photographing wild birds Archives

We have a bird feeder with many birds visiting daily in the backyard. I take pictures of them. However, some birds don’t visit. I am pursuing those wild birds to get pictures.

Since I don’t use a blind, there are challenges. My only asset is the zoom on the camera which I can’t always hold steady at high magnification.

An old peach tree grows near our bird feeder. The birds use it as a place to sit and wait their turn at the feeder. It makes a good place to get pictures of many of the birds that visit the feeder.

Crows

From fall to early spring the crows march around the pastures. They announce their presence loudly. Strutting around they dare me to take the camera out.

Sometimes I can keep the old cow barn between me and the crows long enough to get half way across the pasture. Usually I am lucky to get to the fence before the crows fly off.

Wild Turkeys

Crows may be wary. Wild turkeys are even more so. One year a group of toms spent the fall and winter foraging grass seed in the pastures. These got used to me and I took lots of pictures of them.

The other ploy is to wander out to pasture with the goats. The turkeys know the goats and don’t pay them much attention. I managed to get within 70 feet of two one day before they realized I wasn’t a goat.

This Great Blue Heron was fishing near the little bridge across a creek when I startled it. This was the beginning of a pursuit down the creek bank with my camera. spotting the heron on the branch of a fallen tree was pure luck as it blended into the vegetation. I took a couple of pictures and left so the heron could calm down.

Great Blue Herons

The creek attracts great blue herons. At different times one will be out near a deep pool hoping to snag a few minnows or unwary crayfish.

These birds blend in with the plants along the creek. They spot me and fly off long before I see them, let alone have the camera up.

So I had one take off from near the bridge when I started the tractor. It didn’t fly far so I turned off the tractor and got my camera. Pursuing those wild birds takes skills I do not possess, especially tramping through dry leaves.

To my surprise I did manage to spot this heron twice and get some pictures. Mission accomplished, I turned around and walked back to the tractor to get to work and leaving the heron to get on with stalking breakfast.

Pursuing those wild birds is a good excuse to sneak out along the creek or through the pastures. Sometimes I find extra things along the way.