Fun with birds on perches

[Steve Foss]

Hey all:

I saw that the cloudy weather was finally about to break after a zillion cloudy, rainy days, so I headed out into the blind to do some avian work. The light was overcast but pretty bright, and I got in a couple hours of shooting before the sun came out completely and ruined things.

Here they are, in no particular order. All with the Canon 30D and Canon 100-400L IS at 200 to 400mm, iso200, apertures from f7.1 to f8, shutter speeds from 1/200 to 1/500, tripod.

Immature male red-winged blackbird

Dark-eyed junco 1

Dark-eyed junco 2

Alert blue jay

A gracklish irridescence

Fox sparrow in the grass (one of my fave sparrows)

Female red-winged blackbird

Dark-eyed junco 3

Dark-eyed junco 4

[Paul]

I love post 5. Great shots as always.

[jonny_redhorse]

I like the blue-jay!....all nice of course

[finnbay]

Well done, as usual Steve. Tried to do some of the same last night, but waited until it was too late and couldn't get a shutter speed fast enough to get what I wanted. They're okay, but not like yours. I remember our conversation last spring when you were excited to be able to take prime time to do the photography you wanted. I'm jealous. Couple of years to retirement and I'll get the same opportunity!

[The_Duckslayer]

Steve, you are the only person that I know that can make a grackle look that good. It's y favorite just for the iridescence of the colour’s! Thanks for sharing! Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

[finnbay]

Steve,

This is what the chickadees think of me when I try to get those nice bird photos like yours.

[Steve Foss]

Thank you, guys.

Ken I've got more than a few pics of chickadee butts myself.

[Dbl]

Really some nice stuff here Steve, I think the junco2 and grackle shots stand out for me. Just nice light, and sharp! Great stuff.

[B. Amish]

I like the pictures, but I have one question:

How did you get so close to the buck and get him to stand still for the pic?

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, Dan. These aren't home runs, but sometimes in the middle of photo excursions and weddings and portraits (which are a lot of fun), I just have to escape to the blind and watch birds from six feet away. When you're that close, even the common birds look very cool.

B. Amish, I'd like to say I pay a local boy to put horns on his head like what's in your avatar, but it's just a perch nailed to my feeder.

[Swimmer]

Great shots Steve. I favor the Grackle and also like the "ground" sparrow.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, swimmer. Good to see you back again.

[Nate McVey]

Female red-winged black bird for me (of course they are all great shots), I know just the place to hang that one