lonestranger

Yes, this is a female Red-winged Blackbird, which is often confused for a sparrow.

I have a different opinion about cryptic responses, I think they're frustrating. I don't understand why Tony couldn't have explained the bar chart in his post, the way @Hasan and @Trevor L. did in their posts. As it was pointed out, there was no need to complicate the answer with bar charts and links when a few words could have explained it quite simply.

Great shot @Doug Herr. What shutter speed did you use to capture the motion blur? Was it an attempt to freeze the wings with a fast shutter speed or intentionally slower shutter speed to capture motion blur?

Sorry, I forgot about this. My caption would have been... Are you gonna share or not. Although they were all good, I have to give this round to @xpoetmarcr,

I was trying to be funny and tell you what you wanted to hear, while at the same time trying to tell you that the birds aren't Sandhill Cranes. Sorry.

Those are sandhills...*points to the ground, not the sky* ?

I'm surprised that we still have Juncos here. Now that I've said that, I probably won't see anymore this season. Lots of ducks and geese flying up the river and Turkey Vultures and assorted(unidentified) raptors soaring high above it. Blackbirds are abundant but we're still waiting for the majority of summer time birds.

Birds with prey.

In my opinion, this photo does not deserve 4 stars, sorry. Everything to the right of the eye is overexposed with no chance of recovering any detail in the hotspots. 2 stars is the recommended rating for poorly exposed photos so don't be disappointed with a 3 star rating. ?

I had the same setup as @Connor Cochrane and @Aaron, Canon 7Dii with the 100-400ii and extender and if I was shopping for a good setup, that's exactly what I would buy again. I had over extended my spending at the time and had to let my good gear go for a while. I thought it was a great setup for birding and wildlife photography in general. One advantage the 100-400ii has over the 400mm F/5.6 prime lens that I used to have is the closer minimum focus distance. You can zoom to 400mm and focus from approximately 3 feet away, which is great for shooting insects and any birds that might land closer than 12 feet away, which is the 400mm prime lens's minimum focus distance. When I started looking for a replacement camera a year or so later, I came across a used full frame Canon 5Diii with a 24-105 F/4 L lens, flashes and other accessories that I was going to pair with another 100-400ii when funds allowed. Well, I came across what I considered to be a deal on a 300mm F/2.8 lens and put a 1.4iii extender on it to give me 420mm of reach at f/4. I'm quite happy with my current setup but I honestly think I'd trade it for my old setup, mostly for the extra reach of the longer lens and crop factor. The 100-400mm and 1.4 extender is 560mm with a 1.6 crop factor giving a focal length of 896mm in 35mm equivalent for my old setup compared to my current setup's 420mm focal length. Canon 5D Mark iii with 300mm f/2.8 L prime lens and 1.4x Mark iii extender is my current setup. Canon 7Dii with 100-400mm Mark ii, with or without the 1.4x Mark iii extender, would be my recommended setup.

I love spiders, they creep me out on occasion, like when you walk face first through their webs and then see them dangling off the peak of your hat a few minutes later, but I still love watching them and seeing the beautiful work they do with their webs. Here's a few of my spider web shots.

A few dragonflies from the archives.

Those are actually spiders, not grasshoppers. ?

It's not easily done but it's fun trying.

Just so you know, The Bird Nuts has not been on since Wednesday. Repeatedly tagging someone won't get a quicker reaction if they're not around to reply.

@Aveschapines might be able to edit your mistakes if you ask her nicely.

Caption this.

Dragonflies making more dragonflies.

A wasp making a ball out of some spilled sugar.

Like I said previously, I have lots of bug photos. Most of them are just classified as bugs because I either didn't research the ID or can't remember the ID if I did research it.

Hummingbird moth/Clearwing moth.

A tiger moth, I believe. Looks like a caped crusader to me. ?

Here's a link to a free online book about digital bird photography, written by one of Whatbird's members. https://digitalbirdphotography.com