Hello again folks;,,
These little Indigo's have to be by far one of the hardest birds to photograph up close. It's even harder trying to get the true colors also....
Maybe one of these days I'll get a good shot or two of these beautiful birds..... I had two pair nesting here in the back last summer........
...Dave
One more...
Oooh Dave! Far as I'm concerned, that's a great shot. I would so love to see an IB with my own eyes. Meanwhile, keep posting please! :)
thanks,
De
Great pics Dave! Thank You! I would love to see one of these some day.
Dave, I agree with your statement: "It's even harder trying to get the true colors also.... ". My first impression was, they are a more beautiful color blue, than the pictures. But, I frequently experience the same problem when photographing some blue flowers.
I like that second pics and the look it has. I rarely see them - such a nice color.
I never get to see them while they are blue...we often get one or two each fall but they are immatures or in winter plumage, so they look pretty drab.
Excellent photos, Dave. Last summer, I was able to photograph a lot of Indigo Buntings. One morning in July, I was walking on a park path and out of nowhere an Indigo Bunting landed right in front of me. On other occasions, I sometimes am uncertain whether I photographed an Indigo Bunting or a Blue Grosbeak until I download my photos to the computer.
Here is a photo of the one on the park path.
Outstanding Linth!!!
Grasmussen;,,
You got that right......Flowers can be just as tough sometimes........I've photographed blue flowers and when viewing them on the computer, sometimes they seem to have a purplish hue to some of them....Lighting plays funny games with the sensers in cameras for some reason..... Such is life huh!!
...Dave
Nice shootin linthicum;..
Thats about as close to a color match to these Indigo's as I've seen..... I'll keep trying and maybe one day I'll get a few good ones.......
I've found that the light angle from which to photograph these Indigo's is critical, more so than with other species..... Blue Grosbeaks would probably be another one....
How bout that.....Walking on a park path, and one just happens to land right in front of you... I'll be thinking about that this summer when I'm out trying to photograph these things.....haaa!!
...Dave
Dave, love the first one especially - he is singing his heart out!!! Wonderful photos.
Linth, yours is fabulous.
Just color me green - we don't get any such thing around here . . . sigh!
Dave, Nice pics again, I'm hoping to one of these days, See a IB up close, But for now, I can enjoy the posted photos.
Linthicum, Beautifull shot and color!!!
Linthicum, a fabulous picture!!!
I echo the sentiments above - beautiful!! I have never seen one either. But I know we have them around here. Do they prefer wooded areas?
Boy, do I agree about getting bright deep colors right - especially in sunlight. In the summer I take a lot of daylily photos and bright red in full sun is the worst for me. But at least daylilies don't fly away lol.
Lovely little birds!
Beautiful pictures! We have them here and it's hard to catch them still long enough to photograph, I think I've got a couple of really bad photos on my home computer. They seem to stay in the more weedy areas, along the fence rows and such. I've never seen them at any of the feeders here but I've seen pictures of them at thistle feeders. I think I'll buy one of those sock feeders and hang it on the fence this year and see if they come to it.
We don't see them at the feeder much, but this one ventured close enough to get a pic. Lost a lot of clarity with the telephoto lens, but this year I have my gamecam set up close to the feeders, waiting for a good shot. These Indigos tend to stay closer to the timber rather than open areas. Are they that way in other areas?
sadie_mae;,,
I have one male that comes to the feeders......Most of the time in the evenings......
As a rule these birds like to stay along the tree line well hiden...... Not the easiest bird to spot, even when their singing.....
Moonlighter;,,,
That way here also, and when they do come out in the open, their skitish....REALLY skitish.... I had to take this picture from inside, through a glass window, plus a screen.... He won't come to the feeder if I'm outside.....
...Dave
Heres another one I just found....
Well cool! Are those birds at mixed seed feeders or thistle?
