Birds are elusive these days. Normally, bird photography in the Valley is like shooting fish in a barrel, but during these winter months, they scatter at the first waft of my human being stink. Oh, they’re out there alright. I can hear them. I can see them. They’re in the leafiest part of the trees.

But soon as I grab my camera, somehow they know it, and they fly away.

So I have to be stealthy. And patient. And I am not good at either, but I want.. no… I neeeed to see the difference in my “ornithotography” with my new camera.

Dusky evening after rain showers, appx. 10 meters distance.                                     ISO 200, f/4 at 1/1600 of a second, 280mm.

The next day, I was itching for more.

I know where they hang out. I could just sit there and wait. Patience is critical and I certainly have the luxury of time….

So I waited.

I stood still as a tree.

 I stood upwind.

I hid behind  a tree trunk.

And then it happened after 10 minutes. Or eternity…  by my standards, they’re pretty close when I am excited about anything.

A Green and White Hummingbird perched on our garden’s finest flower bush…which had recently been cut back to stumpy branches.

Nowhere to hide. I’ve got you now….

All photos below at ISO200, f/4 at 1/400 of a second, 220mm.

Ruffled feathers…1 part cold temperatures, 3 parts fierce protection of his domain.

Defendor!

It wasn’t long before he sung his heart out!

GW’s sing a dainty “twit-tweet-chirp” chorus, but when faced with the threat of any other bird, no matter how large, they emit a clicking gurgle…and it’s an effective approach. As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, these birds are smart enough to chase another into the glass walls.

I’ve been the victim of several head buzzing fly bys. These birds are scared of no one….when it comes to flower nectar and territory.

For the first go around, I am satisfied with the end result. The detail is incomparable to my old camera and there was little developing left to do.

I am using a 200mm lens with an f/2.8. And a 1.4 extender. I don’t seem to want to remove the extender, of course now I have to, to compare.

Here are some tips if you want to try catching some birds yourself:

• Adjust your shutter speed to no less than 1/100 of a second, on the low end. Birds move. Alot. And Fast. You don’t want to miss the perfect shot!
• Hand hold your camera, unless you have a specific spot to train your tripod. Birds move around too much and appear in too many different directions to lock yourself into one area.
• If you have image stabilizers, use them if you’re hand holding.
• Autofocus….manual focus…both work. AF gives me a greater number of in focus photos. That little sensor is a lot faster than my hands. I start with AF, then move to MF for fine tuning, if I have time or think it’s necessary. Tree branches and leaves confuse AF almost every time, so be prepared to reset your shutter with nearly every shot.
•  Try a lower ISO for detail’s sake.
• A lower f/stop will blur your background nicely and force your bird to stand out as the focal point.
• Zoom, baby! Use the high end of your telephoto.
• Lighting conditions ultimately determine what settings you’ll want to use. Birds are active at dawn and dusk, but we do see them in sunlight. Trees add yet another condition with spotty sunlight and shade.  Just check your results asap and adjust as needed.

I hope you enjoyed this post. I’d love to hear your tips or see your photos! Comment with a link to your page! In the meantime, I’ll be hiding out while looking out for the transient birds of prey that have been hanging around lately…wish me luck!!

~julie