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As I type this, I can hear the finches from around my feeder.  Their song  is so beautiful to hear.  I am slowly becoming a birder.  Their variety in size, shape, color, and traits make them fascinating to observe.  I seek to find new ones on vacation, identify them, read about them, and capture them on film. Yet, birds are elusive which draws them to me even more.  They are not always easy to spot as they blend in with their surroundings.  They fly at great heights, and they usually avoid people. 

 

I love to capture photographs of birds, especially in flight, but their elevation and wing speed often renders a blurry image.  That's why I am learning more about how to control shutter speed for moving objects and why I just purchased a 300mm with a 1.4x teleconverter.  You can see more than with just the eye. 

 

In fact, using 1,000 frame-per-second video cameras, researchers recently analyzed the graceful aerial turns of hummingbirds. They saw that it's something like tuning a row boat: you row harder on one side.  For a hummingbird to turn left, all it has to do is flap its right wing a little bit harder than the left wing. To end the turn, it simply returns to flapping its wings in unison.  Scientists confirmed this simple turning mechanism in everything that flies - birds, bats, and bugs. 


Camera settings:  Use between 1/800th to 1/1300th second for shutter speed and f4.0 to f7.1 for aperture.


For dark birds, open up the aperture up to f4.0 to minimize on under exposing.   You might need to add +EV.  Underexposing dark birds will add noise when you process your photos in Photoshop.

Set the white balance to daylight in full sun conditions or cloudy when there's overcast.


Set the shooting mode to burst. Set the burst speed to the fastest - high speed continuous shooting.

Set the auto focus mode to AI Servo AF, which let you lock focus on your target and then continue to focus as the subject moves toward or away from the camera while depressing the shutter button half-way.

Use spot or single area focusing when taking the shot.  And use the lowest ISO setting somewhere between 100 - 400.  To maintain a high shutter speed in the early morning or late evening when there is less light, increase the ISO. Press the shutter button half-way for focus locking as you track.


 

The following is a list of birds that I am using to organize my bird photographs.  I have just started this endeavor, so I have only a few entries.

 

 

Birds of Prey

Ospreys
Swallow-tailed Kite
Red-shouldered Hawk

 Land Birds


Mangrove Cuckoo 
Costas Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
 

 Passerines












American Crow
American Robin
Black-headed Grosbeak                                                 

Cassin's Kingbird                                                            Collared Aracari
Green-tailed Towhee
Great-tailed Grackle
House Finch  l  Finch Landing
Hooded Oriole  Another view
Mourning Dove                                                                 
Red-Winged Blackbird                                                        Rose-throated Becard
Scarlet-rumped Cacique
Sparrows:  Song Sparrow Sage Sparrow
Social Flycatcher                                                          Western Tanager                                                                    Western Scrub Jay

 Shore Birds


Black-necked Stilt
California Gull l Ringed-Billed Gull
Terns:  Forster's Tern  Royal Tern Least Tern
 

Marsh & Wading Birds


Egrets:  Great Egret Snowy Egret  Great Blue Heron Little Blue Heron Green Heron
Ibis
Northern Jacana
Willet
 

 Waterfowl

American Coot
Mallards