Why I'll never be a bird photographer
I mean, I love birds and all, and I take bird photos now and then, but....
The simple fact of the matter is that bird photography is way too much work and requires way too much patience for my short attention span.
Nevertheless, I dragged out the long lens and set myself up next to the back porch feeder for a while yesterday after a colorful, noisy mob of hungry finches dropped by for lunch. They’ve been around our house for about a week — think spring migration — and they’re just about able to empty the large tube feeder by the end of each day. That’s good, as it gives me an excuse to visit my new favorite store, Tractor Supply Co. in Creswell, in search of 40-pound bags of sunflower seeds.
I like this shot of two finches arguing over a single sunflower seed that one has in its beak. But it took me a good hour standing quietly in an upstairs bedroom, bracing the camera on a monopod, to get that one interesting photo from the banquet.
These other shots are fine but not great. Bird portraits on feeders don’t exactly reach Nat Geo aesthetic standards or, for that matter, make my heart beat faster. For that, I’d need to nail a tree branch on the porch rail next to the feeder in such a way that I could get bird photos that looked something like they were taken in a natural setting.
I like this one because it captures some of the chaos of the visiting flock.
And this guy looks just a little tired and sad.
It’s been a busy week, hence the short post. I’ve been putting together proposals to send out to various art galleries and working on a book project about eastern Oregon. Meanwhile, it’s election season here — the spring primary is this month — and there’s a lot to do at the Weekly, even if I don’t officially work there anymore.
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Agree with your thoughts on bird photography, and particularly love the third image (chaos).
Alice: You're saying some day I'll be old enough?