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Abert’s Towhee Acadian Flycatcher Acorn Woodpecker Alder Flycatcher Allen’s Hummingbird Altamira Oriole American Avocet American Bittern American Black Duck American Coot American Crow American Dipper American Golden-Plover American Goldfinch American Kestrel American Oystercatcher American Pipit American Redstart American Robin American Three-toed Woodpecker American Tree Sparrows American White Pelican American Wigeon American Woodcock Anhinga Anna’s Hummingbird Arctic Tern Arizona Woodpecker Ash-Throated Flycatcher Atlantic Puffin Audubon’s Oriole Bachman’s Sparrow Baird’s Sandpiper Baird’s Sparrow Bald Eagle Baltimore Oriole Band-tailed Pigeon Bank Swallow Barn Owl Barn Swallow Barred Owl Barrow’s Goldeneye Bay-breasted Warbler Bell’s Vireo Belted Kingfisher Bendire’s Thrasher Bewick’s Wren Black Guillemot Black Oystercatcher Black Phoebe Black Rail Black Rosy-Finch Black Scoter Black Skimmer Black Swift Black Tern Black Turnstone Black Vulture Black-and-white Warbler Black-backed Woodpecker Black-bellied Plover Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Black-billed Cuckoo Black-billed Magpie Black-capped Chickadee Black-capped Vireo Black-chinned Hummingbird Black-chinned Sparrow Black-crested Titmouse Black-crowned Night-Heron Black-footed Albatross Black-headed Grosbeak Black-legged Kittiwake Black-necked Stilt Black-throated Blue Warbler Black-throated Gray Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Black-throated Sparrow Blackburnian Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Blue Grosbeak Blue Jay Blue-footed Booby Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Blue-headed Vireo Blue-throated Hummingbird Blue-winged Teal Blue-winged Warbler Boat-tailed Grackle Bobolink Bohemian Waxwing Bonaparte’s Gull Boreal Chickadee Boreal Owl Botteri’s Sparrow Brandt’s Cormorant Brant Brewer’s Blackbird Brewer’s Sparrow Bridled Titmouse Broad-billed Hummingbird Broad-tailed Hummingbird Broad-winged Hawk Bronzed Cowbird Brown Booby Brown Creeper Brown Pelican Brown Thrasher Brown-capped Rosy-Finch Brown-headed Cowbird Brown-headed Nuthatch Buff-bellied Hummingbird Buff-breasted Flycatcher Buff-breasted Sandpiper Bufflehead Bullock’s Oriole Burrowing Owl Bushtit Cackling Goose Cactus Wren California Condor California Gull California Quail California Thrasher California Towhee Calliope Hummingbird Canada Goose Canada Jay (Previously Gray Jay) Canada Warbler Canvasback Canyon Towhee Canyon Wren Cape May Warbler Carolina Chickadee Carolina Wren Caspian Tern Cassin’s Auklet Cassin’s Finch Cassin’s Kingbird Cassin’s Sparrow Cassin’s Vireo Cattle Egret Cave Swallow Cedar Waxwing Cerulean Warbler Chestnut-backed Chickadee Chestnut-collared Longspur Chestnut-sided Warbler Chihuahuan Raven Chimney Swift Chipping Sparrow Chuck-will’s-widow Chukar Cinnamon Teal Clapper Rail Clark’s Grebe Clark’s Nutcracker Clay-colored Sparrow Cliff Swallow Colima Warbler Common Eider Common Gallinule Common Goldeneye Common Grackle Common Ground-Dove Common Loon Common Merganser Common Murre Common Nighthawk Common Pauraque Common Poorwill Common Raven Common Redpoll Common Tern Common Yellowthroat Connecticut Warbler Cooper’s Hawk Cordilleran Flycatcher Costa’s Hummingbird Couch’s Kingbird Crescent-chested Warbler Crested Caracara Crissal Thrasher Curve-billed Thrasher Dark-eyed Junco Dickcissel Double-crested Cormorant Dovekie Downy Woodpecker Dunlin Dusky Flycatcher Dusky Grouse Eared Grebe Eastern Bluebird Eastern Kingbird Eastern Meadowlark Eastern Phoebe Eastern Screech-Owl Eastern Towhee Eastern Whip-poor-will Eastern Wood-Pewee Elegant Tern Elf Owl Emperor Goose Eurasian Collared-Dove Eurasian Tree Sparrow Eurasian Wigeon European Starling Evening Grosbeak Ferruginous Hawk Field Sparrow Fish Crow Flammulated Owl Florida Scrub-Jay Forster’s Tern Fox Sparrow Franklin’s Gull Fulvous Whistling-Duck Gadwall Gambel’s Quail Gila Woodpecker Gilded Flicker Glaucous Gull Glaucous-winged Gull Glossy Ibis Golden Eagle Golden-cheeked Warbler Golden-crowned Kinglet Golden-crowned Sparrow Golden-crowned Warbler Golden-fronted Woodpecker Golden-winged Warbler Grace’s Warbler Grasshopper Sparrow Gray Catbird Gray Flycatcher Gray Kingbird Gray Partridge Gray Vireo Gray-cheeked Thrush Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch Great Black-backed Gull Great Blue Heron Great Cormorant Great Crested Flycatcher Great Egret Great Gray Owl Great Horned Owl Great Kiskadee Great-tailed Grackle Greater Pewee Greater Prairie-Chicken Greater Roadrunner Greater Sage-Grouse Greater Scaup Greater White-fronted Goose Greater Yellowlegs Green Heron Green Jay Green-tailed-towhee Green-winged Teal Groove-billed Ani Gull-billed Tern Gunnison Sage-Grouse Gyrfalcon Hairy Woodpecker Hammond’s Flycatcher Harlequin Duck Harris’s Hawk Harris’s Sparrow Heermann’s Gull Henslow’s Sparrow Hepatic Tanager Hermit Thrush Hermit Warbler Herring Gull Hoary Redpoll Hooded Merganser Hooded Oriole Hooded Warbler Horned Grebe Horned Lark Horned Puffin House Finch House Sparrow House