I'm something less than a novice when it comes to photography, but trying to improve. I don't really understand apetures or shutter speeds yet, just doing my best with a cheap Cannon SX50. These shots were taken in my backyard - thought I would share them.

Ruby Throated Hummingbird - one of my first efforts, obviously still trying to figure out how to focus my subject. Still rare to catch one of these perched, thought I'd add it.



Tutfted Titmouse



Female Northern Cardinal - 200x zoom kinda fuzzy


Male Northern Cardinal, bathing



Northern Flicker





Downy Woodpecker


Red Bellied Woodpecker



This Sharp Shinned Hawk paid my HOSP trap a visit one morning to see what all the commotion was about. Amazing.



Leering down at a meal - how do I get in there?



Regal.


Blue Jay


Goldfinch - winter color

I'd say you were doing quite well at it.... Nice
Do you ever get the pileated woodpeckers up there?

Nice pictures!

Great pics TJ. How far away were you when taking the pictures?

Stunning photos. Very well done! I wish I had an eye for taking pics like that.

I enjoyed your pictures thanks for sharing.
Tracy

Some great pics! Keep at it.

If you want to control what your pics look like, if your camera supports it, shoot in RAW or RAW+JPEG.

The three components to learn about and practice with are ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed.

And aperture really is the most important one to master if you can master only one. By controlling aperture you're controlling how much light passes through the camera lens. We measure aperture in "f-stops". F-numbers you may see referenced might be f/1.4, f/2.8, f/5.6 etc. The larger the hole the more light comes in. The smaller the hole then less light. A f-stop of f/1.4 allows the most amount of light in compared to a f-stop of f/5.6 which allows less light in as it is a smaller hole. So initially confusing, small f-number equals a lot of light shooting wide open, and a large f-number equals less light.

A larger f-number such as f/18 means almost everything in both foreground and in background will be in focus. A smaller f-number such as f/2.8 means pretty much what you center on as your focal point will be in focus and everything else will be soft or out of focus.

So aperture is uber important because it has a large impact on depth of field (DOF). Do you want the bird and the feeder and the fence in the background to all be in focus, or do you want only the bird to be in focus and everything else blurry?

Hope this helps. Best to do is get in manual mode on your camera and change your f-stops greatly shooting the same picture from same position in same light. Then review those pics later and see how the depth of field and focus has changed.

TJ, do you have any of these hanging around in the spring or summer?

AWWSOME pictures TJ! That hawk is beautiful.

Wow!!! Beautiful! Who would have guessed, our own TJ, future Geographic photographer!!

Grey Catbird, maybe? Nope, never seen them - only brown thrashers rarely.

I should bring my camera and have someone show me all the functions I can't figure out. Right now I keep it on auto mode in highest resolution...that was a hard won battle in itself.

Thanks for the tutorial - this is pretty dumbed down and accessible even for me. I now understand a lot more about options available to me.

Yes, just revealed yet another shade - rather adds to the mystery and allure, doesn't it? I considered coupling each photo with a Haiku, but didn't want anyone's head exploding on my conscience. Sue, if you want a numbered print autographed, I'll be signing at the Mod booth from 1:16-1:29 on Friday.

Yep, a Gray Catbird. We have had a pair nesting in the bushes next to our front porch since 2010. They like to stay hidden in dense cover, you are more apt to hear one than see one even though they are a fairly common. My guess is that you have heard them before.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/gray_catbird/lifehistory

Gray Catbird Song

Too cool, Steve. That song is sometimes what I hear when wife is nagging about something I should be doing...very familiar.

I am not kidding when I state this...I just spit my Diet Coke all over the screen from laughing so hard!!!!! Haiku?!? I wonder how many times a year does a fish manager/outdoorsman utter that word.

Pretty cool TJ! I never really got into bird watching. It's that whole Ms. Jane thing.

I assume that the bird's posted above ARE NOT on your Zap list?

