the black-winged long-legged sandpiper, Xi'an in April is slightly chilly, I and the bird friends came to the happiness canal early, choose a good position, set up the equipment, the birds performed over and over again, the bird friends are tirelessly sharing the happiness of the birds, the birds are also happy, and the people are happy!
Behavioral "The Great Bird of Paradise Dancing Courtship"
Species name: Great Bird of Paradise
Filming location: Aru Island Indonesia
Shooting equipment: Nikon D850+180-400mm
▲ Picture description: In the remote and remote Aru Island, at a height of 25 meters above the tree top, two large birds of paradise share a courtship dance branch Dance here almost every day during the mating season Attract the attention of the mother bird and do their best to obtain mating rights
Behavioral "Fork-tailed Hummingbird in Foraging"
Species name: Forked fantail hummingbird
Filming location: Pomachochas, northern Peru
▲ Picture description: The forked fantail hummingbird is endemic to Peru, critically endangered, small in size, but the tail feathers are super long, beautiful, and light and fast when flying, like a butterfly that flips over. She is also very shy, and immediately hides behind the leaves when she sees people and chances, and knows how to protect herself and have a sense of danger. For critically endangered species, it is actually a very good defensive behavior.
Behavioral Category "Food Risk Seeking"
Species Name: River Y
Shooting equipment: Canon 1DX+EF600mm/f4
▲ Picture description: On the way to Kogan Dam, I found a few ordinary autumn sand ducks swimming in the river, so I and my friends camouflaged in the river mudflats, waiting for the opportunity to shoot, did not think, this river elf stopped to feed in the rapids less than 5 meters to our left, how close is this? No longer able to take care of the Qiusha Duck, he immediately turned the "muzzle of the gun" and swept at it for a round. In order to survive, Hewu fearlessly sneaks forward in the rapids to forage for food, and life is not worthy of our respect.
Environmental Category "In the Fog"
Photography by Xu Honglin
Species name: Purple waterfowl
Filming location: Duck Lake
Shooting equipment: Canon EOS 7D Mark II+EF300mm f/2.8
▲ Picture description: The English name of Duck Lake is Western Springs, is a large reservation with water, close to the center of Auckland; located in a densely populated place, next to the road network is developed, the ecology is maintained perfectly, there is a light layer of fog on the lake in the winter morning, and these birds are very beautiful in the fog under the backlight.
Behavioral "Fairy Fight"
Photography by Homeland 31
Species name: White Crane
Shooting location: Poyang Lake, Nanchang
Shooting equipment: Nikon D3S +AF-s200-500mm
▲Picture description: The white cranes that winter in Poyang Lake fly in late October, have all arrived in early November, and are divided into small groups from December to January of the following year to move as a family unit, mainly foraging in the shallow waters of the Big Lake Pool. The white crane is the crane with the most specialized habitat requirements and a strong attachment to shallow wetlands. The two white cranes fought over a food-rich habitat. They spread their wings at the same time, one rising in the air and condescending, the other with slightly curved legs to defend not to be outdone. The 15 cm long beak will become a "murder weapon" and start a battle for their territory.
Environmental Category "Quiet in the Middle"
Photography by Xiang Xiang
Species name: Common Nighthawk
Filming location: Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
Shooting equipment: Olympus E-M1MarkII+300mm
Environmental category "Flying to the Snowy Mountains. 》
Photo by Beijing Fried Liver
Species name: Alpine vulture
Filming location: Ranwu Lake, Tibet.
Shooting equipment: Nikon D500+70-200+1.4X
▲ Picture description: In April 2021, when I came to Ranwu Lake in Tibet again, when I was infected with the lake and mountain color of Ranwu Lake in the upcoming spring, I suddenly found that there was a vulture flying in the blue sky and white clouds, my eyes followed it, and at the same time, I picked up the longest camera combination prepared, I stared at it, it gradually landed, until it landed, oh my God! Not only one, there were 7 or 8 plateau elves on the ground, I slowly approached, kept pressing the shutter, grabbing them, suddenly, perhaps frightened, a vulture spread its wings and took off, I immediately picked up the camera and chased it, it first rushed to the surface of Ranwu Lake, then turned back, flew behind me, then turned back, and flew back to the snowy mountain in front, I followed it, kept pressing the shutter, the process was simply too addictive, the majesty of this plateau spirit flying to the snowy mountain was permanently frozen and collected into my camera.
Behavioral "Competition"
Photography by Muddy Waters
Species name: Great Bustard
Shooting location: Ulanhot City, Inner Mongolia
Shooting equipment: Nikon D780+AF-S600mm/4E
▲ Picture description: In order to get the admiration of female birds, male bustards will always do their best to show themselves in the spring breeding season, exuding male charm, hoping to become the king of bustards! For this reason, I came to the Horqin grassland with my regent, the grassland in the spring of April is still cold and windy, riding on the tractor trailer I embarked on a photography journey to find the charming big birds on the grassland with a desire... In the excitement, I finally saw a group of great bustards frolicking and fighting scenes, and gradually saw four male bustards dancing passionately and began to rely on the disturbance, holding their heads high, turning over the white feathers, sometimes showing off with their tail feathers, competing vigorously, dancing, trying each other ... The grassland in the morning light reflects a faint orange-red, a beautiful view, I quietly pressed the shutter, recording my favorite moment.
