Phenomenal Day

I spent a big chunk of yesterday evening editing images from photographing in the rain and the fog earlier in the day. It was really nasty and the lighting was poor and I had the best time with slow shutter speeds and all. I was immediately able to pick out what I felt was the best quail image and post it yesterday. What I didn't realize was that there were some hidden gems that needed to be dug out from the rest of the files. There are some flat out beautiful images of Mountain Quail hidden away in there. After a bit of digging I pulled some of my favorites to share. There are in addition to the Mountain Quail, one persistent Western Gray Squirrel,one gorgeous Steller's Jay, some Dark Eyed Juncos and a Varied Thrush. May God bless you and your families today. chris Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens, Ground pod on window sill with a Manfrotto 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 800, Shutter speed and F stop Varied.

Beautiful Mountain Quail

Last night I spent about an hour rebuilding the window blind that I use in the back bedroom of our house. Every time I have used it recently with the Mountain Quail they have spooked and run off. My hard work payed off because this morning they were far less nervous than ever before. They still reacted to the sound of the camera shutter but they were quite content to use the bird feeder with nervous looks only when the shutter clicked. They are such a beautiful bird. God's love and blessings to all, chris Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens, Ground Pod with a Manfrotto 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 800, F8.0,Shutter speed 1/50 th of a sec.

Rainy Days...

Photographing in the rain is tough. Yet you can get some pretty special images if you prepare for it. The last three days I haven't had the strong desire to do any photography due to the pouring rainfall. This morning I was all fired up with cabin fever and I had to do something about it. I went out into the showers, got soaking wet and restocked the bird feeders. Then I put up a window blind in the back bedroom and I waited. Surprisingly there were a lot of birds feeding in the rain today. There were Chickadees, Mountain Quail, Varied Thrush and Dark Eyed Juncos all coming to the feeders. They have got to eat regardless of the weather conditions. Photographically it was dark with a fairly slow shutter speed so a lot of my images ended up getting blurred. This was one of the best. Chestnut Backed Chickadee on a fungi.I think it looks mighty cool. God's love and blessings to all, chris Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400, F5.6,Shutter speed 1/125th of a sec.

Rainy Day at the Feeder

This afternoon I was prepared! I set up a window blind in the back of the house so that I could photograph the birds in my backyard from a warm and dry place. The rain was pouring down and it would have been pretty miserable photographing from my pop up blind. I had plenty of subjects to choose from even though it was raining. There were Western Gray Squirrels, Dark Eyed Juncos and some beautiful Varied Thrush. Such an amazing difference from yesterday when I made some images through the window. Not the best way to photograph birds. My favorite of the day was an incredibly sharp Varied Thrush. God's light and love to all, chris Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon 100-400 at 330 mm. Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 800, F8.0, Shutter speed 1/60th of a sec.