Its a known fact that Red Winged Blackbirds like to harass Osprey. This really isn’t an issue for just Osprey but Raptors in general.
I have documented this several times at the Osprey nests I visit. As one would expect this behavior is more common when the Osprey and Red Winged Blackbirds are sharing nesting locations.

On a recent trip to one of the nests, I was able to capture this in flight pursuit.

What interests me most about this behavior is it seems to be specific to a few of the Red Winged Blackbirds. There are times I visit these nests and the birds all seem to coexist without any interaction. There are other times when the Red Winged Blackbirds are relentless in their pursuit of the Osprey, so much so, that photographing and observing the Osprey’s behavior (yes, observation is a major part of what I do when I go to photograph subjects) can be difficult.

Photos captured with D3x/D700 w/600mm f/4 on Lexar Digital Film

Its rare that I go out on a photography hunt and come back with the exact species of wildlife I hoped to photograph, except for when I go to a nest. Its one of the things I like most about wildlife photography. You plan, plan some more and then plan again, and your trip presents you with something you didn’t plan on!

This morning I was not looking for Yellow Crowned Night Herons. In fact this was a new species for me.

But ALL I found this particular morning was Yellow Crowned Night Herons. I did not photograph anything else. The morning was glorious with great light and fantastic sunrise.

I really enjoyed sitting at this location (about 2 hours) and watching these Herons hunt. The typical behavior…..shaking the leg while they feel for their prey. It was a great morning. And capturing this bird with a crab made the day that much more special. I wonder sometimes if I really like watching the behavior of my subjects more than actually getting the image. On second thought I definitely like getting the image :-).

Images captured with Nikon D700, 600 f/4 with 1.4 TCe-II on Lexar Digital Film.

Lets face it. If you live in New England, the spring has been pretty terrible….weather wise. We have had a ton of rain. Every weekend seems to be a rain out. Now don’t get me wrong, lots of great photography happens during the most unappealing weather conditions. One of the great benefits of overcast days for wildlife (especially big game) is that animals coats exhibit a different texture and look, especially when wet. Another benefit is longer shooting day. The high angle of the sun during the period of the day when wildlife photographers work on their images (or sleep) is usually 10-3, the time light quality is considered poor. Unfortunately, since Connecticut is not considered the big game capital of the world, I have to work with what I have….birds. And frankly, bird photography is difficult in the rain and overcast conditions. The birds feathers just don’t seem to pop in overcast conditions. So what can I do to make some images this spring given the poor weather conditions? Introduce flash! I recently started using the Better Beamer flash extender. This tool allows you to extend the range of your flash.

As you can see from the images above, the first one using just the natural light has 2 qualities on an overcast day you might not like in your images. The first being flat light and the second being little drama or detail in the color of the bird. In the second image, the one using the better beamer on my SB-900, you can see much greater color saturation and feather detail. One unintended consequence however is that the background now is out of the exposure calculation (the flash extender does not reach that far) and the background is completely black!

You can see from the image of this female, that the characteristics of the feathers are much more noticeable with the help of a little kiss of light. Look how the brown pops off the page against the black background. I mention kiss of light here for a reason. I am using the flash just to draw out a little color from the subject, not to “light” the subject. In this application the intention of introducing flash is only to provide fill flash. so next time bad weather gets in the way of your bird photography, try introducing a little flash!

Ok, I have been trying a lot of new setups to get the most of backyard bird photography. You might remember this post (Post Link) I wrote a few months ago about a feeder I was trying as a new piece in my backyard bird photography studio. It is called the Effortless Bird Feeder. I will be the first to attest that it is in fact effortless, for crows, mourning doves and squirrels to eat their hearts content. While at the start I really enjoyed using this new feeder, it just didn’t cut the mustard. I then started playing with home made feeders and perches at the close of the winter and came up with a few designs I like (I will share these in future posts). The problem with my home made designs is that they are only suitable for short engagements. I really wanted something a little more permanent that would not only be a part of my photography but also a part of my love for wildlife and birds.
It was about this same time that I became familiar with a blog entitled The Zen Birdfeeder. This blog is written by a very nice lady named Nancy Castillo (we have only exchanged a few emails about birds and pictures, I have not actually met her). After reading a few of Nancy’s blog posts, I added her blog to my RSS Reader. As time went on I happened to notice that Nancy owned and operated a store in Saratoga Springs (I have family in Saratoga Springs) that is a Wild Birds Unlimited franchise store. I had never heard of the franchise so thanks to Nancy’s blog, I started to look through their product offerings. Much of what they offered seemed to be very good quality, at least from the brochures. And then it hit me. They have a pole system called the APS which stands for Advanced Pole System.

This pole system even had attachments for holding branches as perches. This would be perfect. I went to their website and looked up if there was a local franchise as I wanted to see the product before I purchased it. It ended up there was a franchise in Darien CT owned and operated by 2 very nice people, the husband and wife team of Pat and Joe Warren. After taking up about an hour of Joe’s time, I decided to purchase my first pole system pictured below.

You may have noticed that I said, purchased my first pole system in the previous paragraph. Well, that wasn’t by accident. After just the first week of having the Ranchette, I went back and purchased the double hanging feeder pole which is the first picture on the top of the page. Because of all this I am going to need to get a third pole soon, one that can hold the bird house that my wife is going to put me in. 🙂

As you can see in both pictures, the Warren’s made sure I didn’t leave their shop without the raccoon baffles they sell to keep the squirrels and raccoons from getting to the feeders. So far they have worked like a charm. I think you can see in both images the branch perch attachments that I mentioned earlier in this post. Those little attachments really hold onto the branches well.

You might notice I went to great lengths to introduce everyone in this story, not just my topic. I did that for one reason. The two vocations of wildlife/bird observation and photography have such great people involved that I wanted to give credit where credit was due. If it wasn’t for Nancy’s effort to share information with others, I would never have found WBU and in turn would have never met the Warren’s or found the perfect product for my backyard bird studio!

So I will be posting some images over the coming days and weeks of birds visiting my new backyard bird photography studio. Stay tuned!