Blue Grosbeak!

Heading to Shawnee for the OOS conference, my friend Doug Cook and I got there a day early to do some photography and scout for the photo trip.  Knowing that the Edge of Appalachia was a good place to look, we headed there.  Driving up, we spotted this guy right across from the Eulett Center. There appeared to be two of them, or there was a Indigo Bunting.  

The two were chasing around and even landed in the street a few times.  It was quite fun watching, but we were not the only that noticed these two distracted birds.  It caught the attention of a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

I missed from my vantage point, but Doug saw the hawk swoop in and snatch one of the birds.  The hawk was unlucky and somehow the would-be victim got away. We waited and watched for some time before this beauty came out again.  We did not see the other one.  Not sure if it was wounded or just hiding. This guy did not disappoint us as he came right over to the tree he kept going to before.  

I didn't set up well for this perch.  They kept coming to here before and it was perfect perch , but it was back light.  I wish we had setup about 20 feet forward of where we were, to take advantage of the sun.  I was able to use exposure compensation to get a couple decent pics. 

Lucky, he also flew down to the base of the tree where he was in the shade.  I got these much better exposed pictures.





















































He flew back out of sight after this brief couple minutes.  We waited a few minutes and moved on. Getting to the Shawnee Lodge later in the day, we were able to share our experience and the field trip the next day was able to get nice looks at the Grosbeak too.



Thanks for looking!
Bruce

Adding a water feature

Like many birders, I enjoy feeding birds at home.  It's a nice way to enjoy birds without traveling out.  For quite a few years I have wanted to add a water feature to the yard.  This year I finally got a bird bath.  While my grandiose plans had always envisioned streams and ponds and moving water, this simple little bird bath gets quite the attention.  The first guy (or Gal as the case may be impossible to tell) to come visit were the resident Robins.  They really loved it, but as odd as it may seem, I have not seen a Robin for a while now.

Within a day I had regular visitors coming!

Next the Sparrows and Doves came.  It’s interesting to note that the doves never (at least I haven’t them) dive in 

for a bath.  They perch on the edge and take a drink.

 

One of the benefits of having all these guys in my yard is to give me something to photography when I can’t get out to the park.  It’s also a great place to practice, long lens techniques and different settings on my camera.  I had some slate, so I tried to position it so I could get a picture of the birds coming in without it being too obvious that they are in my yard.

 
Thanks for looking.
Bruce

More Nesting birds from Southern Ohio!

I went with a friend to his 75 acre property in Hocking County.  It's a great piece of land with hardwoods, pine stands, fields of scruffy mixed stuff and a couple ponds.  As you could image, it was bird haven!  We just show up, and we hear a Pine Warbler singing, oh and a Black-and-White Warbler.  The Pine was so wonderful, and not the slightest bit shy.

Click on any photo to see a bigger copy.

Pine Warbler

Black-and-White Warbler

Next we went to a little ravine like area with a flowing  creek through it.  I heard Bee Buzz Buzz.  My heart stops and I get really excited.  Unfortunately it was not what I so hoped for.  This area was loaded with birds.  A Hooded and a Kentucky were to be found here, but these guys do not like their photo taken.  They are on the top of my target list because of this.  Here are two photos that I really shouldn't have even bothered processing, but I do love them so...

Kentucky

Hooded

Took a break to eat lunch.  Thanks to my wife who made up some awesome home-made barbeque sauce and chicken!  After lunch we tried again at those two but gave up.  Off to the ponds!  This is just a awesome area.  I wish I had taken a few environment photos, but did not.  I'll have to do that next time down.  After seeing a Spotted Sandpiper at the pond we searched out more song birds.  We found them!  Seeking a b-list target bird, Yellow-breasted Chat we stopped and were surrounded by White-eyed Vireo, Blue-wing Warbler, Common Yellothroat, and Indigo Bunting.  I didn't get photos of the Vireo or Blue-wing, but I got the others.

Yellow-breasted Chat

Common Yellowthroat

Indigo Bunting

One of the treats of the day was to see this Female Indigo Bunting.  I can't remember seeing one before.  I'm sure I have, but it is a rare sighting.  She is a beauty!

