Birding with Nikon D7100 and Tamron 150-600

Atlast I was able to upgrade my Camera and lens. I got Nikon D7100 and Tamron 150-600 after reading some good reviews of this combination and it was fitting right into my budget too :-)

But what I did not expect was the weight of this combination. Its quite heavy for me and really had tough time during long birding walks. Probably its time to get the Monopod too, added it to my shopping list.

This weekend I did birding with my new toy :-) Starting with this first photograph :-)

I did visit the Breckenridge park during last 2 weekends. Had good time down there. Had couple of interesting sightings. First was a Brown Thrasher which was first sighting for me. I saw this fellow in both of my walks and at the same place. Quite shy bird though.

Brown Thrasher

Another sighting was the American Wigeons. They probably are seen regularly here but for me it was a first sighting. I saw few of them in midst of Mallards. In the Lake I could also see Ring Billed Gulls and Canada Goose. I also saw 2 cormorants in the park this week. They looked like Neotropic Cormorants looking at the white tip on their base of their bill

Canada Goose

Neotropic Cormorants?

American Wigeon

And during this weekend I saw interesting behavior where in Red Tailed Hawk was being harassed by what looked like Coopers Hawk. I'm not sure if it was a Coopers or a Sharp Shinned Hawk. Anyways this guy was chased off from his perch and the Cooper/Sharp-Shinned Hawk came and sat on the same perch.

Red Tailed Hawk

Red Shouldered Hawk

And in the stream I saw some Mallards and last week I had seen 2 pairs of Wood Ducks. The most beautiful Ducks I have seen till now :-) Also saw a family of Red Eared Slider Turtles. It was good to see the entire family.

Red Eared Slider Turtles. Bottle included in the photo to show that these beautiful creatures are still trying to survive with all the garbage that is thrown into our streams and lakes.

Also saw 2 different sparrow species. I'm not sure if the second one is a Song sparrow or a Savannah Sparrow.

White Throated Sparrow

Savannah or Song Sparrow?

In woodpeckers and sapsuckers I saw Red Bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker and Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. I also saw few Brown Creepers and Northern flickers during both the walks. Woodpeckers can be seen throughout the park here.

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

Chickadees and Titmouses could be seen and heard throughout the park. Along with good number of American Robins, Yellow Rumped Warblers and Eastern Bluebirds. Also seen were Ruby Crowned Kinglets.

American Robin

Ruby Crowned Kinglet

Eastern Bluebird

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Great Blue Heron

Tufted Titmouse

I also saw Coopers Hawk on my way to the park during last weeks visit. It looks again like a Coopers Hawk looking at its rounded tail. Again not sure.

Red Shouldered Hawk

All the photos in the blog are a mix from my old camera setup and the new one:-) Still lot of practice is needed to get good images from my new Camera setup.

Below are the ebird links for the bird sightings during 2 walks.

Feb 07 : http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21946490
Feb 14 : http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21949643

Please correct me if I have got the ID's incorrectly.

Bird list from the walks.

1	Canada Goose
2	American Wigeon
3	Mallard
4	Pied-billed Grebe
5	Neotropic Cormorant
6	Great Blue Heron
7	Black Vulture
8	Red Shouldered Hawk
9	Red-tailed Hawk
10	Ring-billed Gull
11	Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
12	Mourning Dove
13	Red-bellied Woodpecker
14	Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
15	Downy Woodpecker
16	Northern Flicker
17	Eastern Phoebe
18	Blue Jay
19	American Crow
20	Carolina Chickadee
21	Tufted Titmouse
22	White-breasted Nuthatch
23	Brown Creeper
24	Carolina Wren
25	Ruby-crowned Kinglet
26	Eastern Bluebird
27	American Robin
28	Brown Thrasher
29	Northern Mockingbird
30	European Starling
31	Yellow-rumped Warbler
32	White-throated Sparrow
33	Dark-eyed Junco
34	Northern Cardinal
35	Red-winged Blackbird
36	Great-tailed Grackle
37	Black Vulture

Corrected the ID's of the hawks.