Frustrating Kingfisher photos

One of the members of Wassand Bird Hide has been good enough to stick a couple of perches in the water either side of the hide - aimed at bringing in Kingfishers.

We've had Kingfishers flying to and past the hide over the last few weeks, landing on the lower tree branches or even on reeds so a solid, visible perch or two were great additions to their options.

I'd been in the hide for 2 minutes this morning when a Kingfisher landed on the left hand perch. Camera ready? No. Missed the photo opportunity? Yes.

Next time one landed I was ready and got a few pics before the bird flew off having bashed a fish on the head and eaten it. However - I am very disappointed with the resulting images from my Nikon P900 bridge camera. I've had it for a couple of years and I know it has limitations when the zoom is in use. Close ups are brilliant, 50mm photos are good.

Kingfisher lands with fish 1/50sec 800 ISO 320mm zoom

The photo above was taken just as the bird landed with a fish. The Kingfisher bashed the fish on the branch and eat it - meanwhile I am faffing with the camera to get a decent closer focus and a faster shutter speed.

A full frame Kingfisher 1/30sec 1000 ISO 2000mm zoom

I zoomed to the max that auto focus would allow (2000mm) and the image looked OK through the view finder, but the photo above is grainy and slightly out of focus to me. Grainy probably due to the 1000 ISO auto selected, even to get a 1/30 sec shutter speed.

1/30sec 900 ISO 2000mm zoom

Still grainy at 900 ISO and still not fully focussed, then the bird flew off so no further chances to improve.

The Nikon P900 has been upgraded to the P1000 so I hope the new camera performs better than the P900 when the zoom is in use over about 200mm.

Anyway, enough of my tribulations...or maybe not. As I was waiting for the Kingfisher to come back (it didn't) I took a few photos of a Great Crested Grebe catching fish in front of the hide.

Great Crested Grebe  1/250sec 590 ISO 1800mm zoom

GCG with fish 1/250sec 800 ISO 2000mm zoom

GCG with fish 1/250sec 800 ISO 2000mm zoom

The auto focus indicator on the camera was green, meaning the object was in focus, but the image isn't clear at all. I understand that 2000mm is the top end of the zoom range but the Kingfishers should be a lot clearer given they were taken at a distance of about 20 yards.