Pine siskins at a feeding station.

I have mixed feelings about bird feeders. I love the fact that they attract quite a variety of birds, especially if you have several of them with a range of food types. The above photo was taken near Cultus Lake while we were camping there. The feeder hangs from a metal rod which reduces the likelihood that squirrels or cats will interfere. Although most of the birds present were pine siskins, there were other visitors including a species I have never seen before. It was spectacular watching the maturing chicks trying to get their fill.

There is a downside to feeding the birds. The food, regardless of its type, attracts mice, rats, bears, and even the occassional raccoon. I have also found that neighbourhood cats like to hide in nearby undergrowth hoping for an easy target. Unfortunately, they often succeed. Young birds need to learn to forage without the benefit of handouts; there is a risk of causing them to starve in leaner times because they cannot fend for themselves.

I used my 150-600 mm Tamron lens to photograph this image; the aperture was wide open at f/6.3 and resulted in a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second with an ISO of 800. I use a crop sensor camera so that the 600 mm lens functions like a 900 mm; the APS-C sized sensor works very well even at higher ISO values. Although I prefer shooting at lower ISOs, shutter speed often ends up being the critical factor and so I try to find the balance between the two. Some like shooting with Auto-ISO turned on; I usually do not use this feature as I prefer to pick my own values. The problem with Auto-ISO is that it can affect the camera's exposure settings. I often shoot in manual exposure mode because I am measuring the light falling on the subject rather than the light reflecting from the subject. This is especially important when the background's brightness is different from the subject's.

A shutter speed of 1/200th of a second is usually not fast enough to stop action, but it works well in this case as the approaching bird was almost hovering. The blurred wings help with the impression of flight and lend a frantic quality to the shot. You can see some of that in the demeanor of the other birds attempting to get their fill before being bumped out of the queue.

Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen

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