Eastern Bluebird

New Brooklyn Park

Winslow Township, NJ

Over the years I have taken a lot of bird photographs. I had hoped to become a bird photographer. But that is a tough business and you have to be really good to break in. This photo is one of my best. Bill and I have different approaches to bird photography. He likes action and tries to catch birds in flight. In the archive there is a photo Bill took of the great blue heron flying. I've been more of a portraitist. That's why this image is so special for me.

I set myself up with my Canon F1 and Canon 600mm plus 1.4x teleconverter about 30 feet from the nest box a couple springs ago. We had found which nestbox they were using and sat and watched. I was using Fuji's Sensia 200 and had the sun to my back. I had taken an earlier shot a 1/1000 of a second. I dropped it down to 1/500 at f5.6 and each time one of the bluebirds flew to the box I tried catching the bird flying into the hole. I was sure I had gotten at least one decent shot. This is the result. Since then I have other bluebird shots but none as nice.

I'm not sure we will make it this year. Circumstances have my bird photography taking a back seat. I know there will always be next year. I did get to stop and yes the bluebirds are nesting again.