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Yellow-rumped Warbler, perched

Today was an exercise in persistence.

I was recently gifted (by my beautiful wife Katy!) my first “big boy” camera: A Canon Rebel T7. After a solid week of punching in the tracking number of the order twice daily and (im)patiently waiting for it to arrive (and after eagerly unboxing it), I got my chance to take some pictures.

I knew they were not going to be Earth-shattering works of beauty - I knew I had my work cut out for me and a ton to learn. Up until now, I’ve only taken pictures on automatic point-and-shoot cameras or my cellphone. But I always loved that feeling when a picture would come out. I also loved the “hunt” of watching birds and getting awesome views of them. So, why not combine both?

So, I packed my bags, got up before dawn, and trekked out to a levee off Lake Elsinore. It’s a beautiful little spot where I knew a bunch of Mallards and Northern Shovelers liked to hang out - and I even heard there might be a Great Egret to spot!

The whole drive there I was thinking of which spots to go to and how I’d take my shots. I listened to a video (for the 30th time maybe) explaining the exposure triangle so I could take what I learned and put it to practice. I was so excited.

And when I got there? Well..the levee was closed for an event. 😔 I should have probably looked that up before going, huh?

I could have called it quits then - could have gone home and planned out another day to go. But that isn’t in the spirit of practice to me. I knew I wasn’t going to take Earth-shattering works of beauty - so, let’s just go to the second best option: the park, instead! I drove back to a park I live near where lots of birds like to hang out, and got to work.  

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Yellow-rumped Warbler grabbing some breakfast.

There, I learned all sorts of lessons: Picking a spot and being patient, letting the birds go there and not the other way around. Chasing them just resulted in missing shots or taking poor ones. I learned that while autofocus is great, it isn’t super reliable in that critical moment, so I flicked it off and started doing things manually. I started getting a feeling for composition, for shutter speed. I tried to get comfortable with the camera and with looking through the viewfinder. That, and probably a dozen more things.

I persisted! Even when the location had to change, or I messed up, or the bird was out of focus - I just kept trying.  

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Yellow-rumped Warbler, perched

I nearly had a shot I thought would be the perfect way to end my first real attempt at bird photography. It was an Anna’s Hummingbird hovering at a flower. Lo and behold, the flower was in focus, but not the bird. I was a little upset, but I tried to reframe that into a lesson - and then told myself I’d have to come back and get that shot again!

I deleted it, sadly, or I would share it. I think I should share my imperfect shots as much as my “perfect” ones - but I’m still working on breaking the habit of instantly deleting things I don’t like. I want to take 100 pictures, think 2 are good, but keep some of those 100 and learn from them.

The pictures here are some of the “second best” shots, which I think came out really, really good. For my first time shooting with a DSLR (and this particular camera/lens), I am absolutely thrilled with how these came out.

Sometimes, “best” is impossible - but the second best can be just as good!

The species in all the pictures here is a Yellow-rumped Warbler

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Yellow-rumped Warbler, perched

- D.