All About Birds

Despite telling myself that I would not start crawling around in the bushes looking for nuthatches and titmouses (titmice?) or become one of those people they make movies about, shortly after getting my telephoto lens, I started trying some bird photography. Wildlife is generally regarded as one of the more expensive genres of photography to get into, because it’s an area where you do really need the reach of a long telephoto, and super-telephotos aren’t cheap. I sacrificed an extra 50 mm of zoom to avoid Canon’s most-hated 75-300mm lens in favor of the 55-250mm, which gives me a maximum focal length of 250 mm (400 mm full frame equivalent).

So far, hiking-lite^TM through suburban/urban park areas where birds are abundant and somewhat used to human activity, I’ve found 250 mm is enough for large birds like swans and geese, and is okay for smaller birds if you’re a little patient and/or very quiet. Beyond 10 or 20 feet away, though, small birds start turning into little blobs, which is why it’s not uncommon for wildlife photographers to be looking for lenses with 500-600 mm focal lengths, at minimum. I started out in winter when I knew a lot of ducks and geese would be hanging out on the Huron River at Gallup Park. There I saw hoards of Canada geese and mallards, plus some trumpeter swans and a pair of hooded mergansers. Also a northern cardinal and some potential vireos (maybe warbling vireos, but they’re not supposed to winter in the north) trying to stay warm in the trees along the shore.

Hooded merganser (male)

Unidentified vireo-like bird

As spring came to Michigan, a lot of the smaller songbirds returned. There’s one spot in particular that has tons of birds and I’ve seen a number of actual birdwatchers there. I’ve so far managed to identify a great blue heron, more mallards, a bunch of hooded mergansers that spent a couple weeks there, lots of red-winged blackbirds, some blue jays and cardinals, plenty of American robins and grackles, a pair of mourning doves, a yellow-rumped warbler, a yellow warbler, and possibly a northern waterthrush. On a trip to the arboretum, I found a couple downy woodpeckers and a red-bellied woodpecker. There’s also the Cooper’s/sharp-shinned hawk I saw once before I had my telephoto lens.

Great blue heron

Grackle

Besides all these, I’m sure there are dozens of other species I haven’t managed to recognize, and I probably should get better at identifying bird calls. Most of the identifications so far come courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds website and a lot of scrolling through bird pictures. Until next time; I’ll be back to hiding in the brush wearing out my shutter. Remind me to start doing tick checks again. I don’t particularly need or want Lyme disease.

Red-bellied woodpecker