Great blog, lovely clear photos.

Your birds are so different to the birds that visit my garden in Wales.

You could say that you are getting the hang of bird photography.  Hehe.

My faves are the Northern Cardinals.  Such a beautiful coloUr.

Nice blog Laurie.  Well done.

Excellent. Love the second one - in fact, I'm goin to head over to your gallery and fav it

Can I ask what your using for these shots?

Awesome.

Fraser

Thanks all.  We get a lot of sparrows, doves, starlings, grackles and (large) American robins but they seem to prefer ground feeding in the backyard to the stations with the exception of the Doves who love to pick up the mess beneath the feeders.

Fraser...I've been shooting with my D700 with my Nikkor (Nikon) 70-200mm f/2.8 usually with a (Nikon) 2x teleconverter atached.  I can get in very tight with that set up right from my family room windows and shoot from between maybe 10-15 feet from the birds.  I haven't tried my HS10 for them but that is because I am used to the speed of the D700 and lenses.  I am sure my HS10 would do a decent job.

PS...I forgot to mention a tri-pod with ballhead.  I find if I keep the ballhead loose enough, just slightly resistant, I can maneuver well and am able to get the sharpest images but still have the ability to follow them and focus easily.

Lovely blog Laurie, and some great images.  I love the Tufted Titmouse!!  So cute!

Liked

Kev

Some lovely shots there , I particularly like the blue jay , what a very handsome bird

Great images.  Good enough for any nature magazine or publication.

Nice shots Laurie. Wish we had birds like that in UK.

Mike

Yeh,  you are about getting the hang of it, only just though!!!!  Bloomin brilliant photoblog Laurie, each one a corker.

I am so envious cos I thought I was a bit of a bird man,  but I have to give in,  beaten by bird woman!!! 

PS: Camera for sale,  any takers!!!

Steve I wouldn't go that far.  I still have to catch them in flight.  That's not something I expect to master any time soon.

These are about the closest I've come so far with flight around the feeder.  They are far from sharp where I want them sharp.

Lovely set of images Laurie.  

Hi Ray....I didn't upload a large version of those to my server.  They really aren't up to the quality I would like.  They are a bit contrasty and the birds in flight are quite soft even their faces despite being shot at 1/320 second and f/11.  They only look ok at this size.

The activity at the feeder at the time was fast and furious so I didn't really expect much from those I only thought I might get lucky with one or two.  Better planning next time will probably help.  I probably should have taken the 2x TC off to shoot those since I shot them at 140mm or so but the camera was just sitting there in the window all set up when I noticed the flurry of activity around the new feeder.  With that lens and teleconverter the DOF is still quite narrow even at f/11 and shooting at only a distance of about 8-10 feet. 

I never been much photographing birds is an understatement... Excellent work.  Nice composed shots.

 Hi Laurie. Nearly missed this fabulous photoblog of yours as I was away. Wonderful photography. Thanks for sharing

Nádherní ptáčkové, je vidět, že nejen na autoportrét máš cit, ale i na tyhle ptačí krasavce :: Já používám postprocesing jen proto, že mobil by se jinak nemohl rovnat fotkám, které vzejdou ze zrcadlovek, jinak na ozvláštnění i nornálních fotek je někdy zajímavé "trochu jemně okořenit" !

Beautiful birds, it is evident that not only on the self-portrait of you feel, but also on these birds ' pretty boy: I am using postprocesing just because the phone would otherwise could not match pictures which emerge from the mirror sunglasses, otherwise i nornálních up your image is sometimes interesting bit gently spicing up '!

Ivan