Sunday, August 14, 2011

Some bird photos that could have been good

Sometimes when you're trying to photograph birds, you just don't have the tools or the skills (in my case I lack both) to get that quintessential photograph of the species before you.  I see some of these professional photographers blogs and photo galleries and I could easy cast myself into the gutter by comparing myself to them...but why do that when I'm having fun and enjoying what I have.  I'm still running on a just 150mm lens, so I'm especially grateful for those wonderful cooperative birds which pose nearby for me.  Here is a series of bird photographs of not-so-cooperative birds.  I love these birds and hope to one day get better photos for posterity's sake.  For now, these will have to do.

Blue Grosbeak - taken while looking for the Dickcissel in Farmington, Utah.  I had wonderful evening light, several regularly used perches, but not enough mm's to get close enough of that one great shot.  Steve Creek has taken my favorite Blue Grosbeak photo that I have ever come across. 
Plumbeous Vireo - Camp Maple Dell Scout Camp - Several of these birds would come through our camp each afternoon.  I did get a pretty darn good photo of this species at the Gilbert Water Ranch in Arizona, even though I didn't know what bird I was looking at at first.
Green-tailed Towhee - I used to see this at my birding patch in Arizona when I first started birding.  I saw them often enough that I thought they were everywhere for everyone.  I soon learned better.  I dipped on them in Idaho, but now I've seen and heard a few in Utah.  I think they are among the very cool looking birds.  Too bad this photo didn't do this handsome bird justice.  Oh, well.  There will be future opportunities!

4 comments:

  1. Those are good photos even if they are distant ones! Also - your blog heading really says it all - "Birding is fun"!!

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  2. I agree with Mick. I don't have fancy equipment either, but I have found that my desire to get good shots has made me pay more attention to the world around me. I notice things now I would have walked by before. Birding IS fun :)

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  3. Thanks for the kind words on my Blue Grosbeak photo.

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  4. I am so with you! even with my 300mm zoom I often do not get the shots I want. However, I do not want to have to lug around anything larger and so I settle for what I get get and, like you, I get a lot of fun out of it! Also, the photos do not have to be spectacular to illustrate your blog or prove you saw the bird. Fun should be the bottom line in my book, but I, too, am often frustrated!!!!!

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