Bird Photography

I've been photographing the birds in our backyard for the past couple of years, but some species are so shy that I could never get a close-up picture of them. Last fall, I purchased a collapsible hunting blind so I can get closer. I have yet to figure out the collapsing part of it. It's supposed to fit into a small bag but it took too long to fiddle with that, so I just left it out of the bag all through winter. Now that the weather is more favorable, I've set up the blind several times to get a closer view of the many birds that visit our four feeders. My objective was to catch a shot of the Eastern Towhee that has been foraging under the feeders. On Tuesday, it finally showed up once and I fired away. Although it never returned after that, I was able to grab some great photos of a White-throated Sparrow which is quite beautiful in its new spring dress. The blind really works in allowing me to fill the frame with the bird. Even shy birds such as Red-bellied Woodpeckers show up occasionally when they don't feel threatened. Now, if I could only snatch a photo of a migrant passing through...