Protonotary Warbler, Mines of Spain, iowa
A dream came true having finally, after many years of trying, a pair of Prothonotary Warblers in front of the lens last week. They were feeding their offspring at an old woodpecker hole in a dead tree log. I owe a big thank you to a photography friend, who discovered the location and gave me a call. Although the nest site is not far from a relative busy location in the Mines of Spain, it is not easy to access. My approach was very slow and careful and I was able to hide behind a layer of dense underbrush. The last thing a photographer should do is to disturb the birds. No photo is worth to risk the well-being of an animal. The warblers seemed to ignore my presence and never hesitated to approach the nest or fly away from it.
Both parents were feeding the young ones in the nest. They showed up in average intervals of about 6-7 minutes. I made a clear decision to shoot without the help of some fill flash, although the tree was in the shade. With the sun almost overhead, there was still enough light to make the warblers stand out against the tree. This required some slow shutter speeds, mostly between 1/80s and 1/125s at the widest aperture f6.3 of the SIGMA lens.
Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head