Twwweet Tweet Lil Birdies!

The dull overcast light of Tuesday's winter weather was actually pretty nice for bird photography. This is a subject I always avoided because I thought 

1. It was easy

2. It was boring

3. It wasn't exciting

I was wrong on all 3 accounts.

It is hard, interesting to watch, and challenging to get a decent shot.

 
I'd washed my windows on Sunday when it was warm and took the screens off in hopes of being able to 'shoot' through the glass. 

I was thrilled when this Titmouse huddled under the porch roof out of the pelting sleet. It took several shots but this is the one I liked because it looks like he/she has Attitude and he is staring right at me. He was also within 10 feet of the window.

None of the shots will be 100% clear and perfect. But it was a fun learning experience.

The cardinals came by to brighten the scenery too. All the birds like to perch on the same general area of the pines that are in front of the house. This male cardinal sat for a long time unlike the Juncos and Chickadees who were darting all about.

One of the things I wanted to do was get a Titmouse in flight. I watched a video on tips for shooting birds in flight. My reaction time is slower than the birds. Fortunately, after a ton of misses, I got a Titmouse launching. 

Ideally, according to the experts, I should have had the camera on a tripod and should have had  Continous Tracking AutoFocus set with the multi shot setting on. I used multi shot, but the CT-AF wasn't on. 

Oh well, it was exciting to see how they fly anyway. There is also the option of Pro-Capture on this camera which starts to take a shot before you press the shutter. I'm not sure how that works, but it is wicked fun.

And I started to watch carefully. I think I can almost predict a take off. But I miss most of the time.

The Titmouse quickly flew out of focus. 

I watched the birds interact. This Junco sat quietly on the branch for a long time before he/she decided that the Chickadee was too close.

Fight Club!

The Chickadee moved higher into the tree.

To celebrate the 2-22-22 event, I kept watching and decided to give up. I started to put the camera away when this happened!

Twos!

So you ask. How many shots did I take just to get a few? Hmmm. Do you want to guess or should I tell you?