Post #73 - Arizona bird photos, Field vs. Blind photography

Most readers know that I am equally obsessed with birding and bird photography. As I enjoy both activities, I am much more of a "field photographer" than I am a "blind photographer"; I generally move about the world in search of my subjects while birding versus waiting for them to come to me in a blind. Many of the best bird photographers shoot exclusively from blinds, and for those folks rarity chasing and eBirding don't matter one bit. They are only focused on getting the perfect shot of the sought species. There are advantages and disadvantages of each strategy, but personal style and the desired subject dictate a lot. Shorebirds, for example, can't easily be lured towards blinds with food and as such must be sought more "in-habitat". Field photography is - in my mind - significantly more challenging, but blind and set-up photography certainly has a time and place, particularly when it comes to getting clean shots of passerines and hummingbirds.

Anyway, with that as background, I decided to depart from my usual field photography ways to spend a few hours in a photography blind during my last morning in Arizona. After 4 days of hiking in the Huachucas (much of it in the rain), I decided I needed a break from birding. That last day was the only day with decent morning light, so I figured I would use it to shoot instead of bird/hike. Frustratingly, the nesting Tufted Flycatchers, completely absent during the 4 days I searched Ramsey Canyon for them, decided to reappear while I was shooting two hours away! UGH - them's the breaks. The shots I collected helped soften that otherwise very painful birding blow.

***click images for higher resolution views***

Lucy's Warbler - Oreothlypis luciae

Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO II on EOS 7D2

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 800, handheld from blind

Pyrrhuloxia - Cardinalus sinuatus (on cholla trunk)

Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO II on EOS 7D2

1/2500 at f/5.6, ISO 400, handheld from blind

Gambel's Quail - Callipepla gambelii (on dead Cholla)

Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO II on EOS 7D2

1/4000 at f/5.6, ISO 800, handheld from blind

Hooded Oriole - Icterus cucullatus (on Ocotillo)

Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO II on EOS 7D2

1/4000 at f/5.6, ISO 800, handheld from blind