Scattershot 2: Feeder Frenzy

As promised, more from yesterday's extreme photographic overkill extravaganza. Part one, of course, was here.

Since it was such a gorgeous sunny day, I decided to experiment with something I've been meaning to try for a while; instead of shooting on the action setting, I instead worked in shutter mode with the shutter speed cranked up as far as I could without making the camera too cranky with me (ie warn me there wasn't enough ambient light for the speed I'd chosen). I have to say, I was pretty darn pleased with the results, particular when it comes to those mid-flight shots we all know I love:







One of several Goldfinch face-offs I saw over the course of the day:





Of all the things going on in this shot, the one I like the best is the two birds tumbling through the air under the feeder:









It almost looks like someone threw the Chickadee toward the feeder like a dart:





Time to play "spot the Goldfinches":







I included this one not only because it's a nice shot, but because of what happens in the very next one I took:



And the picture I snapped less than a second later:



As you can imagine, the birds weren't all that keen on visiting the feeder for the next several minutes (especially as the hawk came up empty, and was thus presumably still hungry). Which worked out well, as I had an appointment in town anyway.

A couple of hours later, I was lucky enough to be back outside with my camera when the hawk made a return visit. It didn't make a pass at the feeder this time, but instead was chasing a bird along the edge of the trees. It missed again, as far as I could tell. More important, it rested up in a group of trees not to far away from where I sat for a few minutes. I wasn't able to get a very clear shot, but I figured these were still better than nothing:





After the hawk departed again, the Goldfinches once more descended on the back yard:









I got a few decent Chickadee shots as well as the afternoon went on:







I liked this one because it's got one arriving, one sitting, and one departing, all in the same frame:



One last group shot:



A few hummingbirds were still around, and even though they're not the sharpest photos in the world I still liked how these two backlit shots of a female hummingbird came out: