Singing Titmouse - One Happy Bird

[canonloader]

These guys are always happy and singing, to me they even look like they are smiling. :)

http://www.flashbax.com/slide_shows/tufted_titmouse/gallery/album1/large/titmouse-db3b7992-102607.jpg

http://www.flashbax.com/slide_shows/tufted_titmouse/gallery/album1/large/titmouse-db3b7988-102607.jpg

http://www.flashbax.com/slide_shows/tufted_titmouse/gallery/album1/large/titmouse-db3b7991-102607.jpg

[Peepaw]

Very nice Mitch, I've got a few in my yard but so far they still are a bit skittish of me. They're coming around though. Cute little guys.

[canonloader]

Thanks Scott. These guys are skittish too, but I shoot from inside a dark room. I guess they can't see me, so act more natural. :)

[sam walker]

very nice series Mitch. He's the only tit missing from my feeder. We have nuthatches,chickadees and once in a while I here the Peter,Peter of the titmouse. Sure I like the little tit birds.
Sam

[tbmrgc]

Nice looking birds Mitch. it took me a few looks to determine that there was a
difference between the first and third shots.:)
Bob

[canonloader]

Thanks Sam and Bob. These guys don't come to the yard every day. They seem to show up, stay for a day or two, then are gone for a day. I think there is a family group of two parents and four juvies. The parents have been coming here for a year now. One of the first birds to hit my feeders.

Bob, this set is three shots from a long burst in no particular order. :)

[Reyno]

Excellent series Mitch. I see these birds in my backyard but for some reason just can't get close enough for a good shot. Maybe one of these days :(

[ajosteve]

Mitch, nice shots of a cute bird we have here...I love to see them, they are so sweet...steve

[Anke]

Cute pics :D Lovely comp too.

[canonloader]

Thanks Reyno, Steve and Anke. Reyno, shot from inside at my desk. I turned out all the lights in here, so it's hard for them to see into a dark room from outside. They were about 17 feet away. Started doing that about a week ago and it seems to work great for the more skittish birds. They are sweet little birds too, never fighting or messing with the other birds. All they want is their share of the sunflower seeds. ;)

[rocklyons]

Nice looking birds Mitch. it took me a few looks to determine that there was a
difference between the first and third shots.:)
Bob

Bob, if it were your wife you would know right away. In the first picture her mouth is open.

[targetman]

super shots mitch my first sight of these little beauty`s.

[EdV]

Happy birds, Mitch. The only backyard feeder birds that I like more this time of year are the Chickadees.

Nice captures there, Mitch.

[dpastern]

Fine series Mitch, very sweet/cute looking birds. Nice sharp shots, well isolated from the background, which is something I really like.

Dave

[IraRunyan]

Nice shots of this little beauty Mitch.
Never see individual birds here, we get them in large groups during the winter and they stay around only a day or two at my house.

[HWP]

Great shots Mitch. Love the background in all of them. Cool looking bird with nice detail and sharpness.

Henry

[canonloader]

Thanks Targetman, Ed, Dave, Ira, and Henry. It's always a high point when these guys show up, cause it means they will usually be here all day. :)

[Alex Paul]

Nice and sharp pal :)

[canonloader]

Thanks Alex, glad you liked them.

BTW, I went out to a likely spot Thursday to check on eagles. I saw one, way to far for good shooting, but had the 1D, 1.4x, 1.5x non-reporting TC and the 300/4 on the tripod and shot a couple test shots. Even at a +100% crop, it was too small to post here, but it was clear and sharp, and focus snapped right to it. Since this bird was at least 5 to 6 times further away than the eagles I shot last winter, I was overjoyed with the quality of the shots. I know it's going to perform great when they are closer. ;)

Have you had the time to shoot Bigma? Hows the job going? :)

[HWP]

Mitch.. I have a question for you that's kind of irrelevant to this shot. I've seen you and others occasionally using extension tubes. Just what does that do? Do you use them with telephoto's? I've always been meaning to ask but never remember.

Thanks

Henry

[wlaramie]

Mitch, great series. You're making that camera sing, nice work.

[canonloader]

Henry, Kenko tubes don't have any glass in them, they are just an extender to get the back of the lens further away from the sensor which acts like a magnifier. There is no loss of image quality and you retain autofocus but you will lose infinity focus and bring minimum focus closer.

I used them extensively with my Bigma and 400L Prime and have tried them a few times with the 300/4 L Prime. They worked really well on the longer lenses but on the 300/4 didn't seem to work all that well. They did work, but the distance between maximum and minimum focus was so short it just wasn't worth the effot to me. I really need to do some serious testing again though and see if I can work out the figures. Maybe even stack them with a TC and see what happens. :)

[canonloader]

Thanks Bill. I am really happy with the 1D, even if it is an older camera. It has a much, much bigger view through the viewfinder and the autofocusing is phenominal over the 30D. Downside is, it's slower to turn on and wake up after it shuts itself off but that's offset by being able to add TC's and still keep AF. ;)

[BradM]

Like usual nice shots Mitch, I would really like to be able to capture a few images of these birds but they just aren't found in my area. Years ago I would come to the Winona/Lacrosse area twice a year for work but never brought the camera gear and regret it each time I see your shots. Well done!

[canonloader]

Thanks Brad. I just got back into photography last summer, and never realized what was around here, bird wise. You know what the lay of the land is, lot's of forest and the river flyway running right through it. So we have all kinds of full time species plus migrants that go through twice a year. It's a birders paradise. But I wait for the freeze up in winter, when the eagles congregate here to fish the few open spots in the ice. Check out my gallery link in my footer for the eagles slideshow. All those were shot right downtown in Riverside park, overlooking the river. ;)

[Gary Fairhead]

Very nice set here Mitch of a bird I would have to travel to as they don't come up this far at least not yet....

[canonloader]

Thanks Gary. Give it another couple years. With things going the way they are, we'll have all kinds of birds we've never seen before. ;)