Birds

Eileen and I really like taking photos of birds.  She uses a Canon XT and a Canon 70-300 IS lens.  I use a Canon 50D and a Canon L 100-300 lens.  Lately we have been attracting birds to the yard with hummingbird feeders and seed boxes.  Sometimes we get volunteers who set up housekeeping in strange locations.

Here are some shots of Hummingbirds at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park.  These shots are hand held.  The bird is a  Broad-billed Hummingbird whose usual range is Mexico. 

I was very lucky with Mr. Broad-bill because he was sitting in the sun showing off his pretty colors.

Our feeder at home is in the shade.  We get lots of activity, especially when two hummers get into a territorial battle over the feeder.  I've never been able to photograph birds fighting but here are some single bird shots.

Here is a photo of one of our volunteers, a Mourning Dove.  She built the nest on top of my metal fire pit.  I had left a rug and a spiral of sprinkler control wire on top of the pit and she added other nest material. 

One more comment about photographing hummingbirds.  In flight it takes a pretty fast shutter speed to stop the motion of their wings.  The flying hummer above was shot at 1/500th of a second and the wings are still blurred.