Bird photographs from New Brunswick < Click Here >
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All photographs by David Lilly
I am birding on Grand Manan in New Brunswick. Grand Manan is well known for bird migration.
The Island is particularly good for warblers.
Audubon visited Grand Manan in the late 1800s.
Here are two Black and White warblers I photographed today.
On the bottom is a Chestnut sided warbler.
I got fairly good photo of a Peregrine falcon on North Head.
The oven bird did not want his photo taken and remained in the trees.
The black-throated green warbler usually don't stand still , but in this photo he stood still.
The Common grackle posed for a photo. Although, the bird is a long ways away I liked the profile against the grey sky.
The Hairy woodpecker had a nest in birch tree. I watch the female and the male take turns sitting on the eggs, of course i could only conclude there were eggs in the nest.
More photos to come.
D 500 with a 200 - 600mm Nikon lens.
D 500 with a 500mm PF Nikon lens.
During my two weeks on Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick to photograph birds I was witness to a Fallout of three types of swallows on the same day and same location. Tree swallows, Cliff swallows and Bank swallows. Here is a gallery of some of the photos from that Fallout. Click on the above photo to see the Gallery.
There are birds that are easy to find and there are birds that hard to find and photograph.
Two of those birds are the Blue-headed vino and the Northern waterthrush.
I don't go on photography trips to specifically photograph these birds. Most of the time these birds are chance encounters. You see them for five seconds and they disappear in the shadows or thick undergrouth.
The Northern waterthrush for example I saw for maybe five seconds, I snapped a couple of photos and it was gone.
The bottom line is when you walking in the woods be prepared and have your camera settings ready .
If you are unsure as to which setting you should use, try this !/1000 sec shutter speed with a F 5.6 Aperture with camera set to Auto ISO.
I use a Nikon 500mm 5.6 lens for most of my photography nowadays as it is light and portable allowing for quick response for the "Hard to Photograph Birds"
I put a small thin stick beside my Hummingbird feeder. It took two weeks before the male Ruby-throated hummingbird decided it was a good place to sit and watch the feeder.
As it turned out it was raining. The overcast light with the rain made for some great photos. Especially with the rain drops on the head.
My only explanation for all of a sudden interest in the small stick is there are other hummingbirds trying to drink from the feeder and this male sits on the stick to defend the feeder. I have seen him chasing other hummingbird away from the feeder.
Last year I observed the same activity. However, as I already mentioned the stick has been there for a whiled he has not sat on the stick , but now he does.
Nikon D 500 with a Nikon 500mm 5.6 pf lens
I went to the local park garden with my with and a friend as a part of our photo club.
We were photographing flowers, butterflies etc.
I had my Nikon 500mm pf on my camera because I was getting close to the flowers.
I was standing looking at some flowers and the Red-eyed vireo flew in and posed for me. Of course flowers took a back seat as I tried to get a photo of the bird.
The photo to the right was my best shot. The light was mid day sun, but I managed to get one good photo
Nikon D500 with a Nikon 500mm pf lens.
The leaves are falling fast here in New Brunswick. It is the 15th of October and we have passed our peak for fall colours.
I was walking in a local park and noticed 5 or 6 birds moving around in the underbrush. I knew it was either a Swainsons's Thrush or a Hermit Thrush. I was not able to get a positive ID when until I looked at the photos on the computer. I confirmed it was a Hermit Thrush and verified by Jim Wilson.
There were not a lot of birds and thought to myself it is late for a Thrush to be hanging around.
Most likely they are making their way south and I was in the right place to see them as they were moving south. As the thrush is hard to see at the best of times I probably would have missed them if it were not for the movement.
I have photographs of the Hermit Thrush prior to this but not in fall colours. I was pleased as this bird sat and posed for me and with a little help from Lightroom I am happy with the photos.
Nikon D 500 with a Nikon 500mm pf lens.
Every fall there are American robins hanging around some fruit trees in my local area.
I şet up on a street and photograph from my vehicle. The vehicle allows me to get close with light in the perfect direction.
However, the street has traffic and many times the Robins fly away when a car goes by. So, I have to Wait for them to return and hope they will fly to a favourable position.
I have more than 400 photos in my image library but keep on photographing the Robin.
I was in a local park and photographed a female Hooded merganser in a local pond.
Nikon D 500 with a Nikon 500mm pf lens.
I often wonder why the White - breasted nuthatch is mostly upside-down.
Today, I tried my best to photograph this bird sitting upright but it was difficult. They even crack their seeds open upside-down and eat in the same position.
The White - breasted nuthatch is a neat bird. They compete with the other birds for food at my bird feeder - even with the Hairy woodpecker a much larger bird.
Two nuthatches come to the bird feeder all winter the White-breasted and the Red - breasted nuthatch. The red-breasted is smaller but displays the same characterists as the white-breasted nuthatch
Nikon D 500 with a Nikon 200-500mm lens
A friend from the camera club told me about a berry tree across the street that is being bombarded by flocks of Bohemian waxwings.
I decided to check it out. I was not disappointed as the waxwings came and went for the two hours as I sat in my vehicle. I used my vehicle as a blind and it worked great. The sun was in my back and all I had to do was get the light in the bird's eye.
There were a few issues with the background. I had a house with white windows at the back of the tree adding not so good white spots. I had to constantly watch the birds and try to photograph them without the windows.
Some of the other issues were busy backgrounds, branches in front of the bird, shadows on the bird, getting the light in the eye, and because there were so many birds coming in to eat the berries they often got in front of bird I wanted to photograph.
However, as with any bird photography, patience pays off. I did manage to get some photo as in the gallery below.
Nikon D 500 with a nikon 500mm pf lens
