I've been stuck at home since March with nothing to shoot but my backyard birds but the D5/D850 shutter would scare the birds away so now I shoot back there with a Z6 in Silent Mode and the birds are happy. Funny how much that increased keepers even while gambling on low SS-s (for me anyway).
this is a very rare visitor for the Charlotte area, he started coming last spring and stopped by this spring for a couple of weeks.
RandyR wrote:
I've been stuck at home since March with nothing to shoot but my backyard birds but the D5/D850 shutter would scare the birds away so now I shoot back there with a Z6 in Silent Mode and the birds are happy. Funny how much that increased keepers even while gambling on low SS-s (for me anyway).
this is a very rare visitor for the Charlotte area, he started coming last spring and stopped by this spring for a couple of weeks.
Could this bird be taking a sojourn ? Because birds can and do.
Like no other animal Class (and because of flight), birds enjoy the freedom to go wherever they choose, whenever they choose (with exception to environmental limiting factors...winter!!)
Individual birds (within the species and most often because they have yet to get involved with reproduction; i.e. juveniles) might “take-off” to some other part of the country (or even the globe), just because they want to (and can); i.e. a whim. Young eagles are known for it.
An example: In August 2019, an immature Great Black Hawk (native to South America) showed up in Portland, Maine. It arrived to a stand of veteran Northern Red Oaks (named Deering Oaks). So, here it was, several thousand miles north of the range of its species. And the cold temps of late fall/early winter gradually set in. It got frost-bite. I think this bird’s demise resulted from it becoming “hooked" on the abundance of Gray Squirrels in this pure stand of mature oaks.
Back to birds in general: Because of their gift of flight, most bird *species* (Class Aves) are able to change (expand/contract) their geographical ranges (not to be confused with home range) relatively quickly, compared to the other animal Classes (reptiles, mammals, amphibians..)
Going out on the limb a little farther: You might be really lucky. A Summer Tanager has shown at your place two different years. Could Summer Tanagers be thinking about nesting in the area? Or have they already? If it is a juvenile, it can’t be the same individual. So, could there be two different birds that visited?
Very interesting visitor you have. What brought it there? I think we all would like to learn more about your visitor.
bs kite wrote:
Perfect lighting for this bird and its white! Nice capture!
Best to you Lance
Thank you very much for your kind comment, Robert!
I actually had to move right around the bird to get the best light and background, he was so engrossed in looking for food he wasn't concerned by me at all.
African Thrush... CHU_3224-4 by C Eseka, on Flickr
D850, 500PF, 1/800, ISO800, f5.6
first time i am noticing what looks like moire in any of my D850 pictures
The previous post of a Cattle Egret that I had taken just a few days ago.
I was plowing on the side of a playa lake where the weeds were tall and taking over. I was plowing these weeds when the cattle egrets started landing and catching grasshoppers that I scared up out of the weeds. They would land right in front of the tractor and then quickly walk, jump or fly out of the way and then stand and look for grasshoppers. There were three of them that did this for two hours while I plowed. I was afraid that I would run over but they always got out of the way. I think they may have thought the big green tractor was a cow.
I took these from the seat of the tractor either with the cab door open or the back window open while stopped.
bs kite wrote:
I think it's an immature Summer Tanager. This from field guides; i.e. I don't believe I've ever seen a Summer Tanager. Scarlet Tanager yes.
You are blessed, and the image you captured is perfect!
thanks
sorry I forgot to say what it is, you are correct it's a juvi summer tanager. He came for the free food. For over 20 years I have had 6 black sunflower feeders add 10 suet cakes as well as perches setup. This has saved me this year but I get so many birds I have to be careful I don't overshoot them.
RandyR wrote:
thanks
sorry I forgot to say what it is, you are correct it's a juvi summer tanager. He came for the free food. For over 20 years I have had 6 black sunflower feeders add 10 suet cakes as well as perches setup. This has saved me this year but I get so many birds I have to be careful I don't overshoot them.
no problem and....
Thanks to you too.
that is what i feed my birds too, sunflower seeds and suet.
Your images are always perfect (so far as I remember).
Your's and Geoff’s setups come to mind when I think of soft, bokeh backgrounds. My songbird backgrounds are almost always cluttered, because I've refused to remove an old Gray Birch that my Dad planted decades ago, thinking it was a White.
by “overshoot", do you mean too many? Don’t worry. we all like to see each other’s best. i never get tired of seeing other’s work, even if he/she shoots one thing more often than anything else. there’s always something different to see.
