Some December Birds

14 years ago

Hi all,

It's been a couple weeks since our last post here, so I thot we could share a few photos of our intrepid little friends who are still with us as winter approaches.

Most of our Robins are gone now... This is Bully, who usually stays with us year-round:

Red-winged Blackbirds are kinda rare visitors for us at any time of year, so we try to capture one whenever they stop by:

Our Carolina Wrens are with us all year long:

The White-breasted Nuthatches are also permanent residents here:

We always have quite a lot of Tufted Titmice also:

And we're pretty confident our parent Bluebirds are staying the winter again with us this year... they and the remainder of the family are still coming everyday. Not sure how many of this year's offspring will stay, but here are a couple of the kids who are still here as of now...

A girlbird:

And one of her brothers:

We still have Cardinals, Juncos, Finches, various woodpeckers and many others despite the wind and cold, tho we've not spotted any Pine Siskens yet. We'll likely post shots of some of these others soon maybe...

Meanwhile, we hope you enjoy these,

Kenn & Temple

Here is a link that might be useful: Latest Slideshow

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Comments (9)

jannd
14 years ago
What stunning photos! I just joined this forum in the past week, so I'm new to seeing your work. I want to be able to take great bird photos and plan to buy a camera next year. Do you have any tips beyond the particular Canon model that you use? How about the lens? Thank you for sharing these beautiful shots.
rachel_frome_ky
14 years ago
BEEEEEEyutiful!!!!
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Sylvia, your white mum is so pretty. I've now seen yours and Roselee's white mum's and I'm tempted to grow them. I'll bet they looked really pretty when you had many all blooming together. What is that red berry? Is it also a Nandina? I see the Paper Whites at the nurseries but I've not tried them yet. I'll have to look those up to see how to care for them. Thanks for the ID on the Bulbine. I had to google it, but, that's it exactly. I found this description on the web: "....The fresh leaf produces a jelly-like juice that is wonderful for burns, rashes, blisters, insect bites, cracked lips, acne, cold sores, mouth ulcers and areas of cracked skin. This plant is ideal to grow and is a useful first-aid remedy for childrens' daily knocks and scrapes. The Rastafarians make an infusion of a few fresh leaves in a cup of boiling water. The strained drink is taken for coughs, colds and arthritis. This bulbine is mostly dormant in summer, blooming in the spring, and then again in the fall although somewhat less. It can be propagated easily by stem cuttings. The cuttings can be planted immediately and kept in a shady area. They don't need any special attention or treatment, and build strong root in a couple of months." I learn something new everyday. Thanks.
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kendra2003
14 years ago
As always, stunning photos. You're lucky. All I'm seeing around here right now are Juncos and Blue Jays. I sure hope I get visits by some of the birds that came last winter (Bluebirds, Pine Siskins, and Common Redpolls), or it will be a very boring winter.
nmgirl
14 years ago
I am always amazed at the quality of your photos. Simply beautiful!
gldno1
14 years ago
These pictures are magnificent! I wish I had bought the Canon instead of the Panasonic! but I suspect the photographer behind the lens makes all the difference.

Could you share the setting you used. I am just now making myself learn to use my camera properly.

I have all the same birds here.

glenda
kenn3d
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks to all for your very nice comments,

We love to share our birds... it adds to our joy of them when others enjoy them also. :)

jannd and glenda -
We shoot with Canon S3 and S5 cameras to which we often attach a Sony 1.7x Teleconverter:

These Canon models are both superceded now, but can still be found on ebay etc. We've been pleased to make some nice pictures with them, but there are many similar (and superior) cameras available from various manufacturers. I think it matters much more that the user becomes comfortable enuf with the camera's controls to be able to respond quickly when the shot presents.

We shoot in Manual mode and adjust settings for each shot or series. There are just too many variables of light, and distance, and composition from shot to shot, so we can't recommend any specific setting. Generally tho:
We keep the ISO setting as low as possible (to minimize noise).
We use Spot metering as a guide to set our exposures to -1/3 at the brightest part of the bird. (to avoid blowing whites).
We shoot in High Continuous burst mode (a very modest 2+ frames/sec on our cameras)... and usually capture several or as many frames as possible while the birds are in our viewfinder. You never know when that one lovely pose may be offered. :)

Otherwise, our best advice is...
Spend as much time with your birds as you can, and take a LOT of pictures of them. Getting close is paramount, and they do become accustomed to your presence after awhile. Don't be afraid to experiment, and try to understand what settings and circumstances caused the blurry, dark, blown, and out-of-focus shots you get. Learning to use your camera takes practice, and nothing will improve your photos more.

Hope this is helpful.

Happy birding all,

Kenn
rachel_frome_ky
14 years ago
Wow, Kenn-thank you for taking the time to help new photographers. Your advice to get as close as possibl, use bursts, and practice constantly applies to all levels of bird photography! Don't forget to mention the importance of keeping light low and behind you if at all possible. Early morning, later afternoon usually have best lighting conditions.

I have my own policy, though-if in doubt..TAKE THE PHOTO! It's digital, so can just delete bad pics.

DB bot me a second terabyte hard drive, so I'll shoot 2000 pics in an outing, edit and save maybe 20-30, pick out a few for my web album, then after getting IDs on all birds, delete the original file.

I move all photo files to the second hard drive, yet my Picasa Web album screen saver slide show will find them, add my web album, and even throw in pics with my, or my daughter's name from other people's web albums for the slide show (I don't know how it knows her name??)
gldno1
14 years ago
Rachel, I need to check out the terabyte. I have an older computer with not a lot of space left on the hard drive and it worries me...a lot.

I take lots of pictures, mostly the farm and garden in the warm seasons and birds in winter. I need to be really good about deleting often or transferring to cd's. The disadvantage to the cd is finding the darned picture when you want it.

glenda
jannd
14 years ago
Thank you so much for the info and tips, Kenn. Most helpful! Your photos are just spectacular.

Some December Birds

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Some December Birds

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