Tiesel Toppers

Yesterday morning after I finished up with the rock perch images I switched over to using a dried Tiesel heads as a perches. Both the seed head and the stalks are full of prickly spikes. I'm always amazed to see birds using them as perches. They must have really tough feet! Here are a few more House Finch images. I hope that all of you are having a great week. God bless, chris All of the images above were created with a Canon 7D MkII DSLR camera with a Canon 100-400IS v.1 lens. The camera was supported on a Manfrotto 190 XPROB tripod with a Bogen Heavy duty ballhead. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550 EX flash set to -2 stops. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 shutter speeds varied.#TeamCanon

Time Marches Slowly Onward

If you are lucky enough to live where the seasons change you get to observe nature at its best as you watch one season gradually roll into the next. Fall is one of my favorite seasons for getting to see the leaves change in beautiful hues of yellow, oranges and reds as they slowly shift into brown. Early in the morning while taking the dog for its morning constitutional I spotted this one particular Tan Oak leaf that had holes in it. They were probably from an insect chewing into it and I found it interesting. I grabbed my camera, macro lens and a tripod and made a variety of images of it. After editing them this one was my favorite. It truly captures the passage of time. For this leaf is slowly turning back into the earth from which it had sprung. God's light and love to all, chris This image was created with a Canon 7DmkII and a 100mm macro lens on a Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 Heavy duty ballhead. The camera settings used were, AV mode, ISO 800, F 16.0 at 1.6 seconds.

Stand and Wait

This morning was perfect for bird photography. It was nice and foggy. During the night the fog came rolling in from the coast and covered our house in a nice blanket of fog. Fog is really nice for hummingbird photography because their gorget doesn't overexpose so easily as it does in bright light. I set myself up as close as I possibly could to the hummingbirds favorite perch. I raised my tripod up as far as I possibly could to get closer to the level of the perch. Then I stood motionless with my eye to the viewfinder of the camera. I waited and waited. But not for very long at all. The hummingbirds were really active trying to keep themselves warm. They were buzzing all around me and fighting for possession of the perch. They were landing one after the other on the perch. One male Anna's landed there and I gave my best raspy imitation call of a male Anna's. He immediately perked up and flashed his gorget to the imaginary rival. I got some great images but this one was my favorite. God's love and blessings upon your week, chris Image created with a Canon 7D mkII and a Tamron 150-600mm lens at 600mm. A Canon 550 EX was used for fill flash. It was set to -2. The camera was supported on a Manfortto 190 XPROB tripod.#TeamCanon

Simply Gorgeous

I love it when I can capture the light glinting off of a hummingbirds gorget like I did yesterday afternoon with a male Rufous Hummingbird. It was simply gorgeous like the hummingbirds throat was on fire. The word gorget comes from the time when a knight-in-armor wore a metal collar or gorget to protect his throat during battle. In hummingbirds the bright intense glint is the result of iridescence, rather than colored pigments in the feathers. A hummingbird's gorget feathers contain very tiny, thin, layers of “platelets,” set like overlapping tiles against a dark background. The light waves reflect and bounce off the tiles, creating color in the manner of sun bouncing off droplets of water in a rainbow. Hummingbirds can angle their gorget feathers too turn the irridescence on and off like a light bulb. It is amazing when they turn towards you and flash their feathers to on! Blessings upon your day, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 500EX flash set to high speed sync. The camera and lens were supported with a Manfrotto 190 XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 heavy duty ballhead.

Hummingbirds Prime Perch

I spent some time photographing the Anna's and Rufous Hummingbirds in the backyard over the past few days. The hummingbirds were using one perch in particular and there were quite a few battles fought over its prime location near the hummingbird feeders. I liked the perch because its closeness to the edge of our patio and it had the forest behind it for a background. Moving the camera six inches one way or another produced different colors in the background depending upon the type of trees behind it. Yesterday I trimmed some oak leaves from below the perch as they kept getting into the bottom of the frame. I was worried the hummingbirds would stop using the perch but they didn't seem to mind in fact they began using it even more. Last night and this morning I got around to editing all of the hummingbird images. There were quite a few including one dragonfly that liked this spot for hunting insects as well. God's love and blessings upon your day, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens on a Manfrotto 190 XPROB tripod with a bogen heavy duty ballhead.

