At the Old Watering Hole

A couple of days ago I was at the window looking out on the back yard. I caught some motion out of the corner of my eye. In our little backyard pond there was a Hermit Thrush getting a cool drink of water. As I watched a little longer it threw itself into the water upside down and began to have a grand old time splishing and splashing. I walked to our back bedroom which is much closer to our little pond to see a parade of Varied Thrushes, Dark Eyed Juncos and Hermit Thrushes coming to the pond to drink or bathe. The next morning I set up six Canon Speedlights around the front rim of the pond for lighting. I put up my window photoblind in the back bedroom window and clamped a ground pod to the inside of the window sill. All that was needed was to set my camera up on the ground pod and create some photographs. Over the next couple of days whenever I spotted a bunch of birds in the backyard I would wander into the back bedroom to see what I could capture with my camera. I ended up with some very nice images including one of a Cedar Waxwing when a whole flock of waxwings dropped by for a drink this afternoon. They had a great time and so did I. God's blessings upon your day, chris All images were created with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. Six Canon 540 EZ Speedlights set to 1/64th power were used for lighting. The camera settings used were Manual mode, ISO 800. A shutter speed of 1/160th of a sec was used. The F stops varied. #teamcanonusa, #withmytamron

Simple Set Up

Yesterday afternoon I created a very simple set up for photographing birds in the front yard. I took a fairly large tan oak branch and set it up at an angle between two uprights. I fastened it into place with some decking screws. About ten feet behind it I set up a moderately green backdrop. Next I hung a feeder just above the branch so that the birds would have to land on the branch in order to get food from my single spout feeder. I set up my photoblind with a cushy office chair eight feet back from the branch. This morning I waited until both the branch and the background were both in even light. I didn't want any mixed light to have to deal with. I climbed into my photoblind and waited. I was in for a bit of a wait! After roughly a half hour a single Chestnut Backed Chickadee fluttered down to the branch reached up grabbed a seed from the bird feeder and took off. After that it was one bird after another for about forty five minutes. I stopped when the light started getting too harsh to photograph anymore.After uploading the images from my computer this image ended up being my favorite. God's light and love to all, chris This image was created with a Canon EOS 7D MKII camera and a Canon 100-400 IS V.1 lens at 400mm. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 1600, F 5.6 at 1/400th of a sec. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 500 EX Speedlight set to -1 1/3 stops. #teamcanonusa, teamcanon, #secretsofbackyardbirdphotography

Feathers and Fins

Last weekend found us venturing over to the Sacramento Valley. Our first stop one of my favorites was the auto tour at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. The ponds on the south end of the refuge were mostly empty. They were refilling the ponds on the eastern end which led to some great flight images of the Snow Geese as well as some fun images of Great Egrets feasting on crickets and other insects trying to escape the rising waters. Among the Egrets were a flock of Whimbrels.we spotted a lot of other waterfowl as well. That evening we watched the CSU, Chico Choral Ensemble perform "Hear the Joyful Noise". It was an uplifting evening for my soul. The following day we drove up to Battle Creek near Anderson, Ca. The largest salmonid hatchery in the United states is located here. Chinook Salmon some weighing fifty pounds or more come upstream here to in an attempt to spawn. They are guided by a fish weir up a fish ladder into the hatchery. Here they are stripped of their eggs and sperm. Their bodies are used to make fish meal and fertilizer. The eggs are nurtured until they are big enough at which point they are placed in raceways of water to grow until they are big enough to be released back into Battle Creek or other places along the Sacramento River system. Our guide through the hatchery was Jane Dysert. Her photography is well worth the effort to look at and can be found on Facebook and Instagram. God's blessings upon your weekend, chris All images were created with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera. The two lenses used were a Canon 100-400IS V.1 lens and a Tamron 150- 600mm G2 lens. #teamcanonusa, #withmytamron

