American Goldfinch comes to visit

When I am trying to do some work and a American Goldfinch shows up I have to take a break and take some pictures.

I have seen Goldfinches in the river bottom in Lethbridge. This one must have heard about the amazing food that we have for the birds in our backyard and decided to do a road trip for lunch. Of course I had to sneak into the house to take some pictures.

I always have the 150 – 600 Sigma ready to go on a camera body. So I grabbed that set-up and shot off a few pictures before I had to get back to work.

He was a very cooperative subject and I got some great images.

A question that I am asked about shooting birds in the backyard is how do I do it?

Do I have windows without screens on them?

Do I open windows to shoot?

Well it is yes and no. I try and remove the screen from the window and quietly open the window. But many times if I do that I scare the birds away.

If the birds are at the back of the yard I will try and open the window. If they are close to the window I will shoot through the window. All these pictures are shot through the closed window.

I do not shoot through the screen part of the window. Fortunately for me half of the window is screen. The rest is glass. So I can shoot from any window and use the non glass part.

Do I use a tripod?

Not often but if I shoot out the patio doors I would. I do like a mono-pod. If I can open the window I rest the lens on the window sill.

My American Goldfinch visit

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