![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-3142b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-breasted-nuthatch-3142b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nLast year in this general location in the mountains I could only get harsh sidelight on the feeding nuthatches but yesterday morning I had a great light angle. It made a big difference.<\/p>\n
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1\/8000, 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<\/em><\/p>\n Last year in this area the nuthatches always seemed to prefer Doug Fir trees where I could only get strong sidelight and my images suffered for it. But they’re finally actively feeding on the cones again this year and yesterday morning several of the trees they were using were in almost perfect light. With this species in particular that helps a lot because their bright whites are so very easy to overexpose in sidelight.<\/p>\n This is a fairly typical pose for Red-breasted Nuthatches as they hang upside down from the cones to get at the seeds. I think the cones and needles are attractive in the setting and when combined with the colorful bird and an interesting behavior the resulting images have great appeal for me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/6400, 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<\/em><\/p>\n Apparently they have to remove the bract before they can get at the seeds within the cones. They usually drop the bract before reaching into the cone with their fairly long bill for the seed. Here we see a bract in the tip of the bill before it was dropped. The bracts are those distinctive 3 lobed “rat tails” we see between the cone scales. They’re needle-sharp so it makes sense that they have to be removed.<\/p>\n Yesterday my experience with these nuthatches was one of a few triumphs and many frustrations. For some reason most of the hundreds of shots I took of them were unexplainably soft. I fiddle-farted around with my camera settings trying to figure out why and toward the end of my session with them I was finally getting sharp shots, including these two.\u00a0So I hope to be up there in the mountains again later this morning to have another go at it.<\/p>\n Few things are more aggravating for a bird photographer than unexplainably soft photos so I’m anxious to find out if I’ve solved the problem.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Note: <\/em><\/p>\n Yesterday was a reminder of how uncomfortable it can be to photograph birds for extended periods of time in cold temperatures. I saw temps as low as 10\u00b0 F and that was on the valley floor before I got into the mountains (for some reason my pickup thermometer no longer functions when I’m driving at slow speeds on dirt roads). I spent over 90 minutes at this spot without starting or moving my pickup with the windows down so my hands and feet were damned cold for much of the time.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n I guess I’ve lost the “temperature hardening” I had when I lived in northern Montana so I’m now a bit of a wimp.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last year in this general location in the mountains I could only get harsh sidelight on the feeding nuthatches but yesterday morning I had a great light angle. It made a big difference.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-3159b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-breasted-nuthatch-3159b-ron-dudley\\"")
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