Burnaby Mountain Grosbeaks

Jan 8 2015 Burnaby Mountain Sunny 6c

As mentioned in my last blog I was so carried away with composing clean uncluttered images of the colourful male Pine Grosbeaks I totally forgot the female of the species.
Ironically, ignoring the female species is something my wife kindly reminds me of when I return from one of my extended birding trips!
With the Lower Mainland fogged in I decided to return to Burnaby Mountain where at least there would be blue skies, sun and warmth.
When I arrived I was lucky enough to find the grosbeaks feeding on cherry buds. The Rose Garden was almost deserted, except for one young birder sketching and enjoying the tranquility. An hour later a dozen photographers and birders were on the scene by which time the birder/artist had long departed!
The Pine Grosbeaks are easy to find near the Horizons Restaurant and seemed to have no fear of humans, just respect their space and they'll reward you with excellent views.

Male Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator)
This one came down to drink and take in grit and water at the Rose Garden. 

When I returned home I found I had shot 267 files, I quickly edited it down to 57. There were issues including distracting backgrounds, branches behind the bird's head or too bright a sky or out of focus foliage. Even though I tried not to press the shutter until I had a clearly composed shot, emotions took over and I landed up with 210 useless shots which have now been dispatched to the trash.

Some thoughts on Composition

When I started photographing birds a record shot was mandatory, later as I learnt a little more about bird lore, a close-up shot would be the goal. None of those early images show any kind of habitat and if they did it was as a second thought. These days I am trying to include more habitat within the frame as well as a clean background. Not as easy as it sounds. I have tried hard to compose better images with this second round of Pine Grosbeak images.

Female Pine Grosbeak in an "active pose" in my opinion a step up from the 'bird on the stick' pose.
There is tension in the bird's pose

First year male showing rump and uppertail coverts.

Female Pine Grosbeak.

Like the picture below I looked for a clean background amongst the tangle of branches the cherry trees provided. The hope is to separate the bird from the background allowing the viewer to enjoys the bird's physical characteristics.

                                                             

Male Pine Grosbeak.

In this composition above I tried to combine the simplicity of primary reds and blues. I waited for the bird to move along the branch until it entered a space, creating a frame within a frame. Note the foreground and background branch. A touch of blue sky and the pinkish red plumage compliment each other. This was one of five shots before the bird flew off. The open beak with cherry bud capped off the composition. 

So what make a good image ?

1. Impact: Does the image have wow factor, does it evoke some emotional connection?

2. Story-telling: Does the image tell you anything about the subject.

3. Technical stuff : Exposure, Composition.
and
of course
a 
sense of humour!

See Ya!

It's never too late to start birding

John Gordon

Langley/Cloverdale

Bitter Cold But Worth The Wait....Almost!

Sunday March 17th 2013. Burnaby Mountain. Clear skies, windy and by Lower Mainland B.C. standards very cold!
It was still dark when I dragged myself out of bed Sunday morning. I was to meet up with fellow birder Raymond on Burnaby Mountain. A small flock of five female Pine Grosbeaks did arrive about 8.30 a.m and over the following fours hours gave us numerous opportunities to photograph them. They mostly perched on the pencil thin cherry tree branches, gorging themselves on the succulent and obviously nutritious buds, descending to pick up pieces that had fallen into the moss laden boughs below. Occasionally the flock would fly off and re-appear 30 minutes later. Pine Grosbeaks seem to ignore most human activity which makes them very approachable. A Peregrine falcon flew over a few times, a Red-tailed hawk used a thermal to glide high above us and a pair of Ravens looked like they were had courtship on their minds. The male never did show which I suppose makes a perfect excuse to try again.

Most shots were taken with available light except for those in the shade. I used a Better Beamer on my Nikon SB800, a D300 at ISO 640 and tripod mounted 500 F.4
The flash gives a nice catchlight and brightens up the underside of the birds.
Enjoy!

A type of small finch, the Pine Grosbeak (Carduelis pinus) visit parks and gardens during the winter

Female Pine Grosbeak: Fill flash set at -1 SB 800 TTL 640 ISO
This created added depth of field, a nice catchlight and pleasing exposure.

A Mixed Bag and a 'Lifer' to Boot!

9.00 Leave home after leisurely breakfast


Mar 8th, 2013 Burnaby Mountain. Blue skies and sunny.


9.30 A.M.
A few feet above me a flock of Pine Grosbeaks are gorging themselves. I can't believe I've found them on my first try. It wasn't a question of finding the quarry myself as much as locating another photographer who had already found the birds! I suppose that's just another facet of the 'Total Birding' experience. anyway I digress....I best shut up and just take pictures!

Female Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator)

The Pine Grosbeak is a beautiful bird, even though the more brilliant male was missing from the flock  the females with their yellow-olive heads were stunning. I spent an hour with them.

Pine Grosbeak feeding on cherry buds.

The flock spent a good hour eating the tender cherry buds, disregarding some very loud groups of tourists passing directly underneath them. The flock kept on feasting, eventually retreating into some higher branches andout of range, most probably to take a rest from eating.. or to take a break from us humans!



11.30 A.M.  Deas Island Regional Park Sunny

Deas Island would seem to be the perfect resting place to go bird watching. The Fraser River skirts one side of the park, another sheltered body of water inside the park is used by the local rowing club offers shelter to ducks, herons and kingfishers. High above gulls and bald eagles circle in the air. A very vocal Winter wren makes checks me out, coming within inches of my shoulder, high above a flock of Yellow-rumped warblers search for insects and scores of Black-capped chickadees and Ruby-crowned kinglets flit from tree to tree.
The rattle of a kingfisher draws my attention away. There are so many branches obscuring the bird but eventually I find a small opening to shoot through. The aperture is set at F4, later I am surprised by the clarity of the files despite all the branches in the way.

Belted-kingfisher (Mecaceryle torquata

2.00 P.M. Ladner Trunk Rd.72nd Ave
Having found nothing of note at the base of 72nd Ave I decided to make my way home. As I reached Ladner Trunk Rd I spot a Red-tailed hawk perched up on a snag. I managed one static shot before it took off and I 'lucked out' with this flight shot.

Red-tailed  hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)

4.00 Arrive Back Home after yet another wonderful days birding in the Lower Mainland.