Thursday, November 12, 2020

Bird Shots

I don't typically have the patience to sit in the woods or along a body of water to photograph wildlife. When I go outdoors to capture images, I prefer to keep moving, keep my eyes open, and stop only if something catches my eye.

As soon as I've taken a few pictures, I like to keep moving, looking for more subjects to photograph.

This summer, DW and I set up a bird feeder under our choke-cherry tree, and have taken pleasure as we've viewed myriad finches, cardinals, woodpeckers, and more feathered friends. DW, having renewed her interest in photography with her mirrorless Canon, likes to sit in our backyard and digitally capture these birds. I would often join her, with one of my Nikon D-SLRs and my 70-300mm lens, and do the same, though after a time I lose patience and set my camera down.

Other times, I've attached one of my 360-degree video cameras to the same branch and record the birds as they've come and gone, but lately I've lost interest in setting up the camera, only to cut scores of video that shows little or no action.

Last weekend, the two of us decided to wander around Mud Lake, along the Ottawa River, near Britannia Village, and we both brought our cameras and some bird seed. Having hiked this conservation area a few weeks earlier, on the Thanksgiving weekend, we saw how the birds like to come close, hoping for a treat. DW, who saw nuthatches on our previous walk but didn't have her camera, was hoping to capture one this time.

She needn't have worried: nuthatches are in abundance in this part of the city, as common as the chickadees that landed on us, whether we had seeds in our hands or not.

Because we wanted to keep a safe distance from the many other visitors who had the same idea of wandering Mud Lake, we opted to stray off the path, set seeds on fallen logs or tree stumps, sit back with our cameras at the ready, and see what happens.

We weren't disappointed.

We also saw lots of ducks, geese, and other fowl, including this wood duck.


The only birds that eluded our lenses were a female cardinal and a downy woodpecker, who flittered in the bushes or climbed out of sight, high atop the trees. But that's okay: we know they like our backyard feeder.

Happy Thursday!



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