Environmental Category "Knife Bird Wave"
Photography by: I'm a wrench
Species name: Black-tailed sandpiper, Eastern White Stork, Bean Goose
Filming location: Nanji Mountain, Nanchang City
Shooting equipment: Nikon D6+AF-s600mm f/4
▲ Picture description: early morning, mist, lakes, birds... A quiet picture of natural ecology... Suddenly, a black shadow like the wind passed through the fog, flying up and down on the lake, changing shapes from time to time, and my camera danced with them all the time...
Environmental "Morning Rhyme"
Photography by Zhao _tl
Species Name: Crested Lycaena
Shooting location: Pingtian Lake, Chizhou City, Anhui Province
Shooting equipment: Sony RX10w
▲Picture description: Chizhou Pingtian Lake is like a loving mother guarding the east of Chizhou City. The water area is 110,000 square kilometers, which is 1.5 times that of Hangzhou's West Lake. The green water reflects the green mountains, and the smoke waves are everywhere. Legend has it that Chizhou is famous for its water beauty, and Pingtian Lake is the most beautiful water in Chizhou. Pingtian Lake is vast in smoke, the mountains around the lake are raised, the trees are verdant, the grass is full of flowers, the water spirit leaves are lush, the birds are flying, and the forest vegetation coverage rate is 95%. "The water is like a horse, this place is the flat sky" is Li Bai's vivid portrayal of Pingtian Lake in that year. On that day, I passed by Pingtian Lake to work, which coincided with the ethereal morning fog, the reflection of green mountains and farmhouses, the swimming of water birds on the lake, and a painting of ink and danqing. Hope you like it.
Behavioral category "Suddenly like a breeze"
Filming location: Toyota Village, Yong'an City, Fujian Province
Shooting equipment: Sony a1 +FE 100-400mm
▲ Picture description: Known as the fairy in the forest, the white bird, with its unique image of "red face and black hair" and a silver suit, has become one of the bird species that many bird shooters take. At the beginning of April this year, I came to the village of Toyota in Yong'an City, Fujian Province, the hometown of the White Stork again to shoot. Different from the past, this shoot used Sony's latest A1 camera, Sony 100-400 lens. The Sony a1 camera's superior focusing function and 30 continuous shots per second make shooting handy. The 1/20-second slow-door follow-up shooting, in which the white bird spreads its wings and flies, reflecting the background of the lines formed by the oblique movement, and the movement is strong. It shows the effect of "fairies speeding through the forest". F11, S: 1/20 sec. ios: 800.
Environmental category "Evening Egret At Will"
Photography by: Whatever
Species name: Egret
Filming location: Shaoguan City, Wantou Village River
Shooting equipment: Nikon D810 + AF-s 80-400
▲ Image description: Egrets like to stay in the shallows of low water to catch fish, chase, and play. On this evening, our group came to the bank of the wantou village, and saw a group of egrets resting by the river in the distance, the river surface at this time was as calm as a mirror, and the egrets, reflections, and grass formed a very beautiful picture.
Environment Category "Speechless and Alone on the West Building, the Moon Is Like a Hook"
Photography by: Old Wolf guanzhong
Species name: Crested ibis
Shooting equipment: Nikon D6
▲ Picture description: In the late autumn by the Han River, flocks of crested ibises are wandering and foraging, I chose one of them to land on a large rock in the middle of the river to shoot the moment, and darkened the background, coupled with this ancient term, trying to reflect a certain emotion.
Environment Category "You Look So Good Flying"
Photography by Sheng Ming
Filming location: Dazizui, Poyang Lake, Jiangxi
Shooting equipment: Canon 1DX2+EF400mm f/2.8
▲ Picture description: When the heron is making a nest breeding season, a pair of herons in courtship love, one of which suddenly takes off, and the ambient light and shadow are quite interesting.
Behavioral Category "Cliff Family"
Photo by: Trekking into rivers
Shooting equipment: Canon EOS-1D X 2+EF800mm f/5.6
Environmental Category "Unity of Purpose"
Photography by Jing Jing
Species name: Cowback Heron
Shooting location: Xinhua North Road, Fu'an City, Ningde City, Fujian Province
Annual Bird Watching Competition
The annual bird watching competition has finally made a new breakthrough, the first place has reached 400 species, this number is already 60% of the whole year of the previous year, let's see if there is any hope to break through the thousand this year!
Introduction to the "Year of Bird watching" Bird Watching Photography Annual Competition
"Bird Watching New Year" is a bird watching photography annual competition sponsored by Beijing Bird Love International, Jiayou Online Photography Network and the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which has two major events, the annual photography competition and the annual bird watching competition, and the schedule runs through the whole year. It aims to raise people's attention to birds and their living environment, record the beauty of flying feathers with images, stimulate the public's awareness of the protection of birds, collect and sort out bird data, and provide big data support for bird research and protection, and wish all bird lovers another good performance in the 2021 Bird Watching Year!