Every season on the mesa is different, and each season varies from year to year, depending on the weather and other environmental conditions.  As it happens, a dry month has given us a number of early winter guests, all of them very thirsty.  At night, we occasionally hear the elk rummaging around our water catchment stock tank (which is empty right now) for water.  All the usual avian suspects are around in more or less "normal" numbers, but there are hundreds of dark-eyed juncos this year.  With their own very complicated and subdued language, they come to the water dishes to drink and bathe from dawn until dusk.  They are our winter equivalent of hummingbirds, and just as tricky to photograph.  I felt fortunate to capture this dark-eyed, pink sided junco resting, but nonetheless watchful, for the sharp-shinned hawk taking advantage of the multitudes.

junco posed  

My mission this week was to capture some in-flight junco photographs.   Using the 70-200 lens, hand held, it was almost as if I had to take a deep breath and settle before shooting to keep from shaking.  I began with a shutter speed of 1/1,600, which was nowhere near what I needed to stop their explosive take-offs.  So I incrementally upped it to 1/6,400, which seemed to work better.  I also did some bursts of three frames per second, which usually left me with one decent shot, one with no movement, and one in which the birds had flown. Switching to five frames per second gave me more decent images.  Not being a wildlife photographer, it is always a new day and new challenge.  The image below is of an Oregon junco in flight, with his landing gear up, from my second session.

junco (Oregon)

Also from the second session was this "junco chaos".  It was taken at 1/3,200 second.  Each bird is in a different stage of take off, and going in several different directions.  The shutter speed was not quite enough to stop the motion of every bird, but I see it as a study in flight.

junco chaos

The pink or rufous-sided, dark-eyed junco here is in full fighter pilot mode. 

junco on edge

I can't even imagine how much energy it takes for these birds to take off and avoid other birds and objects in their flight path.

junco on the wing

It seems to me the chances of birds encountering one another while flying are pretty good.  Here, an Oregon junco takes off above a pink-sided one at the water dish.

juncos (Oregon and dark eyed)

Thanks to Lisa, Ellen, Connie, Terry, Earle, Jean and Sam, Carol and Larry, Donna, Debra, Steve, and Barbara for writing this week.  Love hearing from you!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image@