Shooting Silhouettes

Words and pictures by Paul Randall (wingsonwire.com)

Karl with his set up on a crisp Melbourne morning

Silhouettes can be extremely powerful images. They allow us to concentrate on the form of a subject instead of cluttering our minds with detail and depth. Normally when the sun gets too low for normal bird photography you will find me running around (literally ) looking for good subjects to capture in silhouette.
It does’nt matter if the sky has much colour in it, there are always good silhouette opportunities as long as there is enough light to contrast your subject against. The sky or water will normally be your canvas but finding a good subject is quite often the real problem.
What you are really looking for is a subject with an interesting shape or one that has assumed an interesting posture (a cormorant drying its wings is a good example).
It is always best to be somewhere flat when taking silhouettes as you will have more opportunities. The beach is the best place to be, especially near a communal roost of some sort or a flight path for homecoming birds, but silhouette opportunities can be found just about anywhere if you have got your eyes open.

There was not a whole lot of colour in the water in this image but it still has impact as a back drop

SETTINGS FOR SILHOUETTES
I would suggest that the best way to shoot silhouettes is in manual exposure mode. Your aperture can be wide open as you are not looking to capture detail, just an outline. As you approach a subject try experimenting with shutter speeds. I normally start with 1/500th. This normally gives me an idea of how fast I am going to have to shoot to capture the subject in silhouette and whether I have to add or subtract light.
Be sure not to get too close because you may miss that magic moment when the bird stretches its wings or preens its tail feathers etc.
In silhouette your subject will dominate the composition even if it is small in the frame so getting super close should not be your aim (unless you are trying to capture a head profile silhouette or something similar.)
Don’t let your selected focus point dictate how you compose the image. If the subject is static(still) try using One shot focus so that you can focus and then recompose the image to your liking.
If you are shooting flight silhouettes Servo or Continuous focusing will be required but you should have enough contrast in the overall image to try out off centre focusing points with a fair bit of accuracy.
If it is a flock or a small group of flying birds you are shooting you may want to adjust your aperture if you have enough light so that you have sharp edges on all of the subjects. Experimentation is definitely the name of the game when it comes to silhouette shooting. You’ll soon find yourself setting the correct speeds just by judging the amount of light in the sky/water.

You may have to wait a while for the subject to do something interesting or for the sun to fall/rise into a good position

SHOOTING INTO THE SUN

When shooting towards the sun you may run in to several problems.
Firstly, if you have the sun or a very bright reflection in the frame, your camera may not be able to focus on your subject. Again,(if the subject is static) use One shot AF to focus accurately or use manual focusing if you have real problems.

If using AI servo or continuous focusing to silhouette moving subjects (flight etc) with the sun in the frame, it is best to attain focus on the subject before it reaches a point where the sun will be in the image. If you wait until the moment when the sun is behind your subject to start shooting/focusing you are going to have a real problem getting a sharp silhouette.
Try to remember roughly where the sun is before you put your eye in the viewfinder, track and focus on your incoming subject and hit the shutter just before you get to the point where you know the sun to be.

The sun can be an awesome addition to any silhouette if you can get focus before the sun enters the frame

Secondly, you may not be able to shoot fast enough (1/8000th sec. is about the limit on most DSLRs) to get the image that you are after.
If shooting into the sun it is best normally to set your cameras lowest ISO setting (ISO 100 is normally low enough).
This will insure that you can shoot at your fastest shutter speed if you need to. The images shown in this essay were taken at shutter speeds of 1/2000th to 1/8000th of a second and at ISO setting 100 and 200.
When I know I’m going to be shooting silhouettes with the sun in the frame I will normally go straight to spot or centre weighted metering (with ISO 100 already set) and take a reading from the sky directly next to the sun. This will give me a pretty good idea of the speed that I will have to use to get a nice black silhouette against the bright sky. Take heaps of experiment shots if you have the time and remember that you may have to change your shutter speed slightly as the sun goes down/up or if affected by clouds.

Even subjects with fairly plain outlines can look great in silhouette

An important thing to realise is that looking through your lens at the sun is very bad for your eyes and in some cases your camera.
In the case of the above shot with the pelican on the pole with the full sun behind it, I was waiting for this pelican to preen or wing stretch with my eye in the view finder for extended periods. After I had finished shooting my eye sight did not go back to normal for about an hour after I had left the site (and I had to drive home very scary) so keep this in mind!!
Also remember that you dont have to shoot with a black silhouette. Try leaving a bit of detail if you like, it sometimes adds a great effect to the image.
Other than that EXPERIMENT…EXPERIMENT…EXPERIMENT!!
Its the only way to go when shooting into the sun.