Now, this one is just way too darn cool!

Excellent thread, thank you.

Actually, the HOSP discourage these native birds [with exception of the Hawk] from visiting my feeders, or prevent them from feeding altogether. Thus, the impetus to create a better HOSP management device.

Good news - experimented with baits and managed to trap 10 HOSP this week. 20 more to go and I'll be able to resume feeding and photographing. Hoping to spot and photograph a Pine Siskin or Red Breasted Nuthatch soon - oh, you guys will go crazy, I just know it.

TJ those are outstanding pictures. I think you should enter some photo art shows. My Niece in Texas sends me some of the WILD LIFE IN FOCUS books of great photo's and your Ruby Throated Hummingbird is as good as any of them. I like to take pictures of birds also but your pictures surpass anything I have ever taken. I am really impressed with you Cannon camera, I may have to upgrade my old camera for one. My pictures have never been the quality of yours so I put my pictures together using Photoshop to make a photo that in a photo art show would be considered a special effects photo.

TJ, I hope Jodi doesn't see this thread or she'll have another camera/lens. She was taking bird pictures over the weekend but none so close or focused. She did get a pic of the titmouse you captured even tho we hadn't had time to check the "southeastern guide to wildlife" to see what it was named.

Sure. You can grab some good snaps by letting the camera do all the work. But if you delve into the settings and just shoot, shoot, shoot, really you will probably pick up how to control the camera and tell it what you want it to do based on the shot you want. And remember, if you shoot in RAW you can always then use a software application to essentially make the shot you wanted.

Here is an example where I shot "wide open", such that the focus was the hawk and the background was soft. I wanted the face of the hawk crisp, and you can see even the tail is somewhat soft.




Here is another example of setting the f-stop small number so large light comes through and the focus is much narrower, this time on the owl's eye.




This example shows a larger f-stop value, so a smaller opening for the light to enter the lens, because I wanted all of the landscape to be in focus.





Look at these last two examples and see what you think - are the f-stop values small or large?

They are in Indiana!

Very nice! I need a lens with a little more reach to do bird pics. For now I am sticking with landscapes and family as the lens budget is gone.

Yeah LS,
I take a lot of pics, but just realized they are for documentation purposes and not for enjoyment, like TJ and others. I think photography would be a nice hobby to get in to. Thousands of pictures, and not one on the wall.

Thanks guys appreciate the direction and feedback. I did discover photoshop tools to help sharpen some of the 200x shots which were a tad fuzzy - I hope using photoshop tools isn't cheating!?!? Just uneducated over here.

TJ,
Jodi was researching "photoshop" tools last night; seems like there are a lot of options. Which one do you use?
Dan

Just the sharpening one, for fuzzy long range shots - and sometimes I'll crop a photo if it's off center.

Nah it's not cheating. Sure there are those who shoot film and find that digitally enhancing or processing a photograph is cheating. In fact there are competitions wherein the rules are film and no digital processing, and even competitions wherein digital cameras are allowed but no post-processing.

If you've found something you like to improve your snaps, use it.

Check out The Gimp. No financial cost, just your learning time. There are oodles of filters that you can apply, tons of tools, etc. It's essentially the free version of Photoshop. Or look into Lightroom, a commercial application with less features than Photoshop but an easier learning curve and feature rich.

Again if you start delving deeper into photography consider shooting in RAW, because post-processing RAW snaps versus compressed JPEGs makes a world of difference. And challenge yourself to continue to work on ISO, Aperture, and shoot daily. All scenes and lighting - it will help you learn and will be enjoyable.

From just having a camera on your person to take a pic that you stumble upon:



To identifying scenes of interest and trying to capture them for yourself:



To capturing silly stuff:



To entering the world of macro:

TJ, if you get a little heavier into any of the Adobe photo products, Kelby Training has some excellent options. I also like Outdoor Photography magazine.

