A Tribute To The “Common Species”

Many bird photographers tend to largely ignore the most common species in their areas and I’m as guilty of that as anyone.

There seems to be a sort of “supply and demand” philosophy – the more common they are the less appealing they are as subjects. That’s too bad for at least a couple of reasons – familiar birds can be just as interesting and beautiful as many of the others and what’s “common” where we live and/or shoot is very often uncommon or even nonexistent for folks in other areas. This post is meant to make up to some degree for my own poor judgment at times in choosing subjects.

Continue reading

Mourning Dove – Why Do I Usually Ignore The Common Species?

As a bird photographer I continually struggle with the tendency to ignore the more common species. This is a bad habit I’ve tried to break over the years but my success has been limited so I still too often pass on opportunities with species like the American Robin, House Finch, American Coot and Mourning Dove. Many fellow photographers have the same tendency and I think we miss some wonderful shots as a result.

Continue reading

Plumage Development Stages Of Male Mountain Bluebirds

While photographing a juvenile male Mountain Bluebird in Montana last week I was struck by the interesting variation in color and patterns of the adult male in breeding plumage as compared to those of the juvenile male. I thought some viewers might be interested in a photographic comparison of some of their development stages.

Continue reading

A Tough Subject – Mourning Dove In Flight

Mourning Doves one of the most difficult of all species I’ve ever attempted to photograph in flight. Their flight is fast and erratic and their take-off speed impressive (most observers are aware of the whistling noise made by their incredibly fast wing beats as they take off and land). All this makes for an aggravatingly difficult bird to photograph in flight – whether at take-off or in full flight. Until yesterday morning I still didn’t have a Mourning Dove flight shot.

Continue reading