Birds

Olympus micro four-thirds photos, Spingarn bird photography, Spingarn nature photography, verdin photo, verdin feeding, bird feeding on a soap aloe flower, Las Cruces, New Mexico

Avian Portraits – One of my favorite photography subjects is birds. Actually, I think that I didn’t really appreciate birds until I started to photograph them. My serious bird photography began as an assignment for a course that I took online from the Santa Fe Workshops in 2020–a good solitary activity for those early days of the pandemic. I also learned a lot from a member of my local Dona Ana photography club who set up a teaching session at the Organ Mountains National Monument near Las Cruces. I had just gotten my new Olympus micro four-thirds EM-1 Mark III, and this was my first real attempt at photographing birds as they went about their feeding routines.

Many of the photos you’ll find in this gallery are a tribute to the birds that I see right close to home, even in my backyard. But I also have visited birding destinations here in New Mexico, and I make it a point to include some bird photography wherever we travel. I hope this gallery brings you some of the delight I feel when I spend time enjoying birds.

Olympus micro four-thirds photos, Spingarn bird photography, Spingarn nature photography, hummingbird image, hummingbird in flight, hummingbird feeding at scarlet runner blossoms, female ruby-throated hummingbird, Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada

Birds In Flight – I especially like to try photographing birds in flight. A photograph freezes the process momentarily to give us a rare view of their grace, beauty and strength. A great tool for capturing birds in flight is an advanced feature of my Olympus micro four-thirds camera called Pro Capture. This feature allows me to anticipate an action and record it before it actually occurs. Several shots are saved to memory before the shutter is opened, giving a series of previous frames to choose from. It still takes a lot of practice to get the timing right. But the results can be dramatic.

Spingarn nature photography, wildlife photography, Galapagos photography, tropical bird photo, Galapagos flamingo on Floreana Island

Water Birds –  Many of my favorite photos are of birds feeding, fishing, swimming, and congregating around water. So much so that I thought water-loving birds merit a gallery of their own. 

I have photographed birds in fresh water and salt water, sandy shores and brackish pools.  There are several bodies of water within a few hours of Las Cruces that attract water birds during their migrations. Other photos in this gallery were taken farther afield, from the Atlantic shores of Nova Scotia to the Pacific beaches of the Galapagos Islands. 

I love taking these photos because I often can capture beautiful birds and their glowing reflections.  With my Olympus micro four-thirds camera, the long reach of the compact lenses and the excellent image stabilization allow me to travel light, often without a tripod.