BassLover, thanks for the info... I'll pass it along.

Wow those are amazing. I like your edgy take on nature - the snakes and squirrel are borderline R rated.

Thanks Al...

Had a cormorant in the hole from the aerator this afternoon. I thought these guys went south for the winter? Don't they? Anyway, single digit temps here and supposed to go below zero tonight so I shut off the aerator to "close the door" for a day ot two to discourage him. Anybody got any secret weapons to keep water turkeys away? I haven't got around to getting a FOID card (card required in Illinois to own or purchase a firearm or ammo) yet so pot shots are not an option.

I followed those black rat snakes for 4 years. They had a nest in the top of a broken (by lightning) tree along a cliff side. I'd take hikers along the trail and then up to a vantage rock beside the tree. Every morning at 10AM out would come the snakes and some of the hikers would get nervous. Of course we were 60+ feet up above the river on a small rock ledge so they had to relax. And me grabbing the snakes and sharing them to the hikers ...

Love the wild things and they make great subjects for photographs!










And the last of bug love:

Another up to 6 inches of fluffy white rain in the forecast so aerator back on. You guys are not much help on cormorant control. Best suggestion I have had so far was a PM from Pat W and it involves sitting in a lawn chair by the pond and playing "Turkey in the Straw" by blowing into an empty Falstaff bottle!

You need a Jurassic Park type electric fence around your pond.

TJ, you'll be happy to know that Jodi is now a birder and I am one too, by association. We have 5 new feeders setup... one with black sunflower seeds, one with nyjer, one with dried wax worms, one with those solid blocks of seeds and stuff, and one I can't remember.

all we gotta do now is wait... and, wait... and wait... How long does it take anyway? hehe. We put them out on Friday afternoon and saw nothing all day Saturday.

Anybody got any good advice as far as Blue Bird house maintenance and placement? How often to clean them, how high to place them, etc.

Yes.

Houses 300' apart. Away from trees and brush [100' if possible] or you'll attract more Wrens, Chickadees, Tree Swallows and House Sparrows. The HOSP and Wrens will kill the hatchlings and it's ugly.

Mount on pole at least 5' high, and install a squirrel baffle to prevent critter from entry.

If you have issues with Tree Swallows, place two houses 8-10' apart. Swallows will take up residence in one, leaving the BB alone, but also inadvertently defending both nests from raiders [see above]. Swallows are bad asses and will not tolerate interlopers and extend protection to the BB brood.

Face the opening of house to the SE - avoids the hottest part of the day and helps keep babies cool.

Allow grass to grow up around the boxes if possible. Encourages insect life and easier hunting by the adults. Further they have to fly away for food, the more vulnerable they and brood are. My birds love Mulberries....if you have some trees around, think about placing some houses 100' away, but still in the open.

Call me with questions.

TJ, thanks buddy. We've got tons of blue birds and red birds right now, and it's pretty cool. Our resident Killdeer look like they're pairing up too. Spring's almost here.

Sorry guys, houses should be facing NORTHEAST not the SE. Was typing fast and made an error.

I did some research last year before putting up 3 BB houses. It indicated you wanted to put it facing atree about 30' away to make baby's first flight less harrowing.

I've read that before too, but if you are having issues with Wrens, HOSP, or Chickadees or other cavity nest raiders try moving away from the trees like I do. Some advocate placing some limb piles near the nest to serve as a perch for babies - I've never gone to this effort myself.

I put up 5 BB nests and they worked well. They were pretty close together. They worked real well until the tree rats destroyed the houses.

I've heard some others report houses closer together work for them...experiment, see how things go - every area has different predators, competing bird species, unique challenges. Try a squirrel baffle next time Dave - they work great for my feeders and houses to prevent squirrels and other critters from damaging.

I put two houses per post, 5 feet up and usually get tree swallows in one, BB in the other. Since I love Tree Swallows also, it is a win-win! I currently have about 20 boxes total.

