eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

Hi all,

Thought I'd start this one with a typical kitchen camera setup shot showing the Canon poised for action. Pretty thrilling aye? Kidding aside, there ain't much to it. Stick in a fresh battery and an empty memory card, set it up, cross your fingers, and walk away... Given a decent happenstance, and you got yourself a memory in all it's feathered and binary glory. If you don't have time at home, the same scheme is even more straight forward from the workplace. Find a window that looks out on birds of any flavor, and use your coffee break and cell phone to snap a few shots. (BTW... though virtually impossible to see, there is remote camera trigger in the photograph above, and that's one accessory you should consider for any kind of serious shutterbug hijinks. It eliminates the slight tremor that you dispatch when you directly touch the shutter button thingy on the camera body itself.)

Onward... The photo below was taken by the rig above...

It doesn't exactly rock your world does it? After all, it's just a plain old Mourning dove in all its blurry glory.

But that's the whole point behind "amateur birding" (aka "backyard birding"; "just in time birding"; or "'Do I really have to feed the birds this morning' birding"). The absolute and unfortunate truth is that if you're reading this, things aren't perfect. I can't speak for you, but I can speak for myself and umpteen others. The 401K has been cut by at least 40%; the typical home value is 30% less than what it used to be; and McDonalds french fries ain't a patch to those of days of old.

I apologize... I don't mean to be flippant, but these are hard times. All I know is that an occasional glimpse of a bird gives me just a bit of respite - almost a moment of meditation. And sadly, that may be all we get in our culture for a while...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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