Time for a feeding

Babies are getting hungry! :) Box is 15 feet from my bedroom window.

#2

#3

OOOOh! I love your pictures, wish I could see some babies!!

Oh oh oh!! What a treat!! What fabulous pictures. I bet you will be seeing babies soon judging by the size of some of those "meals" - yummy! I will certainly be watching this post.

Beautiful pictures.

Excellent photos ... Nice to have Bluebirds so close to the house.

Thanks everyone :) 5 more from the batch!

Second

third

fourth

fifth

Amazing photography - Wowzers !!!

Dea

wow....

Made my day.. thanks so much for posting your wonderful pictures. :)

I am in awe of your wonderful pictures! Would you mind sharing with us what kind of camera you use and any tips or techniques you have for photographing wildlife?

I loved looking at your beautiful bluebird pictures, thank you.
It was only recently that I found out that bluebirds are 'real' birds. There was an old wartime song here in UK that is about 'Bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover', but of course, we don't have bluebirds over here (more's the pity) that's why I thought they were mythical.
Lovely to know that they are indeed 'real' birds and busy raising families in some of your gardens.....you lucky people!! :)

Terri

This is a wonderful series of photos - can practically see the insects waving their legs at us. Thank you for sharing, will earmark this to let me know when you post pics of the babies.

'Course, it's not as tho the babies will be hanging around the nest long once they get their wings, but we can hope you happen to be around with your camera when it happens.

Thanks for sharing, ~Blooms

Thanks again everyone :)

Camera is a Nikon D200. I used a Nikon 28-200mm lens. And I used an external flash - Nikon SB-600, mounted in the camera's 'hot shoe'. I wanted to use the flash to provide a little fill flash. If the subject is in a shadow or sun behind it, fill-in flash helps light up your subject so it's not so dark. I could work on better settings to stop the wings comletely in the photo, but I wasn't too worried about it. I did use a faster shutter speed though to be sure the bird in motion wasn't a total blur. With digital SLR cameras, the better the lens, the better/sharper your images are. The 28-200 lens is an 'ok' performer. If I had one of the pro lenses, I could get really tack sharp and crystal clear images. These were good, but they can definitely get better. I guess at some point though, it's just nit-picking to go over everything that could be better. :)

If I think about it, I'll crop out a closer view of the birds with the insects they have. In the originals, you can clearly see them. Well actually I have a larger version of one already uploaded. Here's the link: http://kygarden.smugmug.com/photos/68283011-O.jpg You can see the bugs better.

I doubt I'll be lucky enough to get pictures of the babies when they leave the nest - unless they hang out around the box. I'm reluctant to open the door to look in for fear they'd fall out or get scared and jump out. So I'll just have to wait for them to leave on their own for a photo-op.

oh no! don't open the door... heavens! Mom and Dad might leave the babes or something horrible. oh you werent really gonna do that were you..?

Great Pictures! Blue Birds are very forgiving if you look inside. I have done Bluebird trails for many years taking the babies out to tag them and the parents don't mind it. They return within minutes to feed. If one falls out of the nest box, put it back in it will be fine.

hczone6, your photos are wonderful. I use a Nikon D70 and I am ASHAMED to say that I haven't been braved enough to get off the autofocus setting. (insert blush icon here) But I am inspired by your pictures to get the manual back out and do some reading and experimenting.

Here is some info. on the management of bluebird boxes Bloomswithaview. It does seem surprising that you can do so much for bluebird families without them abandoning the nest. I lost a box full of babies last year to blow fly larvae. Then I read up on the internet about how I could have helped. Oh well, I'll be prepared next time!

http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/monitor.htm

Interesting. I may have a peek on them. We'll see ;)

Don't worry about feeling bad about not using the camera to it's max...I sure don't! I know enough to be dangerous, but that's about it. I guess I know enough to experiment to get what I want, but I'm not to the point where I can predict what settings I'll need to use based on the subject, etc. I used to have a D70 and I can tell you the D70 is easier to get great photos than the D200 in some ways. The D200 is more closely related to the pro cameras and there's no 'scene modes' like portait, etc. Add 4 more megapixels and a cheap lens will show it's weakness in the photos on the D200. I really want to save up for the Nikon 18-200 VR lens. I think that'll be a good lens for me.

great photos...what a great view you have from your window.

hczone6, sorry I wasn't clear! when I said I wish I could see some babies I meant here, not for you to disturb your babies. I see so many birds everyday- 20 to 30 quail come to drink everyday but I haven't seen any young ones ... yet... just looking forward to it. I don't know very much about the other birds. There sure are lots of 'pairs.' Do you think I could expect to see young Orioles? There is a pair of Bullock's and a pair of Scott's that visit often.

Great Photos!!! I especially liked the first one!!