I clean the nest boxes in the fall to kick the mice out or they foul the boxes. I occasionally will check the boxes year round for wren nests and mice, and kick those feisty little stinkers right to the curb. It is a battle to convince them to move someplace else, so setting up a few wren boxes a good distance from the BB boxes encourages them to leave the BB boxes alone. Otherwise there is no convincing them to leave.

Amazing to me is we have BB all year round, even in the worst part of winter. I catch them snacking on sumac seeds and small berries. They have yet to learn there are insects in the suet I put out. I always thought they were strict migrators, but apparently not.

Good feedback Squid. I like your idea on the Wren boxes - installing closer to timber, maybe, would be a good call this year for me. I prefer spending a little more time and effort installing additional boxes than evicting nesting birds from the BB houses. I don't mind the extra expense if everyone can win.

I've heard a few others mention this about BB - amazing - I thought they were strict migratory birds, also.

Here, they are definitely migratory--tho I have seen them fairly late in the fall. Sadly, I have known them to get caught here also, having removed four mature dead ones from a single box one spring. I never realized what Squid observed about bb's and ts's. I have boxes on two utility poles about 10ft apart. One always has bb's and the other has tree swallows.

I don't have any troubles w/wrens tho. Are we talking house wrens or Carolinas?? My Carolinas always nest in my wood piles while my house wrens occupy a much smaller house of their own w/a one inch hole.

I confess I've failed miserably at attracting a colony of purple martins. They check me out yearly but never stay. I think hosps are the problem tho I work hard to keep them at bay.

Placing two boxes in close proximity to one another is a great strategy if Tree Swallows are common in one's area. Use that method in a few spots and it seems to work annually. While Carolina Wrens are uncommon in NE, we have a few due to warming climate it seems recently. I love them, songs are very cool. The wrens I have to fight every year are House Wrens - they are very common here in SE NE.

Dave,
I lost a few Bluebird housed to squirrels (or, perhaps rats!). I started using the brass entry hole protectors that last 3 that I built and, so far (knock on wood) no issues. they are pretty cheap when you buy them from the web.

I need to build some more. I'll take your advice on that. I'll also use some PVC around the posts and, if needed, I'll grease them.

grease is a good idea if you don't have baffles... We didn't have either last year and a snake climbed up the galvanized pole into one of the houses. We're not sure if the birds had left or became snake food. Jodi bought some baffles recently and we will be installing those this weekend, perhaps???

Interesting about the brass entry hole, I have to try that!

Today still two feet of heavy wet snow, and a BB was on a small tree just outside the window during dinner. Healthy, fat, and handsome.

In the winter they are just hard to spot, you just need to listen for their distinctive chur-ups to know they are present. We do have a lot of cover and forage, so we may see the stragglers more than most.

I may try a purple martin house this year, a local store has some great cedar ones. From what I understand you have to put some nesting materials in there to "seed" the birds. It sort of tricks them that it was occupied safely before and they may move in.

So I look out at the pond today and see 3 black birds in the hole from the aerator. Don't have my new binocs yet so I think cormorants. Throw on the boots and a coat and head down to run them off. When I get there, number 4 pops up from dive. About the size of a good size duck, black backs and head with white breast and body. They flew away with the rapid wing movements of a duck. I did not have a camera and I dun see that well anymore so that's all you get for a description. Any thoughts on what they were?

Edit: I have ruled out penquins

From my experience, you can rule out cormorants as well. I couldn't scare them off; they'd just dive every time I tried. There are some "diving" ducks but I don't know what they are... I "googled" diving ducks and the only two that seems to match your descriptions are ring-neck duck and tufted duck

Bill D, if this happened around my place I would say American Hooded Merganser might be what u saw.
Tracy

Bill the cormorants around us are slowish to get off the water and climb circling the pond. They don't blast off like ducks. Very wary tho- I can't get close to them at all (not to harm them) te he. Those do sound like mergansers to me also.

