High ISO bird photography

It's been an excellent couple of days forest birding at REGUA. The trails through the secondary forest near the lodge hold some really great birds and plenty of endemics. As the reforested areas through which these trails pass become more established, more and more forest species are being recorded. A walk along a couple of these trails yesterday produced great views of Grey-hooded Attila, White-bibbed Antbird, a Shrike-like Cotinga at the regular wintering site (top two photos) and a ridiculously showy Southern Antpipit (bottom photo). Today we birded the higher altitude Matumbo Trail and found a number of large mixed species flocks. Highlights were Green-backed Becard, Crescent-chested Puffbird, Scaled Woodcreeper, Ferruginous Pigmy-Owl, Black Hawk-Eagle, Variable Antshrike (my bogey bird seen at last!), Hangnest Tody-Tyrant (a REGUA tick and a good bird for the Reserve), Tufted Antshrike, White-shouldered Fire-eye and Black-capped Foliage-Gleaner (probably my favourite of this family).

Bought a Canon 7D DSLR a few days before this trip and I've been blown away by it! The autofocus is lightning fast and the high ISO (up to 6400) with little noise is ideal for forest photography where light is in short suppliy. Here's a few shots from yesterday, all taken at ISO 3200 and would have been impossible without a flash at lower ISO.