Reader Ivar Husa offers some birds to fill the gap; do send me your good wildlife photos, especially if you sent them to me before last Monday and haven’t seen them yet (as I said, there was a computer disaster). Ivar’s note:
I trust many have offered fresh critter pics. Here are a few from me, all taken in lovely eastern Washington, along the banks of the Yakima River
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus):
Black-chinned hummingbird, Archilochus alexandri):
Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus):
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia):
Gorgeous colour saturation and composition, Ivar!
Ivar, great photos! The hummers, especially, are exceptional…
Good birds; good Yule!
Beautiful pictures. I have lately been appreciating the importance of having a soft, out of focus background, and these are exemplary.
Photographers go crazy for good bokeh in lenses. Primes seem to give the best.
Absolutely. In my own collection of pix I sometimes find myself lost in the bokeh, pretty much ignoring the main subject.
Lovely shots. I happened to notice that the color of each bird is playing off very well against each background in all of these shots. The red of the finch, for instance is enhanced by the complimentary green of the background. The first hummer ties into the background through the green iridescence of the feathers. Second hummer similarly with rust-red. The sparrow is harmonized in a chestnut setting. Completely accidental? Or intelligently designed?
Fantastic photos. The sharpness of the color is grilling.
grilling=gripping
Lesson: never trust the autocorrect on your iPhone
Mistakenly posted a ? about House Finches over on the Hili thread, but here’s the answer to how they got to the East Coast, from here.
The House Finch was originally a bird of the western United States and Mexico. In 1940 a small number of finches were turned loose on Long Island, New York, after failed attempts to sell them as cage birds (“Hollywood finches”). They quickly started breeding and spread across almost all of the eastern United States and southern Canada within the next 50 years.
Diane G might know the answer to this….I’ll poke her one.
Looks like Hempenstein’s the one who answered the question, Diana… 🙂
I’ll just add that I tend to think of the eastern House Finches as an invasive species for that very reason (their relatively recent, inadvertent release, and their subsequent burgeoning). I get scads of them monopolizing my feeders, and they’re infamous for spreading disease, especially a usually lethal eye infection. IME this I particularly true in years when their local numbers are highest, and I suspect part of the problem is overpopulation.
As I remember it, they exhibit much less crowding in their original, western range.
Just recently on a bird forum the subject arose as to why there are so many more western house finches that show (diet-related) color variations, and an ornithologist said a main hypothesis attributed that to the relatively small numbers of released finches in the east & therefore less available genetic variation.
…this *is* particularly true…
I knew I was right to page you!
All beautiful!!
Well done. Very sharp photos. I have all those species here.
By the way, I was so impressed with Tara Tanaka’s digiscoped videos that I hinted (not very subtly) that I wanted a Swarovski spotting scope for Christmas. I now have it, but I need a few more items before I can try some photography with it.
I’d like to know what else is needed. I assume some kind of adapter for the camera? I might have to do some hinting of my own.
First, I need an adapter to attach the scope to the swiss-arca quick release plates on my tripods. Then, to take photos, I’ll need a mirrorless camera and a lens (DSLRs don’t work very well in this application) and I’ll need an adaptor to attach the camera to the scope. The scope is by far the major expense.
Which mirrorless camera are you looking at? Sony has a full frame available now.
Yet to be determined. I have to do some research. I want to play around with the scope for a while before attempting photography. The weather isn’t conducive to photography this time of year anyway.
There are two cameras I’ve looked at –
The Panasonic GH4, which Tara uses, has a four thirds sensor, and does 4K imaging.
The Sony A7 has a full frame sensor which provides much better sensitivity, 4K imaging, and it also, I believe, produces shallower depth of field for better bokeh.
I love the rufous hummingbirds. We don’t have them here, but I saw a swarm of them in BC once.
Thanks for the compliments, guys. The first three images were taken in the shade of a back yard with a bright sunny sky above.
With a fast shutter speed and large aperture, one can almost freeze a hummer wing mid-stroke. It certainly helps to have very good equipment as well.
Sometimes the background was brightly lit, and other times not.
Side note. As I was admiring a flock with thousands of water fowl over the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, a friend passed over a pair of Swarovski binoculars.
I was so stunned at the quality of the image, when I first looked through them that I all but gasped and looked at the brand. Swarovski. Nice equipment. I am looking forward to more great images Stephen! I really am a fan and admirer or your images.
It’s the class of computer problem which in locally we call a “PEBCAK” problem. “Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard”.
Been there, done that, got that particular chair wired to Ground and the keyboard at 14kV.
Reblogged this on The Logical Place.
Spectacular shots, very nice work. It’s snowing here in western Washington today, so it is pleasurable seeing photos from the summer.
What a treat for the eyes, Ivar!