Ours are pretty much out in the open, the woods are quite a ways back from the house but in the summer, the fence line will grow up with grasses 3' high at least and that's where they seem to hang out. Several years ago, when I had a flower bed gone wrong, LOL, they came into the yard right against the house to eat the grass seed that grew up in that bed. That was the first time I'd ever seen them and I thought they were bluebirds, duh, ...my dad happened to be visiting from TN and told me what they were.
I'll have to see if I still have the pics on my computer that I took last year. I remember that in one, he was perched on a little piece of fence by our barn.
Edited to add: Dave, I just noticed that yours is on a mixed seed feeder, not very observant, am I :-)
This message was edited Feb 20, 2007 11:29 AM
Sadie......thats a thistle feeder. The tray has mixed seeds in it. I think the Indigo was eating black oil sunflowers, but he wasn't there long enough to tell...they ARE skittish! Heres one I took this morning with my gamecam mounted about 3 foot from the feeder.
Dave - Your Indigo Bunting is gorgeous! I have a mating pair of the Painted Buntings that live year-round in my area. First time in all the years that I have lived here that I ever saw them. Putting up a feeder is what attracted them to my yard! :-)
Here's a photo. Wish it was a better photo like yours, but you can at least see the "painted" colored feathers on the male. This species of birds (buntings) are sure some colorful birds! I wish I got the Indigo here, too!
Becky, You do get them during the summer.
Becky;,,,
I've never seen one of those Painted Buntings....... Wow what a beautiful bird.....
You should get the Indigo's down where your at, at least in the winter months..... Sebastian might be just a tad south of their breading range...Not sure..... Heres a link that has some usefull information on them.
http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?recnum=BD0346
Might have to copy & paste that into you're browser untill I figure out how to post it the right way.... It's showing up as plain text as I type..... Sorry...
....Dave
Thanks Moonlighter and it looks like your gamecam is working out well! I finally found the pics of the Indigo that I took in 2005, they aren't very good because I was so far away.
Becky, I really envy your Painted Buntings, they are so beautiful!
Oh, I hope you are right and they do come to my area! That would be really awesome!!!
This is really odd, but I recently installed a feeder set-up. The only birds I get are the local Blue Jays, Cardinals, Painted Buntings, Crows, and recently the American Goldfinches. I see migrant birds everywhere, but none come to the feeder. I have several different feeders with a multi seed mix. The only other birds I see are the Robins who actually come to drink from my container ponds. LOL! Can't figure out why no migrating birds stop. Which also makes me think that if there are Indigo Buntings wintering here, that they won't stop in for a visit. It is mild weather here, so probably most of the migrant birds feed on bugs, worms, etc.
Thanks y'all for the encouraging words about my Painted Bunting pair. The first time I saw the male, I thought it was an escape parrot. LOL! The Indigos are stunning! Do buntings come in other solid colors, too? I had never heard of Buntings until recently.
Yes theres a Lazuli Bunting
.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Lazuli_Bunting.html
Varied Bunting
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Varied_Bunting.html
Sorry, didn't see you said "solid".
This message was edited Feb 20, 2007 7:54 PM
They are all great pictures, I have never had any luck taking one. I have only seen a few.
Heres a female Cardinal and part of a RBW. They didn't eat as much today since it got up into the 50's. The Goldfinches were busy as usual. I don't think they ever get full. I did have a RW Blackbird at the feeder this morning for about 5 minutes, but didn't get a picture.
Thanks, Pelle! Those other species of Buntings are beautiful as well. Such unusual looking birds!
I wonder what is the MOST colorful bird in North America?
One more of the Indigo
...Dave
Another excellent photo of the Indigo Bunting ..... good clarity and color.
What a BEAUT he is!!! Love that blue color! Thanks for sharing such a wonderful photo, Dave! :-) :-)
Dave: PLEASE tell me...how do you get such a beautiful close picture??
Joyce
Great pic Dave!!!
Great photos. Are you digiscoping? I am thinking about getting into that area.
Dave, that's a great picture. Looks like you were saving the best for last.
