Birding: Patience, Perserverance and Possibilities

As an avid birder, I’m used to the drill. Check the online birding lists every day…perhaps even several times a day. See what’s been reported in the state, or maybe even not conveniently close by. Sometimes it’s interesting to know what others are seeing, where and when. But sometimes you just might read about the sighting of a bird that grabs your attention and is worth chasing…that is, going after, even though it may not be relatively close. It’s a subjective thing. It might be a life bird (one you haven’t ever seen before) or just something interesting. It’s like the antiques collector waiting for an indication that a 1901 candlestick telephone is finally available, but may be three hours away. If you want it, you might have to work for it. 

For the past week or so, there have been postings of a Painted Bunting, a bird common to the south and south central states, that has been sighted in Absecon, New Jersey, just outside of Atlantic City. Because it is rare in our region, it has garnered much interest from local birders. So why is this particular bird important? It’s not a life bird for me…I’ve seen the species before. Or more exactly, I saw a female Painted Bunting nearly four years ago, while in the Florida Keys. We stopped in Islamorada for the evening, and I took a little walk along the mangroves on the Atlantic side of the key. There, I came across an unusually green bird, one I had never seen before, which had the appearance of a bunting, a sparrow-sized bird. The field guide helped me to quickly key in on a female Painted Bunting. (With a positive identification, it becomes a life bird that one can now count on a “Life List” of species identified.) Really nice, but nothing like the male, with which I was familiar from studying field guides. I counted that sighting as a life bird at the time, but never found the male. As I have written before, it’s like having a single M&M. You know what it is like, but you are in no way satisfied. Well, I wasn’t satisfied. When I finally had some free time (Wednesday, April 23), I arranged to try for the Painted Bunting with my good friend Ray Deeney. However, two potential problems loomed ahead of us. They were: 1) I wouldn’t finish with my last client until about 2:30 p.m. (and Absecon was about a 90-minute drive), and 2) occasional heavy rain was forecast. It didn’t look very promising. 

I finished with my client on time, dashed to Ray’s home and off we went to look for this one particular bird, at a private location (with permission, of course) that was about 90 miles away. Crazy? Yes! Worth it? You bet! 

We arrived at the site at 4:50 p.m. It didn’t seem like a great time to start waiting for a bird, but we also thought it wasn’t a bad time either, as the bird might hit the feeder at least once more before calling it a day. I took a few test shots and found that the lighting was so bad that I might not be able to get any good photos at all. Reluctantly, I set the camera at ISO 800 and at a slow 1/100th of a second. I thought there would be sufficient light for some good exposures. 

At 5:10 p.m. (I checked the EXIF time stamp on the photo frame to be sure) John Votta, one of two really nice people who were there before we arrived (the other was Jim) picked up his  binoculars to scan behind the feeder and spotted the Painted Bunting far back and only as a speck of color against the nearly leafless branches and vines. But it was there, and it seemed to want to approach the feeder that was perhaps 30 feet closer to where the four of us were waiting. 

After just a few minutes and several very minor moves among the vines, it made a dash for a brush pile that was about halfway between its original position and the feeder where it had previously been observed. Within a minute it moved forward again, this time into a spruce tree that was about as far from us as the feeder. In just moments, it flew onto the feeder. Wow! This bird was worth the trip. How incredibly beautiful and luminescent it appeared in the heavy gray of the late afternoon light. Rain began, and I quickly fired off 15 shots. I then placed the camera and binoculars inside my coat and waited as the bird relocated to the back of the feeder, the side that was out of view from our position. There was a moment to check the exposure, and I wasn’t happy. With the very heavy tropical-like cloud cover and the light rain, the light had diminished considerably, and I dropped the shutter speed to 1/5oth of a second. It is hard enough holding a long lens (4o0mm when fully extended), which is the equivalent to 13 magnification, in good light, but to do so at very slow shutter speeds seems crazy. But I have been doing a great deal of shooting recently and practicing keeping the camera steady by exhaling, holding it and then shooting. I hoped it worked well enough for a few good frames. 

With the bird at the back side of the feeder from our position, I slowly and quietly worked my way around about 90° to the right, to a better vantage point. Now, mostly obscured from the  bird’s sight by a large tree, I was able to grab more than 30 additional shots in about one minute’s time, catching the bird in several good poses. While this bird was shy when approaching the feeder, it wasn’t very concerned at my somewhat closer position once it was feeding. After this time, the rain began in earnest, and the bird, now sated with seed, flew from the feeder.

When I returned home I checked the EXIF data on that last series of shots. 1/50th of a second seemed to have worked well enough. Of course some of the shots were blurry, but when you shoot many frames in such conditions (thank goodness for digital photography) some of them will be better than others. And if you’re lucky, some will be very sharp. It’s a great pose of a gorgeous bird.

What lesson can be taken from all of this? It’s simple! Be patient. You might not get the bird, butterfly, or Bighorn Sheep on the first try. But if you persevere, your chances improve greatly. If, for example, you’re trying for a fabulous photo of El Capitan in Yosemite, but the lighting or the clouds aren’t quite the way you envisioned it, wait or come back very early or very late in the day (if you are able), when conditions are different. Shoot several frames, spaced out over time, and you might find a gem among the photos that appear on your computer screen. The possibilities of a perfectly beautiful shot are endless. You simply have to give them a chance. Patience, persistence and possibilities are the factors that may help you create that amazing Ansel Adams-like photo. You have as much of a chance in succeeding as anyone else. 

Thanks, 

Rich 

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NOTES: Most recent digital cameras post data with each frame that is exposed. This is the EXIF data that includes such information as date, time, perhaps GPS coordinates, ISO, shutter speed, ƒ stop, etc. This is always good when you want to know what worked particularly well…or particularly poorly. With this information you may gain invaluable insights to help you to improve your photography.