Category: Wildlife

Photography subjects are all around us. When you are a beginner, sometimes it can actually be overwhelming to decide what to start photographing. I, of course, focus on nature and wildlife photography. One of my favorite wildlife subjects is birds. I enjoy learning about them, the challenge of photographing them, and teaching others about them. In this Quick Tips blog, I will give some tips on getting started photographing our feathered friends.

There are many benefits of learning how to photograph birds. A few include

1. Getting outside and enjoying nature
2. Your subject is everywhere, even cities and your own backyard
3. For birders, good photographs help with bird identification and documentation
4. All ages can enjoy it
5. Provides a fun challenge

How to Get Started

Begin by learning some basics about your subject. Knowing basic behaviors and characteristics will help you appreciate your subject more and help you to identify, locate, and photograph them. 

Identification Help

Local year-round birds are easiest to start identifying and photographing. Migrating birds are fairly predictable, so you can learn the times of the year that various birds migrate through your area. Male birds are usually more easily identified because they are more colorful and vocal. Females and young males can look very similar. 

There are many great tools available to begin identifying birds and to learn more about them. The Cornell Lab Merlin app is a free tool that I highly recommend. A good bird guide book is another excellent resource. Many are available including ones by Peterson, Sibley, Audubon, and National Geographic. As you become more involved in bird photography, you may also enjoy joining a birding and/or photography club or group. Research your area for Ornithological Societies, Camera Clubs, and Birding Social Media Groups.

Basic Behaviors

Learning basic behaviors such as what birds eat and their preferred habitats will help you draw them to your yard, know where to look for them on location, predict their behavior, and get better photos. Backyard bird feeders will attract different birds based on the types of feed and seed that you use. To attract many different birds, use a variety of seeds and use suet for woodpeckers. Consider planting trees, shrubs, and flowers to attract birds. Hummingbirds, for example, will be drawn to nectar producing flowers. While other types of birds will eat the seeds produced by flowering plants. All birds will benefit from having cover and nesting places in backyard plantings.

Some birds will feed predominantly on insects, and you can use this knowledge to get photographs of them catching a meal in flight or delivering an insect to their young as in the image below. 

Other birds that feed on berries will be found in trees and shrubs. So, looking for likely food sources can result in great photos of them eating colorful berries.

 Gear to Get Started

As you get started photographing birds, you will need some basic gear. A good pair of binoculars tops the list of recommended gear. There are many brands available. Look for good quality 8×42 binoculars. Binoculars will help you find and identify the birds that you want to photograph.

As with binoculars there are many camera brands available. Look for a digital (DSLR) camera from a respected manufacturer such as Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, Panasonic. You will want a camera and lenses with vibration reduction (VR) and image stabilization (IS) capabilities. A good birding lens would be a 200mm or higher. Zooms are very versatile and can be used, also. Other equipment that will be handy is a tripod and a monopod with a Gimbal tripod head.

Photographing

Bird photography is fun and challenging. You are frequently photographing a moving subject that at times is quite small and in variable lighting. Below are some tips to follow as you practice photographing birds. Keep in mind that the key to progress is practice. Since birds are in nearly every environment, you can practice regularly even if it is in your backyard or a nearby city park. As you practice, the techniques become habit, and as you adventure into different settings to photograph birds your results will be better and better.

Photography Tips:

1. Practice looking back and forth from camera to subject with your naked eye
2. Practice panning (moving camera/lens the same speed as the subject) as you photograph the moving subject
3. Study bird habits to anticipate their movements to capture action shots
4. Be prepared – try to position yourself with better lighting such as sun behind you to help your images show better detail and color
5. Shoot flying subjects as they are coming slightly toward you (not flying away)
6. For static subjects shoot at lowest F Stop (f/2.8-f/5.6) and speeds equivalent to lens length (1/400-1/800)
7. For moving subjects shoot at a higher F Stop (f/6.3-f/8) and higher speeds (1/800-1/1600)
8. Use your lowest ISO possible for best results
9. Use single point Autofocus for static subjects
10. Use small group Autofocus for flying subjects

In conclusion, learning bird photography is a fun and challenging hobby that anyone can get started doing. Download a bird app such as Merlin by Cornel Lab to your phone and begin identifying the birds in your neighborhood. Improve your yard with feeders and simple plantings to encourage birds, and you will be able to easily practice your photography in your backyard. Get started with some basic camera gear and binoculars. Soon you will find yourself enjoying your bird photography as much as I do.

The American Black Bear is the iconic inhabitant of the Great Smoky Mountains. No visit is complete without picking-up a bear souvenir and trying to site one while driving a scenic byway. But have you ever wondered what the bears are doing while you are looking for them? Most likely, if they are not sleeping, they are busy foraging for food. This is particularly true for female bears who are nursing their cubs.