Eurasian Collared Dove for the Old Garden Gate Series

Saturday morning found me in my garden blind out in the Little Lake Valley of Northern California. The finches kept me busy photographing them all morning long. As I was photographing I kept hearing Eurasian Collared Doves calling from the nearby trees. A couple of times they even buzzed the feeder but didn't land. I now see more Collared Doves than Mourning Doves. Collared doves are an introduced species.I was just starting to clean and pack up when a pair of Collared Doves came in to feed. I quickly restarted and recomposed my camera and got quite a series of images of one of them. This one was my favorite. One that I'm adding to my "Old Garden Gate Series." May you have a blessed week, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens at 250mm. Camera settings used were AV mode for more control of the depth of field. ISO 800 because it is fairly low light where I photograph. F 8.0 at 1/500th of a sec. The camera was on my workhorse 190 XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead for support.

Birds, Blooms and Buzzing

This morning I drove out to the Burris Ranch in the Little Lake Valley to do some bird photography. It was such a beautiful morning. When I pulled into the ranch I noticed that the apple tree above my photoblind was blooming. After parking I walked up to my blind and I could smell the sweet scent of the blossoms on the breeze. I set about refilling the bird feeders. When I went to get the furthest feeder I heard a humming buzzing sound down close to my feet. I instantly froze and thought, "This can't be good." I looked all around my feet for movement as the sound continued and my eyes zoomed in onto where the sound was coming from. At first I freaked out because I thought I was standing on top of a ground wasps nest. But soon I figured out that I was right next to a Bumble Bees nest and there were about a dozen of them buzzing about. I made a happy, slow, safe retreat. I rarely find Bumble Bee nests so this is a pretty cool find. Bumble Bees are communal like Honey Bees but honey bees are far greater in both numbers and the amount of honey they store up. Bumble Bees live in a small community of roughly a dozen or so and up to 300 and they only keep a couple of small wax cups of honey that are often the size of a small tablespoon. I once got a sampling of their honey when I was much younger and it was the lightest most delicious honey I have ever tasted. After my discovery I settled into the photoblind and photographed House Finches. here is my favorite image from the morning. God's love and blessings upon your weekend, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens at 450mm. Camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/1,600th of a sec. The camera was supported with a Manfrotto 190 XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 heavy duty ballhead.

Inside Day

The leading edge of a four day storm hit last night. The rain is falling heavily on the roof so it looks to be an inside day. The wood stove is going, the tree is up(still needs a few more decorations) and I'm looking forward to wrapping presents and mailing out the last of the Christmas cards. Here is the progress on the tree so far. Merry Christmas, chris Canon 7D with a Canon EF-s 17-85mm lens at 33mm. ISO 100 F 13.0 for four seconds.On a Manfrotto 190 XPROB tripod,

Time for a Cool One

This morning I was up and around and in my backyard photoblind even before the sun rose. I have been noticing that with so much more light that the birds were coming to my bird feeder earlier and earlier. So in order to catch the birds in the best light I needed to be in the blind before the birds came. My decision payed off as I was able to get some really nice Steller's Jay and Band-tailed Pigeon images. My favorite image of the morning though was of a Western Gray Squirrel that came to get a drink from my water set up. I could really tell that it wanted a drink. It kept looking longingly at the water and then it would scamper away as soon as it heard the sound of the camera's shutter clicking. I eventually got smart and prefocused on the water where I thought it as heading for a drink. I didn't click the shutter until it was actively drinking. I came away with two images that I really like and this one was the best. May you have a blessed weekend, chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 Is lens on a Manfrotto 190 XPROB tripod with a Bogen Ballhead. Camera settings used were AV mode,ISO 800, F 5.6 at 1/125th of a sec. #TeamCanon