So when you see that sun going down and you are about to pack up, look around for any silhouette opportunities. You’ll be surprised.

Cheers and happy shooting, Paul Randall

Bird Photography Around Sydney

This is a list of top spots for bird photographers around Sydney. I have tried to distinguish between spots which are good for birders and those which are good for bird photographers and concentrate on the latter. Naturally, when anyone prepares a list like this it carries their own preferences and biases. My biases are that I am attracted to the exotic and don’t have much interest in photographing common species no matter how artistic it can be, and that I shoot with a 300mm lens so I need to get close. I should also point out that I have been wandering around these places for about 20 years, but only with a camera in the last 18 months. The usual caveat applies, if you go to a place I mention and have a dud visit, well you are dealing with wild animals so expect unpredictability.

The first 6 are my top 6. The remaining 10 are my second level preferences, in no particular order.

Audley Weir. Many experienced birders regard Royal National Park as our premier location, and it is the one most overseas birders coming here seem to know about. When birders say RNP it is most often the Audley area they are talking about. There are four basic areas here. The weir itself is quite good habitat and has good birdlife on it and in the streamside vegetation. A specialty here is azure kingfisher, and it is the only place I know of where they are reliable and in multiples. The picnic grounds have large trees and a surprising variety of birdlife, especially if you can get there before the hordes of picnicers and daytrippers. Naturally, they are inclined to allow a close approach. Lady Carrington Drive leads away from the picnic area through forest on the true right, and is justly famous for birds. Its specialty is the many lyrebirds that are familiar with people and quite confiding. The last area is Wattle Flat, which is on the true left. It is another picnic ground but a bit different because, being a little more remote it is much less popular with the daytrippers. It is mostly surrounded by dry sclerophyll, but there are patches of degraded rainforest along the waterway. All up, it’s a wonderfully diverse environment that is hard to beat for variety and numbers of birds. Photography is easy, you can get away from the picnicers quite easily, and being able to choose either bank of the weir makes it work through all parts of the day.

Mitchell Park. MP is a wonderful spot for reasons I can never fully explain. I have been coming here for 10 or so years and on only a couple of occasions have had a dull trip or left without seeing something exciting. Perhaps its bird numbers and variety come about because it packs a wide variety of habitats into a small area, and as we know birds are most numerous in the boundary between two habitats. Nonetheless, plenty of other parks provide the same without approaching MPs reliability. I have seen powerful owls here on several occasions, black bitterns are regularly reported, and there is a long standing nankeen night heron colony which is widely believed to have failed but has simply moved up the Cattai Creek to a less accessible area. Otherwise, its mostly a bush bird spot. I prefer to photograph it stalking, though I venture that to do really well you need to be good at recognising birds from their calls.

Ash Island. A place of relentlessly ugly scenery but outstanding birdlife. The hotspot is the large shallow enpondment at the southeastern end (centred at 32 51 49.56s 151 43 24.09e , just copy and paste into the Flyto bar of Google Earth), immediately below the rail line. This is justly famous for waders, waterbirds and raptors. On the west, this is bounded by a power line service road called ‘wagtail way’. Each year, for the past ten or so years, one or more yellow wagtails have migrated from somewhere in the northern hemisphere to spend our summer at this point. Go figure? At the end of this road, effectively at the northern tip of the empondment, is ‘crake corner’. It used to be a hotspot for crakes, though recent drought events have knocked it around a bit. On one visit there were no crakes but a very confiding Lewins rail was good consolation. Be aware that wader number here can vary greatly, depending upon tides elsewhere and the condition of the water. On my last visit in January 2009, green algae was extensive and bird numbers were very low. My best sightings here to date are banded stilts, black necked stork and a lesser yellowlegs. Photography should be good, especially from a car on wagtail way, though in recent visits the birds have tended to hug the opposite boundary, a characteristic that can change at any time as the water conditions change. It is possible to drive right around the enpondment, though the vegetation is close and duco-scratches will occur. Elsewhere on Ash Island there are numerous ponds, wet patches and rank areas, each of which has its own characteristics. There is even a so-called rainforest patch. If you are a lister desperate for a tick, stop at 32 50 24.47s 151 42 29.87e – the wild chooks there must surely have passed the 10 generation boundary.

