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I was really disappointed with those shots. I thought I my aim was right on, but they all seemed to be fuzzy. Maybe it was a case of small bird + large crop + high ISO.
I am considering buying a shooting blind later this year. I'll use it to photograph backyard birds from my back deck so that my equipment and I don't have to sit out in the cold, rain, and wind. It may also help me photograph some of the more skittish birds, such as flickers and other...
New photos of old birds Wednesday afternoon (5-13-2020) from (where else? ) the back deck.
This little guy perched on my roof behind me, so the light was good. He was so close that I had to back off on the 100-400L II zoom to make sure he was in focus.
The bushtit pair continue to visit the suet feeder that hangs on my back shed, which is in the shadow for much of the day. I lightened these photos up using the post processing program that comes with Windows.
This is the female, as evidenced by her spooky yellow eyes.
My patience finally paid off Thursday afternoon (5-14-2020) with a black-headed grosbeak visiting my bird feeders. The bird is a male in breeding plumage and only the second grosbeak I have seen in my backyard. The first was a few years ago.
The white specks are fragments of safflower seeds.
It was briefly joined by the mystery finch.
I photographed some other birds. I'll post those photos Friday.
Bewick's wrens usually do not visit my feeders but prefer to hunt bugs in the foliage. This one dropped a lot of seeds on the ground for his squirrel buddies to find.
In a nice break from backyard birding, Monday afternoon (5-18-2020) my wife drove my son and me up to Pt. Edwards to check on the eagles' nest. We saw a olive-sided flycatcher perched in a tree near the nest.
The past few days have not been conducive with camping out on the back deck with my big lens setup, so I have had to make do with random checks outside using the 1DxII + 100-400L II telephoto zoom handheld.
Tuesday 5-19-2020. I have not recently taken many photos of the Blues Brothers.
Look closely and you can see this Seller's jay carrying a peanut in its mouth.
An experienced jay can carry two or three whole, uncracked peanuts (shells and all) at once without choking by stashing one down its throat and another one or two in its mouth.
Handheld grab shots taken this afternoon (Thursday 5-21-2020) with the 1DxII + 100-400L II telephoto zoom.
A pair of spotted towhees visited the backyard. It is the first time I have seen two at once.
I was able to get better shots when they landed on the ground to forage beneath my seed feeders. I believe the lighter colored bird in the foreground is the female.
I switched to AV mode @ f/16 + auto ISO to get both birds in focus. I'll post the resulting shutter speeds and ISO settings for us photo/techno geeks.
1/160, ISO = 1000
The mystery finch appeared around its regular time. I continued in AV mode @ f/16 with Auto ISO.
I tried to shoot parts of the bird that might aid in ID-ing it. I must back off on the crops once the auto ISO settings migrate into four digits and above or the photos get very "soft" and appear out of focus.
1/320, ISO = 6400
Backyard shots from Saturday afternoon (5-23-2020). I usually limit my new posts to one page/day, but I will splurge this time since I have not been getting out every day.
A female flicker at the ground suet feeder in the morning. Flickers are very skittish, so I take some grab shots through the sliding glass door before venturing out onto the back deck. Like most flickers, she took off as soon as I opened the door.
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