Where are the birds?

Firefly said:

Two of them used to come to our yard frequently but not anymore. A bunch of the kids in this neighborhood have air guns. That might explain what has happened to some of the Birds around here...

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I'm sure the majority of us all did it while we were kids but it's aggravating. Once I stopped feeding birds altogether because of this. I felt like I was doing the creatures more of an injustice than helping them.


Sent from my kayak...

Been dark, cloudy, rainy all day until just a while ago...been playing around shooting Black & White today.
This is a Male Bluebird at the tuna can of Mealworms:

Roundball, what zoom setting is that? Like how many times closer? Also, how far are you from the birds in that instance? Thanks


Sent from my kayak...

The tree trunk I have stood up there with that temporary tuna can feeder on it is 25-30 feet away.
Used a 400mm lens which makes the bird somewhat larger but overall still a small object in the total image.
Then when I crop away the empty / wasted space all around the full size image, the remaining central part expands / gets larger as it reclaims / fills up that empty space...hope that's clear.

roundball said:

The tree trunk I have stood up there with that temporary tuna can feeder on it is 25-30 feet away.
Used a 400mm lens which makes the bird somewhat larger but overall still a small object in the total image.
Then when I crop away the empty / wasted space all around the full size image, the remaining central part expands / gets larger as it reclaims / fills up that empty space...hope that's clear.

Click to expand...

I see. I've been thinking of getting a decent camera soon. If I hadn't already spent a TON of money on vehicles, houses, furniture and the soon to be new born baby in the last few months I would've already purchased one. I looked at a canon something with a type of "super zoom". I seen some of the pics from it and they're impressive. This one of course is a digital. Looks good though.


Sent from my kayak...

Some other B&W shots in cloudy low light conditions this morning...




FEMALE DOWNY WOODPECKER





FEMALE DOWNY WOODPECKER





RED BELLIED WOODPECKER





MALE BLUEBIRD

Wade dont go blowing more money before you consult me.

Ashy Larry said:

Wade dont go blowing more money before you consult me.

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Haha. Will do. Actually thought about asking you the other day but got sidetracked.


Sent from my kayak...

roundball said:

Been dark, cloudy, rainy all day until just a while ago...been playing around shooting Black & White today.
This is a Male Bluebird at the tuna can of Mealworms:

Click to expand...

I know the feeling. I managed to get a few shots today. I just ordered a Tamron 150-600 VC lens for my Nikon. My feeders are about 60 feet away from my deck and my pics tend to be a little soft for my 300mm lens.

wademaster said:

I see. I've been thinking of getting a decent camera soon. If I hadn't already spent a TON of money on vehicles, houses, furniture and the soon to be new born baby in the last few months I would've already purchased one. I looked at a canon something with a type of "super zoom". I seen some of the pics from it and they're impressive. This one of course is a digital. Looks good though.

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A first decision point that we all need to make when taking the plunge into anything is really ask ourselves 'what' we're after, want to accomplish, etc.
If its mainly to have a camera around for snapshots, kids soccer games, etc, then most any of the current auto-everything point & shoot equipment will do fine...the shooter doesn't worry about things like exposure controls, basically 'pointing & shooting' in auto mode and letting the technology do everything else....and all that automation usually carries a hefty price tag, not only in the camera bodies, but in the highly automated / stabilized lenses of today as well.

On the other hand, if we have an interest in beginning a hobby in photography for the sake of learning photography, then we usually want to shut off all that automation and start up the learning curve of the ins and outs of the exposure triangle involving ISO speed, Aperture setting, and Shutter Speed.

And financially, the good news is that the "Mirrorless" cameras starting to be produced today, allow all the excellent quality "legacy Lenses" like Canon, Nikon, Minolta, from years ago to be put right back in service and used in manual mode like they always were.
ie: in the 80's my Canon FDn 400/4.5 tel4 cost me $1500 in 1980's dollars...you can pick up a mint used one today in the $400-$500 range.
But more 'normal' commonly used focal lengths in the 50-200mm range are in the $75-$300 range depending on focal length.

Canon FDn lenses are all I happen to use, and in manual mode as I have no interest in all the automation.
That's just my approach...others may have totally different needs or interests of course...which is the main point I'm making...need to try and decide on what type of use / shooting you think you're interested in doing and then that can help steer equipment decisions.

wademaster said:

I'm sure the majority of us all did it while we were kids but it's aggravating. Once I stopped feeding birds altogether because of this. I felt like I was doing the creatures more of an injustice than helping them.


Sent from my kayak...

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Yeah no doubt we did shoot Birds growing up I had a Daisy that I still have from the 50's it still shoots. In our yard the kids can't get to the Birds we are fenced in and so are the neighbors yards.. One lady on the next street over really got on them for shooting Birds back in the nesting season and I haven't seen those boys back around here again. But there are others of course...As a kid I was never allowed to take my air gun out of the house during nesting season..

When the bully, ie mockingbird is away I have started to get cards, juncos, yellow rumped warblers, blue jay, downy wp, ss woodpecker, titmice, black capped chicks, chippers, house finches and one goldfinch to the feeder. And of the course the common dove. I've got tons of bluebirds, but they don't come to the feeders. After feeding they rest in the privet bushes beside the house.