Red-wing and Dicsissel

jeffashman · May 1, 2022

The Red-wing Blackbirds are back in town now that the cattails are growing. They make their nests among the cattails. The males are black with red and yellow on the wings, and the females are brown. This was the only shot that even came close to being acceptable, but I have a few weeks to go back and get some more shots. Will take a portable stool and tripod with me next time. I heard the Dicsissel singing his sweet little song, and then finally spotted him in the tree. These shots may be a little soft, I had been walking for four hours, and my arms were getting tired, so there was a lot of lens movement.

1 Red-wing doing the splits.

apr30202201 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

2 Dicsissel in a tree

apr30202211 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

3 Same bird, slightly different shot and crop

apr30202212 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

John 2 · May 1, 2022

I suspect that they would take a bit of sharpening but they are really not too soft. Nice set.

Jeff15 · May 1, 2022

Good set.....

jeffashman · May 1, 2022

John 2 said:
I suspect that they would take a bit of sharpening but they are really not too soft. Nice set.

Yes, although I had already run them through the sharpener, so concerned that anymore would start producing obvious artifacts.

Jeff15 said:
Good set.....

Thanks!

K9Kirk · May 2, 2022

You sharpened them just enough, imo. it's easy to try too hard and go too far with the sharpening. I still catch myself doing it once in awhile.

Nice set, Jeff.

jeffashman · May 2, 2022

K9Kirk said:
You sharpened them just enough, imo. it's easy to try too hard and go too far with the sharpening. I still catch myself doing it once in awhile.

Nice set, Jeff.

Thanks! Yep, I've done it plenty of times.

terri · May 2, 2022

jeffashman said:
the Dicsissel

I have seen these birds before, but had no idea what they were. Thanks for the ID!

Always love me some red winged blackbirds; they are amazing to watch as a flock taking off. Beautiful sight!

I always enjoy your results - nice work!

jeffashman · May 2, 2022

terri said:
I have seen these birds before, but had no idea what they were. Thanks for the ID!

Always love me some red winged blackbirds; they are amazing to watch as a flock taking off. Beautiful sight!

I always enjoy your results - nice work!

Thank you! We have a beaver pond that has cattails around it, and the red-wings make their nests among them. I plan on taking a stool and tripod and spend some time getting pictures. I figure that if I sit still for a while, they will become less shy. The Dicsissels have a neat little song, so they aren't too hard to find once they start singing.

PJM · May 3, 2022

Very nice shots, Jeff. We have lots of the red-wing BB around here but I always find it hard to get a good shot of them. They seem easily spooked and are always on the move, usually a bit to far away to get a good shot. I look forward to seeing how your session with the seat and the tripod goes.

K9Kirk · May 3, 2022

PJM said:
Very nice shots, Jeff. We have lots of the red-wing BB around here but I always find it hard to get a good shot of them. They seem easily spooked and are always on the move, usually a bit to far away to get a good shot. I look forward to seeing how your session with the seat and the tripod goes.

Agreed, easily spooked. I rarely see one close up and when I do I have to be Quickdraw McGraw on the shutter.

jeffashman · May 3, 2022

PJM said:
Very nice shots, Jeff. We have lots of the red-wing BB around here but I always find it hard to get a good shot of them. They seem easily spooked and are always on the move, usually a bit to far away to get a good shot. I look forward to seeing how your session with the seat and the tripod goes.

Thanks! Hopefully the weather will permit this coming weekend. It's been pouring here over night, which turns the trail extremely muddy.