tamronlens

About a two weeks ago I decided that it was time to thoroughly clean all of the bird feeders around the yard. After a good cleaning and plenty of time left in the sun to dry it was time to replenish seed/suet cakes and place them back on their respective hangers. Shortly after completing this process I was outside looking at the garden box and the feeders and I saw a little Hummingbird buzzing around one of my seed feeders. The feeder is red which I assume might have drawn it in. After inspecting the feeder and determining that the food provided was no good the little bird buzzed off. I have thought about putting up a feeder for them but wasn’t sure there were any around. Now that I knew for sure and with encouragement from David Akoubian of Bear Woods Photography and Bear Woods Happenings telling me “If you build it they will come” (ha-ha) I decided to put up a feeder.

Almost instantly I had two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds coming to the feeder. They were very skittish at first and if I was anywhere near the window or outside they would not show up or leave immediately if they were already feeding. I was eager to get some photos but I decided to practice patience and let the birds get used to me and the feeder. Well the strategy has certainly paid off. I can now get within about 8 feet of the birds while they feed and they fly even closer than that to me. Here are a few of the photos. I am new to shooting Hummingbirds and the lighting has not been great but overall I am pleased and looking forward to improving.

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Fierce Raptor

Well maybe not so fierce because I have only observed it eating bugs but the Mississippi Kite is fun to watch. They have excellent eye site and are quite capable at capturing flying insects like Dragonflies and beetles. They can put on quite an aerobatic show when when they find a target. They will head off to South America for the winter but I hope they hang out around our house a bit longer.

Shot with my Canon 7d2 and a Tamron 150-600mm lens at 600mm. I rented this lens just to get closer shots of the Kites. Still getting used to the focal length and hoping to get some sharper pictures soon.