Monty, nice shot. I'm holding off posting another because I'm waiting for the July version of PAD.

monty - You've been using lensaby for this shot?

--edited-- moved the picture to July PAD edition

adamz: taht gull was almost perfectly centered when I took it (it's the way birding pics go as you said). I tried to move it as far to the right as I could. Probably should have left it where it was. Personally, I like the larger pic sizes as the resolution is higher and your eagle pic demonstrates this well.

monty: nice shot, I like the contrast of the fire with the brush and timber. I probably would have saturated the flames a bit but saturation is subjective and a matter of personal taste. Nice pic all the same.

@adamz ... superb! Works really well in BW.

Bonfire

@adamz - I have no problem with posting big pics here, beautiful texture on the feathers and lovely expression on the bird. Just great.

mb - nice cat (little bit oversaturated colors), great composition; as for Your second picture, You should do some PP as the sky looks very flat

monty11 - nice landscape, love the sun-rays breaking through the trees, very moody picture

gentoo - as for quality it's a very nice photo, but there's something wrong with the proportions as it looks that it's neither a 3/2 or 5/4, or any I know - I know that in birding the main purpose is to show the bird, but You could try to use the rule of thirds and i.e. with this photo position the bird in right corner with some space around, as very often on Your pictures we see only the main subject not the surroundings. Apart from this I really enjoy viewing Your pictures, as can learn a lot about birds from them.

Below my attempt to bird photography:

sorry for large size, but couldn't resist

Heermann's Gull

One of the most distinctive gulls.

My post disappeared ;(

monty11 – mist is photographer’s friend as you showed here so well
Stormy summer day:

monty11 – mist is photographer’s friend as you showed here so well
Stormy summer day:

monty11 – mist is photographer’s friend as you showed here so well
Stormy summer day:

monty11 – mist is photographer’s friend as you showed here so well
Stormy summer day:

monty11 – mist is photographer’s friend as you showed here so well
Stormy summer day:

monty11 – mist is photographer’s friend as you showed here so well
Stormy summer day:

mb: that cat looks ready to pounce! Nice timing.

monty: I like that shot. Great morning mist. Letting you know that it's going to be a humid summer day.

"gentoo - have You used it with TC, just curious either it will work or not with TC17 (I know that for the looking only on specifications it shouldn't as You get 6.8)"

adamz, the AF-D won't work on the newer Nikon TC's. You'd have to use an older MF one. I use it with the Kenko TC's and it works reasonably well. Only issue is that the D300 attempts to compensate the slight loss of light and overexposes the shot. Stopping down the exp. comp. solves this.

Midsummer's sunrise:

adamz - lovely, but this cat prefers birds

mb - nice flowers

gentoo - indeed Your gull is quite similar to the one I've seen - I like the sharpness around eye - good work

tai - wouldn't mind if You would crop a little bit, as the out of focus flower (center of it - don't know the english name for it) is a little bit distracting, apart from this nice colors

and below, especially for You mb, furry subject this time - Roe Deer

It will work with manual AF.

gentoo - have You used it with TC, just curious either it will work or not with TC17 (I know that for the looking only on specifications it shouldn't as You get 6.8)

On the D300 this lens performs splendidly as you can see. It's my main birding lens and I don't know how I ever got along without it.

@gentoo - thanks, for some reason I had thought they changed the optical formula between those. I was considering purchasing the AF-D version, though I'm quite happy with my 300mm f/4.5 ED-IF AIS. I love playing with gear in any case.

tai: either way I think that's a cool shot. I like the reversal of the out of focus area. My lens is the non AF-S version, the AF-D. They are both the same pretty much as far as quality. Get the AF-S one if you plan on using Nikon TC's or are going to use it on a D40 like body. The glass is said to be the same, just in a new "house".

@Gentoo, is that 300 the AF? AF-S? I'm planning on renting both for a comparison. This one's from sunday with the f/4.5 ED-IF AIS version of that focal length, taken with a PN-11 extension tube. This one I think needs to be viewed larger than the thumbnail to get the right effect.

http://www.taishimizu.com/index.tai?title=300mm-Preparations&view=post&postid=133