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Black Headed Gull
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Over the course of a large chunk of 2022, the birding side of social media has been increasingly filling up with bird photos taken with a new camera which among other very useful attributes has a built-in bird detection mode, which is especially useful for birds in flight. The camera in question was the OM Systems (formerly Olympus) OM-1. Having started to find the Nikon kit I've been using up till now becoming a bit on the heavy side for the amount of walking I do, I have been keeping an eye on the OM-1. Availability seemed to be a big issue, with birders queueing up to get one. The more I read, and the more photos I saw online, the more I started to think seriously about buying one. The price for what would be an entirely new 'system' for me did discourage me from ordering one. However, a recent run of new users singing the praises of the camera and the thought of carrying less weight around, as well as immediate availability finally persuaded me to bite the bullet and order one.
I arranged delivery for Wednesday, my day off work. I was hoping that the camera would arrive in time for me to charge the battery, set the camera up for bird photos (using YouTube and other online posts, as well as a download of the manual as a guide) and get out into the rather limited daylight to try it out. I wasn't overly hopeful that it would arrive in time though. On Wednesday, I was like a kid waiting for Santa. A text message informed me that the parcel was due to arrive between 1130 and 1230. I knew that I wouldn't need to fully charge the battery as I would only be out for a few hours, so I figured as long as I could get out before 1400, I would probably be able to give the camera a reasonable initial try-out. 1130 came and went, as did 1230. Just minutes before 1300 a van pulled up outside and 'Santa' had arrived with my new 'toy'. I hurriedly set up the charger to get some charge into the battery and fitted the strap (not without complications caused by losing one of the metal rings that hold the strap in place - found later - which resulted in me salvaging one from a damaged Nikon).
Eventually I was ready to go. I had taken a couple of photos of a distant Carrion Crow on the roofs opposite and was impressed with the bird tracking and even moreso the eye detection. I headed out at around 1410. I wasn't too worried about what birds I might see, and initially I wasn't even keeping a list, as long as I was able to find some to try the camera out. Blackbird, Carrion Crow, a skein of Pink Footed Geese, Starling, Jackdaw, Robin, Feral Pigeon and Herring Gull were seen as I headed up to Clepington Road. I tried Mains Terrace first but things were very quiet there so I hurried on to Swannie Ponds. Black Headed Gulls in particular let me try out the camera (and I even found a new ringed bird - white 2XJH). Mallards, Moorhen, Coot, Herring Gull, Mute Swan, Common Gull and Coot were all noted. I somehow managed to overlook a sleeping female Goosander which another photographer happened to mention during a very brief chat.
I was impressed with the bird tracking in flight which allowed me to get photos the Nikon would have definitely struggled with. A Black Headed Gull flying towards me stayed nice and sharp. Another Black Headed Gull was photographed in flight against a background of bare branches and remained in focus. A few Redwings flew over and I realised that the smaller birds would give the camera a harder test, so I headed along to Eastern Cemetery to try and find more of the thrushes. Not unexpectedly there were plenty of opportunities to catch these birds, mostly in flight, at the cemetery. Goldfinch, Sparrowhawk, Chaffinch, Wren, Woodpigeon, Goldcrest, Blue Tit and Greenfinch were also around. A surprise find was a young Lesser Black Backed Gull - something that I'm not used to finding still around in Dundee in the winter months. The light was already beginning to dim when I arrived and this did provide the camera with a slightly different challenge, though it mostly coped relatively well, though some of the later shots weren't quite in focus, or correctly exposed (though that was most likely a result of my rather rushed choice of settings).
Grey Squirrels were seen running around and a Curlew was heard and then seen a little to the south just before I decided to call it a day around 1600. A small flock of Linnets going to roost around the football ground were another little bit of a surprise. On the walk home I added Long tailed Tit, Dunnock and Pied Wagtail to the 'non-birding afternoon' list taking the total to 30 species. I wanted to see how the photos looked on the PC. Straight off the camera the majority of those taken in the better light conditions at Swannie Ponds looked fairly decent and there were a few of the flight shots that were bordering on 'wow!' compared to what I'm used to.
The one minor disappointment I found was the OM editing software which felt even 'clunkier' to use than Nikon NX-D, which was the worst of the Nikon NX editing oftware (NX, NX-2, NX-D, NX-Studio) I was previously used to. Having tried a few other editing options with the ORF (RAW) files since, OM Workspace is still marginally better than those for my rather limited range of editing needs - though I'd really like forward and backward buttons for viewing the photos quickly when deciding which to delete, rather than either having to view them at quarter screen size or selecting and de-selecting each individually. Overall, however, I was very happy with the OM-1 after my initial couple of hours worth of trial and was already wishing the weekend would arrive quicker so I could give it a much fuller work-out.
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Carrion Crow
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Black Headed Gull
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| Mallard |
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Feral Pigeon
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| Mallard |
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Black Headed Gull
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| Moorhen |
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Black Headed Gull
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| Coot |
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Black Headed Gull
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Black Headed Gull (white 2XJH)
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Black Headed Gull
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Common Gull
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Lesser Black Backed Gull
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| Sparrowhawk |
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Pink Footed Goose
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| Redwing |
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| Redwing |
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Herring Gull
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Herring Gull
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| Starling |
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| Linnet |
Birds - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Coot, Curlew, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Greenfinch, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Squirrel.
