Sunday was the first sunny day in a long time, but unfortunately Leslie was feeling under the weather so we weren’t able to go to Theler Wetlands as I’d originally planned. It was a little disappointing, but we have lots to do around the house. While working in the kitchen I happened to look out on the back deck which with the onset of sunshine seemed like an extremely popular place, even though I haven’t put any birdseed out this fall.
A beautiful Stellar Jay sat looking in the window, and I was tempted to run get a camera but I knew from experience that he would be long gone by the time I ran upstairs and got my camera. However, after I spotted a Varied Thrush scattering leaves everywhere I decided to get my camera after all because, unlike the Jay, they tend to stick around for a while.
I’ve long ago learned that it’s a waste of time to try to shoot bird photos through the window, no matter how close they are. I’ve also learned that once you crack the patio door to stick your lens out, that 90% of the time birds will fly away, especially Jays.
Amazingly one of the three Stellar Jays stuck around long enough to get this shot on the back fence.
Even more surprising, I was able to get multiple shots of the Varied Thrush digging through leaves under the plum tree. This is one of the best I’ve ever gotten in my backyard, which tends to be particularly dark in the winter because of the fir tree and the high fences.
Varied Thrushes are notoriously timid, but this one actually seemed curious about the sounds my camera made when I hit the shutter.
Eventually he flew into the tree where the light was also better than usual because all the leaves long ago fell to the ground.
I thought it was extremely thoughtful of the birds to come visit me when I wasn’t able to come visit them. I took nearly twenty shots, which I straightaway narrowed to these three which I rated, and labeled before immediately deleting all the rejects.