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March 28, 2008

Friday Feathers

One afternoon while photographing gulls I heard a familiar tapping. The sound didn't register immediately. Eventually I turned my head, looked up at the tree nearby, scanned the naked branches and then I saw it: a Downy Woodpecker. Ahh, that's where the tapping was coming from.

The problem with photographing birds in trees is when the wind kicks in. The tree branches shift and this sudden movement can make things difficult. Though the bird remains on the same branch you're focused on, branches waving in the breeze can sometimes get in the way. Depending on how high the bird is in the tree, this can turn into a bit of a dance for the photographer trying to capture the image. Birds move, so you move with them. After a lot of camera shifting to the left, right, up and down, you finally arrive at a clear shot. You press the shutter, check the display and think "hey, that's a keeper!"

I like both of these photographs. The first, because of the way the woodpecker is hanging from the tree branch, and the second because the bird's eye is (magically!) crystal clear. If only the branches didn't get in the way. *sigh* Next time I'll just climb the tree, cut down the offensive tree appendages, then take the picture. ;-)

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March 21, 2008

Friday Feathers

Photographing birds in flight has long been an exercise that I continue to practice whenever I can. There aren't many feathered ones around simply because a lot of the northeastern birds are currently on vacation. ;-)

Birds that don't leave include gulls, and I've taken a number of decent photographs of them. When I have my 200-500mm lens pointed up toward the sky after spotting approaching birds, I later discover that it's not just another gull in my view. Sometimes it's a completely different type of bird, like this Red-Tailed Hawk.

A common hawk of open country and in cities, the Red-Tailed Hawk circles over open fields and roadsides searching for prey. It is a large hawk with an amazing variety of colors from bird to bird, from chocolate brown to nearly all white. It has a rusty red tail which is usually seen only from above.

Though I've managed to freeze the bird in flight, the quality of the overall image is not ideal. Practice, hopefully, makes perfect. :-)

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March 14, 2008

Friday Feathers

The American Robin is another bird that has offered me many opportunities to photograph it -- as long as I was quick enough to fire off the shot.

I've seen and photographed this bird many times and this image is one of very few I'm okay with. The more I look at the photographs I've taken of birds, the more I find something wrong with them. When I post a photograph here I usually think "well, it's an okay shot." Then y'all stop by and comment that the shot is really good. I guess I'm my own worst critic. :-)

Posted by me, of course! | Comments (2)

March 7, 2008

Friday Feathers

Egret in black and white.

Posted by me, of course! | Comments (8)