Species in Decline

I had a great time photographing Band-tailed Pigeons (P.f. monilis) in my backyard this morning. I have nowhere near the numbers of them that I used to have visiting my bird feeders. Five or six years ago I would have flocks of twenty or more. Now flocks are typically less than a dozen. In fact this morning there were only six or so. At present the population is still considered to be a species of "Least Concern" even though they have been steadily dropping in population since 1945. Recently a new pathogen (Trichomonas stableri) has been found by scientists from UC Davis looking into major die-offs of pigeons native to North America. The pathogen creates nasty lesions that can block the esophagus. This prevents the birds from eating or drinking often leading to suffocation. Hopefully a way can be found to stop this disease so that future generations of people can enjoy seeing this bird in the wild. God bless, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens. Camera settings used were. AV mode, ISO 800 at F 5.6. Shutter speeds varied. Camera and lens were supported with a Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead. If you are interested in learning how to photograph birds in your backyard please check out my book, "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography". It is available in both hardbound and as an Ebook on most online book sellers. Please copy the following link into your browser. http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559

Red Dragonfly and a Weird Green Bug

This morning I was playing around with an extension tube and the Tamron 150-600 lens photographing dragonflies next to our little garden pond. There were two red flame colored ones fighting over territorial rights to the small pond. After one would chase the other off it would hunt insects for awhile and then stop to take a rest on one of the plant stalks next to the pond. I set up my tripod and and prefocused on the stalk and just waited for one of them to land. The other image is of a strange looking green bug that landed on Lenore when we were driving. I photographed it and then set it free. When I went to drive off later in the day it was on my windshield. It stayed on there for a long long time until after about a mile of highway driving it blew off. It must be a new form of migrating! God's love and blessings to all, chris The dragonfly image was created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens with a 20mm exension tube for close focusing. The weird green bug was photographed with a 100mm macro lens and the 7D. Both images were done on a Manfrotto Tripod with a Bogen ballhead.

Editing

I'm slowly getting caught up on editing images from last Saturday and picking out my favorites. One really nice image I processed was of a Northern Flicker. I have been hearing the Flickers off and on for several weeks now but they very seldom come close to the photoblind. On Saturday a pair of them landed in front of the blind and began probing the garden for grubs and worms. I never did see them find any but it sure made for some nice photography. God's love and blessings to all,chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 150-600mm lens at 400mm. ISO 800, F5.6 at 1/1,600th of a sec.

Back to Juncos and Jays

I was waiting for a phone call this morning so I had to stick close to the house. I decided to do some bird photography in the yard with some orchids for a perch. As I was setting up I could hear the squirrels down the ridge from our house giving an alarm call. This was a premonition of things to come. There was some kind of predator in the area and they were letting everyone know. Sure enough once I was set up in the photoblind it was quiet except for the squirrels giving out their staccato warnings. I sat and sat. Eventually a Steller's Jay made its way down to the feeder only to fly off screeching as a hawk swooped in to try and grab it. It was way too fast for me to follow but the Jay escaped. That was pretty cool! After that it stayed slow and and I waited patiently with Badger asleep at my feet. Suddenly the bottom of the blind shook and there was Papaya the blasted cat wanting to be petted. Now it was quite cozy in the blind with the dog at my feet and the cat in my lap! After a little bit more of a wait I managed to photograph a Steller's Jay and a Dark Eyed Junco. It was a great morning to be out. God's love and blessings to all, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600 lens. Camera was supported with a Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod and a Bogen 3055 ballhead. Camera settings used AV mode, ISO 800 shutter speeds and F stops varied.

Simple Set Up

Yesterday morning the fog lay in the valley down below for a long time. It took until past noon to burn it off. It was sunny up where live so I decided to do some bird photography from my photoblind. I went for a very simple set up of a fern branch and a feeder. It took just a short wait before the Chestnut Backed Chickadees started coming for the free food. They absolutely love Black Sunflower Seeds.You have to be quick because they land for a fraction of a second grab a seed and go. They fly off and find a hiding place to stash the seed or they eat it and then come back for more. If they aren't disturbed by the cat, hawk or some other predator the action can be non stop. It takes me a lot more time to edit the images than it does to create them. I had a great time and I came away with some really nice images. God bless, chris Images were created with a Canon 7D and a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM at 400mm. AV mode ISO 800.