I guess this may be one of those things I will never really know for sure. Got new binocs today so maybe I will get a better look if they return.

Male Ringneck Duck?

Yep!!!!!!! or the Tufted. Pretty sure they were one of those two.

Look up what a Scaup looks like........

Another possible candidate for sure

Can anybody recommend a good birding book? The one I have now is:

Birds of North America
Golden Field Guides from St Martin's Press

What I don't like about this book is all the pictures are artist's renditions, not actual photos. I am looking for a good comprehensive North American guide with real photos.

The weather was great here today. Sunny and 60.I was working at a customers house today and was able to set outside while waiting for some grout to dry and listen to the sandhill cranes flying overhead.

Bill D. I have "Birds of North America" and also have the very good book "The Audubon Society Field Guide To North American Birds eastern region" which has all photographs of the birds.

Sibley's guides are the best IMHO, and there is a fantasic app based on the artwork to help you figure out what you saw or heard. Bird calls, drawings, maps, behavior. It costs money but worth it.

We have had two Canadian geese dropping by everyday since the ice has been off. 12 degrees this morning so skim of ice is back on the pond. The two geese showed up, skidded across the ice and dropped into the very small hole of remaining open water. I thought they would just leave. I was amazed to see them swim directly into the ice in the side of the hole like miny icebreakers and eventually created a path in the ice in a big loop. They are now happily swimming around and around the loop! Anybody ever see anything like that?

Edit: The path they created is just wide enough for them to get thru.

Scaups - The greater and lesser scaup are very common pond visitors as soon as the ice goes out in north central US. Shorty - great picture wherever you got it.
See pictures of the male and female greater scaup in this link that includes a few other common 'ducks'.
http://www.higginslakeeec.com/SwimmersItch.htm

So Scaub's break up the ice as well?

Canada geese are 2X-3X as big and necks twice as long as those on as scaup. The first birds you saw were likely scaup. Scaup are probably not big enough to break thin ice to make a path for swimming. It would take a larger heftier bird such as Canada geese to be ice breakers. You probably have a pair of adventuresome clever geese to figure out the can break thin ice to extra room to swim.

Pair of Hooded Mergansers feasting in the pond this morning. Should I be concerned?....Very cool looking bird with that big hood!

Bill D, I would not be concerned > Enjoy


Tracy

Thanks Tracy. That is what I will do. They are really cool to watch.

My first spring being able to watch a pond. I am amazed by all the different water fowl that stop by. I think my favorites so far are the wood ducks.

3 Bufflehead Ducks, one male and two females, on the pond this morning. Pretty cool watching these little critters dive.

Your only concern should be getting some good pictures with a camera! One of my favorite birds.

You would have loved to be here with yer camera this morning. Keep in mind I only have a 1/4 acre puddle. At the same time, we had buffleheads, mallards and wood ducks. There was a fourth species also that I am sill trying to identify. Hopefully, they will be back tomorrow so I can get another look at them. It was only 14 ducks all together but a lot for a small pond!

TJ, I just revisited your bird photo's and the quality and clarity of them are so good. I looked up the camera you use (Cannon SX50) refurbished $240 and new between $330 & $400. I'm really thinking of buying one. I was wondering at what distance did you take the pictures of the birds you displayed here and did you use a tripod?

The Cannon SX50 would replace my Lumix Panasonic DMC-FZ5 that is about 8 years old. I carry a $100 Cannon Powershot in my pocket as I walk. The pictures they take are just OK but when used with Photoshop they can sometimes be special.

I entered two pictures in my first art show ever and won 1st place in the digitally altered category as an amature last week. At the reception there was wall to wall artists of all types. I talked to a photographer about his camera and saw some of his work. He used a Nikon DH-800 ($3000) with tripod ($800)and I liked your pictures more then his.

