Sunday, June 15, 2014

Trip to MN: Bird Feeder Photos

One of the downsides of living in a Kansas City apartment is the lack of bird feeders. We have some outside on our deck, but the variety and number of birds is quite small.  After seeing many excellent photos shared on Facebook and reading about taking photos at bird feeders, I tried it at my parents feeder station.  

I found a couple of sticks and stuck them in the ground, placing the feeders on the ground next to the sticks. I hoped that birds would land and sit on the sticks on the way to the feeders and initially sat outside waiting for a bird to show-up. When one did I would move the lens to where that bird was and quickly snap a few frames. After only a couple of birds I was reminded how still one must be in order to get close pictures, so I changed my tactic and laid down on the grass closer to the sticks (this was before the first MN mosquitoes hatch). This worked better than before but I soon got tired of holding the lens and needed to change once again, this time I grabbed the tripod to support the camera and laid behind.  I had such a comfortable setup that I could lay my head on the tripod legs while waiting for birds to arrive.

The photos are from this learning attempt and a similar setup used the next morning. I was lucky with the bit of species variety that stopped by, but missed the Gray Catbird and male Indigo Bunting that I was hoping for. 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Purple Finch
Female Purple Finch

Black-capped Chickadee
Black-capped Chickadee

Baltimore Oriole 1
Male Baltimore Oriole

Indigo Bunting
Female Indigo Bunting

Chipping Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

American Goldfinch
American Goldfinch

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