So, what are they eating out there in the woods and fields of the Smokies? Black bears are omnivorous, meaning that they are opportunistic feeders who will eat a variety of things, including vegetation and meat. In the Spring when food is scarce, bears may eat grasses, inner tree bark, insects, and insect larvae.  They will tear apart rotting logs and overturn rocks looking for invertebrates. Bears will also feed on carrion that they come across. They will follow the food sources that become available throughout the year such as blackberries, cherries, acorns, and walnuts. 

Black Bears are the smallest North American bear, but they have the keenest noses in the park. Bears rely on their sense of smell for finding food.  It is thought that they can smell a food source over two miles away! Because of this it is always important to follow proper food storage protocols when hiking and camping to help minimize human and bear interactions.

While you enjoy your visit to the Great Smoky Mountains, don’t forget to respect the wildlife and the wilderness around you. Bears and the other inhabitants of the area are wild animals and approaching them is dangerous for both humans and the animals. Photographs and videos in this article were taken with appropriate telephoto/zoom lenses while maintaining a safe distance from the subject.

Video of black bear digging up a yellow jacket nest to eat the larvae.

References:

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/american-black-bear.htm

http://www.bearconservation.org.uk/eastern-black-bear/

https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/black-bear

https://www.chesapeakebay.net/discover/field-guide/entry/american-black-bear

If you are lucky, you may one day see an animal or bird lacking pigment in fur or feathers. A loss of pigmentation caused by a genetic mutation that interferes with the production of melanin is called albinism. Melanin produced in an animal’s body is the main pigment that determines skin, fur, and eye color. A true albino animal will typically have pink eyes. Albino animals are rare in the wild. They do not survive very long due to their conspicuous color and poor eyesight. Other forms of partial pigmentation loss such as leucism occurs more frequently.

Leucism does not completely eliminate pigment and can result in a variety of patterns. Leucistic animals will have some pigment in their fur, eyes, feathers, etc.  A leucistic deer can vary greatly. In some instances, they may have some white splotches. In other cases, they may be half brown and half white or nearly all white. Piebald is a term used for mixed brown and white animals. Leucism in deer is a recessive genetic trait found in about 1% of the population.

Leucistic Squirrel

White leucistic squirrels are a tourist attraction in several U.S. cities. As with other animals, fur color in squirrels varies widely, and true albinos are rare. Even though most white squirrels are leucistic, the town of Olney, Illinois has a colony of albino squirrels. Approximately 12% of Olney’s squirrels are true albinos.

Leucistic and albino turkeys are also observed in the wild.  There are several different color phases of turkey, such as the smoke-phase, which is much more common than leucistic or albino. The smoke-phase has a significant lack of brown pigments, and appears more gray or smoky looking. The majority (approximately 95%) of smoke-phase turkeys are hens.

Smoke-Phase Turkey Hen

Regardless of the cause of a rare color variation in nature, it is always an exhilarating experience when one has the opportunity to photograph it.

References:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/albino-animals

https://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/birding-basics/albinism-in-birds/

https://blog.nature.org/science/2016/02/03/white-deer-understanding-a-common-animal-of-uncommon-color/

https://www.wideopenspaces.com/white-wild-turkey/

https://blog.nature.org/science/2021/10/11/whats-up-with-white-squirrels-and-black-squirrels/

The Piping Plover population of the USA has been in trouble for a long time now. Thankfully conservation actions were started to protect the beaches along the Atlantic coast where they breed. There has been a slight boost in the population (numbers now range in the 5-10 thousand) in recent years as a result of these actions of conservation. Their breeding range is from south Newfoundland to northern South Carolina along the Atlantic coastline. There is also a small population in the midwest, south and west of the great lakes. 

The Piping Plover gets its name from the bell like whistles used in its call and is often heard before it is seen. The adult is about 7 inches long and has a bright yellow beak as well as yellow legs. Despite that bright coloration, they blend in remarkably well to their beach habitat. They can stand still for long periods of time and then suddenly run for a burst 20-30 feet before stopping motionless again. They feed on small insects and vertebrae found on the beaches. Piping Plover are often found breeding on the same beaches as breeding Least Terns. I will be posting the terns in future posts.

They winter in the Caribbean and US Gulf shoreline from September-March and breed April-August along the Atlantic shoreline. They can have several broods, and the 1st one in May usually produces 3-4 chicks with subsequent broods producing less. The chicks have to forage for their own food, and they do so as early as 1 hour after birth. This chick included in the post is only days old and about 2″ long. I included the seaweed in the image to show the details of its small size at such a tender young age. The images were taken on the last day of June. I witnessed a few 3 chick families but mostly 2 chick families at this location.