Nothing says Spring like the Virginia redbud trees in bloom and the American Goldfinches. This week I spent a delightful morning photographing at a friends house who called to say their finches were all over the trees. I positioned myself in perfect morning light near a redbud which was situated near a bird feeder,
This handsome little finch, the state bird of New Jersey, Iowa and Washington, is a welcome sight at backyard feeders. They enjoy primarily sunflower seeds and will jump through hoops for Nyger or Thistle seeds. Spring males are a brilliant yellow with black and white patches while females are a duller greenish-yellow. In winter they all take on a green-gray appearance which allows them to hide in the open trees and brush. They hangout in Virginia all year long. You can distinguish them in several ways from other small yellow birds by their beaks. It's not a pointed beak for picking up insects its a sturdy seed cracking one. They also have notched tails and wing bars. While they are changing plumage in the early Spring they can be quite patchy.
For my photography friends I was using my full frame Nikon D750 body and my new Sigma Prime 500mm f4 sport lens. Some of these pictures were taken with a 1.4 extender attached but frankly, I can't tell which ones without looking at the metadata. That's how good they are. I shot at f7 and 800/sec letting auto ISO choose the ISO which mainly came out 650. I couldn't decide which photos I liked best so here is a sampling. Happy Spring!
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