Birdwatching

I just plum forgot to post this one.

This should be the last of the hummingbird photos I post this season. Unless I manage to get something that trumps all of the previous shots but I don’t see that happening right now.

On Saturday I experimented with shooting the birds in flight. To do this I put some distance between myself and the feeder to put the birds at ease. While I got some great shots, I ended up having to crop-zoom to get something that would fill the frame.

That means as good as that shot above is, that’s also it in terms of resolution and file size. It’s not printable but makes good web copy.

Same for these

But today I moved in closer to the feeder. The birds were quite a bit more wary and were reluctant to come in close. They did come and I imagine they will become braver if I keep it up.

What a difference a few feet make, though.

The above image is resized for the web, but the full res version is 2148×1432. That’s quite a difference for just a few feet, some serious sweat equity and a lot of patience.

I’ve learned quite a bit via this exercise about focal length and shooting fast moving targets, not to mention the capabilities and the limitations of my gear. And best of all, I had a ton of fun doing it!

Hopefully my handful of readers are not sick to death of seeing hummingbirds and haven’t abandoned all hope and moved on to less feathery region of the Internet.

A challenge I set for myself today was to sit out in the yard and be very still in an effort to take some handheld pics of the hummers in flight. Initially when I would move the camera into position the birds would fly away but after awhile they seemed less fearful of my presence. In fact, I think some of the birds were taking advantage of my presence to scare away the competition.

Shooting a fast moving target as small as this was not easy. Getting the focus quickly and maintaining it almost proved too much for me but I kept at it. The fast aperture of the SAL-135F18Z was good for stopping action. the focal length was pretty restrictive, though. That being said, I think it would be an even bigger struggle zooming in and out in the time you have before they fly away.

These are the results of my initial efforts:

There’s between 4 and 5 different hummers visiting our feeders, all struggling to exert control over this food resource. The balance of power has tipped a few times and right now there’s no clear dominant bird. One zips in and feeds only to be chased away and while those guys are duking it out another swoops in to take advantage.

The hummer to the right in the above picture is clearly unhappy with the interloper, but the interloper pays no heed to the stern look and the splayed tail feathers and continues to drink the sweet, sweet nectar. But he’s no fool. Once the more aggressive hummer take to the air and begins his dive-bombing routine our plucky hero can only retreat.

They’re less and less fearful of me, allowing me to sit outside fairly close and shoot this pics. There’s more in the pipe as I get them processed.