EdR Loc: Gig Harbor, WA

Part of a series of feeding babies

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EdR Loc: Gig Harbor, WA

Third year birds have used this nest. Tried to get them flying to and away from it. This was the best I got. Camera on manual, tripod mounted, zoom lens at 300, high iso, fast shutter, low f stop. Camera set on burst mode, live view, and I used a remote. I anticipated when she would leave and fired. Room on right was because most times she flew off that way. Lots of pictures of the stump with no bird on it. Last year I did get a nice picture of her feeding a bug to the baby. This year it was a seed. Thanks for looking.

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Timing is everything! Keep watching and learning their behavior and your shots will improve. Leaving space where they usually fly is a good technique. Perhaps there is a "tell" that will indicate to you when the bird is ready to fly off. does the bird have a tail or head twitch just before taking off? Shooting when you see the bird take off is futile as we humans don't have fast enough reaction times. Are you focusing manually? Some cameras have a delay as the shutter will not release until focus is achieved. Pre-focus on a target in that open space you are leaving. Keep having fun at this!

EdR Loc: Gig Harbor, WA

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes it was manual focus. She had a set pattern of going in the hole then shooting out in flight. Then she changed and just landed and left. I am also going to try for first flight of the babies. It would help if the rain would let up a little.

CHRISTINA71 Loc: Kentucky

What a beautiful pic, I enjoy watching & listening to the sounds of nature! Real music to my ears!

EdR Loc: Gig Harbor, WA

Thank you for the kind words. I didn't get the babies first flight, but we had a lot of music as the parents hunted for food and other birds were singing also and feeding.