Wren Hudsonian Godwit Hutton’s Vireo Inca Dove Indigo Bunting Ivory-billed Woodpecker Juniper Titmouse Kentucky Warbler Killdeer King Eider King Rail Kirtland’s Warbler Ladder-backed Woodpecker Lapland Longspur Lark Bunting Lark Sparrow Laughing Gull Lawrence’s Goldfinch Lazuli Bunting Le Conte’s Sparrow Le Conte’s Thrasher Least Bittern Least Flycatcher Least Grebe Least Sandpiper Least Tern Lesser Black-backed Gull Lesser Goldfinch Lesser Prairie-Chicken Lesser Scaup Lesser Yellowlegs Lewis’s Woodpecker Limpkin Lincoln’s Sparrow Little Blue Heron Loggerhead Shrike Long-billed Curlew Long-billed Dowitcher Long-eared Owl Long-tailed Duck Louisiana Waterthrush Lucifer Hummingbird Lucy’s Warbler MacGillivray’s Warbler Magnificent Frigatebird Magnificent Hummingbird Magnolia Warbler Mallard Mangrove Cuckoo Marbled Godwit Marsh Wren Masked Duck McCown’s Longspur Merlin Mew Gull Mexican Jay Mississippi Kite Montezuma Quail Mottled Duck Mountain Bluebird Mountain Chickadee Mountain Plover Mountain Quail Mourning Dove Mourning Warbler Mute Swan Nashville Warbler Neotropic Cormorant Northern Bobwhite Northern Cardinal Northern Flicker Northern Fulmar Northern Gannet Northern Goshawk Northern Harrier Northern Hawk Owl Northern Mockingbird Northern Parula Northern Pintail Northern Rough-winged Swallow Northern Saw-whet Owl Northern Shoveler Northern Shrike Northern Waterthrush Northwestern Crow Nuttall’s Woodpecker Oak Titmouse Olive-sided Flycatcher Orange-crowned Warbler Orchard Oriole Osprey Ovenbird Pacific Golden-Plover Pacific Loon Pacific-slope Flycatcher Painted Bunting Painted Redstart Palm Warbler Pectoral Sandpiper Pelagic Cormorant Peregrine Falcon Phainopepla Philadelphia Vireo Pied-billed Grebe Pigeon Guillemot Pileated Woodpecker Pine Grosbeak Pine Siskin Pine Warbler Pinyon Jay Piping Plover Plain Chachalaca Plumbeous Vireo Prairie Falcon Prairie Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Purple Finch Purple Gallinule Purple Martin Purple Sandpiper Pygmy Nuthatch Pyrrhuloxia Razorbill Red Crossbill Red Knot Red Phalarope Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-breasted Merganser Red-breasted Nuthatch Red-breasted Sapsucker Red-cockaded Woodpecker Red-eyed Vireo Red-faced Warbler Red-headed Woodpecker Red-naped Sapsucker Red-necked Grebe Red-necked Phalarope Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Red-throated Loon Red-winged Blackbird Reddish Egret Redhead Ring-billed Gull Ring-necked Duck Ring-necked Pheasant Rock Pigeon Rock Ptarmigan Rock Sandpiper Rose-breasted Grosbeak Roseate Spoonbill Roseate Tern Ross’s Goose Rough-legged Hawk Royal Tern Ruby-crowned Kinglet Ruby-throated Hummingbird Ruddy Duck Ruddy Turnstone Ruffed Grouse Rufous Hummingbird Rufous-capped Warbler Rufous-winged Sparrow Rusty Blackbird Sabine’s Gull Sage Sparrow Sage Thrasher Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow Sanderling Sandhill Crane Sandwich Tern Savannah Sparrow Say’s Phoebe Scaled Quail Scarlet Tanager Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Scott’s Oriole Seaside Sparrow Sedge Wren Semipalmated Plover Semipalmated Sandpiper Sharp-shinned Hawk Sharp-tailed Grouse Short-billed Dowitcher Short-eared Owl Slate-throated Redstart Smith’s Longspur Smooth-billed Ani Snail Kite Snow Bunting Snow Goose Snowy Egret Snowy Plover Solitary Sandpiper Song Sparrow Sooty Grouse Sora Spotted Owl Spotted Sandpiper Spotted Towhee Sprague’s Pipit Spruce Grouse Steller’s Jay Stilt Sandpiper Summer Tanager Surf Scoter Surfbird Swainson’s Hawk Swainson’s Thrush Swainson’s Warbler Swallow-tailed Kite Swamp Sparrow Tennessee Warbler Thick-billed Murre Townsend’s Solitaire Townsend’s Warbler Tree Swallow Tricolored Heron Tropical Kingbird Trumpeter Swan Tufted Puffin Tufted Titmouse Tundra Swan Turkey Vulture Upland Sandpiper Varied Bunting Varied Thrush Vaux’s Swift Veery Verdin Vermilion Flycatcher Vesper Sparrow Violet-green Swallow Virginia Rail Virginia’s Warbler Warbling Vireo Western Bluebird Western Grebe Western Gull Western Kingbird Western Sandpiper Western Screech-Owl Western Tanager Western Wood-Pewee Western-Meadowlark Whimbrel White Ibis White-breasted Nuthatch White-crowned Pigeon White-crowned Sparrow White-eyed Vireo White-faced Ibis White-headed Woodpecker White-rumped Sandpiper White-tailed Hawk White-tailed Kite White-tailed Ptarmigan White-throated Sparrow White-throated Swift White-tipped Dove White-winged Crossbill White-winged Dove White-winged Scoter Whooping Crane Wild Turkey Willet Williamson’s Sapsucker Willow Flycatcher Willow Ptarmigan Wilson’s Phalarope Wilson’s Plover Wilson’s Snipe Wilson’s Warbler Winter Wren Wood Duck Wood Stork Wood Thrush Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay Worm-eating Warbler Wrentit Yellow Rail Yellow Warbler Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Yellow-billed Cuckoo Yellow-billed Magpie Yellow-breasted Chat Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-headed Blackbird Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-throated Vireo Yellow-throated Warbler Zone-tailed Hawk

