Getting the last seeds

 

I still have a few images from our Colorado trip but today I like to show you another, more actual photo. The American Goldfinch has long changed to its winter plumage. It is not as colorful as during the summer but it is still a very pretty bird. Joan left the dried up Black-eyed Susans in the yard so that the birds can get the seeds, and they do not need an extra invitation for this offer…

I tried to make this kind of a shot since quite some time already but did not like the outcome always. It is not so easy to separate the bird enough from other distracting elements, like dried leaves or other plants. Sometimes the head of the finch was behind a flower stem or the gesture was just not right. Today’s photo gets a little closer to what I have in mind, There is even a seed flying through the air, leaving no question about that the goldfinch has some serious business going on…

New Year Wish

 

The New Year started the same way as the old one ended, with lots of snow coming down and cold temperatures. I had a technical glitch with some software yesterday, so this post is actually a day late. I like to thank all of you who followed my blog in 2013 or just stopped here once in a while. Thank you for your encouragement, your comments, and your “Likes” at Facebook or in my other galleries. I’m happy you are out there and inspire me to keep writing this blog. Our wildlife and environment needs utmost attention in a world of unlimited exploitation of resources and I hope this blog can still create some awareness for the beauty that is out there and that needs our protection. Joan and I wish all of you a wonderful year 2014.

Time for an upgrade and still for a few clicks...

 

As much I like to spend time outside watching and photographing wildlife or just chasing the light, sometimes it is necessary to do maintenance or take care of the hard and software that helps to create the images we like to show to our audience. Yep, I got my Christmas gift already.  A new 27” iMac is since a few days the machine for all my post processing and picture administration. I don’t get paid for saying anything good or bad about any product that I use but I can tell you I have never looked back after I abandoned five years ago the whole PC and Microsoft c%&p. I will still use the MacBook Pro and my SAMSUNG display, that both have served me very well during the last five years, for my day job and as a backup machine while traveling. To make this already long story shorter, I spent the last few days migrating software and adapting the new computer to my needs. It is time consuming to make the changes but I already enjoy the much faster speed of the iMac and the incredible quality of its big display.

We had fresh snow on the ground every other day and lots of birds hang around in the woods here. The camera is always mounted on the tripod and whenever I see an interesting bird or some good light falling on one of the countless Gold Finches I stop what I’m doing and go and make a click…

An image I had in mind

 

It is not very difficult for us to make a photo of an American Goldfinch. We have them every day in our yard feeding on a thistle seed feeder or just sitting in the trees nearby. There are lots of pictures on the hard drive already of this wonderful finch, which by the way is the state bird of Iowa, but I was still looking for an image that I had in mind and that tells the story about their natural feeding habits much better. Last weekend in the Green Island Wetlands I had my chance and for a few seconds I had this male goldfinch sitting on a thistle. I wanted its face and used the peak of action when the finch lifted its head and looked around for a brief moment to make sure no predator would surprise it while eating. I'm not an "eyeball photographer" and like environmental portraits of the critters instead, but I wished I was a little closer. I'm very happy about this shot that will make it into the Iowa Wildlife Gallery but there is still room for improvement and so a new goal has been set already... ;-)

Nature clicks #130 - Brown Creeper

 

The expected cold weather for the next few days drives obviously a few birds further south that we have not seen here lately. One of them is the Brown Creeper. This small, tree-clinging bird shows up only occasionally but so far we have seen it every winter here in our yard.

Let me warn you, this image is not really sharp but I like to show it anyway because it is the first time that I was able to make a picture of the Brown Creeper. They start at the bottom of a tree and work their way up pecking insects, fly down to the ground to the base of the next tree and do the same again. Unlike woodpeckers they do it much faster and therefore it is very difficult to get a sharp shot. They also blend very well into their environment and don't provide much contrast to focus on. I had to shoot ISO 400 and that did not help sharpness either. Despite the soft image I'm very happy about it and who knows, maybe I see this bird again during the weekend. I'll keep my eyes open.

At least I like to show you that I can do better. I thought this photo of an American Goldfinch and a House Finch sitting together on a branch was kinda cute. It looks like they were flirting with each other. It seems we have much more finches this year in the yard than other years, at least the high consumption of thistle seeds makes me believe it.

There was another bird here today that I haven't seen for a while, but this will be another "Nature Clicks" post tomorrow.

Nature clicks #117 - American Goldfinch

Just a short post today. The American Goldfinch is present all the year around in the timber around our house. We see them every day but it is really not easy to get close to them for a frame filling picture. During my lunch break today I tried to snap a few shots of the House Wren who is extremely busy to catch enough insects for the young ones in the bird box. Suddenly this male goldfinch landed at the nearby birdbath and so I just made a few clicks of this wonderful bird instead. It wasn't before I reviewed the images on my screen when I saw that the finch had some unusual growth on his right foot between the toes. I don't know what it is but I like to find out.

Nature clicks #72 - American Goldfinch

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

Nothing in particular today, just an easy click from Sunday's afternoon shooting in my yard. Nice and soft natural light gives the colors of this American Goldfinch in its winter plumage the right push. As I said, an easy click...

Nature clicks #68 B - Goldfinch, repeated

Another day with good and relative warm weather and even better light than on Saturday. I wasn't really happy with my Goldfinch pictures yesterday and today was my chance to give it another trial. I made a lot of clicks and experimented with different settings, including flash and softbox. It was just so nice to be outside in the sun and the birds were cooperative as well. :-) For this post I chose an image of a male Goldfinch, sitting on a branch of a dead cedar tree in the warm afternoon sun. No flash was used for this photo.

Nature clicks #68 - American Goldfinch

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

One bird we enjoy having here all year long is the Eastern Goldfinch, also called American Goldfinch. It is the state bird of Iowa since 1933. They are now in their winter plumage, which makes it sometimes a little harder to distinguish the males from the females. Today was the first day this week with some sunlight coming through the clouds. In addition we had a hint of snow on the ground from last night and that improved the light even a little more. I thought I can try it without the help of a speed light. At ISO 200 exposure was between 1/60 s and 1/90 s and that was not easy to handle with the lens zoomed to 500 mm. The birds jumped around very fast and I really missed getting a tack sharp shot today. Why do I show this photo anyway? Because I like the pose of the goldfinch and the overall light on it. It bothers me that the image is not sharp but tomorrow is another day and I may try it again… Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Nature clicks #35 - Rain and magic light

Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3, 420 mm (630 mm FX), 1/125s, f/6.3, -1 EV, ISO 200

A lot of work limits my radius of action at the moment and thats why I take advantage of the wide variety of wildlife in and around our yard. This shot was taken just from the front porch of our house. The light had unfold its magic when the rain came down and this American Goldfinch was backlit by the low sun.