Feeder Fotos

When I awoke Monday morning the snow was falling at a rapid pace.  I decided that spending the day at the feeders was a more appealing option than driving the slick roads across two mountains to get to the office.

 

The following photos are the best shots of the day.  All photos were with a Canon EOS 6D, Canon 600 f4L IS USM.

 

Dark-eyed Junco

White-throated Sparrow

 

 Northern Cardinal Female

 Northern Cardinal Male 

 

 White-breasted Nuthatch

 



Tufted Titmouse

Perches for Feeder Birds

Song Sparrow

 

Feeders will draw birds for easier viewing all year long but when snow blankets the ground birds will descend on established feeders in droves.  Provide a variety of natural or natural appearing perches nearby that takes advantage of the natural light and you will have a perfect winter bird studio. 

White-throated Sparrow

 

The song sparrow and the white-throated sparrow in the above photographs both posed for me today on a multi-flora rose bush overgrown by an unidentified vine.

 

 

Black-capped Chickadee

 

A tree standing beside the feeder provides a multitude of branch perches such as the one used by the above chickadee. 

 

Female Northern Cardinal

 

This female cardinal perched on a broken poke stalk during a snow storm.  I am particularly fond of poke weed growing near my bird feeding areas as it not only provides a good variety of photogenic perches but feeds the birds as well. 

 

The Rut is On!

 

For the whitetail enthusiast there is no time of the year that can compare to the mating season.  For most of the year whitetails are shy and retiring animals but with the onset of the rut they suddenly become much more visible as the bucks roam widely in search of receptive does in estrus.

   

 

 

While not nearly as vocal as their cousins, the elk, whitetails vocalize during the rut.  The buck, pictured here pursuing a doe, was grunting as the photograph was taken.

 

 

 

My biggest surprise of the weekend came when I photographed this male wild turkey gobbling!  Most gobbling is done during the late winter and spring months in conjunction with the wild turkey's mating season.  Perhaps this tom was a little jealous of the whitetails having all of the fun!

 

 

Of course when one is spending a great deal of time out of doors there is more to photograph than deer.  This white-throated sparrow posed nicely in the weather branches of a poke weed.

 

 

And a fox squirrel, busy fattening up for winter, pauses just long enough for a portrait.

 

 

 

Grasshopper Sparrow

While taking my evening walk I spotted a grasshopper sparrow perched on the weathered remains of an old fence post.  The bird did not seem unduly alarmed so I slowly approached it one to two steps at a time until I was less then fifteen feet away.

 

I was carrying a Canon 60D / 100-400mm lens and shooting handheld.  Using the image stabilization at ISO 500, F5.6, 1/320th shutter I was able to obtain reasonably sharp images; at least sharp enough to see that the little sparrow was living up to its name with two grasshoppers grasp firmly in it beak.

LBB's: Little Brown Birds

Grasshopper Sparrow perched on a dry mullein stalk
 

As a person whose main interest in birds is as a photographic subject, identifying some of my captures can be frustrating to say the least.  This is particularly true with what I have begun calling LBB's, my acronym for little brown birds.

 


Grasshopper Sparrow singing

 

The birds posted here fell into that category and remained there until my niece Amy visited Saturday while she and her husband participated in the annual Pa Migration Count.  Reviewing my LBB photos with her, she was able to give each a positive identification. 



Savannah Sparrow

 

I'm sure that as the nesting season progresses I will capture more LBB's and will require help putting a positive identification on them.  However that is just one of the things that makes wildlife photography so interesting, learning about the wild creatures who live around us.

 

 

Snow

While the each season changes the appearance of the landscape nothing changes its appearance as dramatically as does winter's first coat of snow.  Along with altering the appearance of the landscape it also changes the daily patterns of many of our wild critters.

 

Our first snow of the season came Monday afternoon and was followed by snow and ice Wednesday resulting in 7-8 inches of total accumulation covered over with a thick crust of ice.  A fawn with hair fluffed to repel the cold stands silently in a winter landscape covered in snow and ice. 

 Before the storms feeding on grasses was as simple for the deer as dropping their heads and nibbling; now each bite requires the crust to be broken and the snow pawed away.

And walking isn't as easy for each step meets resistance; the crust must be broken by the deer's weight before firm footing can be made on the ground below.

With much of their natural food covered with snow the birds are flocking to the feeders.  I thought this was the white-throated sparrow pic of the day.........

 

Until I captured this one.  While partially obscured by the intervening branchs I was drawn to its inquisitive look as it peered out at the camera.

Birds of Winter

With autumn nearly past and winter just around the corner it's time to settle down at your favorite bird-feeder photo studio and shoot the "Birds of Winter".

 

White-throated Sparrow

 

Dark-eyed Junco

Female Northern Cardinal

 

 

A Short Morning Walk

With wildlife all around us even a short walk down a country road may result in capturing some memorable images.  With a little time to kill well after sunrise I tossed the camera rig over my shoulder heading to see what I could find.

Locating this chipmunk sitting motionlessly in the roadside fence row I compensated the exposure slightly to bring out the detail in the chipmunk.  After processing I decided to crop leaving a strand of barbed wire in the photo to tell the story of finding the chipmunk using the fence row habitat as home.  Overgrown fence rows are important habitat for many farm land species but with modern clean farming practices they are becoming a thing of the past. 

