{"id":90696,"date":"2020-10-26T06:12:46","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T12:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=90696"},"modified":"2020-10-26T07:25:19","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T13:25:19","slug":"success-for-the-red-breasted-nuthatch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2020\/10\/26\/success-for-the-red-breasted-nuthatch\/","title":{"rendered":"Success For The Red-breasted Nuthatch…"},"content":{"rendered":"

and for the photographer.<\/p>\n

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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<\/em><\/p>\n

I took this photo three weeks ago today in the west desert mountains. Last year there were often several nuthatches and chickadees feeding on seeds at the same time on this Douglas Fir tree but if I remember correctly on this particular morning this nuthatch was the only bird in the chow line. ‘He’ repeatedly came back to the tree for more seeds, some of which he cached nearby.<\/p>\n

The photo isn’t perfect but I like it in part because I succeeded in accomplishing a difficult goal. Most of my shots of feeding nuthatches have other cones and\/or needles behind the head of the bird which often make it difficult to clearly see the seed in the bird’s bill. And usually the seed still has the ‘wing’ attached to it when the nuthatch pulls it out of the cone so it can look more like some kind of debris than an actual seed. So it’s difficult to get a clean background and a ‘clean’ seed in the same shot.<\/p>\n

But this time I had not only a clean background but most of the seed’s wing is hidden in the bird’s bill so we have a good clean look at the actual seed at the tip of the bill.<\/p>\n

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In this highly cropped photo taken three frames before the previous one we see the nuthatch tugging at the seed’s wing which is attached to the actual seed still hidden in the cone.<\/p>\n

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I’ve always enjoyed Douglas Fir cones in the setting of my photos because they’re natural and attractive and I like their contrasting colors against the green of the needles. In the previous photo two of the three cones in the foreground are razor sharp and the third is sharp enough. I’m less fond of the out of focus cone in the background but for me it’s no big deal.<\/p>\n

I’ve been known to overanalyze my photos and perhaps that’s what I’m doing here but it’s always fun to set a goal and eventually achieve it. For me that’s one of the many joys of bird photography.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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Notes: <\/em><\/p>\n