The Nikon 1 V1 isn’t the best camera for catching birds in flight but for general birding and behavioral shots it works very well. I use it with it’s own Nikkor 1 30-110mm telephoto zoom and the Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR on the FT-1 adapter. Because the CX format has a 2.7x crop factor, the 30-110mm is the equivalent of an 80-300mm on a 35mm camera. The 70-200mm becomes a superzoom covering the 35mm equivalent of 190-540mm and still remains an f2.8. Here are a few shots with both lenses. The Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus) are nesting in a disused Eagles Nest next to the Punta Gorda History Park. You can see it here in this wide view.

Look closely and you will see one of the baby owlets perched on the nest in the fork of the tree.  Because of this distance, I prefer to use the Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 on the FT-1 adapter for the added reach.  Even then, it takes a bit of cropping.  Here are a couple of examples.

At the same distance, I managed to find one of the adults in a much less conspicuous position.  In fact, I could only see half of it on the lower branch.  This shot was taken with the Nikkor 1 30-110mm zoom.

While it isn’t the best at this range, it is still very useful in other circumstances.  Here are a couple of shots of some Monk Parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) which make their home in Gilchrist Park in front of the Bayfront Center.  While I could get closer, these guys were busy building nests deep in  the palm center where there wasn’t a lot of light.

That meant I had to bump the ISO up and got some noise but they are stil acceptable behaviour shots.

In better light, I got this nice portrait of a Ring Billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) also found in Gilchrist Park.