A Nice Discovery

In my last post I mentioned that I discovered something unexpected because the scene I planned to shoot was not as I wanted it. When I found that the field of flowers had been mowed, I went to my regular bird-watching spot to check for flowers because it usually has a few. When I pulled up I was amazed to see a brightly-colored blue bird right next to my car. I fumbled for my camera, rolled down the window, and took the next 2 shots right from my front seat.



And yes, it drives me nuts that the shot in which the bird is looking at me is out of focus. I was so flustered trying to roll down the window, check my camera settings, make adjustments, focus manually (my extender means that I can only focus manually, which is not easy, especially if you're in a hurry), that that was the best I ended up doing he flew away.

I guessed that it was a male indigo bunting, which I confirmed in my bird book when I got home. It was the first time I had seen one.

I decided to try and go back the next day to see if I could see him again, and when I pulled up this is what I saw in front of my car:

This shot was actually taken through the grimy windshield of my car.


This shot and the next one were taken from my car, but without a window in between us.

These birds like to sing, and that is what he's doing here.

I got out of the car and the bird flew off, as I expected. I waited for a few minutes to see if he would come back. And he did.

You can tell it was a really windy day by the way his feathers are ruffled.

This is about the same spot he was in when I got there, but from the other direction.

After a few minutes I also saw a painted bunting, which is one of my favorite birds, and I have also blogged about before (too lazy to find the links!).

I would kill for a 600mm lens, but I don't have a spare $7600 lying around.

So, as you can see although there was some disappointment in my last post, I discovered something that I had never seen before, and I probably wouldn't have done so if things had gone according to plan. Sometimes serendipity is good.