Several weeks ago I decided it was time to start shooting birds, again. It had been at least five years since I'd taken aim and fired away, and I thought that early spring would be as good a time as any to get back into the swing of things.
Yesterday I decided to shoot some baby birds.
Today? Well I was determined to get some close-ups of the robin chicks with my DSLR . . .wait, you actually thought I was shooting the birds, as in, with a gun? Oh please! I'm shooting with my camera. I gave up owning handguns ten years ago!
First of all, we don't want to upset mama and papa robin, but it seems like no matter what we do, they don't like that we sleep in the bedroom that their nest borders. It's right up against the outside wall, of our bedroom. Not only that, as hot as it was today, we put the pool up for Gaby and let her play in the back garden, another thing that mama and papa robin take issue with. Our front garden is almost non-existent and borders a street that sees a fair amount of traffic. There's no way Gaby is playing out there.
So I got my telephoto lens out, and decided to wait and see if I could get some images from a safer distance...safe for the robin chicks and safe for my scalp, and especially my eyes, which I'm fairly certain mama and papa robin would like to see if they could peck out of their sockets. So while Gareth and I sat a fair distance away from the nest, while watching Gaby play in the pool, I waited to see if I could get a better photo of the chicks.
Let's just say that every time I picked up my camera, mama and papa robin would dart in front of my lens, obscuring my shot. So I gave up trying to take a photo from outside. Instead, when we all came back into the house after roasting in the 92F sun, I decided to push the moveable screen in our back door, down.
I wasn't able to angle the camera to capture anything other than the bottom of the nest and the porch light, so I gave up. However, as I was standing there, I noticed mama robin perched on the top of the garage, watching me closely, waiting for me to move away from the door.
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Then mama robin decided she'd had enough! How do I know this? Well, despite this image being craptastically blurry, you can tell that she was coming straight for me. I took a huge step back and clicked, but not fast enough to make sure my lens was focused on her. I think you still get a pretty good idea that I was about to lose a camera lens, or possibly even an eye!

The only image I got of the robin chicks was a bit earlier with my point and shoot, when two out of the four babies popped their heads up, in anticipation of something to eat.

I had thoughts of perhaps photo-documenting the growth and eventual departure of the chicks. I think for my own safety and for mama robin's peace of mind, I might not do that. In exchange for keeping the prying camera lens away from her babies (technically, I have always shot from a safe distance, being cognizant of mama bird and her babies and not wanting her to abandon the nest.) I'm hoping she'll let us play out in the back garden without dive-bombing us and trying to take clumps of our hair to line her nest!
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