All Photographs by David Lilly
Photographing common birds—like American Robins, House Sparrows, Blue Jays, or Mallards—is often overlooked by photographers chasing rare or exotic species. However, focusing on the birds right in your backyard or local park is one of the best ways to sharpen your skills.
Here is why every bird photographer should spend time photographing common birds:
1. Unlimited Opportunities to Practice
Rare birds often give you only a split second for a shot before they disappear. Common birds are abundant and generally more habituated to humans. This gives you the perfect, low-pressure environment to practice the technical fundamentals:
Mastering Autofocus: Perfecting tracking modes on a common bird in flight (like a gull or a pigeon) prepares you for when a rare raptor flies by.
Nailing Exposure: Practicing on high-contrast birds (like a dark Common Grackle or a bright White-breasted Nuthatch) helps you learn how to manage highlights and shadows.
Familiarity with Gear: You can experiment with different camera settings, manual focusing, or new lenses without the fear of ruining a "once-in-a-lifetime" shot.
2. Studying Avian Behaviour
Because common birds are easy to find, you can sit and watch them for hours. This allows you to learn predictive behaviours that apply across many species:
Recognizing the subtle shift in posture right before a bird takes off.
Learning feeding, preening, and mating rituals.
Understanding how birds react to your presence so you can practice your stalking techniques and blinds.
3. The Challenge of Making the "Ordinary" Extraordinary
It takes a high level of creativity to make a compelling image of a bird everyone sees every day. Photographing common birds forces you to move beyond basic documentation and focus heavily on artistic composition:
Lighting: Waiting for golden hour to capture the perfect rim light on a backyard sparrow.
Backgrounds: Finding clean, uncluttered backgrounds or beautiful bokeh to make a standard bird pop.
Perspectives: Getting down to eye level on the ground with a robin to create a more intimate, dramatic portrait.
4. Documenting the Complete Story
A stunning photo of a common bird engaged in a unique behaviour—like a Black-capped Chickadee braving a massive snowstorm or a starling capturing an insect mid-air—is often much more visually powerful than a blurry, distant "record shot" of a rare vagrant hidden in a bush.
Tip: I photograph common birds in my local area because I have the time and access required to capture truly perfect lighting, behaviour, and composition.
Mactaquac Provincial Park (often pronounced or phonetically spelled similarly to the way it is spelled. It is located just a short drive outside of Fredericton along the scenic Saint John River. Covering over 1,300 acres, it is a premier destination for birdwatchers due to its rich mixture of habitats and accessible trails.
Here is why it is such a fantastic place for birding:
1. Diverse Habitats in One Place
The park features a diverse blend of ecosystems that attract many different types of birds:
The Beaver Pond Nature Reserve: A tranquil wetland environment featuring a 1.3-km level trail, a boardwalk, and duck nesting boxes. It is the perfect place to spot waterfowl and swamp-dwelling species.
Expansive Woodlands: Mature mixed forests and pine strands provide shelter and food for a wide variety of songbirds and forest-dwelling species year-round.
The Saint John River Shoreline: The open water and riverside access attract diving birds, shorebirds, and large raptors.
2. Incredible Bird Diversity
Depending on the season, you can find a massive variety of birds thriving here:
Waterfowl: Look for Wood Ducks, Mallards, Lesser Scaups, and Common Mergansers swimming in the ponds or near the river. My wife and I recorded 15 species of birds.
Forest and Songbirds: The trails are teeming with Black-capped Chickadees, Blue Jays, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Brown Creepers, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and White-throated Sparrows. During spring migration, it's also a great spot for various species of warblers. On my recent visit, I photographed a Hermit Thrush.
Birds of Prey & Large Waders: Great Blue Herons are frequently spotted hunting along the shallows. If you head toward the powerhouse parking lot near the Mactaquac Dam, you are highly likely to spot majestic Bald Eagles and Ospreys soaring over the water.
3. Excellent Birding Infrastructure: The park is designed to be highly accessible for nature lovers. The Beaver Pond Trail includes a comfortable boardwalk with seating, observation gazebos, and interpretive panels. This allows photographers and birders to sit quietly, blend into the environment, and wait for birds to approach without disturbing their natural behaviours.
2. Incredible Bird Diversity
Depending on the season, you can find a massive variety of birds thriving here:
Waterfowl: Look for Wood Ducks, Mallards, Lesser Scaups, and Common Mergansers swimming in the ponds or near the river.
Forest and Songbirds: The trails are teeming with Black-capped Chickadees, Blue Jays, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Brown Creepers, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and White-throated Sparrows. During spring migration, it's also a great spot for various species of warblers.
Birds of Prey & Large Waders: Great Blue Herons are frequently spotted hunting along the shallows. If you head toward the powerhouse parking lot near the Mactaquac Dam, you are highly likely to spot majestic Bald Eagles and Ospreys soaring over the water.
4. Excellent Birding Infrastructure
The park is designed to be highly accessible for nature lovers. The Beaver Pond Trail includes a comfortable boardwalk with seating, observation gazebos, and interpretive panels. This allows photographers and birders to sit quietly, blend into the environment, and wait for birds to approach without disturbing their natural behaviours.
