Soon I will have a full article on my experiences photographing birds in the backyard of my new house in the Costa Rican highlands. For now, I’d like to share a few nice photos, the result of a couple of hours spent on my porch during a four-day rainy spell. Photographing while under the cover of a roofed porch while the rain came down was a delight. While my wife and I have now put four feeders out in our yard (simple posts with a platform for ripe plantains and some mossy branches nailed to the platform for perches), during the rainy spell we decided to hang some bunches of plantains from one of the posts of our porch. I nailed a mossy branch to the porch, grabbed a mug of coffee, set up my equipment, and stayed nice and dry while photographing from only 10 feet away! The birds loved it too as they were able to get out of the rain for a while and enjoy a snack. And the cloudy diffused light along with the rain gave a nice look to these images of cloud forest birds.
In a post to come I will have pictures of our feeders along with some tips on feeder design for fruit-eating birds and a wider selection of images of the birds that visit our yard. For now, here are a few photos with tech notes.
Nos vemos en el campo (see you in the field),
Greg
Female flame-colored tanager
The flame-colored tanager is a beautiful resident cloud forest bird that is fairly difficult to photograph. They are quite common around the Savegre Lodge but since they don’t have feeders, photographing the birds takes quite a bit of luck. They come to my feeders every day. While my next goal is an image of the bright orange-red male, the female is actually quite an attractive bird in its own right.
Tech info: Canon 20 D, Canon 300 mm f2.8L IS lens, Tamron Pro 2x TC, 550 EX flash w/Better Beamer, Manfrotto tripod, -1/3 exposure compensation, -3 flash exposure compensation, f5.6 for 1/200 at ISO 100
Male northern oriole
Northern orioles arrived just a week ago from up north, and it took them less than a day to find the feeders. They forage in mixed flocks along with resident tanagers, saltators, and even woodpeckers. We have around 4 male and 3 female orioles that seem to have taken a liking to our backyard and the trees on our neighbor’s farm. Costa Ricans call this bird sargento, the sergeant. I was lucky enough to catch this one with its wing raised just as it landed.
Tech info: Canon 20 D, Canon 300 mm f2.8L IS lens, Tamron Pro 2x TC, 550 EX flash w/Better Beamer, Manfrotto tripod, -2/3 exposure compensation, -3 flash exposure compensation, f5.6 for 1/320 at ISO 200
Blue-gray tanager
One of the more common highland birds, the blue-gray tanager is actually fairly hard to photograph in a way that captures the subtle colors of the wings. I was happy with this image as the natural light provided a faint backlight while my flash helped to open the detail in the wings.
Tech info: Canon 20 D, Canon 300 mm f2.8L IS lens, Tamron Pro 2x TC, 550 EX flash w/Better Beamer, Manfrotto tripod, -2/3 exposure compensation, -3 flash exposure compensation, f5.6 for 1/320 at ISO 200
Blue-gray tanager
I composed this image of a blue-gray tanager with a magazine cover in mind. You never know, but it helps to leaves space for the magazine masthead at top and the article captions to the left or right of the subject. I like how the misty drizzle typical of cloud forests here shows up in the background.
Tech info: Canon 20 D, Canon 300 mm f2.8L IS lens, Tamron Pro 2x TC, 550 EX flash w/Better Beamer, Manfrotto tripod, -2/3 exposure compensation, -3 flash exposure compensation, f5.6 for 1/400 at ISO 400
Male northern oriole
I was really happy with this image of a male northern oriole. Sharpness is right on, and the deep green background really makes the bird’s colors pop.
Tech info: Canon 20 D, Canon 300 mm f2.8L IS lens, Tamron Pro 2x TC, 550 EX flash w/Better Beamer, Manfrotto tripod, -2/3 exposure compensation, -3 flash exposure compensation, f5.6 for 1/320 at ISO 200
