Blind Bird Photography

I spent the morning with Frank again making birds perch where we wanted them to. It is quite a chore but baiting them helps. Figuring out how to get a bird to pose just right is another problem that is just...well, left up to the bird.

We also have to be sure the background is good. Nothing that looks architectural, even though our lenses do a good job with bokah (blurring the background). Large very light areas are out also as they pull your eye to them and away from the bird.

Shooting from a blind lets us get fairly close (15 to 20 feet) which is where we need to be for these close-up shots.

Here are a couple of keepers from this morning. I posted a few few more on Flickr and Facebook.

An Oak Titmouse on a Sugarpine cone.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Downy Playing Hid-n-Seek

A Downy Woodpecker staying behind the Bark Butter laden pine cone.

Orange Variant - House Finch

This is a nice example of an orange variant, House Finch. Frank always seems to have one hanging around his place. Sibley Field Guide to Birds attributes the variation to diet. Anyway he matches the berries well.

Frank got an image of him trying a berry, but he didn't seem to like it much, and only tried the one.

Token Snow Patches

Mary and I made a day trip on Wednesday up to the west side of Lassen Park. Not actually in the park, but not much over a mile from it's west boundary either. I didn't find one road that I couldn't drive because of snow. Even at an elevation of 6,800 feet at times. There were patches of snow here and there though. Poor Mt. Lassen looks like summer.

Of course we were also geocaching and found most of them we looked for. Big ones like this are easy. It's the film canisters that are easy to overlook. Wish Jack was with us cause there was loot in this big one.

The rock formations up here are quite surprising. We found lots of holes, cracks, and figures. They must be fertile rocks too as there are trees growing right out of the middle of many. It seems to be decomposing granite, but who am I to say.

I found a couple of unobstructed views of Mt. Lassen. Most of the time trees block part of it. Might be good for an evening shot with the right clouds, etc.

I plan on going back for more exploration in the summer. The winter days are just too short and usually to deep with snow up there.