So happy to hear Ted is doing ok. It is sort of scary when things like that happen... Beautiful pictures of him, he has such an alert face and you live in a stunning area to do photography!

I know, you would think that. But, I think they are just as aggressive with each other as hummingbirds. I had to go and restock on seeds today. The guys at the feed store will ask if we need any bird seed... geeze... Now the deer are coming up and eating off a big rock where we put some seeds. And the coons are coming back at night to clean up the leftovers.

Stunning, love the detail and color

Stunning, love the detail and color

Thank you Sue! These actual shooting situations I find very helpful. Wish I could shoot thru the window. It is sort of cold here today, but not for long.

Thank you for such precise settings to use. I hope there is some sun out today and I will be out there trying this out! Have a page set up in OneNote on my phone for cliff notes! It's put in there for easy reference!

I'll let you know how it works out for me!

Yes, it is made to feed Thistle or Niger seeds to Finches. Very tiny and slim seeds.

The birds are so funny at these feeders. The Gold Finches and Pine Siskins can/will feed upside down. A few other small birds can feed upside down. But the Thistle seed is one that the Finches and Pine Siskin really love. They make tube feeders with the perch above the feeding hole, so that only birds that can hang upside down to eat will use the feeder (no starlings).
I have other feeders where a few bigger birds can eat, we get Mourning Doves, Cardinals, Blue Jays, different Woodpeckers. Their habits are different, usually eat a seed or two then pick one up and fly into the trees to eat in cover and then come back.

It is a pretty good buffet for them. But, the local hawks look at the entire situation as a pretty good buffet as well.... Only not for seeds.

Beautiful!!! Really makes me yearn for spring.. Tired of all the wintry non-color here!

Thank you for the encouragement Bob. Oh, I see so many pictures here that I just love, not to mention getting to visit all the awesome places they come from. I'll be here in Arkansas for a while, so woodland animals, landscapes, waterfalls and some of my Quilts of Valor award ceremonies will be plenty to keep me busy and learning different techniques.

There is a couple of bobcats that I keep hearing about that live on the creek and when it warms up I want to try to catch them out of one of the deer stands out there... Just too cold at the moment and I need a little longer lens... but we will get there.

I did have it set in continuous mode to catch them flying. My first images the wings were really blurry, had my ISO set too low. After adjusting it a couple of times, I was able to get the motion stopped a little better.

I just thought the ones taken while really cloudy were a bit dark, but when the sun peeked thru the clouds there was a little more lite, so those came out with a bit more color in the backgroud. When I tried to lighten the dark ones it seemed to make the white blow out in the bird markings. I have Lightroom but not well versed in it. I use it for basic things.

So much to learn, so little time!!

Thanks kpmac! I had fun watching them!

Today was a strange day, heavy clouds most of the day and occasional filtered sun and plenty of wind to keep my sock feeder swinging. Well that and these silly Gold Finches (don't have their spring color yet) and Pine Siskins, flitting around.

I wanted to figure out how to stop them in flight, didn't quite get there but had fun trying.

Funny thing was to see the positions these birds get into just before landing, sometimes with their wings closed and feet pulled in. And they were fighting like a bunch of hummingbirds!! Too much fun.

One picture has a Gold Finch that i thought was sitting on a perch, but no perch there he was about to land on a Pine Siskin!

I did not know how to lighten them up w/o making it look worse.

Thank you E.L.

Unfortunately, I am very familiar with Murphy..

I understand and really do want to learn to use my camera manually. I have taken it out a few times to play around with it, using Aperture mode and auto focus. Just getting to know the camera. I will look up and read the section on locking auto focus and area focus. So much to learn. Nice to have this forum to go to with questions when I can't find answers in the books. Thank you for the heads up on those sections and I will be certain to look them up and study it.

Shooting the birds at the feeder today, I had fun trying to stop them in flight while they were fighting over the feeder. Made a little progress!

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

Sheila

I'm new here and a novice, but I think "Advice from the Pros" is a good idea for a new section. Like all the other sections, if your not interested in it for some reason, just don't visit. Nothing is perfect and time will tell if this effort is one that is productive for those that seek help there. At least it is a new attempt to expand and improve.

Everyone learns things differently and at all skill levels, this is just a different avenue to seek out. I don't think it takes away from the rest of us or the other sections.

I've been in many groups, clubs and situations working with large groups of people and the one thing that is constant is that there will always be those people who can't be satisfied, know everything and it has to be their way of thinking or its wrong. It doesn't help to leave something or somewhere your fond of, or you will always be on the move.

This board is rich in people with experience from many areas of photography, they will take the time to share and most of them are nice. That is enough to make me want to stay around for a while. I hold a volunteer position in a non-profit now. It is the same way. But, everyone is a volunteer and we make the best of the bad situations and enjoy the good. Thankfully there is more good than not.

Never seen anything like that! Thanks for sharing it with us.