Feeding Birds

In the midst of some typical housecleaning chores, I realized that it had been quite some time since I had last filled my bird feeder. I retrieved the bag of feed from my cabinet and headed for the porch. About an hour later I was overwhelmed by bird sounds through the window. I threw a camera together and took a walk around the neighborhood looking for more birds like my own.

Three House Sparrows sat together for a great feast outside my rear window. I wondered if the dined together frequently. I always see these birds in large groups but never looked into whether they stayed in the same groups or not.

Although this wasn’t the most flattering or professional frame, the male Robin sat before me bravely, perhaps foolishly, asking for a photograph. I let out a bit of a chuckle as I continued to walk closer and closer without any movement from the other party.

As are many people, I am drawn to patterns. I spotted five buckets in the span of thirty seconds, and photographed them all.

While photographing this female House Sparrow, the sun surprised us both. Shortly thereafter, she took off. That said, she gave me several minutes of perfect posing from only around ten feet away.

A lot of photographers pressure themselves to make “great” or “significant” photographs every single time. I pressure myself the same way. I learned that I need to take time to photograph the mundane as well as the significant. These common House Sparrows are the oversight of the birding community, commonly lumped in with the rest of the “Little Brown Birds”. They are as significant as the geese or the eagles, and their photograph deserves to be made.