Tag: Birds

Red-shouldered Hawk

by Michael

So, if you can’t catch the hawk as if flies through your yard, go to his yard.

This evening, Karen and I spent some time at the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area (LLELA) to do a little practicing with our cameras before heading to Yellowstone in two weeks.  This is only the second time I’ve been our there, and as I said the first time, I’ve got to get out there more often.  There is wildlife all over the place.  Too many times we yearn for the exotic wildlife we see on television while ignoring the exotic wildlife in our own back yards.

Today, along with meeting a couple of new friends, I got a few good shots of a Red-shouldered Hawk as it sat on an old tree looking for dinner.  A very magnificent bird.  I don’t know if this is the same fellow that flies through my yard scaring the little birds or not, but if I were a little bird, I would run too.  Check out the talons on this guy!

Another new bird to add to my list now is the American Coot!  Can’t say I have ever noticed these guys before, but they are pretty cool looking water fowl.  Black and shiny with the red eyes, white bill, and the black ring on the bill.  They were diving for dinner and didn’t seem to mind the hawk watching over their territory.

It was a good day for wildlife, photos, and making new friends.  I look forward to returning again in the near future and possibly maybe even helping out in the area.

Back Yard Birds

by Michael

This evening I spent time in my back yard, honing my skills with my new lens and catching some of the local wildlife.  In my case, “the local wildlife” just happens to be “common birds.”  But, as I learned recently, just because these birds are common in my back yard, they are not necessarily common in everyone’s back yard, so I share what I have with you.

First is one of my favorites; the Blue Jay.  I think this is one of the prettiest birds God created, even if their attitude doesn’t match their looks.  But I’m learning that they really are the quintessential bully.  They make a lot of noise, but when it comes right down to it, they are afraid of their own shadow.  Take this shot for instance.  I have to be quick to catch a good shot of these guys because they either fly away quickly, or turn their back on me.  At least, with its back turned, I got a great shot of the details of its feathers.  Very pretty bird.

Probably the most numerous birds I have are the doves.  I have a whole flock of them that come every evening to pick up the seeds that the other birds knock out of the feeders.  They are great, but they too get flustered easily.  It is funny to watch them because around 6pm, they will start lining up on the fence.  And then, almost as if on cue, they all descend to the ground together and begin eating.  These two on the fence looked like they were discussing why the guy on the porch kept pointing the big clicky thing at them.  🙂

And last but not least, are my House Finches.  I have several of these in my back yard as well.  They are not as numerous as the Doves, but they are close.  They aren’t quite as skittish as the other birds, and they don’t seem to mind the flash of the camera.  Their coloring lends to some very pretty pictures too.

So, that’s my birds from this evening.  There was one out-of-the-ordinary thing that happened this evening.  At one point, all the birds in the yard, at one time, took off in a mass exodus from the area.  I hadn’t heard any noises or anything, and I couldn’t figure out what had happened.  Then, about that time, a Hawk flew through my back yard, right at eye level with me.  I was shocked!  It was beautiful.  And then I thought… “I have a camera right in front of me!” but it was too late.  Doh!  Maybe it will return and land long enough for me to get a picture some day.  But until then, I’ll just have to wait and practice.

Test Firing the Canon EF600mm f/4L IS + 2x

by Michael

So, now that I have added the Canon EF600mm f/4L IS to the lens lineup, I just couldn’t resist trying it out with my Canon 2x TC.  Of course, I lost autofocus on my 7D due to the 2-stop light loss, but I figured “Hey, I used to focus manually way back in the olden days, so why can’t I do it now.”

All I have to say is “WOW”!  Canon really knew what they were doing when they built this stuff.  I was shooting at ISO 800 and 400, and considering I was manually focusing at 1200mm (with my almost 50 year old eyes), I’m pretty impressed with the outcome.

These are just simple birds from my back yard, but they really show off the power of this lens.  Thank you Canon!  These shots, while having been resized for the Web, have not been cropped in any way.  The EXIF data is intact on these images if you are at all curious of the settings.

To begin, I focused on my feeder and waited.  Eventually, along came one of my local House Finches.  I have lots of these guys around the house and they are always willing to model for me.

Wow, not bad.  Not quite as clear as at the native 600mm, but not bad, especially when it comes to posting on the Web!

Listening, I could hear chirping coming my neighbor’s yard, so I turn to find another one of the little fellows up in the top of one of their trees!  A distance shot!  Great test!

Not too shabby.  Looks like I might take this 2x with me to Yellowstone next month!  Might help out with those long shots of the wolves in the Lamar Valley!

Next up was a local Mockingbird that landed on my bird bath.  This was the first time I have seen him/her there so I fired away.  (One of these days I need to figure out how to tell the guys from the gals for this species.)  You can certainly tell that the depth of focus is really narrow shooting at this range.  Still, very clear! 

As I’m sitting there enjoying the early afternoon, I hear my buddies the Bluejays approaching.  They always announce their approach and all the other birds scatter.  Funny thing is though, these guys really are bullies!  They make a lot of noise and scare other birds, but they are about the most skittish birds that visit my back yard.  I have the hardest time luring them out for a photograph.  They will hide in the trees, swoop down to be a peanut or two, and then right back to the safety of the tree before the camera can even focus on them.  But not tonight!  With the big gun, I can get him even when he is hiding in the tree!  I’m really liking this lens!  (I’m starting to get redundant.)

And last but not least, there are always a few doves around sitting on the fence, all made up with their blue eyeshadow.  They seem to be able to sit there for hours, just watching me and the other birds.  Then sooner or later, a whole flock of them will descend to the ground and start picking up the seeds that the finches have knocked out of the feeders.  These guys are good models because they don’t move much, so even as the sun is setting, you can still use a pretty slow shutter-speed with them.

So that was it for the evening.  I didn’t see my Northern Cardinals around, but they can’t be far away.  Maybe by Saturday morning I’ll be able to catch the “early birds” as they are rooting around looking for those fabled worms.