Moving to the other side of the tree that the chipmunk was sitting near, at first I didn't think a photo would be possible.  Looking closer I found one small hole I was able to shoot through giving me this close-up photo of the alert little animal.

Walking on down the road I noticed a back lit bird silhouetted singing from a tree top.  Think that it was probably a mockingbird based upon its shape and the variety of bird songs it was imitating I was surprised when I passed around to its sunlit side to find that it was a brown thrasher.  Brown thrashers spend most of their time in heavy cover, however during the nesting seasons they can sometimes be found singing from the tree tops.

And last but not least were the chipping sparrows.  These little birds were creating quite a stir.  Whatever the cause, breeding activity or territorial dispute the sparrows were in quite a flutter.

Wildlife is particularly active during the spring and many species can be found on just a short jaunt. 

Chipping Sparrow

While looking for the larger more impressive species it is easy for me to overlook little birds like this gorgeous little Chipping Sparrow.  This evening with only a short time available to attempt to get my photo-fix I headed to a nearby overgrown fence row. 

Upon my approach I noticed that my movements were being observed closely by the sparrow perched in the dead branches of a blow-down.  Watching the bird's body language I slowly moved towards it holding the camera and tripod erect stopping frequently.  When the bird began to exhibit a slight bit of nervousness I decided it was time to set up and make the shot.

Little doubt but what the sparrow was guarding a nearby nest. 

Other birds sighted during this little outing included robins, catbirds, starlings, goldfinch, and turkey vulture.  Out of all of these birds the little sparrow was the only one that offered the opportunity for a nice image to remember the evening by.

Wildlife Composition

When shooting wildlife I find that I am always mindful of the backgrounds, trying to avoid things like a branch or weed that pops out of the subjects head etc, items that distract the viewer from the subject. Many times I will use a wide aperture to reduce the depth of field and allow the background to blur to illuminate distracting elements.

Snow gives one the opportunity to photograph wildlife on a white background with no distracting elements, perhaps even making the image less attractive because there are no elements in the photograph other than the main subject. I composed this White-throated Sparrow image to include the dried weed stems to add depth.

Here a single broken dried grass stem is the only element other than the sparrow.

Do you think these photographs are improved by the inclusion of these elements or would they be better without? Tell me what you think.

Hit & Miss: White-throated Sparrow

Photographing wildlife is always a hit or miss situation. Lighting or lack thereof plays a huge part as well as the often uncooperative nature of the subjects.

With the little White-throated Sparrow flitting about the nearby underbrush while the sun was hiding behind a heavy cloud cover I simply could not pass up the opportunity. Shooting at ISO250 I was well aware that many shots would be failures for like most songbirds these little critters do not sit still for long.

This shot was the best of the session with the bird sharp and well posed

Failures typically get the delete button treatment but for a change I though I would share a couple of cool ones with you. This was the last shot I captured as this sparrow departed the briars.

I call this shot the ball-head, another failure but my wife thought it was pretty cool

Sparrow Identification Help Needed

While visiting the local wetland, which I discovered had gone dry, I realized that if I were to obtain any wildlife photographs on this foray that I needed to begin searching for species other than waterfowl.

Locating a fruiting tree with a considerable number of birds about I settled in under the shade of a nearby tree. Soon this little sparrow landed in the nearby branches posing for its photo op.

Sparrow identification is not one of my strong suits and I would much appreciate the help of anyone who feels they can provide positive identification.

Singing from on High: Chipping Sparrow

A Male Chipping Sparrow sings while sitting high in a black walnut tree

Chipping Sparrows are normally found either on the ground or in low brush. During their mating season, males such as this one, perch high above the ground to sing their mating songs.

While gathering information on the Chipping Sparrows, I found that they commonly line their nest with hair. They will use any type of hair they can find and have even been observed picking strands of hair from sleeping dogs.

Red Fox Sparrow

As I didn’t couldn’t identify what sparrow I was looking at I turned to the Audubon bird guide and found it most closely matched the description of the Fox Sparrow. More through investigation turned up that there are four recognized subspecies with the Red being the one most common in this area.

The Fox Sparrow’s breeding grounds are in northern Canada with Pennsylvania being a part of its winter range.

Although I have seen this sparrow or some of its kin around our feeding area numerous times it has been quite an illusive bird. Most of the time it is busy scratching in the underbrush and seldom has it lit in a position where taking its photograph was possible.

White-Throated Sparrow

A sparrow is a sparrow is a sparrow, until you get up close and personal. Suddenly one begins to notice the nuances in color and markings that differentiate the different species.

Prior to my renewed interest in photography I seldom looked closely at song birds. I basically recognized two sparrows, English or House Sparrows and Song sparrows. It was into the song sparrow category that I lumped all of the other sparrows.

Perhaps it was a memory problem; that I could not remember all of the important distinguishing marks until I had the opportunity to look it up. With digital photography I can now “take my bird home” and research it at my convenience. Now I find that not only am I enjoying digital photography for photography’s sake but I am finding nature much more interesting than ever before.