Tips/Techniques

backyard bird

Tips and Techniques

Here are some thoughts for Bill Horm, Oklahoma’s premier bird photographer.

Backyard Bird Photography

You might be surprised at how easy it is to approach backyard birds, especially if they are accustomed to seeing people in the yard while they feed or bathe. Practice easing into position close to your feeders and remain still until the birds return. Bird photography is both fun and challenging, but it requires a modicum of patience. Learn to judge light and use it to your advantage. Morning and evening light is soft and pleasing to the eye as opposed to harsh mid-day sunlight. In open shade, use an electronic flash. If possible, turn it down just a bit from full power and use it to fill in shadow areas and provide a “catchlight” in the bird’s eye. Be conscious of getting distracting background clutter in your photographs. Often, just one step to the left or right may yield a smooth, colorful background. Compose the bird; leaving room for him to look, fly or walk into the picture without being cramped in the frame. A songbird is a small target, so practice working in as closely as possible to your subject. Do not become discouraged if at first you do not produce many good images. The more experience you have the better your images will turn out.

 

 

backyard bird

 

This lady has a very unusual subject to photograph but photographing the birds you see in your back yard can be fun and may be easier than you think.

 

Professional bird photographers use a variety of techniques and tricks, and you can apply some of them in your own backyard. Strategically place your feeders and birdbath close to bushes and trees, behind which you can hide. Place carefully selected natural landing perches, such as a potted shrub with red berries near them, and catch the birds as they light on the perches before they head to the food or water. Use a blind or natural lean-to to break up your silhouette. Avoid fast, jerky movement, and if you must move, take short, slow steps. Watch your nesting birds and note when they begin bringing food back to the nest site. Without disturbing the birds or in any way disrupting their activity, hide somewhere along the return path. You will be rewarded with images of parents with prey and, in some cases, parents feeding fledglings near the nest. Never remove vegetation to photograph birds at a nest, as such action may allow too much sunlight or predators to reach the nest – either can be fatal to young birds.

