Earlier this month, before the weather became warm enough to open our windows, but not so cold that you turned into an ice cube, I had Mr. Tide remove some of the screens from a few of our windows. I chose which windows to remove the screens from based on whether or not birds were likely to come to those parts of our house. I knew that without the screens I could open these windows and hopefully capture a few of our many flying friends a little closer.
Normally I try and venture outside looking as much like a non threatening bush or fence post as possible, but that rarely works, so shooting through open windows seemed like the best choice.
Just outside our bedroom window we have a shepherd's hook that we hung a bird feeder on this winter. Much to our dismay, the heavy winds quickly knocked the feeder off and we realized it wasn't the best spot for feeding the birds. Not long after we took the feeder down we realized the iron pole/hook provided an ideal spot for the many bluebirds that visit us, so we left it right where it was and looked forward to seeing our bluebirds each day. They happily perch on the curves of the hooks and fly down to grab the bugs and grubs from the lawn and surrounding fields.
I took full advantage of this up close opportunity by using my telephoto lens and propping myself precariously on our bed, or on tip toes as I positioned near the window so as not to scare them off. They are still a good 20 feet or more outside the window, and because of the way our windows are hung, I needed to shoot with the top part of the window down in order to not be looking up at them.
The collage at the top of this post is a straight out of the camera compilation of the same happy male bluebird that happened to visit us one afternoon. He was so busy munching on bugs that he seemed a little oblivious to the woman teetering through the open window several yards away.
I was so excited when I came to my computer and began processing the photos. I had finally captured how blue these gorgeous birds really are, and I had finally captured an elusive wingspread shot!
These little guys are amazingly quick, and I was sure I hadn't gotten any decent take off or in flight shots, so I was pleasantly surprised that I had in fact snagged a few winners. Of course I'm never content to just have the simple bird shots, so I began playing around with them and created the 2 images above.
Since then, we have put the screens up so that we could enjoy the cool breezes of our hit or miss springtime weather. And although I haven't taken any more shots of the bluebirds visiting our shepherd's hook...I'm pretty sure they keep coming back in hopes that I will capture their beauty once again through my lens.
I wonder, do you think my house will be full of gnats, spiders, and buzzing bees if we go without screens all summer?! For the sake of nature photography...it might just be worth it! :)
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