The dykes. You will need a boat or canoe for this one. On the true right hand bank of the Hunter, just upstream from the boat ramp under the Stockton Bridge, is a series of low rock berms. These can be seen in Google Earth at 32 52 42.98s 151 46 56.43e . At high tide they become a magnet for waders, and I have seen them here in the thousands. This is significant because, appealing though our bird fauna may be, what we don’t have here in the south east is large-number events – by which I mean places where we can see birds in really large numbers. There is quiet a good variety on the dykes too and this remains the only place in the south east where I have seen terek sandpipers or black tailed godwits. I always look out for rarities like broad-billed sandpipers, though with such large numbers doing so does get old quickly. Photography is easy, though of birds in large numbers not birds alone. There are passages through the berms that allow you to travel up either side – allowing shooting in morning or evening sun. Remember though, waders lead a hard life and they need good rest, so make sure you never get close enough to put a flock into flight. Paddling quietly around the pools created by the dykes can yield surprises like whiskered terns. There is also a waterbird refuge beneath the Stockton Bridge on the true left, though it is rather far from the bank and I doubt you could get a decent photo there without becoming a menace by walking out into the habitat.

Strickland State Forest. Most of SSF is dry sclerophyll production forest, although there is a rainforest reserve that can be reached off Mangrove Road. This is one of the ‘Gosford Rainforests’, and I think the best one when access is factored in. None of the Gosford rainforests are particularly large, and probably never were very big as rainforest hereabouts is limited to the deepest and wettest gullies. Nonetheless the Strickland rainforest is a wonderful spot with great diversity and bird numbers. The species mix here is more reminiscent of rainforests further north, and in fact it marks the (arguable) southern limit of many species. The carpark at the road terminus is right inside the rainforest, and it creates a wonderful sense of anticipation to be driving into the car park in the early morning, hearing the rainforest sounds overhead, scaring the wongas out of your parking place and hearing catbirds call as you open the car door. Like any dense forest though, and especially one that has been cutover so that the biggest forest trees are missing, photography is difficult because of the low light and dense vegetation. Using a hide and recorded calls can even the odds, though one should consider the ethical side of using recordings against iconic species such as catbirds or bowerbirds in a well-frequented place such as this.

McGraths Hill Treatment Works. Public access to this location was terminated about 5 years ago. I include this spot simply so we don’t forget what we have lost, in the hope that if pressure continues reason will prevail and we will once again be allowed access. You used to be able to push through a small gap in the fence and wander freely among the various settling ponds. At the time it was a premier locale, and certainly in anyone’s list of the top 5. The first pond you came to was a small one called crake pond, and I remember sitting quietly here watching five crake/rails of three different species within easily photographic distance – before I owned a camera. Walking further it was not unusual to put up a bittern. The vivid greenness of the vegetation would make for good backgrounds and all the ponds could be approached from any angle. Raptors were common too, especially swamp harriers. A single square-tailed kite used to be a regular here, and on several occasions I saw peregrines and hobies harassing the large flocks of pigeons that are inadvertently supported by a local farm feed merchant. As small compensation to birders, a viewing area has been set up beside Windsor Road, which is all but useless for photography.

The Continental Slope. I have heard it said that the migration of sub-Antarctic seabirds to our waters that occurs every winter is one of the great animal migrations of the world. The species concerned are largely albatross, petrels, skuas and shearwaters. The best way to see these species is to take a day trip on one of the boats which specialise in following pelagic seabirds. The fast and (relatively) stable catamaran Halicat runs out of Sydney once per month, look here for the details http://users.bigpond.net.au/palliser/pelagic/ . The usual strategy is to proceed to a seamount such as The Peak or Browns Mountain and investigate fishing boats or set up a chum line. The Halicat is a reasonably stable photography platform, and if the birds respond to the chum they will come close. Be aware of one problem, however, if the weather is rough the birding will be at its best but sea-sickness is the order of the day. If its calm, you will have a pleasant trip but bird numbers will be less. I think September or October is the best time to go as there are still migrants around but the chance of settled weather is greater.

