Backyard bird watching/photographing?

[dave lackey]

Bleh... 24/7 caregiving has me completely exhausted so I have only been able to maintain a feeder so far. Wonderful experience. And now my son is recovering from a trauma-induced stroke from last week.😡

But,

A good omen?
Two months ago I watched a bright red cardinal take a sunflower seed from the feeder, flew over to the female cardinal and she took the seed like they were kissing. Courting...

This morning I saw the bright red cardinal fly to the feeder at first light with four baby cardinals, one bright red. Daddy is teaching the babies!🙂

Wish I had a camera both times ready to go!

 

[Nokton48]

Here is a side view, taken from maybe 10 feet away, showing the view off our front porch. My wife and I sit in comfortable chairs out here every evening, watching hummingbirds come in. I bought the red shepard's hook and feeder at the local bird store. More expensive there but much better made, will hold up way better over time.

I think we have maybe two pairs of hummingbirds in our little area. But we do enjoy watching them!

We have planted a lot of flowers, which we hope will attract more hummers!

 

[dave lackey]

Dan, that, my friend, is a nice backyard!!

 

[Dralowid]

Try and avoid tele lenses, they tend to fill the house up!

Bring the birds to you with nearby feeders and maybe get a trail camera, the results are not great but they pick up all sorts of visitors you may otherwise miss. Just set it up and leave it to do its stuff.

We use a Little Acorn 5210A which is not expensive and great for seeing who passes by at night too.

 

[mfunnell]

Try and avoid tele lenses, they tend to fill the house up!

Perhaps so, but if you want to fill the frame with photos of birds there's no real substitute for a tele lens, and I'm also afraid that "the longer the better" is the best approach.

Two from my yard, both on "the longer the lens, the better" principle:





However, if you want to watch birds, rather than photograph them, the good old Mk.I eyeball is probably the best piece of equipment you have, and any supplement should probably be a medium magnification pair of binoculars. I also think that the more time you spend watching them, and enjoying them, the better your photographs are likely to be if you do decide to take photos. With a long lens.

...Mike

 

[Nokton48]

Here's my birding rig.

The 400mm Minolta f5.6 Apo Rokkor-X, with the matching Rokkor-X Apo 2x.
Effectively an 800mm f11. Works in bright sunlight with Eastman 5222.

Shown with a generic gimbal head on one of my motorized Minolta SR-M's.

Digital and autofocus will increase your odds. But I prefer the challenge of film and manual lenses.

 

[mfunnell]

Effectively an 800mm

While I am fond of long lenses, let's try not to engage in lens-measuring contests :angel:

...Mike

 

[dave lackey]

😛

(Ten characters!)

 

[dave lackey]

Binoculars, any recommendations?

Wally World has autofocus Bushnell binoculars for around $50-60 but what does a 20x50 mean? Then there are 10x50, 16x50, etc.

The bird feeder is around 50 feet from our most frequent vantage point. Which binocular in that price range is better? Thank you for your recommendations in advance.🙂

 

[dave lackey]

Perhaps so, but if you want to fill the frame with photos of birds there's no real substitute for a tele lens, and I'm also afraid that "the longer the better" is the best approach.

Two from my yard, both on "the longer the lens, the better" principle:





However, if you want to watch birds, rather than photograph them, the good old Mk.I eyeball is probably the best piece of equipment you have, and any supplement should probably be a medium magnification pair of binoculars. I also think that the more time you spend watching them, and enjoying them, the better your photographs are likely to be if you do decide to take photos. With a long lens.

...Mike

Beautiful photos, Mike!!!😱

 

[mfunnell]

Beautiful photos, Mike!!!😱

Thanks Dave. I do enjoy our bird-life.

...Mike

 

[mfunnell]

Binoculars, any recommendations?

Wally World has autofocus Bushnell binoculars for around $50-60 but what does a 20x50 mean? Then there are 10x50, 16x50, etc.

The bird feeder is around 50 feet from our most frequent vantage point. Which binocular in that price range is better? Thank you for your recommendations in advance.🙂

Don't take my word on this (there are binocular geeks, but I'm not one of them). However...

... I think 20x50 equals: 20x magnification with 50mm objective lenses. Magnification should be pretty obvious, while the lens diameter is an indication of how much light they gather (the bigger the lens the more light, but there's more to the optics than just that). The other thing to look at is angle of view (the higher the magnification the narrower the field of view, but the relationship varies with the design of the optics). High-end, lower magnification binoculars with big front lenses are sometimes referred to as night glasses because of their light-gathering powers.

I have a Nikon 7x35 set with 8.6 degree angle of view which I've found is a useful trade-off between size and utility, field of view, price etc. Your milage will vary with how much light you need, how close you can get etc. but mine suit me just fine.

...Mike

 

[dave lackey]

Just a quick update on the backyard birds.

Not feeling well these days makes any project a major ordeal. So, it is not surprising that I have only been able to keep the old bird feeder filled with Song Bird feed. On occasion, I have been able to interact with the squirrels and all I can say about them is they are the dumbest animals I have ever encountered.

Having said that, they are tenacious!😡 The rabbits coming by seem to please my wife's caring side while the squirrels amused her at times but even she was tired of the greedy a-holes.

Now, the squirrels (she calls them SQ's because her speech is difficult at times) are less frequently seen. Now I know why:

Pardon the crappy cropped hurried shot with a resurrected-from-the-river D3100 and a crappy lens. This is the only photo I have attempted all summer as the 50mm and 35mm lenses don't seem to do much from 60' away.

Now, how in the world do I get rid of a hawk?😱

 

[Sym101]

Now, how in the world do I get rid of a hawk?😱[/QUOTE]

By getting rid of the bird feeder. 😀 (The hawk's a bird too)

 

[dave lackey]

Now, how in the world do I get rid of a hawk?😱

The hawk is not invited as he does not eat birdseed, he eats the birds, so he truly is a bird "feeder". 😛

Crashing a party is rude and I would like to spank the unruly bully. Short of drastic measures, I am not sure what to do as he has now rendered the feeder and our enjoyment of watching other birds almost completely useless.

 

[dave lackey]

Native American folklore says: "If a hawk appears to you, then right now a clue about the magic of life is being presented. This magic can imbue you with the power to overcome a currently stressful or difficult situation."🙂

 

[Nokton48]

We have hawks, too.
Almost always the birds get away.

 

[robert blu]

Wow, an hawk! Never seen one less than a few hundred meters...
robert

 

[dave lackey]

Yeah, we always have a lot in the neighborhood. This is a sharp-shinned adult Hawk about 14" tall. There is a larger Cooper's Hawk around the yard too.

The most striking feature is...those RED EYES!!!!

 

[paulfish4570]

sharp-shins LOVE bird feeders.