---
title: "My favorite bird shots of 2022"
date: 2023-01-14
draft: false

author: Jan Wedekind

featured_image: /images/2023/birds2022/birds41.jpeg

gallery_images:
  - /images/2023/birds2022/birds10.jpeg
  - /images/2023/birds2022/birds11.jpeg
  - /images/2023/birds2022/birds15.jpeg
  - /images/2023/birds2022/birds26.jpeg
  - /images/2023/birds2022/birds39.jpeg
  - /images/2023/birds2022/birds43.jpeg
  - /images/2023/birds2022/birds44.jpeg

tags:
- photoproject
- photography
- imagepost

categories: 
- Photography

---


Last year I got a new camera, the [OM System OM-1][OM-1]. One of the main motivations was to be able to take better pictures of the various little birdies in our garden. The OM-1 has great subject detection for birds: it'll find the bird in the frame, find its eye, and latch on to it. This makes it a lot easier to get decent photos.

In addition, the smaller micro-four-thirds sensor has a 2x "[crop-factor][]". In practice, it means longer reach with smaller lenses (at the expense of more depth of field and image noise, but let's not get into the whole topic [equivalence][]). The lens is a Panasonic Leica 100-400mm. It's quite compact, sharp, and has a loooong reach, perfect for birds. 

Below a selection of my favorites from last year. You can find most of them also on [my Instagram account][instagram].

## Bird from the garden

One of the more regular visitor are [Robins] but we have a bunch of other cute little critters visiting regularly

[![Birds48](/images/2023/birds2022/birds48.jpeg "Robin")](https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn7hc4NomEX/)

A [Hoopoe] sneaked into our garden once too, unfortunately haven't seen it back yet

![Birds2](/images/2023/birds2022/birds2.jpeg "Hoopoe")

## Bird of Prey and vultures

There are a few nice spots not too far away from Barcelona to photograph the big birds. One worth highlighting the bird center [Cim d’Àligues][cim], which has quite a few eagles, hawks, owls, vultures and more. The flight sessions are a great way to capture photos of these beautiful animals in flight.

Here's an [African vulture] in action:

[![Birds44](/images/2023/birds2022/birds44.jpeg "Turkey Vulture")](https://www.instagram.com/p/CnxRcewoEK-/)

And a [Turkey vulture]:

[![Birds43](/images/2023/birds2022/birds43.jpeg "Turkey Vulture")](https://www.instagram.com/p/Ckg0jLPI2ev/)

## Owls

I love these birds. The big eyes together with the head tilts often create funny expressions.

![Birds39](/images/2023/birds2022/birds39.jpeg)

![Birds40](/images/2023/birds2022/birds40.jpeg)

![Birds15](/images/2023/birds2022/birds15.jpeg)

![Birds10](/images/2023/birds2022/birds10.jpeg)





[equivalence]: https://www.dpreview.com/articles/2666934640/what-is-equivalence-and-why-should-i-care
[crop-factor]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_factor
[OM-1]: https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/om-system-om-1-review
[instagram]: https://www.instagram.com/jan.wedek/ 
[Hoopoe]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoopoe
[cim]: https://cimdaligues.com
[Robins]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_robin
[African vulture]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-backed_vulture
[Turkey vulture]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_vulture