Yesterday morning I finally found another cooperative nuthatch. It’s been a while.
1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
He kept coming back to the same cone-laden Douglas Fir tree in the mountains to harvest its seeds which he sometimes ate and sometimes cached. I took hundreds of photos of him but most will be deleted for various reasons but especially for the lack of a catch light in the eye. They spend most of their time facing the cone they’re feeding on so often I can’t even see the eye, much less get a catch light.
Typical of me takeoff and flight shots were a priority but these little guys are quick and in the often dappled light sufficient shutter speed was a huge obstacle. But I kept trying.
When these birds are ready to move on to another cone they often look down just prior to takeoff which I take as a signal to begin firing a burst.
1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
This time I managed to keep him in frame, but just barely. I had enough shutter speed to get him sufficiently sharp and I was incredibly lucky that he turned his head 45° relative to his body which provided a good look at his face and eye. I wish I had more room at the bottom of the frame for a more pleasing composition but I can live with this one.
I haven’t yet had time to review all the nuthatch photos I took yesterday so for today’s post I just picked out these two that I thought were interesting.
I’ll probably post more of them soon.
Ron
I am impressed by the athleticism of these tiny things.
Me too. Every day.
Check twice; delete once! 😉
The takeoff shot is amazing — looks like he’s divebombing, but I know he isn’t. Birds never fail to delight and fascinate!
Good advice, Marty. Thanks.
Great catch! When they drop it is fast.
They sure do, especially when it’s a power drop which it often is.
WOW.
I am really, really looking forward to more from this series. Gravity defying at its best and most beautiful.
Thanks, EC. I’m pretty sure I’ll be posting more of them soon.
Right place. Right time. Right photographer. Like trying to photograph a gremlin from the old Twilight Zone episode.
That’s a pretty accurate analogy, Lyle – unless they’re feeding on cone seeds, then they’re slightly easier.
These are a 12 on a 10 scale and would be very nice sold in a set…[lol eyeball, but true…]
I’ll take a 12 out of 10 any day… 🙂 Thanks, Diane.
Love these little clowns, alas we only get them every 2nd or 3rd winter. It depends on the mast up north.
Thank you, Jo.
Oh my, Ron! These guys are so hard to photograph! What a delight!!! I can almost hear the tinny “yank yank”. Love it!
Yup, that call is very distinctive, Diane. And thankfully it’s very useful in locating them.
Love these photos…it looks like he just decided to let go and drop. Very nice catch! 😍 Really like these Red-Breasted ones…wish I had them coming to my trees. I like the black eye streak they have and I do believe they are smaller. I find they prefer northern Wisconsin so I would see them when visiting my mother. Each year we are getting more of the white breasted ones…probably because we are up to 28 or so feeders so they all have their choices fulfilled here plus pine, spruce an a fir tree. ! 🙂 Love their antics.
Wow, that’s a bunch of feeders, Kathy. And seed to fill them!
That is really a hard photo to get especially that sharp. Great job. I was laughing a few days back trying to get photos of a group of Bridled Titmice. If you have ever seen them, they never stop moving from branch to branch. Every time I try to catch one, just as I focus it is gone. And then you try and try again and it is pretty much hopeless. One time a few years back I found a group near one of our lakes feeding on something and got really good shots because they were so focused on their meal.
Everett, if the Bridled Titmouse is like our Juniper Titmouse you’ve described the difficulty of photographing them well.
NICE! Capturing them in motion in the places they like to be is a REAL challenge. 😀 I would never notice that particular position in flight if you hadn’t captured it. With the wind we’ve had there was one stretch where the spruce were dropping seeds like crazy – more than I’ve ever noticed before. Think the years weird weather has many things producing like they’re never going to be able again…….
“producing like they’re never going to be able again”
Judy, I’m worried that they may know more on that subject than we do…
True – don’t like what little was relatively predictable “changing” on me……
Love this composition! How many frames did you have to take to capture “the moment”? Thanks for sharing.
Elmer, this time I only took one shot after he was looking down and before he took off. Sometimes I fire off 10-20 before they take off, if they do at all.