Blue Jay Landing.

[Bynx]

Flaring wings just before contact.

[musket]

Good capture, nicely cropped well done

[Bynx]

Thanks Musket. This pic cost me a peanut. Each pic I get of the Jays cost me exactly one peanut. They dont work cheap. hahahaha

[NHL]

Great Shot

[Bynx]

After a lot of shots and a lot of peanuts this is as good as I can get with capturing a flaring Blue Jay.

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day mate

And both images are really magnificant
I presume that the setup - apart from the peanut supplies - is via a preset arrangement shooting via a remote control. Whichever way you do it, the results are superb

Phil

[Bynx]

I have a pair of Yongnuo remotes but for some reason they stopped working with both my D7000s. Here is how it works. The Blue Jays come to the feeder which is about 3 feet from me separated by a wall of glass. They chirp at me until I get up and give them a peanut. I stick the peanut in between the bark and the wood at the top. Then I return to the camera and wait a short time for them to return for the nut. Now here is where luck comes into things. They can come to the nut from 3 directions. This means the flaring has 3 possible views. I cant cover all the area so I miss some. If they come straight towards me they flair their wings on the low and sort of float back up so the tree is between them and me so I can never get their body. Looks like the tree has sprouted wings and a head. They will continue this for about 10 or 15 minutes giving me lots of chances to get a half decent shot. This repeats throughout the day. Portrait work is easy as they will just stand and pose even when I use a flash. The flight shots are spontaneous and tricky because of shutter lag and old man lag. Also another problem I failed to mention is light. There is a large overhang roof above the feeder so there is no direct sunlight and while the background can be quite bright the bird and the feeder are in deep shadow. Something I have to work on in Photoshop. Im experimenting with using the flash to see if I can make things even.

[Bynx]

From today, these are my 3 best shots.

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day mate

Thx for the explanation - it only confirms that for the best results, time & effort have to be included [along with peanuts] and even after all that, it is still a hit 'n miss affair

Phil

[Hawgwild]

These are very good, Paul. I hesitate to say, this is a huge departure from your usual subjects, and you did good. It takes a great deal of patience to capture images like this...and lots of peanuts, apparently..