A couple of weekends ago I took an afternoon and went hiking up at Chain-o-Lakes State Park, and of course I hauled the camera along. Unfortunately, Indiana is in that sort of “awkward phase” between when all the snow melts off and when all the greenery starts showing up, and it’s really kind of ugly unless you like brown. So I decided to try my hand at a little bird photography, since there were lots of songbirds around and the lack of leaves on the trees made them (relatively) easy to spot.

Nuthatch

I’ve tried this before, but it was a good reminder of how hard bird photography really is. This is the first time I’ve gotten even remotely acceptable results, and these are really only good enough for web display. I can see why bird photographers invest in high-end cameras and massive telephoto lenses; these guys are tiny and move fast, and it’s tough for even the autofocus on the D200 to lock on to them. And my telephoto lens runs out of steam at 300mm, and I still had to crop pretty heavily to get these shots.

Chickadee

Still, it was a nice diversion, and something I’m going to have to try more of. The “one that got away” was a beautiful Pileated Woodpecker, who flew off into the woods before I had a chance to switch lenses. And of course I could hear him tapping away at the trees, but I never saw him again. I think he was taunting me.