Lake Wallace (Lake Wallerawang) The thing that is special about this lake is that it is the only sizeable inland lake near Sydney (that I know of) that has a stable water level and shallow edges. This makes it ideal for the growth of riparian vegetation and therefore birds. Other lakes like Lyell or Windamere have wildly erratic water levels which prohibits the growth of life-promoting vegetation, so you get extensive muddy wildlife-unfriendly banks. Extensive public parklands on the western side of Wallace allow you to park up close to the water and use your car as a hide. Generally you’ll get a nice background in the frame as well. Musk ducks and great crested grebes are common here. Like any of our waterways though, waterbird numbers are dependant upon rain elsewhere as the birds will disperse when more ephemeral catchments fill.

Penryhn Road Inlet. A small inlet on Botany Bay’s northern shore, there is some redevelopment going on here that might put this spot out of action for a while. Waders are the specialty, and there isn’t a great number of them here, but two things make it stand out. Firstly, the waders are very used to human disturbance, in fact it is occurring almost constantly due to the walkers, dogs and fisherman. Therefore they are relatively approachable. Secondly, they roost on clean white sand with blue water behind, so you have a good chance of getting a pretty background. If you want that picture of a godwit on something other then dismal mangrove mud then this is the place to get it.

Magic Point. The southern headland at Maroubra Beach. If you won’t or can’t do a pelagic boat trip, you can see many of the same sub-antarctic migrant species from various headlands around Sydney. Go to the headland on a winter’s day when a strong southerly or (even better) easterly is blowing, to see albatross, shearwaters and petrels. These birds come in close when a big inshore swell creates ocean turnover, forcing food to the surface. Even with a long lens you will be lucky to get anything other then a record shot, however. The reason I prefer Magic Point to other land-based pelagic spots is because the walk out to the point is through a rich heathland with good birdlife. Rarities are reported here regularly, including a ground parrot and even an orange chat in recent years.

Bushells Lagoon. One of the Hawkesbury Lagoons. If you have an interest in raptors, try this place. In recent visits here I have seen sea eagles, whistling kite, wedgetailed eagles, Pacific bazza, swamp harrier, spotted harrier, peregrine falcon, Australian hoby, black winged kite, nankeen kestrel, grey goshawk, brown goshawk and/or collared sparrowhawk. As is usually the case with flying raptors, it will be record shots in the main, but you will get lucky from time to time. On my last visit a peregrine took a tilt at a cormorant right above the causeway. It only managed to snip off a few wingfeathers so I guess its heart wasn’t really in it. My camera isn’t good for BIF shots so I didn’t even try but it would have been an easy shot for a more competent photographer as the cormorant was lumbering upwards when the pf flew into view so it was possible to predict where and when the action was to take place. There is always plenty of waterbirds on the lagoon and the odd crake or kingfisher.
For other species, the area around the lagoon is remarkably birdy. Before you walk down to the lagoon, check out the area around the intersection of Blacktown Road and Brewers Lane, there are always surprises here and you can shoot from your car. The walk down to the lagoon always produces a few surprises too.

Long Neck Lagoon. This is part of Scheyville NP. The lagoon itself has been mismanaged for years and has very little birdlife. This is a shame, as I have seen old records that suggested a rich waterbird fauna that even included jacana. The bushland around the lagoon, however, has a wonderful variety of birdlife. I usually walk around the eastern side of the lagoon, setting up a hide or just stalking. Painted button quail and speckled warblers are resident here. The other part of Scheyville, near the park headquarters, is hopeless.

Castlereagh State Forest. This is one of the better-preserved bits of grey box woodland. I think it is unredeemingly dreary country, but there is a rich variety of birds here that are less then common over the rest of the Sydney area. Bird densities here can be remarkably low, and the birds tend to come in ‘bird waves’ that can be short-lived and difficult to get onto. The light is harsh and patchy because the canopy is usually sparse, and the backgrounds are rarely attractive. Despite the negatives, it has produced some wonderful sessions with painted button quail, weebill, scarlet robin, speckled warbler, buff rumped thornbill and fuscous honeyeater – scarcely sounds like you are in Sydney, does it? Its probably best approached using a hide and recorded calls.

Mason Park. A small reserve in Homebush with a wetland area that is great for waders. The stand-out features of this reserve are the variety (rather then numbers) of waders and how close you will get to them – though please be careful not to trample the waterside vegetation as it took way too long to get it established. A negative feature of this place that has arisen in recent years is the number of noisy black-winged stilts which will harass a photographer when breeding. If you park in the carpark and head due east down the track stop immediately you enter the treed area. This small and undistinguished area has regularly and inexplicably been a bushbird hotspot – I have seen pallid cuckoos, goshawks and even an owl here. On one visit, it had become white winged triller heaven, no idea why. Nearby Bicenetennial Park has a very much larger wader refuge which is good for birders but not much good for photographers because of the distances from shore to bird.

