Blue Jay

Comments appreciated...thanks for looking.

What a nice pose! How'd you get him to do that? this is the kind of shot I aspire to! It's beautiful!

Beautiful color and DOF. Best regards.

Thank you both. Jan they are beautuful birds but a real challenge to photograph. This was one of my few full body shots I chose because it had a relatively clean background--but I prefer to see more of their side colors. They are extreme alarmists; one move and they're gone along with anyone else around. I've had up to eight at a time and not one clean shot! (Oh, and they love peanuts and will raid your feeder the minute you walk away.)

Beautiful composition, very good light. Thank you for your kind comments and yes, it was from the firs try, I have been there for two hours only. Best regards, Catalin

I see the bird is posing with his best profile side for you. I really like the background too. Very complementary to the bird's colors. Very well done. We only have Western Scrub Jays and Stellar Jays out here. Not quite as pretty as yours. The Scrub Jay in my yard has learned to mimic the Red-shouldered Hawk who lives up in my Magnolia tree. I think he does it to scare the finches from the feeders. And he can do it with a peanut stuffed in his mouth!

Thanks William and Catalin. Catalin, you're most welcome. William, we picked up a 2x tele converter for the 400 IS, it's been too cloudy and dark to use it yet. Seems sluggish, perhaps just the low light. I'm wondering if it will auto focus well in good light? It's designed to fit the camera but I honestly didn't do any research before hand to hear the pro's and cons. If you happen to know I'd appreciate any info. (The little peeks I took through it were pretty impressive, but if I'm stuck on manual I'll have to find some stuffed birds to shoot) Interesting note on the Jays vocalizations, I've heard mine make some interesting sounds that I had not heard from them before.

Mary, I don't think the AF will work with your 100-400mm lens plus 2X teleconverter and a 30D camera. I was just talking in the forums about this and the experts tell me that you have to have a f/4.0 or better lens for the 2X to have enough light to work. At 400mm with your zoom you're gonna be at f/5.6. I have a feeling (but don't really know) that the same will be true with the 5D body. Even with my 1D Mark II and a f/4.0 lens the 2X teleconverter will work only on a central AF spot and is really slow in achieving focus. But if you still have good eyes (my trifocals prove I do not), go for the manual focus.