Black-throated Sparrow

The Black-throated Sparrow is a bird of dry scrublands in the western U.S. whose colors make it at home in the browns and tans of desert expanses. They nest within a mile of our house, and we’ve had them visit our back yard a couple of times. But its taken me over 15 years to get a photo of one that I think does the species justice.

I made the 75 mile drive to Kearny, AZ, departing around 5:30 am to arrive close to sunrise. I didn’t have any specific subjects in mind; I just wanted to get out of the Black Friday madness to a remote place. It was January of this year when I’d had my first amazing contact with a bobcat at Kearny Lake park, so it seemed like a good time to visit again.

Alas, there were no bobcats to greet me, nor was there any rare birds on this isolated body of water (it has hosted a Red-necked Grebe and a White-winged Scoter in previous winters). But the large clan of Common Moorhens were still there, and the bushes around the lake had lots of sparrow, wren, and gnatcatcher activity.

A walk around the lake was good exercise, but the small birds were just too active and stayed too far away for any photos. I settled for some time with the moorhens and coots, then packed away the gear for the long drive home.

But wisely, I kept the D200, 300/2.8 and TC20E on the empty front passenger seat and grabbed my monopod from the floor behind my seat “just in case.” As I drove out I saw some activity beside the road and worked my Toyota into position beside this barrel cactus. The payoff of the trip was this sparrow that posed in good light on a nice perch with a clean background just beyond my car.

Nikon D200, 300/2.8 AF-S lens with TC20E (2x), ISO 400, 1/1250th second @ f/8, -2/3rd stop compensation, monopod from car window, 79% of frame. No bait, no setup- just patience and luck.

Northern Mockingbird at Gilbert Water Ranch

My preferred style is birds in habitat, and I mostly shoot “loose” with lots of room around my subjects to show the setting. This is a way of working that became ingrained in the days of film when I worked with a 400/5.6 lens, often coupled with a matched 1.4x converter. That style has carried over into my digital days where I have a lot more optical power: a 300/2.8 with a 2x on a “cropped” sensor that makes my current optic equivalent to 900mm in my film days.

But sometimes the birds won’t cooperate and stay away, like with this Northern Mockingbird at the Gilbert Water Ranch on November 19, 2009.  I was walking with another photographer when we came around a bush along the trail only to find this bird at point-blank range picking buds from this shrub. I just set the tripod down and started shooting, and got off a few frames before the action was over. My Nikon D200 was set at ISO 400, matrix meter with -1/3rd stop exposure compensation dialed in, aperture mode at f/8. The meter gave me 1/60th second with the existing light – almost enough to stop the motion of the head in this image.

Its definitely not my typical style and I’d prefer less magnification here so I could have included the entire bird, but I still like the image for the immediacy this tight framing gives the image.

Cactus

I haven’t had much time for taking photos lately, and less time for processing the ones cluttering up my hard drives, but here’s a shot from November 15, 2009, from Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Although I’m mostly looking for birds when I’m out I also pay attention to other potential subjects. I liked the light on this fruiting cactus: directional light is a great way to reveal form in a subject and make the resulting photo more three dimensional.

By using my “bird” lens (a 300/2.8 with a matching 2x converter) it was easy to render the background as a smooth layer of color. I shot wide open at f/5.6, and at the ISO setting of 400 I was maintaining for possible bird work I ended up with a shutter speed of 1/800th second. I could have easily reduced the ISO to 200 or 100 and still had plenty of shutter speed for this stationary subject and the tripod mounted lens, but I’ve found the Nikon D200 gives good noise results even at ISO 400 as long as I get the exposure right. In this case I used matrix mode and dialed in 1/3rd stop less exposure compensation to protect the bright reds of the fruit.

Northern Cardinal at Boyce Thompson Arboretum

More shameless self promotion, I’m afraid.

I’ll be one of the leaders (Cindy West is also leading) for the bird walk at Boyce Thompson Arboretum on Saturday, November 21, 2009. The walk is free, but there is an admission fee to the Arboretum. The walk begins at 8:30 am (30 minutes after the main gate opens), departs from the patio at the Visitor Center, and lasts 2-3 hours depending on what we find. If we have a big group we’ll split and go in two groups. The walk is slow and covers 1-2 miles of trail with some elevation change. Bring binoculars and water, and expect cooler temps at the beginning.

Details on the Arboretum are at the BTA web site.

Recent bird (and other) sightings at BTA are shown on this link.

Select the Boyce Thompson Arboretum tag from the category list on this post to see all the images from Boyce I’ve include in previous topics.

Special note: photographers are always welcome to participate, and I expect a range of gear from simple point-and-shoot cameras to 500mm lenses. Just know that the emphasis is on finding birds and photo opportunities may be limited. But you can always linger behind when something catches your eye and rejoin the group later or not at all. As bird walk leader I don’t drag along my bird photography rig, but if there’s a chance to break out a photo group from the participants I’ll be prepared to do that.

Northern Cardinal, June 24, 2006, Nikon D200, 300/2.8 plus TC20E (2x), ISO 320, 1/60th second at f/5.6, fill flash from SB-800.

Tree and Hillside, Boyce Thompson Arboretum

One of the key factors in successful photography is an awareness of light. Light defines form and brings out texture in the subject, and can turn an ordinary scene into a memorable one. Awareness of light and what it can do to any subject is often what separates a snapshot from a great image.

This solitary tree has drawn my attention since I first started visiting Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior, AZ, 15 years ago, and I always look at it as I hike past Ayer Lake on my way to the switchbacks and the more birdy canyon on the other side of the ridge. Its appearance is determined not only by the number and age of the leaves but also by the direction of the light illuminating it. It looks its best to me when the massive rocks  behind it are mostly in shadow and the leaves catch the light giving the entire scene a wonderful three-dimensional appearance. Since photographs are two-dimensional representations of the 3D world it helps an image seem more real if it conveys a sense of the third dimension.

Note how the sidelight (light coming from one side) brings out texture in the rocky areas in front of and around the tree by creating shadows that are visible from the camera point of view. Frontlight (the vastly over-rated and recommended “point your shadow at the subject” light) puts the shadows directly behind the subject where the camera can’t record them, and the result is most often a flattened subject with little dimension.

In this composition I’ve balanced the tree in the left half of the frame with the rock mass on the right side. I’ve shown enough rocky terrain in the foreground to add depth and give a base to the image. I’ve limited the amount of shadowed rock above the tree to avoid including brighter areas receiving more direct light that would distract from the tree. I used a modest 55-200mm lens set at 155mm to get this coverage – this image is full frame (uncropped). I dialed in -2/3rds stops of exposure compensation while using the matrix mode of the camera meter.

In processing I’ve reduced exposure slightly  to darken the background a bit, without going so dark as to lose some text and detail in the shadows. I’ve also darkened the foreground rocks at the bottom of the image with a bit of burning, and darkened the rocky mass on the right a bit more to keep the leaves of the tree the lightest area.

As usual, I was primarily looking for birds on this November 15, 2009 visit, so my Nikon D200 was mated to my bird lens (a 300/2.8 plus 2x converter). But I’d slung my old Nikon D70 with cheap 55-200 lens over my empty shoulder “just in case.” This image was made as ISO 400, 1/400th second and f/11.