Mount Bass Fire Trail. This is in Royal National Park not far from Audley Weir. My choice of this as a heathland location is probably made because I go there a lot and always get good results, but in truth there are probably many other walks just as good. All the heathland specialties are here in good numbers, such as beautiful firetail, chestnut rumped heathwren, emu wren and tawny crowned honeyeaters. Like any heathland area, results are probably best early in the season when there is plenty of nectar on the heath. Results will also be better early in the day, as you would expect of an area with limited shade. Mount Bass FT is sufficiently far from the coast to have patches of mallee, so technically its not pure heathland, but this probably adds to the birdiness. As you walk down the track from the road gate, keep a lookout for a sharp left hand turn, a permanent creek flowing under the track, and then a sharp right hand turn. You can hear the creek even if you don’t see it. Look on your left back towards the road and you will see a small hanging swamp following the creek – marked by very well developed old-man banksias. This is a noted biodiversity hotspot that is used by the Sydney Universities for study of various native animals. Please keep out of this rich but fragile area. If you walk far enough down the track you start to descend off the heathland plateau into forest dominated by scribblygum wherein the species composition will change again. Meadow flat is another heathland firetrail even closer to Audley and probably just as good.

Cattai National Park. CNP technically also includes Mitchell Park but here I am talking about the remainder, that part that includes the park headquarters. Cattai is a wonderful birding and photography location that over the last 10 or 15 years that I have been visiting it has seldom failed to produce a good variety of birds, and always several in the ‘you don’t see that every day’ class. I have made a previous post on this park so wont repeat myself here.

Mount Kembla Ring Trail. The rainforest areas around Bulli and Wollongong are all good but this one I have found to be the best. Like any rainforest area, photography can be difficult with the light low and the birds almost always partially obscured by vegetation. One thing I like about this location is the steep start to the track which allows you to sit and watch (and perhaps photograph) rainforest birds as they break out above the canopy. The various species of pigeons are prone to doing this. The steep start also means you are eye-level with the canopy for much of the walk. This is good because I think most people never realise how densely populated the rainforest canopy is with species like rose robin and satin flycatchers, which seldom reveal their presence to ground based observers. Again, the density of vegetation in the canopy mitigates against photography. There was a good variety of birdlife there including logrunners and pilotbirds and plenty of leeches. I found the logrunners quite approachable in my pre-camera days.

That concludes the list.

I have a gallery of photographs with at least one species taken at most of these places. I have tried to concentrate on the ‘specialty’ birds at each location. These can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/25163113@N08/

This article has been provided courtesy of Arron on our forums. For the full thread click here.

Feeds

Getting Close to Birds

The bird’s well being comes before the shot.

One of the main challenges of bird photography is how you get close to your subject without disturbing it. In reality, getting the close shot will involve a combination of techniques that will vary depending on the circumstances. Whatever you do to achieve success, patience and preparation will play a part.

Location

Don’t make the mistake of assuming that an enthusiastic sighting report on one of the mailing lists equates to great photographic opportunity. Most of these reports are by birders who are unlikely to give any consideration as to whether the location is suitable for photography. One of the best sources of information is from specialised bird photography sites such as BirdingOz. At least then it is likely to be a report from a likeminded photographer.

Research possible locations that may offer good opportunities. This might involve joining a local birding group or simply searching on the web.

If you are planning a holiday you will find that some resorts, camping grounds etc. have setups catering for the birder/photographer. A search on the web or talking to an experienced photographer will assist in locating these spots. Don’t forget Sewage Treatment Works.

One excellent place to start is locations where the birds are used to the presence of people. These might be the local park or reserve. One of my favourite spots is on the coast where there is a lot of human traffic at weekends.  I prefer photographing here during the week and find that I can approach the shore birds closer than other locations. A lot more rewarding, however a lot more rare, are locations that have had very little human contact. These include many of Australia’s off shore and subantarctic islands. They are often still restricted in terms of access, however if you can visit such a place, you may find that the birdlife has no fear of man and will allow a very close approach.

If you can find a small water source like a puddle in the bush, there is a good chance that many species will take advantage and come in for a drink. Likewise, knowing when and where a food source is available, be it a fruiting tree or seeding grass, will assist in finding a suitable location.

