Birding Extremes

Saturday morning as I sat beside a meadow I was startled when a large bird swooped past so close that I could hear the wind in its feathers.  As quickly as it appeared it was out of sight and I was unsure of whether I had seen an immature bald eagle or my first golden for the fall. 

 

 

About 15 minutes later the eagle returned to perch in a tree 100-120 yards away.  While I would have loved to have had the bird closer this was close enough to get some decent shots with the 600mm lens.  It was also close enough to confirm that it was an immature bald eagle.

 

As the rain began falling I packed up my camera gear and began walking away.  Looking back I was surprised to see the eagle continuing to preen paying no mind to my presence.

 

 

 

After photographing the eagle, one of our largest birds, yesterday; this morning I went to the other extreme.  This female ruby throated hummingbird was perched in a dogwood tree moments before the sun crested the eastern horizon.  I began photographing the tiny bird from a few feet away and was rewarded with the best shot of the session when the little bird shook and ruffled its feathers before buzzing off in search of food.

Hummingbird close-up Photography

Ruby-throated Hummingbird, adult male

Canon 60D, 600mm f4 L IS USM, 25mm extension tube

ISO 800, F4, 1/800

Hummingbirds are a challening subject to photograph well.  While they are plentiful and can easily be lured in and habituated to feeders filled with a 1-4 sugar water mixture the difficulty is in capturing sharp images of the tiny fast flying birds.  Since I nearly always focus my wildlife photography upon capturing the birds and animals in a natural setting, shooting hummers at the feeder is not an option.  To make natural appearing photographs I remove the feeder and instead place a flower(butterfly weed in this instance), spritzed with the sugar water mixture nearby in a location with good lighting and a background that will be pleasing when suitably blurred by the shallow depth of field.

While I prefer to photograph using a low ISO, the shutterspeed required to freeze hummingbirds in fligh normally require the higher ISO settings. 

F4.5,ISO 250, 1/60 (same camera lens combo)

Perched hummingbirds are much easier subjects to photograph.  Even with long lenses it is still necessary to be exceedingly close to take frame filling shots of the tiny birds.

Summer Captures

Whitetail bucks are living a life of leisure as their antlers grow rapidly

The fawns are no longer the wet wobbly legged creatures of a couple of weeks ago, bounding about confidently

And taking time out to scratch the latest bug bite

The male ruby-throated hummingbirds are spending a considerable amount of time perched on high look-outs keeping watch for interlopers

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds on the Wing

The hummingbird activity around my feeder has been increasing as the weather warms.  It started with a single male visiting occasionally well over a month ago.  The visits are frequent now with three males and one female being sighted simultaneously.  With the increased activity it was time to give hummingbird photography another whirl.  The birds in these images are all Ruby-throated males.

The brilliant throat patch from which the Ruby-throated humming bird derives its evident in this photograph.

However in this image the throat appears nearly black.

To capture this series I used the setup described in an August 11th, 2011 post 

Photo gear used

 Induro AT313 alloy 8M tripod, Kirk King Cobra gimbal head, Canon 60D, Canon EOS 600mm F4 IS, and Kenko 25mm extension tube.

Drawing to a Close

Chilly nights and cool days signal the ending of yet another summer.  The grape vines are heavily laden with fruit as the leaves begin to turn brown.

 Wild flowers still bloom but not with the profusion of a few weeks ago

Hummingbird visits to the feeders have dropped dramatically indicating that their autumn migration has begun.

Autumn holds much promise; promise of natural beauty far exceeding anything the other seasons can offer, but her beauty is fleeting as the cold gray days of winter rush in upon her heels.  It is with some regret that I bid summer good-by but at the same time anticipate the coming autumn splendor with eagerness.