wren-ched-editted different pic

[steffies]

No races this weekend and needed a day off after last weeks tragedy. :/ The death of Scott Kalita at my home track is numbing. Life goes on though.

Anyway, this morning I heard a Carolina wren outside the window. Looked and sure enough there it was. I got the recordings out, went outside, set up a perch and waited. If only I had a blind, lol. The Wren landed in every spot but the perch I had put up. I managed to get one shot of it in the Mimosa tree before it flew past the perch and into some Juniper trees. The Chickadee flew in and landed right on the perch.

So, it's a learning experience. Need a blind, could have zoomed in a little more and the perch has to be a little more in the shade. It was fun to see the Wren come right into the area though. Mega-props to Wayne for his insight and tips! You rock!

Went back out after the rain and finally got one to land on a different perch I set up. Still learning on the waiting method...
http://www.photozo.com/album/data/504/carolina_wren21.jpg

http://www.photozo.com/album/data/500/carolina_wren1.jpg

http://www.photozo.com/album/data/500/black_cap.jpg

Probably forgetting something, but I hope you're all having a great weekend, stay safe!

[marshall2]

Nicely done Steffie! The little chickadee is some cute. I like your composition on both of them. I haven't been having good luck with the birds coming in lately, I think I will try some recordings too. Where did you get yours?

[steffies]

Thanks Marshall, I appreciate you taking the time to comment ^^ The recordings are the ones that Wayne said he had. I borrowed them from the local library. ^^

[marshall2]

Good idea on the library Steffie, I never thought about that. I will have to go and check sometime. In the meantime I found some free small clips, and spliced them together in Windows Movie Maker to lengthen them to a bit over a minute each. If you (or anyone else) want them, PM me your E-mail address and I will send them to you. There is 6 different clips, all together they are about 6mb.

[steffies]

Free clips of video of birds? sounds interesting.

[marshall2]

Not video, but recordings of their calls and songs.

[steffies]

pm sent...

[Wayne Wood]

nicely done Stef, Wrens are one of the hardest species to call to perch. I've had the same experience as you have getting lucky just once ,,, keep trying I'm sure at some point he'll land where you want him

[brucep]

Beautiful composition, Stef, and the shallow dof really draws our eyes to your subjects.

[TonyBB]

The composition of the third shot is excellent, with the bird right of centre, balanced by the OOF background at top left, and its body providing the opposite diagonal to the branches.

Regards, Tony

[steffies]

Thanks Wayne, Bruce and Tony. I wish the focus was a little better on the first one. I had been following it in the trees using AF and then it surprised me and landed on the perch. The AF was a little soft. Not sure why. Then I sat with it on manual focus and it never landed on the perch again lol. Not sure if it was because I was sitting 20 feet away and it saw me, or whatnot.

It was fun though to see it get so close and to come in with the call from the recording. That's basically all I was doing. Seeing how it worked and enjoying a day birdwatching. It's back out there this morning, but I have to work. Maybe tomorrow it will still be around.

Thanks again everyone for the comments and for looking. It's greatly appreciated.