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.

Backyard Birds

Yesterday I spent a little time in backyard photoblind in the morning and a little bit later in the afternoon. I came away with a couple of images of a Steller's Jay and a Red Breasted Nuthatch using the knothole feeder. Unexpectedly three Mountain Quail showed up late in the afternoon. I could hear there feeding call as they came into the yard from down the ridge top. I wasn't quite ready for them as I was focused on the knothole feeder. Very slowly I recomposed my camera on the platform feeder and I was able to capture one of them on its trip off of the feeder. They were extremely nervous and only stayed by the feeders a couple of minutes. I'm always happy to see them much less be able to photograph them. God's blessings to all, chris Camera 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, F8.0,Shutter speed varied.

Chasing Elusive Mountain Quail

One of the most difficult birds for me to photograph in my backyard are the Mountain Quail. There aren't very many of them and they are are extremely skittish. This morning I was up bright and early. I made sure the dogs and cats were secure. Then I headed out into the backyard and restocked the bird feeders. As I was pouring out the sunflower seed into the feeder I could hear the feeding call of the quail coming down the ridge top. I hurried into the blind and I'm glad I did. Less than two minutes later a Mountain Quail popped out onto the corner of the patio from the edge of the yard. A few minutes later two more came out. They fed in circles all around the feeder until one of them jumped up onto a mossy branch leading to the feeder. It stopped several times on the way up to the feeder allowing me to captures some beautiful images in the early morning light. This one was my favorite. God's blessings upon your day, chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens @170 mm, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400, F5.0,Shutter speed 1/25th of a sec.