Theropod Thursday 36: ooh-hu, uh-Hu

Obviously, I took my new camera along when I went to the Tierpark Friedrichsfelde in Berlin a few days ago. The weather was not too good, rainy with dark cloud cover, and I would have preferred the Zoo Berlin, which has more houses than the Tierpark. But my children wanted the zoo with the two baby elephants. OK, OK, Tierpark it was…..

I was looking forward to see how the camera would perform under such dismal conditions. There were not too many animals out – who likes standing around in a cold drizzle? – and I was mainly busy photographing young Homo sapiens jumping into puddles. Let me just say that 5 pics/s is awesome!

So I went for a photography task that is difficult under the best of circumstances: birds! If they are kept in wire-mesh aviaries it can be quite a challenge to get good pictures either through the mesh openings or, from further away, with the mesh in the way but the bird hopefully far back from the mesh.

There are some birds that at least sit still most of the day on high perches, which makes the task easier. Owls, for example. And thus it was owls I went for in the Tierpark.

Turkoman Eagle owl (Bubo bubo omissus).

Greyish Eagle owl (Bubo cinerascens)

Spotted Eagle owl (Bubo africanus)

Mackinder’s Eagle owl (Bubo capensis mackinderi) – maybe a subspecies of Bubo capensis, but maybe also a species of its own…….

…and here revealed as being Sauron’s Cape Eagle owl (Bubo capensis sauroni).

the photos below stem from a previous visit to the Berlin Zoo:

Great Horned owl (Bubo virginianus)

Siberian Eagle owl (Bubo bubo sibiricus).

The last photo I have is an unknown – I forgot to get a pic of the sign and am too busy (and lazy) to go hunting all over the internet. If you know what this is, shout!

Maybe Verreaux’s Eagle owl (Bubo lacteus)?

In all, I was really impressed with the Canon EOS 650D! Under the same circumstances my old trust 400D would not have given me good photos, whereas the new one did 🙂