Juvenile Peregrine Falcons
The peregrine falcons were cooperating today. The fledglings have learned to fly. It was a good day.
= new reply since forum marked as read
as won't have any of mine (ospreys) this year. 
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Usonian, your comments are greatly appreciated.
Funny you should ask. 
My normal rig is a Canon EOS R5 mirrorless, with an RF 100-500mm zoom. However, just for fun, I used my rig from five years ago for this shoot. which is a Canon EOS T6s, (760D), and a Sigma 150-600mm zoom. As you probably know, using a lens designed for a full frame camera on a crop sensor body increases the effective focal length by a factor of 1.5 (Nikon) or 1.6 (Canon). That made the effective focal length for this lens approximately 950mm. The result was some really stunning photos of the birds that were stationary. Unfortunately, the focus system of the older T6s body really wasn't up to the task, and I got very few good shots of the birds in flight.
I normally don't post the exif data because most people find them boring. I'm also too lazy to keep track of it, but I am happy to share it. We all learn from each other.
Here are my general settings. I usually put my cameras into apeture priority mode at f/8 and auto iso when I'm finished shooting. That way, I'm ready to start shooting again as soon as I pick them up, in case something unexpected happens. However, I almost always switch to manual mode as soon as I can. That's probably because I started shooting back in the sixties when a match-needle TTL system was considered state of the art. I have a mirrorless camera, and I keep a small histogram in the upper right of the frame, which takes the place of the old match needle. I try to practice ETTR, which is "expose to the right." That's because it seems to be easier to recover detail in the highlights vs details in the shadows. I process almost of my photos in Adobe Camera Raw and occasionally add some processing in Photoshop CC. I also use Topaz DeNoiseAI and SharpenAI as needed.
My usual bird and wildlife settings are as follow. Shutter speed are 1/2000th to 1/4000th, occasionally dropping to 1/1000th in low light. Apeture is almost always f/8, which I consider the "sweet spot" for most lenses. A lot of birders prefer to shoot wide open for bokeh, (I really hate that word), but I don't think that's necessary because you naturally get shallow depth of field with telephoto lenses. Also, it's easy to blur the background later in post. I have my camera set up to adjust ISO with a dial on the back of my camera, which I can reach with my thumb while shooting. I open up a full stop when shooting a small bird against a bright sky, and I close down a full stop when shooting a bird with a lot of white feathers, e.g. an egret, osprey or gull. I continually monitor the exposure while shooting, adjusting the exposure on the fly.
I try to keep my post processing simple. I adjust the overall exposure, bringing the shadows up and the highlights down, to avoid losing detail. I usually boost the saturation a little, and I try to add some color to a dingy sky. I add some clarity or detail for sharpness. I usually crop as tightly as I can.
L.A. isn't always the greatest place to live, but we are blessed with a beautiful coastline. I've connected with a lot of birders in recent years, and I've learned some of the best places to find certain species. It keeps me busy.
This was probably more than you wanted to know. 
Thanks,
Ross
aka Grumpy Old Guy
I love the coast, if not L.A. 
I lived in SF Bay for some 30 years (?) and am in the Sierra Foothills now.
I will take some time to digest the info.
I did optical engineering. I love the stuff, and since my Dad was an artist, I got some major appreciation for beauty as well.
It's just that you and George and others set the bar so high with your amazing photos!
However, I realize, it's just about the sharing. I'm not into competitive stuff. I was the kid that got "All A's" and it wasn't terribly well appreciated by the other kids, so I just do my best and keep a low profile.
Thanks so much for everything.
I do similar real simple post-processing. It gets the job done, and usually lasts till bedtime anyway.
