Originally posted by wombat2go That is great, Tess
I have about 6 very healthy Cardinals here, but I never have shot birds before.
The Cardinals look slower than your Jays but they fly away from the feeder if I go out.
I have lenses ( M only) up to 200mm and a k-01. Where do I start?
By the way the squirrels are vandalizing the feeder and chasing the birds away and eating my expensive seed.
Hi wombat! Thanks for having a look and for the nice comments. Cardinals here have proved impossible as well... still hoping one will hang around long enough for me to lift the camera to my eye. Squirrels are pains. We have a squirrel proof feeder, but he comes and eats off the porch, sits right beside the birds.
We are just looking at 200mm M lens on ebay, thinking that is a really nice focal length for birds. We also have a K-01 and I have not tried to take BIF with it. That would be interesting as you could track the birds much easier with both eyes open. Also, I talked about technique on my blog (link above) if you are interested in what I did. I only took what I read here and elsewhere and applied the principles. Hoping to improve my skills. Thanks.
Originally posted by slowpez These are great Tess. You really got some wonderful action shots. Am going to have a look at your link now.
Thank you Susan! I have a huge respect for your BIF shots.
Originally posted by daacon Both you and Norm have done very well. Did not realize it was for the price of cheese - will have to try that in the spring here.
Thanks Dave. We squished the cheese into the needles of the tree so they had to sit for a moment to free it... they are very tame wild birds living in a somewhat tame part of a wild landscape. I feel like I am cheating on a test.
Originally posted by joe.penn Very nice Tess! On a side note, I have never seen so many different tags on one bird...
Thanks Joe. There is a complex long term Grey Jay study going on here... since the 70s. I recently bought the book with the statistical findings to date. Each band represents an identifier of the bird... sex, age, location, name. The study has shown that our shorter winters have reduced the population of grey jays. Along with logging, the impacts have actually made grey jay populations extant in certain areas where they used to thrive.
Originally posted by bigted A wonderful series.
Thank you Ted!
Originally posted by Bob Harris piece of cheese, now that is a cheap date. These are great Tess, better than Norms, but don't tell him that.
If only all the birds out there could be bought in this way!! Thanks Bob