During the breeding season, females lack the spectacular yellow colors of the males. The non-breeding season is a great equalizer as even the males take a turn for the drab. This picture was taken at the end of winter in Mississippi.
Tag Archives: Mississippi
Missed
Of all the soft pictures on this trip to Mississippi, this portrait of a chipping sparrow perched in the center of a tree hurts the most, as it is my favorite bird picture from the trip. I missed the focus on the little bird, leaving little detail in its feathers. We have chipping sparrows here in Oregon, but I don’t recall seeing one, so I took as many pictures as I could while I had the chance. Some of the others came out sharper, but I still like this abstract one the best.
Soft
Another picture from my trip to Mississippi of another old friend that I first met when I got into birding back when I lived in the East. Knowing I might have an occasional chance at birds and lizards, I brought my oldest lens, my 100-400mm telephoto zoom. I love how it collapses enough to fit in my little camera bag that fits in even the smallest overhead bins, this lens doesn’t get enough credit for how easy it is to take on casual trips. Yet without a tripod and in low light I knew pictures were likely to be blurry and soft.
I missed focus on the chickadee so it is indeed rather soft, even at web resolutions, and making matters worse I might have even had a tele-converter on and been manually focusing. And while I don’t like the look of the foreground, I love the background and since it’s my only decent picture of this little bird, I’ll put it online.
At least for now.
A Different Look
While photographing birds on my last day in Mississippi, I didn’t have a lot of clear backgrounds to isolate the birds. But when this brown thrasher popped up into the tree, I took a picture I wouldn’t have normally just because I so rarely get to see this bird. Reviewing my pictures that night, I actually liked the different look of the background and wanted to try for some similar pictures the next morning before our flight home.
Unfortunately, a heavy downpour arrived at midnight and didn’t depart until we did. Ah well, something to try on the next visit!
An Old Friend
Given the circumstances, we had a good visit to see family in Mississippi after my mother-in-law passed away. I debated whether I should bring my camera or not, right up until I left for the airport, but in the end decided that I might as well bring it since it packs up pretty small and wouldn’t require much extra effort.
My job for much of the week was to keep the young children entertained while the adults did the adult stuff. There is a short path through the woods behind the house that we liked to take which yielded my favorite picture of the week, if not the year, so I was glad I brought the camera if only for that one picture of the two youngest kids.
I grew up in the east but didn’t get into photography until shortly before we moved to Oregon, so I have better memories than pictures of the birds of my youth. So whenever I travel back east, I’m always on the lookout for old friends. Our last day there was a quiet one, the kids having left the day before, so I had some down time for bird-watching and was again glad I brought the camera.
One picture I wanted was of the mockingbird that often hung out near the house. Like all the birds there, it was pretty skittish, but after sitting still on the porch for long enough, it eventually came close enough for some pictures. It was cloudy so I went for a high key look, which will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I like it.
I didn’t bring my big telephoto lens or my tripod, it wasn’t that kind of trip, so many of the pictures are pretty soft. Nevertheless, it was nice to be reacquainted with family and friends alike.