Bird Behaviour

When a bird is busy with some sort of activity there is a good chance you will be able to approach it:

Feeding/drinking:  Knowing what your subject feeds on and when and where this food is available can help in determining a good site.

Mating: this is all about the right time and place. This is where experience and the ability to draw on the knowledge of others is useful in determining when and where to go.

Fighting: these can make spectacular shots and are usually associated with mating and defending territory.  Again, like mating, you need to know when and where.

Study your subject before you rush in. It may be that by observing a particular bird’s habits that you will be able to locate a favourite perch, food source etc.

Bringing the Bird to You

Optics

The easy but expensive way is to buy the big glass. The reality is that in some cases your only hope of quality image is to have a big lens. Sometimes there are physical barriers, or the bird is so nervous that you will not get close. Most experienced bird photographers will recommend that you buy the longest focal length lens that you can afford.  It is true that I have some good images taken with my 300mm lens from a hide, however I have a lot more shooting opportunities and keepers with my 500mm lens. There are other advantages to using bigger lenses such as the narrow  field of view that may enable you move slightly and eliminate a distracting background element or something  obscuring your subject.

Using Bird Calls

This is a subject on its own. The judicious use of bird calls will often bring your target species within range.  Some experience is required as some calls will have the reverse effect and scare birds off.  You will need to know what your target species are and where to position the speaker to get the best chance of the bird landing on a selected perch.

Baiting/Feeding

The most obvious version of this method involves the use of permanent feeding stations. The various wildlife authorities have recommendations in regards to this practice. Another less common method is to provide food such as meal worm, seed, fruit etc. at the location only while you are photographing. Again for this method to be effective you need to know what the appropriate food for your target species is.

Do not use seed where it could germinate and become an environmental weed.

Decoys

Normally these work to either scare off unwanted birds or attract a species to be shot. I have no experience regarding how effective this method is for attracting birds, however I imagine in conjunction with bird calls, that this could be effective for some species. Like the use of bird calls, I would give due consideration to the bird’s well being.

Bird Hides/camouflage

Anything that disguises the human shape is likely to afford some success.

I personally think that the hide in its various forms in conjunction with other techniques is likely to provide the most rewarding way to get close images. If the thought of lugging a hide around does not appeal, then consider a bag hide. They may not be as comfortable when set up, or disguise all movement, but they have the advantage of portability and they are very adaptable to different terrain and situations.

I would recommend using subdued clothing when you are stalking a bird. Some people go further and use camouflage. Either way I reckon there is no point shouting out your presence. How many brightly coloured predators are there in nature that rely on stalking to survive?

Approaching Birds

Approaching/Stalking

If you are going to take the trouble of getting closeto a bird, then at least take the time to consider what the background and direction of the light will look like in the final image.

Have your camera setup and ready to go. The last thing you want is to be fiddling with camera settings when you finally get in position for the money shot.

Keeping low is probably the most important technique when approaching ground dwelling birds. Crawling commando fashion is best, but can be painful. In practice any method that works for you and keeps you low enough not to be interpreted by the bird as a human threat might work. You could invest in knee and elbow pads, but then run the risk of being arrested for looking like Leo the Wanker.

Do not approach directly, but rather take a slated or zig zag approach.  Pause if you detect any nervous reaction from the bird. Approach slowly, let the bird get used to your presence. Be patient. To get within range of some birds it could take in excess of 20 minutes. Avoid any sudden movements. How often does the bird suddenly take off the second you raise the lens?

Don’t try and push beyond the bird’s comfort zone. Learn to read the signs.  There comes a point when you simply cannot or should not get any closer. Knowing what the safe distance is for different species will make the exercise less frustrating. Last year I could get with 30 metres of what I am assuming were immature Osprey. This year the same birds will not let me get to within 50 metres.

It never ceases to amaze me when in my car how close I can get to some birds. The second you open the door to get out, the birds are off. This confirms the importance of disguising the human form.  Even though the use of the car hide is opportunistic, you can make some preparations to boost your chance of success. If you have a particular location in mind, then have the camera ready and the window wound down. Also give some serious thought to purchasing or making a bean bag that will provide a stable platform for your lens when it rests on the window sill.

Try approaching species such as Kingfishers in a boat. It could be that they do not expect a predator to approach from this direction so are more inclined to be at ease. Then again this might work in a similar fashion to the car hide and be an effective way of disguising the human shape, especially if used in conjunction with a bag hide

Summary

Getting that close image should not come down to luck alone, but be a result of careful research, study, technique and patience.