Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, tagged black bird, blackbird, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, Huntley Meadows Park, red-winged blackbird on October 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »
This image of a male red-winged blackbird is not spectacular or anything, but I like it just the same. I’m happy to see some of the texture of the feathers and some of the details of the eye. I’m content with the way the background turned out. Some days those small victories are reason enough for me to celebrate (and to post a photo).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, blackbird, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, cattails, Huntley Meadows Park, red-winged blackbird on October 21, 2012| 7 Comments »
As I have worked to improve my skills in photographing birds, I have had the most success with red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus). Why? First of all, the red-winged blackbird is a lot bigger than most of the birds that I try to photograph. Secondly, the blackbirds like to perch on cattails, which are closer than the trees in the areas in which I shoot. Finally, the blackbirds seem a bit more tolerant of my relative proximity (unlike some other birds that fly away at the slightest movement long before I get in camera range).
Here are three shots of male red-winged blackbirds from yesterday that I like. The first one shows some details of the feathers, which for this bird are not solid black. This may be a not-quite-nature male blackbird (immature males have wings with buff or orange edges and have yellow on their shoulders, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology).
Red-winged blackbird with feather details
The next two photos show the same bird in slightly different positions. The first one looks almost like the bird was posing for me for a profile shot. The last one gives us a peek inside a blackbird’s mouth as he begins to call out—it seems that male blackbirds always need to get in the last word.
Red-winged blackbird profile
Red-winged blackbird with open mouth
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, tagged blackbird, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, early morning, Huntley Meadows Park, red-winged blackbird, silhouette on October 20, 2012| 3 Comments »
I was out with my camera early this morning, when the ground fog still hung over the cattails in the marsh. The red-winged blackbirds were active and I managed to get this shot. It’s almost a silhouette, yet it retains some surface detail. I love the bird’s open mouth as he utters a loud cry. The elements all seem to work together to create an atmosphere of early morning mystery.
Early morning blackbird
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Agelaus phoeniceus), blackbird, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, Common Grackle, grackle, Huntley Meadows Park, red-winged blackbird on October 13, 2012| 11 Comments »
There was a lot of bird activity early yesterday morning as I walked through the cattail-filled marshy area of Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia. Many of the birds were in groups, it seemed, including large flocks of noisy black birds that several of my fellow bloggers have helped me identify as grackles.
Most of the birds seemed to be be passing through and perched high in trees or landed too far away for me to capture them individually with my modest telephoto zoom. (Another photographer I saw had a massive 600mm telephoto lens with a 1.4x teleconverter attached and seemed to have greater success.)
However, I was able to take this photo of bird on a cattail stalk and amazingly I can identify it—it’s a male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus). I realize that the Red-winged Blackbird is probably one of the easiest birds to identify (along with the robin, bluejay, and cardinal), but I have had so many problems recently identifying the birds in my photos that it is satisfying to be able get one right.
There were flocks of birders present too, equipped with telescopes and binoculars, and some of them were almost as loud as the grackles. I heard lots of interesting debates, like whether a large bird soaring in the distance was a red-shouldered hawk or a redtail hawk (and I had no idea previously that there was a bird called a Coopers hawk). Most of the bird people were so intense that I didn’t dare to attempt to engage them in conversation. One gentlemen, however, talked with me at length, periodically referring to a tattered guide that he had with him (it was a Peterson’s guide to birds east of the Rockies and he recommended it for a beginner like me). I think that I may have to break down and buy a little guide like that to start to learn more about birds.
For now, I’m happy that I can identify a Red-winged Blackbird most of the time, especially a male one!
Red-winged Blackbird on a cattail
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Portraits, wildlife, tagged brookside gardens, intensity, Nikon D300, red-winged blackbird, Tamron 180mm macro, Wheaton MD on September 27, 2012| 7 Comments »
I have recently been making a lot of attempts to photograph birds, but none of the photos comes close to matching the visual impact of this female red-winged blackbird that I photographed in early June at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD.
Normally you are not supposed to photograph a bird from the front, but in this case it seems to heighten the intensity of the bird’s stare. The sky was almost white that day and it disappeared when tweaks were made, but that seemed to fit with the industrial look provided by the rebar that was used to form a trellis.
Intense female red-winged blackbird
Here is another shot of the blackbird on the trellis, with some greenery in the background. You can see some of the details of the trellis, and it looks like the rusted metal is almost a perfect color match for some parts of the bird.
Bird on a wire
My blog is still less than three months old, so I have a number of my pre-blog favorites that you have not yet seen. I will occasionally share some of them when I don’t have any new material or don’t have time to prepare the new photos.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 