Backyard bird photography is a rewarding personal experience, and it indirectly serves to benefit nature. Providing habitat, housing, food and water to the birds in your yard is more than a benevolent gesture. It fosters a sense of sharing, encouragement to improve our natural environment, and compassion for animals.

And besides, it is just plain fun!

 

Lighting conditions
No doubt, understanding light is among the most difficult challenges that photographers face. We primarily use two light sources to expose images. Ambient or available sunlight is normally the prime source. The other is flash and is provided by flash units. In all cases, either one or the other is used. The next section deals with combining them.

Ambient light serves us well for most outdoor shooting. The most common mistake amateurs make is shooting in harsh, direct sunlight, say from 11:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. During that time the sun, if unobstructed by clouds, is too direct, and the result is too much contrast and washed out color. The ideal time to shoot outdoors is either early or late or on a slightly hazy day. The “magic hour” occurs just after sunrise and before sunset when light is soft and color is fully saturated. Also, that is the time when birds are most active, scurrying to gather food. Have you ever seen a television ad for a car filmed in direct sun? Nope. Notice next time – – they are filmed under late or hazy skies or just after a rain, so the colors will be bright and saturated. The same holds true for birds or any other subject. Occasionally we are forced to shoot under bright, sunny skies, and there is a way to get good images in bright sunlight. Use of a polarizing filter will take out annoying reflections and saturate otherwise washed out colors. Don’t hesitate to use your flash outdoors especially in the shade.

Fill-Flash
Learning how to effectively use fill-flash will dramatically enhance your bird images. Why? Because in a lot of cases, birds are in trees or other shaded areas out of direct sunlight. The indirect lighting often actually increases color saturation in feathers, but we need to fill in the shadow areas. How do you do that? You use your flash unit. Some of them can be set to automatically fill shadows, while others must be set manually. Consult the manual for your individual unit. The manually set flash is best for a number of reasons. 1.) When you want the fill-flash at less than one-to-one with the ambient light. 2.) Depending on conditions, vary the amount of fill. 3.) Relying on automatic fill can be disastrous if your light meter gets fooled under difficult lighting conditions.

Advanced flash units will allow you to set fill at +/- 1/3 increments. Under normal conditions, set it somewhere between minus 1 to 1 1/3 EVA. That means the flash is underexposing by up to 1 1/3 f-stop. The effect you are trying to achieve is an image that does not look “flashed.” Another plus is in many cases fill-flash will put a catch-light in the bird’s eye. The difference in fill-flash and no fill-flash can be dramatic.

Long lens technique
This is for those fortunate enough to have lenses in the 400mm and up class. These lenses are, large, heavy, and require a great deal of practice in order to get good images. The learning curve is steep, but just about anyone can master it with a little training and practice.

 

car mount camera

If you take your photography on the road your car will make an excellent blind.
Window mounts can be used for the steady aim the long lenses require.

 

The gremlins that ruin our images such as equipment shake are multiplied several times over with super teles. For birds, you need all the lens length you can afford, and learning to use one is not an insurmountable task. A sturdy tripod and good ball head are a must. Most shots are of semi-static birds, and this is where technique comes into play.

 

long camera lens

Big lenses require a good tripod for the desired results.

 

Long lenses are prone to blurring images due to mirror flop. Vibrations travel along the lens and can cause problems with shutter speeds below 1/500 second. Position your face firmly against the viewfinder and place your hand on top of the lens during exposure to minimize if not eliminate vibration. Some use an electronic shutter release with big lenses, but others find them too much trouble to use and not all that effective. Be sure that tripod legs are tight and secure before mounting your lens. You don’t want to embarrass yourself by dropping a $10,000 piece of glass. Work with the controls on the head slightly snug but moveable. With practice it becomes second nature. You have to find the right balance between too tight and loose. A tight head reduces the chance of blur, but some movement is required when trying to locate a small, moving bird in the viewfinder. If it is too loose, lens flop can ruin your day and your lens.

Contribute to this section
If you would like to contribute your tips and techniques for bird photography, just drop us a line. We’ll post the selected tips and provide a link to your web site.

About the Author

Sam Crowe

Sam is the founder of Birdzilla.com. He has been birding for over 30 years and has a world list of over 2000 species. He has served as treasurer of the Texas Ornithological Society, Sanctuary Chair of Dallas Audubon, Editor of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's "All About Birds" web site and as a contributing editor for Birding Business magazine. Many of his photographs and videos can be found on the site.

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