winter feeding station bird photography

Today was the first time I’ve used the Nikkor 200-500mm for some winter feeding station bird photography. The ability to zoom is a real boon when working from a hide like this, especially with a 1.4x extender attached. I’ve always used a Nikon 500mm f/4 lens for much of my bird photography but the fixed focal length can be a bit resrictive when a range of species drops by to feed. Being able to pull back if a pheasant strolls by or zoom in tight if something small like a long-tailed tit drops in is superb and can be the difference between getting the shot or missing it. Obviously there are downsides to using the 200-500mm over the 500mm f/4 – autofocus perfomance is slower and, of course, I miss the much shallower depth of field I can achieve with the 500mm. However, the honeymoon is still on for me and I love the lens a lot – it is very sharp and the AF is not so sluggish that it become a problem. Given the low light I was shooting in, it was pretty impressive. Here is a selection of the birds I captured during the shoot.