Songbird Extravaganza !

My stepfather Tom and I are currently photographing birds together in northern Texas. Today started out a bust. We were up at 5:30am and on location at dawn, but the birds were not cooperating. Our luck began changing mid-morning once we figured out the best shooting techniques. The rest of the day was exceptional - it turnd out to be one of the most productive days of songbird photography of my life.

Tom is a videographer and when we're out together we alternate shooting because the fill flash from my camera ruins his video. I typically get on a bird before him and fire off a few shots. He needs 7 seconds footage and tells me when he's about to film, so I stop flashing. I was so excited about the composition on the gnatchatcher (first photo below) that when he said "don't shoot' my brain heard "go shoot". I fired away, captured the image, and ended up flushing the bird. As a result, he mised the shot. Sorry Tom!

Photo 1: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 1.4x teleconvertor; 580EX fill flash


Photo 2: Northern Parula warbler
EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 1.4x teleconvertor; 580EX fill flash

Photo 3: Prothonotary Warbler

EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 1.4x teleconvertor; 580EX fill flash

Photo 4: Prothonotary Warbler
EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS & 1.4x teleconvertor; 580EX fill flash