By now it was getting late.  What a wonderful time shooting birds.  I was really thursty and my water supply had run out, so back to the truck we went.  We took the long way around. As we got back to the truck we heard and then saw (wonderful looks) 2 Great crested Flycatchers.  I so wanted a picture of them, but it was not meant to be.

Onward  home.  Over all I didn't get a lot of photos, but some of the ones I did get, turned out pretty nice.  Thanks Greg for sharing this awesome place with me.  I can't wait to go again.

Thanks for looking!

Bruce

Warblers and Friends from Shawnee State Forest

One of my favorite trips (if not my favorite trip) of the year is going to Shawnee State Forest in southern Ohio. Warblers are the prize and it is just so much fun. I went down two days that had marked different weather. Friday was spectacular. The kind of days where even if I wasn’t seeing anything, I’d be happy just to be outside. Lighting was awesome! Amazing what the sun does. Unfortunately in Ohio, we’re lucky to get one or two days like this a week. Saturday it was the overcast with a couple showers that we had to sit through. But I have been trying to learn how to use flash more effectively for days like this. I ended up only needing it for the last two birds (Black-and-White, and Cerulean) we saw and I got nice results!

Friday:
The first place we stopped was really the best place of all. It was still pretty early and I screwed up the flash on this try. Messed up some of the best bird poses, but I got lucky that a couple shots did come out.

Click on any photo to bring up a bigger picture.

1
Pine Warbler (This was a “A-List” target bird for the trip.)




2

3
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher (Common, but still a very cool bird)

4

Eastern Towhee (I love Towhees, even if they are a dime a dozen)

The next stop was to photo one of my favorite Warblers. These guys always put on quite the show, and they are so pretty. Even though I already have great shots of them, I can’t resist getting more. The light could not have gotten better!


5
Prairie Warbler




6





Lastly we were hoping to find a Blue Grosbeak, but none was the luck. However, we did find this beauty! These guys are known skulkers. But he was so cooperative. Light was fading at this point and I turned up the ISO in lieu of flash. A little skittish from the morning…


7
Common Yellowthroat




8





9





Saturday:
The Saturday pictures just don’t have the same pop because the lighting was simply not as good. These first ones were close call, either crank up the ISO or use flash. These were higher ISO. Good or bad, here they are…


10
White-eyed Vireo (This was a “B-List” target bird for the trip.)






11




12




13
Blue-wing Warbler




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It poured down rain for a while. We used this opportunity to move from one end of the forest to the other. As you can see in the second picture, he was soaking wet! I did use flash on these.

15
Black-and-white Warbler





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Lastly another a “A-List” target bird for the trip! By this time is was really bad light. I used flash and was very happy with the results. It really was either flash or put the camera away.

18
Cerulean Warbler




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That's it!

Thanks for looking!

Backyard using a flash

I wanted to play around with using flash as primary light. I feel natural light is way better, but if there is not enough of it, what do you do. So, yesterday afternoon, I put up my chair blind in front of my feeders. In order to get a decent shutter speed (without the flash) I needed at least 800 or maybe even 1000 ISO. With the 40D, this can work at times, but often comes out a little too noisy for birds. A lot of times if the light is as bad as it was last night, I would not have even tried to shoot. But, living in Ohio, I need to work on a solution for the more than not ideal lighting. Interestingly enough as I look though the photos, I did get some good results with no flash and ISO 800, but I also set the F-stop at 5.6. This barely got me 1/200 to 1/250. I usually consider 1/200 as the minimum for decent shots. Anything less does not normally come out, even on a tripod. I also noticed I must have turned on the flash without turning down the ISO, so I have a couple at ISO 800 with flash. I also took a few with few at ISO 400 and 200.
The bright yellow on the Goldfinches really looks plastered to me. I actually got better results than I expected…

The females actually came out better.  They're color is a little darker and the flash didn't was them out as much.

Finally a chickadee to land on my perch.  They are so quick.  Usually they come in straight to the feeder, grab a seed and leave.  This stopped on the perch, just for a second.

If you put up feeders you are going to get House Sparrows.  They are better looking than I like to give them credit for!

Thanks for looking.