He sure looks determined Dave.

We've got a new "King of the stick" too. :)
Here he bristles to ward off all comers:
{{gwi:997573}}

I've got to thank you for the tip on mounting a branch for them to perch on btw... this has led to countless nice shots we wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

Kenn

Well, that must surely be one of your countless nice shots. Great! in fact. Looks so much more natural than when he is perched on the feeder. And I love the Indian headress look he shows with his tail feathers.

I just bought a new backup camera. A Canon 5D. It should be here in a few days. I won't use it much for birding (I don't think) but it is supposed to be very good for landscapes and low light situations, like weddings etc. I also got on the waiting list for the new Canon 40D, just announced this week. Incidentally, I sold my backup camera, the 1D Mark IIn, so I could justify these two. :-)

Dave

I really appreciate your encouragement Dave. And the insights you share here regarding birding also. We have mounted 2 branch perches in different locations and really have taken a ton of more natural looking shots of our birds this way. :)

I was looking at your PBase originals (as I often do) on these 3 shots of your new Boss, and you get such great detail and even exposures. Really beautiful.
And btw, while I was looking through your vast array of hummingbird photos I found a shot you took about a year ago with the MKII (not the N) of a young male that was likely challenging the then boss I guess. He was displaying a very similar "indian head dress" tail feathers fan pose. :)

That's quite an impressive camera arsenal you're putting together there. I read the DPReview on your MKIII before, and I just had a look at the 5D specs as well as the preview report on that new 40D.... whew. A lot of high-end $tuff there.

Hope you'll share your impressions of (and photos from) this new gear when you get it.

8] (kenn's eyes glazing over)

Man...I was thinking that he looked ticked off, more than determined! LOL!!! I'd hate to cross that one!

Great pictures, both of you,

Beverly

And speaking of other bosses...

I guess we're getting some migrators now, because as of yesterday, this big guy has claimed the perch from the bird I posted above:
{{gwi:997574}}

He is fatter and looks older to me.

Kenn

Ooh, great idea on mounting a perch branch. Didn't think of that! I'll have to give it a try. My male RT hummers have a great desire to stay on the opposite side of the deck feeder from me.

I want to get a good pic of a male RT, then two hummers at the feeder (always female).

I'm thinking of taping paper to the deck door with a circle cut out the size of the image I can photograph. That way they won't see me very well. What I really need is a remote shutter-activator. Is there such a thing?

Yardenman,

Some cameras offer remote shutter release by a hand-held cable or wireless remote control. My S3 does not have this feature, but it comes with Canon's EOS Utility software which allows me to control the camera from my PC via USB.

This is pretty cool actually... I can adjust most camera controls including: shooting modes, aperture, shutter speed, exposure, zoom, white balance and auto-focus from my desk while monitoring the view-finder in a 320x240 window on the computer screen. And click the shutter release from about 20 ft away from our feeder window tripod location.

I have gotten a few good shots this way, but there are a few drawbacks also:
1. The shutter delay is increased (to about a half second), which makes it yet more difficult to catch those really fleeting shots.
2. The software allows single-shot mode only, so no HContinuous is possible.
3. No manual focus is possible... (in fact, ALL the controls ON the camera are disabled while using the software to control it.)
4. And of course, if you're remote from the camera yourself (which is kind of the ultimate bird-blind concept), you can't easily or quickly re-aim when another great shot is nearby and the camera isn't pointing in the right place to get it.

Still, if you have a Canon that's compatible with this software it's great fun to set it up to shoot a favorite perch or feeder, and the birds will never even know you're around. :)

Sorry Dave, this is kinda off-topic for this thread... don't mean to hi-jack it. But if anyone is interested, we could take this to another discussion. It is kinda "boss" software anyway I think, and I enjoy using it sometimes. But in truth, I still get most of my best shots with the camera in my hands.

Kenn

Yardenman

Sounds like you are shooting with a tripod. I personally prefer to shoot my camera hand held, but here are some comments.

My view is from a window in the breakfast nook. Those windows extend down to about a foot off the floor and if I don't block the lower pane, the hummers will detect the motion when I bring the camera up, so I have a large piece of cardboard I use to block the lower window pane.

I think several camera companies offer remote controls for their cameras. I know Olympus, for one, used to offer an infared remote standard with their earlier models, and I think they offer it as an optional accessory on some models now. I think Canon offers a wireless remote too, so there are probably others.

Dave