The Evening Grosbeaks have arrived.

[Tony S]

Good thing I didn't spray my plum trees this year, they are loaded with aphids and the evening grosbeaks are having a field day in the trees.

 

[BrianH]

schweet love those birds

 

[JaniceL]

Good thing I didn't spray my plum trees this year, they are loaded with aphids and the evening grosbeaks are having a field day in the trees.

Spoken like a true photographer.

 

[Tony S]

The little buggers were noisier than all get out this morning at 5:20 AM, I'm not a morning person so I was not happy to hear the rucous. Took me all day to calm down enough to hold the camera steady for a few more shots of them, they are lucky it wasn't my shotgun.

The way the bugs are all rolled up in the curled leaves kind of reminds me of a sandwich wrap... this guy was really getting into them.

 

[JaniceL]

Pretty awesome shots. Oh I can so relate to the not being a morning person. I feel the same when the woodpecker is on the outside of my condo.

 

[Leia]

We heard some new birds in the trees last night. Your beautiful captures have me thinking I shouldn't have been so lazy and should have gone out and investigated. Those are really neat. Is that a pair, or a flock? Do they travel in hordes?

 

[Tony S]

Leia, I don't think it's a pair together. They just happened to be in the same spot at the same time. Right now there are probably over 100 of them out in the yard and neighborhood, they seem to stop by the area this time of year and hang around for a couple of weeks before moving on. Good thing too, I don't like getting woke up every morning like that and I want the fresh air coming in the window.

 

[Susan B]

What lens

Tony, great shots! What lens did you use to capture such close-ups? Susan

 

[Tony S]

Thanks Susan and everyone else who commented.
In the first set it was the 400 2.8 all by itself handheld. After seeing the results from tons of those pictures, I put the rig on the monopod, added the 1.4TC and then used the 580 EXII for some fill flash in the trees since it was pretty cloudy out. That and I was probably only 25 feet away from them while shooting.