Protecting His Nest

This is a very photo intensive post but the photos tell the story. Yesterday I had a opportunity to watch the male Eastern Bluebird (Daddy as we call him) protect his nest from an unsuspecting Mourning Dove that landed too close. All shots were taken with my E-M5 and Olympus 40-150 lens. You can click on the images to view larger versions of them.

Daddy on the left and Momma on the right. The dish next to Momma is where we put mealworms for them.

Unsuspecting Mourning Dove

The Dove finally decides to fly away.

The victor!

LensProToGo 52 Week Photo Project - Week 13 Submission

My submission for week 13 themed "New Beginnings"

A female Eastern Bluebird "Momma" as we call her is bringing new material for her nest. This is the third year we've had a pair of Eastern Bluebirds nest in this house. She eventually took all of the dryer lint by the fence post and used that in her nest as well.

Get on the Good Foot!

You can click on the image to view a larger version

Technically I should just delete this photo because it's out of focus and all but when I saw it I immediately thought about the James Brown Song Get On the Good Foot. Listen to this song James Brown - Get on the Good Foot and if it doesn't put a smile on your face then something is wrong with you :).

Juvenile Eastern Bluebird

This juvenile Eastern Bluebird is part of the family that is using the birdhouse in our backyard. There's a 4th member of the family but it's pretty rare that you see all 4 of them together. This shot was taken with Donna's Rebel T2i and my Canon EF 400 lens. Exposure was 1/1000th at f/5.6, ISO 1600. I'm not sure why the ISO was cranked up so high unless I had the camera set for auto ISO which is most likely the case. I have been experimenting with different ISO settings and metering modes to see what produces the best results for me.

Mr and Mrs Eastern Bluebird

Meet Mr and Mrs Eastern Bluebird. Mr is on the right and Mrs is on the left. These are the birds that are using the birdhouse in our backyard. This is one of the few times I've managed to get a shot of both of them together. He had just given her a small bug or something so she could feed one of their young that has hatched already.  What's interesting, to me anyway, is this shot was taken at 8:30 PM and I had the ISO cranked up to 3200 on the 7D. Sure there's some noise in it but Adobe LightRoom did a great job of cleaning the image up. This was taken with my Canon 7D and EF 400 f/5.6L lens 1/90th of a second. Camera and lens were mounted on a tripod -- no way could I shoot this handheld.

Picture of the Week (POTW) #2

Picture of the week for the period 20 - 26 June 2010. I took this one of a Male Eastern Bluebird that has taken up residence in our birdhouse. He was bringing some dinner to Mrs. Bluebird but she wasn't in the birdhouse at the time. We are really enjoying watching the birds and how the interact with each other. They seem to be a bit less weary of our presence in the backyard as well. We don't know how long they've been occupying the birdhouse but we know there are 4 eggs in the nest. According to Birds of the Carolinas Field Guide, Second Edition: Companion to Birds of the Carolinas Audio CDs it takes 12 to 14 days for the eggs to incubate and then 15-18 days of fledging before the young birds will be ready to fly. This shot was taken handheld with my Canon 7D with the EF-400 f/5.6L lens. Exposure was 1/500 second @ f/5.6, ISO 400.

Multiple Bluebird Images Merged

I've always liked those images where you see several shots merged into one. I've been taking multiple shots of the Bluebird that's nesting in our backyard and finally figured out how to merge them in Photoshop. If you had any idea how bad I suck at Photoshop this is a major accomplishment for me.

Three Shots Merged Into One

Two Shots Merged Into One

Three Shots Merged Into One

I need to work on my technique a bit. Instead of having the birdhouse centered in the frame I should move it over to the right so I can capture more of the Bluebird's approach to the birdhouse.

Honey, I'm Home!

A male Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) brings some dinner home to Mrs. Bluebird. Only problem was Mrs wasn't in the bird house :). I took this handheld with my 7D and EF 400 f/5.6L lens, 1/1000th at f/5.6, ISO 400.