“And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.” (Daniel 2:38 KJV)
American Wigeon flocks ©©
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Fly Away: Tips on Getting Started with Bird Photography
~ by Joan “Jones” Kissler
House Sparrow
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? – Matthew 6:26
Are you enjoying the newfound appreciation for life, nature, and God’s undying love that birdwatching has taught you? Take it to the next level by documenting it through photography. But do not take just any photo—bring out the exquisite beauty of birds with these bird photography tips for beginners:
First things first: get the right equipment
Birds are God’s work of art. So make sure you get the gear that allows you to easily glorify the Great Artist through your photos. Most bird photographers use a DSLR camera since its interchangeable lenses feature gives more control. For beginners, experts suggest using at least a 200 to 300 mm lens.
Telephoto lenses allow you to capture every detail of a bird in its full glory. Image-stabilized lenses enable shooting in low-light conditions and while the bird is in motion. If you are not ready yet to shoot photos without support, you can use a monopod, a portable alternative to the heavy, bulky tripod.
When using your DSLR, make sure to set it to aperture-priority mode for the flexibility of a wide aperture and the ability to set the shutter speed to your desired setting.
On the other hand, some enthusiasts use smartphones for bird photography. They use a technique called digiscoping, which is combining a smartphone camera with a spotting scope. For on-the-go shooting, I recommend using an adapter to combine your phone and the spotting scope, so you can easily snap a photo instead of painstakingly trying to hold up your phone correctly against the the spotting scope. Also, you can install some apps and maximize your camera phone’s built-in features to churn out better-quality photos.
Parakeet being photographed by Phone
Know your birds
You do not have to look far to know where to find birds as your next subject. Just open your Bible, and you will find the answers:
Read up on the behavior and habitat of different kinds of birds so that you will know how to get them to come to you or to get as close to them as possible.
If that is not your style, join an expert birder in taking photos. You will definitely pick up some pointers on which birds come out during which time and season, where they usually live and breed, and what they usually eat.
Feed them as the Father would
The Great Creator cares for birds so much that He makes sure that they are always fed well, as stated in Matthew 6:26. Show your compassion for these creatures by giving them something to eat when you are photographing them on location.
To make birds feel naturally at home, plant some shrubs and trees they normally feed on in your garden or lawn. For instance, expert photographer Matt Mcray planted Rose of Sharon and hibiscus to attract Ruby-throated hummingbirds to his yard.
You can also strategically put bird feeders where you want to shoot your subject. Just remember to place them on the side from where you’ll be taking the shot to keep the feeders off the frame. Also ensure good natural lighting in the area where you will stage your shots.
Make them feel safe
God created birds to be free, so avoid threatening their sense of freedom and respect their need to hop from one space to another and fly.
One of the biggest mistakes that beginners make is to haphazardly approach their subject and click on the shutter button in haste. This normally ends up with the bird flying away and the shot being ruined.
To keep this from happening, remember these tips:
Here are some tips on taking your first successful photo:
After repeating these steps for quite some time, your subjects will eventually warm up to you, and you will be able to take several shots easily.
Capturing a shot of a creature as elusive as a bird reminds us of the gift of freedom that God bestows upon us. With the ups and downs of everyday life, it can be easy to forget that we are free. May your foray into bird photography serve as a constant reminder that we are.
Lee’s Addition:
Joan contacted me about putting an article on the blog. After reviewing this article, I think you will find this article fits well with the objectives of our blog. To honor our Lord. Thanks, Joan, and I trust that you will provide us with more interesting articles like this.
“Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.” (Psalms 104:17 KJV)
Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) Jacksonville Zoo by Lee
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“How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalms 119:103 KJV)
Blue-faced Honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis) by Ian at Birdway
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Ian’s Bird of the Week – Long-tailed and White-winged Trillers ~ by Ian Montgomery
Newsletter – 9/5/16
Here is a comparison of a New Caledonian species with a related Australian one in order to unsubtly bring to your attention a talk I’m giving on New Caledonian birds to Birding NSW this coming Tuesday 6th September at 7:30pm in Sydney. It’s in the Mitchell Theatre of the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, Level 1, 280 Pitt Street between Park and Bathurst. The talk is entitled “Birds of New Caledonia: from strangely familiar to very strange” and arises from a visit to New Caledonia last year.
Many of the very strange birds featured as Birds of the Week in the second half of 2015, so here is a species familiar to Australian birders, the White-winged Triller and a rather similar one that occurs in New Caledonia, the Long-tailed Triller. Trillers are small relatives of the Cuckooshrikes and both groups are members of the Oriental-Australasian family the Campephagidae (“caterpillar gluttons”).
The White-winged is the more widespread of the two Australian Trillers, occurring throughout Australia. It is a summer breeding visitor to southern Australia and Tasmania, but present all year in northern Australia. Some of the migrants end up in southern New Guinea in the southern winter and vagrants have turned up in Lord Howe Island and New Zealand. Breeding males are black, grey and white (first photo) with black heads down as far as just below the eye, while females are brown and white with a buff supercilium (eyebrow) as in the second photo.
Non-breeding adult males (third photo) have an ‘eclipse’ plumage which looks more like the brown female including the pale supercilium but retaining the black flight feathers on the wings. Juveniles look fairly like the brown females but young males are intermediate between the juveniles and the eclipse males. This variability is a challenge for taxonomists, particular as there are close related populations in Indonesia and the Philippines which differ mainly in the amount of white on the wings in adult males and may or not be different species (White-shouldered and Pied Trillers respectively).
