Theropod Thursday 38: more impressive beaks

I promised two sets of impressive beaks; here’s the second:

A Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja) – the Tierpark Friedrichsfelde’s collection of huge predatory birds is quite impressive! Aside from a bunch of Eagle owls, there’s some eagles – and seeing a harpy is not something I expected. As far as I know they are rarely kept in zoos – a list of who keeps what in Europe (but with a focus on Germany) lists only four zoos in GER (link – German only).

OK, that off my plate let me brag about my new lens a bit more, with these shots:

American Kestrel (Falco sparverius), at 218 mm and

at 300 mm!

Did I mention that I am happy?

By the way, if you take a good look at the background, where you see a very out-of-focus wire mesh, it becomes evident that the barrel distortion is really something one can live with, even at 300 mm!

Now, to answer Steve Cohen’s question: The Canon 50 mm prime lens is faster. The galago pic  I posted would have been impossible with the Tamron. And the Slow loris came out a lot crisper. Still – that’s 50 mm, which in case of the falcon would have meant a tiny fluffy spot in the middle of a picture mostly showing an out-of-focus wire mesh. If I have the choose I’ll take the monstrously large and heavy Tamron any day. In fact, it even improves camera handling, because my left hand carries the assemblage, while the right operates the camera, which is a lot more stable than doing both things with my right hand – but the Canon 50 mm is too short to hold the camera with it.