Some shots from around the feeder, and a curious visitor (pic heavy). C&C welcome.

Phranquey · Jan 17, 2009

Playing with the new lens the last few days.

1) Female Cardinal

2) White-throated Sparrow

3) Tufted Titmouse

4) White-breasted Nuthatch

5) Red-bellied Woodpecker

Normally, I don't care for pics of birds on the feeder, but I thought these came out pretty good.

6) White-breasted Nuthatch

7) Red-bellied Woodpecker

And this little guy decided to come check out what I was up to. He got brave enough that he was almost inside my minimum focal distance....close enough for some portrait work. :mrgreen:

8) Checking everything out

9) Posing

MHarvey · Jan 17, 2009

I have only seen one black squirrel before and that one was brought to me to taxidermy. Love the first red bellied woodpecker, its very traditional of woodpeckers, i like that.

laurah · Jan 17, 2009

These are really great. I'm really impressed with how close up you got to the birds (and the squirrel).

GeminiStars · Jan 18, 2009

Neat close-ups. I really want a bird feeder myself. I've also never seen a black squirrel before.

polymoog · Jan 18, 2009

Wonderful series, what camera and lens were you using?

I particularly like nr 7

Markw · Jan 18, 2009

Id also like to know which lens you took these with. The birds are beautiful, as is the squirrel, but their eyes look as if youve used a flash? Am I right in saying this?

Mark

jim44 · Jan 18, 2009

All are excellent in my judgement.

Phranquey · Jan 18, 2009

MHarvey said:
I have only seen one black squirrel before and that one was brought to me to taxidermy. Love the first red bellied woodpecker, its very traditional of woodpeckers, i like that.

GeminiStars said:
Neat close-ups. I really want a bird feeder myself. I've also never seen a black squirrel before.

Thanks. This is the first black squirrel I have seen in the 17 years I have lived in SW Ohio. I used to see them all the time in the Cleveland area, but never around here.

laurah said:
These are really great. I'm really impressed with how close up you got to the birds (and the squirrel).

Thank you. Getting close was a little easier than you may think....I sit in my truck.....:mrgreen:. Birds are a lot less afraid of a vehicle than of a person standing around. I have the feeder behind my lab at work, and at lunch (or after work) I will pull my truck up to the feeder and just sit there quietly with the camera on a Kirk window mount. Within 5 minutes, the birds are flocking all around.

polymoog said:
Wonderful series, what camera and lens were you using?I particularly like nr 7

Markw said:
Id also like to know which lens you took these with. The birds are beautiful, as is the squirrel, but their eyes look as if youve used a flash? Am I right in saying this?

Mark

Thank you very much. These were taken with a D2Xs and 500mm f/4. Although it does look like it, these were not taken with a flash. If you notice the cardinal in #1, and the last two with the squirrel, there is no catch light in the eyes, but there are no shadows either. With the others, you can see hard shadows somewhere in the pic....sunshine in the eyes.