Great Afternoon at the Feeder

This morning I went out into the front yard and set up a knothole feeder for the birds and squirrels to use. I came back into the house and opened the upper door for Badger the Wonder Dog to use to get out onto the deck. He is great at barking at the Western Gray Squirrels when they try to come to the bird feeders. For some reason he doesn't get as riled up when he sees the diminutive Douglas Tree Squirrels. Just after lunch I went out and crawled into the photoblind. I was in for a little bit of a wait. After almost a half hour of sitting I could hear the incoming calls of a Red-breasted Nuthatch. After that it was one bird after another with some short breaks in between. A couple of Western Gray Squirrels tried to come and feed but I told them to go away and they did. The knothole feeder I was using is far too small for the big grays and they will chew them apart to get at the seed in them. I photographed the birds for close to an hour before a little Douglas Tree Squirrel showed up. It looked like it was one of the regulars that stop by fairly frequently. Because I wanted some squirrel images I didn't scare it away. I'm glad I didn't because I got some great images of it. When the lighting started getting overly bright I called it quits. It took me along time to upload and process the images because there were far too many that I liked. Eventually I narrowed it down for this blog to six images. Please enjoy them and have God's blessings upon your day, chrisAll of the above images were created with a Canon EOS 7D MKII camera and a Canon 100-400 IS USM V.1 lens. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550EX Speedlight. #teamcanonusa

More Bird Photography

This afternoon when I got home from running errands from downtown I created a quick set up. I used a fall colored background and a beautiful bright red sunflower. I placed the sunflower next to the bird feeder for the birds to land on. The birds coming into the bird feeder went from zero to sixty as soon as I climbed into the photoblind. There were Steller's Jays mixed with Red Breasted Nuthatches and Chestnut Backed Chickadees. There were a few Dark Eyed Juncos hanging around but they were't coming to the feeder. It was pretty dark in the shade which made for some difficult lighting. I ended up using an ISO of 3200 which is pretty high to bring up the shutter speeds to something fast enough to stop the action. Even so I was still down to some pretty slow shutter speeds. To help with that I set up a fill flash with a Canon 550 EX speedlight at minus 1 1/3rd stops. After uploading the images I found a dozen of them that I really liked. There were two that ended up being my favorites. One of a Red Breasted Nuthatch and one of a Chestnut Backed Chickadee. Not bad for a short afternoon in challenging light.God's love and blessings to all, chris Both of the images were created with a Canon 7D MKII camera and a Canon 100-400 IS V. 1 lens. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550EX Speedlight. #teamcanon, #teamcanonusa

Back to the "Chickadee Challenge"!

This afternoon just after lunch I sat in the photoblind for about an hour and a half. Earlier in the day I created a set up with a perch and a small feeder behind which I put up a fall covered background. Luckily for me the day was overcast with soft filtered light. There weren't a lot of birds coming in at that time of day but there were enough to keep me on my toes. I would get drowsy and then a bird would show up and bring me back to being alert. You probably know what it's like to sit down in a cozy chair after lunch right. Around one thirty or so the wind started kicking up from the incoming storm and I called it quits. After uploading the images to my computer I spotted four images that I really liked. After processing them this little Chestnut Backed Chickadee was my favorite. It was the perfect example of what you can accomplish without using a giant telephoto lens to photograph small birds which is what the Chickadee Challenge is all about. The challenge has its origins from when some years ago an art buyer stated that the reason why I took so many great pictures of birds was because of the big lens I had. While I will admit having a large telephoto helps it's akin to telling a painter the reason they have such beautiful paintings is because the brushes they use. To make a point and to challenge myself I grabbed an old 50mm lens and an older still Canon Rebel DSLR and photographed a chickadee in my backyard. So the "Chickadee Challenge" was born. Create an image of a small sparrow sized bird and post an uncropped image of it. Today I repeated the challenge in my front yard with a Canon 7D MkII and a Canon 50mm F 1.8 lens. The camera settings use were AV mode, ISO 800,F 8.0 at 1/160th of a sec. A Canon 550EX set to - 1 1/3rd stops was used for fill flash. #teamcanonusa, #teamcanonGod's love and blessings to all, chris

Knothole Feeders

I built two new knothole bird feeders this last week and I have been trying them out in the yard. I just have to remember to take them in each time I use them or the Gray Squirrels will tear them apart to get to the seed. On Friday the birds were using them non stop. They love that black sunflower seed. Here are a few sample images from the feeders. All images were created with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and a Canon 100-400IS V.1 lens.The camera settings varied. #teamcanonusa, #teamcanon God's love and blessings to all, chris