Beautiful Birds

Yesterday afternoon I had a second session in the photoblind photographing the birds. I was lucky to have a female Goldfinch come by several times. There were a lot of House Finches and Dark Eyed Juncos that came by as well. Surprising that no other kinds of birds stopped by. God bless, chris Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop F5.6,Shutter speed varied

Build Up

This morning I placed a perchless feeder next to a Lilac blossom. The only way the birds could use the feeder was to perch on the blossom. After setting it up I climbed into the photoblind and then there was the long wait. Whenever I restock the bird feeders or put up a new feeder there is almost always a disruption of the natural flow of birds to the feeders. There is a long lull until things slowly start building back up to normal. It's interesting that when you are in a photoblind that your sense of hearing becomes much more acute. You can hear the birds slowly working there way inward from the trees. The loudest were a pair of Red Breasted Nuthatches. I could hear them getting closer and closer. I was getting ready with my finger on the shutter release looking for them. One of them finally landed on a perch close enough to my blind for me to photograph it. Then the unplanned happened. One of the pair landed on the blossom and crash landed. It was rather interesting as the blossom could barely support their weight. They would launch themselves from the blossom at the feeder to grab a seed and fly off. I had a great time photographing them and they in turn loved the free food. God's precious love 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 Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop F5.6,Shutter speed varied

Variations on a Theme

This morning the lighting was perfect for photographing birds. There was a nice high cloud cover that broke up the light like a giant diffuser. There were a lot of Variant House finches coming to the feeders. Variants have a different plumage than the standard red House Finches. They are still the same species the plumage is just a different color. Today there was a range of color from yellow to orange and several with all three colors. I didn't see any copper colored ones. I had a great time and the birds did too. 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 Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop F5.6,Shutter speed varied

Choose Chico Weekend

I have been out of the loop for the past few days. As part of our college search for my daughter we went to visit CSU Chico in Northern California. They have a "Choose Chico" weekend complete with campus tours and meeting department heads and instructors. Annika got to meet with her major advisor and department head one on one. Simply amazing. The campus was lush and beautiful with Bidwell Creek flowing right through the middle of campus. Pretty smart of their administration to choose a beautiful spring day for this event before the summer valley heat starts up! Chico has a population of close to 80,000 people but the downtown area has a very nice small town feel to it. Some really good restaurants too as we found out. Lenore and Annika left me for four hours in our hotel to go dress shopping. With not many areas close by to release my creative outlets I made some sad looking images of our hotel. The hotel staff was a bit overwhelmed with all of the weekend guests and there were a few dishes that sat in the hallways for two days! We made one stop on the way home in Upper Lake, Ca where I photographed the town clock. My how time flies! God's love and blessings to all, chris All images photographed with a Canon 7D and a Canon 28- 135 IS lens

Lots of Juncos

It's always amazing to me how wildlife populations shift. I have been photographing birds in the Little Lake Valley for years. I hardly ever photographed Dark Eyed Juncos there until last year. At my house at over thousand feet higher and in a mixed coniferous forest they have always been plentiful. For some reason last year and this year there just seems to be a plethora of Juncos down in the valley. Yesterday afternoon they were the dominant species coming to the bird feeders. In fact I didn't photograph anything else. I was excited to see the my first Lesser Goldfinch come to the feeders in full breeding colors. I didn't get to photograph it but it was a joy to see. Here are some beautiful Dark Eyed Juncos for your viewing pleasure. 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 Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop F5.6,Shutter speed varied

Wonderful Wildflowers

This afternoon I was driving to my photoblind in the Little Lake Valley and I noticed for the first time that the lupines are starting to bloom along the side of the road. I just had to stop and take a quick photograph of them! First it was the Fairy slippers and now the wildflowers are starting to bloom on the valley floor. A sure sign of spring. God's blessings to all, chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens at 210mm, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop F16.0,Shutter speed 1/250th of a sec.

Beautiful Day for Squirrels

The past few days have been weather wild. There have been gusty winds, hail, sleeting snow and pounding rains. To wake up to the sunshine today was a blessing. This morning I got off to a late start working on changing my feeder set ups. This afternoon I got around to setting up my camera and my best image of the day ended up being a Douglas Tree Squirrel that came to check out what that lovely peanut butter smell was coming from the feeders. When God gives you squirrels you photograph squirrels. I was happy with that! God's love to all, chris

Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens at 310mm, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop F5.6,Shutter speed 1/400th of a sec.