On a cold, windy day this weekend, I visited one of the local gardens. Most of the color was gone and it was a desolate, lifeless place.
Then suddenly I heard a sound, the beautiful song of a bird. It was a Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) defiantly singing a song of hope and good cheer. It seems so appropriate for this Christmas season, a message of peace on earth, goodwill to men.
Ā© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
For some reason, WordPress dropped you from my list of blogs followed. So, I’m back. What a nice Christmas photo Mike. Happy holidays to you!
Nowhere could be lifeless as long as there’s a mockingbird around!
For me, mockingbirds bring the same kind of joy to my ears that cardinals bring to my eyes.
a beautiful photo. Merry Christmas to you. š
Thanks, and Merry Christmas to you too, Vicki.
Great capture, Mike! IĀ“m in awe, my pictures of these small birds are never this sharp!! Well done, and a Merry Christmas to you!! Greetings from Sweden š
Merry Christmas to you too, Calee. In this case, the bird let me get really close, which meant I wasn’t at the extreme end of my telephoto zoom (I was at 229mm and not at 250mm). I was also at a relatively low ISO of 200 and was at F8 and 1/800 sec. My experience is that I get my sharpest photos when I can avoid the extremes of ISO, F-stop, and zooming. I was fortunately here in not having to crop too much as well. Hope you enjoy Sweden (and the snow that you undoubtedly have). I have loved your recent frost series.
Blesses Christmas Mike!!
Thanks, Stephanie. Have yourself a wonderful Christmas too.
We had mockingbirds in the yard one summer and hearing them everyday was fantastic. Merry Christmas Mike.
Thanks, and best wishes to you for a wonderful Christmas and a blessed new year.
[…] few days ago I featured a photo of a mockingbird in a posting entitled Song of Hope. That photo was unusual for me, because the bird was perched on the top of the bushes and not […]
Beautiful image Mike, nice sharp photo š
With many of my bird photos, I have to crop quite a bit. In this case the bird let me get pretty close and the light was good. Those two factors, more than anything else, account for the sharpness of the shot.