In New Caledonia, there is one resident and quite common species, the Long-tailed Triller, which also occurs in Vanuatu and the southern Solomons. This species is about the same size as the White-winged Triller (17cm/7in) and the males differ from it in the amount of white on the wings, though individuals are variable. Females are similar, but have slightly brownish upperparts and buff on the white wing patches. I identified the one on the main island (Grande Terre) in the fourth photo as a male and the one on Ouvea in the fifth as a female, but now I’m not sure, particularly as these are of two different races and the field guides and handbooks are not very enlightening.
Incidentally, the Long-tailed Triller was first described from Norfolk Island where it, the nominate race, is now extinct. Does that make it an Australian Triller?
This all got a bit more involved than I’d intended. I had just wanted to illustrate similarities between Australian and New Caledonian birds, something I found very interesting. In case it leaves you cold and I’ve put you off coming to the talk, here is a reminded of the legendary Kagu which was our main target and should be on every birder’s bucket list. This is at the opposite end of the scale of taxonomic divergence, is the sole member of its family and shares its order with only one other species from South and Central America, the Sunbittern. Now that’s a challenge for evolutionary taxonomists and biogeographers!
If you are at the meeting in Sydney next Tuesday, I’ll look forward to meeting you.
Greetings
Ian
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Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Tel 0411 602 737 ian@birdway.com.au
Bird Photos http://www.birdway.com.au/
Where to Find Birds in Northern Queensland: iTunes; Google Play Kobo Books
Recorder Society http://www.nqrs.org.au
Lee’s Addition:
Wow! Some more neat birds from their creator for you to show us. Thanks, Ian.
Campephagidae Family Photos by Ian
Campephagidae – Cuckooshrikes Here
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“He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” (Job 26:7 KJV)
Juan Fernandez Firecrown (Sephanoides fernandensis) ©WikiC
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“And the following day they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends.” (Acts 10:24 NKJV)
Bee-eaters From Pinterest
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“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! (Psalms 139:17 KJV)
Watching Birds at MacDill AFB Shore by Lee
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Blackish-blue Seedeater (Amaurospiza moesta) ©WikiC
And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: (Matthew 13:4 KJV)
Last week, the first half of the Cardinalidae was presented, and now here is the rest of this beautiful family. Today we have Grosbeaks, Seedeaters, Saltators, a Dickcissel, and Buntings. You will see another display of the Lord’s Handiwork as you watch the slideshow.
The beginning genera have only a few species, the latter ones have more species per genus. Enjoy!
Black-headed Saltator (Saltator atriceps) ©WikiC
“Saltator is a genus of songbirds of the Americas. They are traditionally placed in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae) but now seem to be closer to tanagers (Thraupidae). Their English name is also saltator, except for two dark species known by the more general grosbeak.
Saltator is Latin for “leaper” or “dancer”. Louis Vieillot applied it to this genus because of the heavy way the birds hop on the ground.” (Wikipedia)
Dickcissels have a large pale bill, a yellow line over the eye, brownish upperparts with black streaks on the back, dark wings, a rust patch on the shoulder and light underparts. Adult males have a black throat patch, a yellow breast and grey cheeks and crown. This head and breast pattern is especially brilliant in the breeding plumage, making it resemble an eastern meadowlark. Females and juveniles are brownish on the cheeks and crown and are somewhat similar in appearance to house sparrows; they have streaked flanks.
Glaucous-blue Grosbeak (Cyanoloxia glaucocaerulea) ©WikiC
The Glaucous-blue Grosbeak (Cyanoloxia glaucocaerulea), also known as the indigo grosbeak, is a species of bird in the Cardinalidae family. It is the only member of the genus Cyanoloxia. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest.
Painted Bunting Subspecies (Passerina ciris ciris) ©WikiC
The genus Passerina is a group of birds in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). Although not directly related to buntings in the family Emberizidae, they are sometimes known as the North American buntings (the North American Emberizidae are colloquially called “sparrows” although they are also not related to these birds).
Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) Female ©WikiC Dan_Pancamo
The males show vivid colors in the breeding season; the plumage of females and immature birds is duller. These birds go through two molts in a year; the males are generally less colorful in winter. They have short tails and short slim legs. They have smaller bills than other Cardinalidae; they mainly eat seeds in winter and insects in summer. (Wikipedia)
With this last group, we have now completed the PASSERIFORMES – Passerines Order. As mentioned last week, there are 131 families of song birds that you have been viewing since February of this year.
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6 KJV)
“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” ~ Choir and Orchestra
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Sunday Inspiration – Cardinalidae – Family of Cardinals Plus
Cardinalidae – Cardinals, Grosbeaks and allies
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“And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalms 139:24 KJV)
Mallard Ducks Being Lead ©WikiC
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“Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.” (Psalms 71:18 KJV)
Wood Stork and Lee at Lake Morton by Dan
(P.S. Today is my 73rd Birthday)
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Great Egret by Dan at Gatorland
And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. (Deuteronomy 14:18 KJV)
Gatorland in Orlando, Florida is a great place to visit and especially to go birdwatching. We have had several articles about Gatorland (see below) and most of the photos have been by me, Lee. But, my husband, Dan, is THE photographer in our family.
Black-crowned Night Heron by Dan
Dan has a website where he places his photos. His site is Dan’s Pix. I thought you might enjoy seeing his photos from some of our trips there. These pictures were taken from his Gatorland folder.
Here is a slideshow of just the ones from the Heron Family. These have been compressed for this site, but if you swing by his site, you will see the uncompressed versions.
Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; (Psalms 105:5 KJV)
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Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus 
