Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher

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Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Yesterday afternoon my son had a appointment in a little office park with two lakes surrounding the complex.  I decided to walk around the complex to see what I could find.  I didn't find anything unusual, but I did find a tree with two Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers and a Northern Parula actively feeding.  They seemed unconcerned with me.  Some times the Gnatcatchers would fly within feet of my head to catch bugs and then return to the tree.  I got some of my favorite pictures of the gnatcatchers all within a span of about 15 minutes.  I got photos of the parula too, but I'll save them for a later post.

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Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
These photos were taken in a mostly shaded tree, so my shutter speeds were quite slow, ranging from 1/80sec to 1/320sec or so.  With a 400mm lens non image stabilized lens and a moving subject, this means there's a high degree of likelihood that my photos will not be sharp.  A tripod can't help much here, since they can't stop the gnatcatchers from dancing around the trees.  So the only solution, especially with my equipment, is to take lots of pictures.

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Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
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Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
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Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher

Comments

  1. These are such cute birds, I love the second image the most because of the head turn!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am wanting to purchase a photo or two
    please contact me on details. Eric@marriagecanbemurder.com

    ReplyDelete

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