After seeing T.J.'s fine bird pictures using his Canon SX-50 HS I had to have one. I read a lot of reviews on it and it seems to be the best point and shoot camera on the market, called a bridge camera before you move into the big stuff. The two photo's were shot at about 100 feet. I did touch up some with Photoshop but the clarity of the pictures with this camera are much better then my last one.

I have the SX30, the precursor to the SX50. They still have good deals on the SX30 and for the new bells and whistles on the SX40 and SX50 I didn't see any sense in switching. If you are looking for a lower price point to get in at, this model has performed well, has similar 'brain' in it and has been a fabulous camera. My son got a nice picture of the moon just by going out in the front yard and zooming at it, no tripod! Looked like it came from an astronomy magazine.

see this for source of low cost refurbished ones:

SX30

Cameras with high demand even after new models have come out often create a bidding war, such as on Amazon here. Amazon has a good list of useful reviews.

Amazon reviews


Night pictures this past winter.

Before zoom:



After zoom:



Great camera for kids to take bird pictures, pond pictures etc.

My son's favorite picture of our dog, also using the nice super zoom feature.



He likes to photo birds as well. I think anyone who chooses this or a similar camera (sx40 or sx50) will find it very user friendly and versatile. I love the fact that it comes with very affordable battery packs that are good for many hundred pictures and easy to have 1 or 2 spares when going out to take pictures.

Sorry John, just saw your post - I apologize I left you hanging. Appreciate the kind words, and congrats on the camera purchase. I am so unfamiliar with cameras I don't know I could really recommend it or not - it seems to work ok for me, and I like the zoom feature a lot.

Birds were pretty close, within 40 feet, and yes I was using a tripod I kept by the sliding glass door all Winter. I still have a ton to learn about using it and different features.

Congrats on your first photography show! Boy I wouldn't know how I'd even go about entering one of those things...I'm such a novice I don't think I belong in those circles of photogs.

One truism is expensive paints do not make a great artist.
I've seen some great pictures from inexpensive gear, and sreally lousy images from great equipment. It is the person behind the camera for sure.

I have a micro four thirds camera and it takes wonderful images, but I don't yet have a good birding lens. I love my cam, but a good bridge cam with decnt birding reach would probably suit my lifestyle better.

One of the advantages of a bridge or super zoom is you make small sensor compromises to get a very versatile lens. No need to change lemses, and in many cases a ton of reach!

Now, to get a second job.

Great picture of your dog Canyoncreek, and the moon shot. I tried a moon shot with my old camera and didn't come close to your picture.

TJ you never know when a simple thing like your pictures may change one's life but I think seeing your pictures and the camera that took them will make mine more fun.

TJ, you have me thinking, I might need a camera. The last nice camera I had was left on the plane some 30 yr's ago. The X was not real happy with me, but then she never was Haha, You make me want to get a new camera to use on the property. On the pond the other day, I had 5 different fish eating birds. I am not to pleased about it, but when I spooked them, they just flew to the other side of the pond. I don't like killing things I don't eat, and water turkeys (cormorants) probably taste fishy. So if I cant beat them, maybe I should just take some pictures of the birds on the pond. Some of which I have no name for them. And every once in a while, maybe I can catch a photo of a deer or turkey or bob cat, heck, I even found a cougar track on a food plot a couple of yr's ago.
Thanks for getting my interest up.

Tracy

I had an incredibly rare and brief visitor at the pond last week--an osprey. What a beautiful bird. He landed for just a couple seconds in a tree overhanging the pond--too short a time for me to get my phone out (my only camera). Still, I enjoyed having him visit--I'm also glad he didn't eat my fish.

We also had an osprey, but no camera. One less Koi though. I haven't taken my camera with me much lately, and mised the chance to get a heck of a shot.

Our water is so clear right now, the koi must be standing out like a sore thumb. They osprey cannot help itself, and I am fine with that as long as it it koi.