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Not a great pic, very poor lighting and such. But, the first Fox Sparrow I have ever seen. Quite a thrill. In my back garden tonight, southern Ontario, Canada.

The image is not cropped. I could process it heavily, but I think I will just leave it alone.

 

 

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Last two photo-lifers: Tundra Swan and Varied Thrush.

Very nice shot, and in your backyard no less. I agree with you on the excitement level. I finally snapped these and a video of a male singing upon which I immediately fell in love. Click to watch. I left my photos untouched too. Besore Rd around 7,000 ft. Note subspecies variation between Red (eastern/Taiga) yours, and the gray Thick-billed (western/Pacific) mine.

 

Thanks luv2bird. Mine was extremely red. It really stands out among the other sparrows that are using my garden right now. Both colour and size.

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Last two photo-lifers: Tundra Swan and Varied Thrush.

cairnstone:

 

Not a great pic, very poor lighting and such. But, the first ever Fox Sparrow I have ever seen. Quite a thrill. In my back garden tonight, southern Ontario, Canada.

The image is not cropped. I could process it heavily, but I think I will just leave it alone.

Hi cairnstone,

I am going take a stab here and say you used a flash on this image.

If so I want to ask if your camera has flash compensation if so try dailing it back to even -2 (minus 2) that way you will get or put it this way you should get a nice defused flash fill light and that should eliminate the harsh shadows and the relected flash in the eyes.

Nice shot these guys are so hard to get very cunning like a fox. 

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In loving memory of Nancy my darling wife of 10 years who passed away on Monday November the 16th 2009 after an illness

My photo gallery http://thekiwi.org/photography/index.php

cairnstone:

Thanks luv2bird. Mine was extremely red. It really stands out among the other sparrows that are using my garden right now. Both colour and size.

Use Kiwi's advice and toss some seed closer to the camera

 

Thanks kiwi. Yes, I did use the on-board flash. It was a chance photo and I did not have time to think things over. Only had time to just shoot. The flash did not bother the bird at all. Did not seem to care or flinch at all.

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Last two photo-lifers: Tundra Swan and Varied Thrush.

 

The Fox Sparrow was not back today. Amazing isn't it? It spent the whole day here yesterday, but today not a trace of it. This is the way it goes I suppose when you are in a migratory zone. I was way pleased though that it stopped by for a visit. I'll miss the chubby little rascal.

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Last two photo-lifers: Tundra Swan and Varied Thrush.

cairnstone:

 

The Fox Sparrow was not back today. Amazing isn't it? It spent the whole day here yesterday, but today not a trace of it. This is the way it goes I suppose when you are in a migratory zone. I was way pleased though that it stopped by for a visit. I'll miss the chubby little rascal.

I had one around my place 2 years ago and haven't seen it since. Found it to be very shy and extremly hard to get a good photo.

here is photo I got a couple of years ago

 

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In loving memory of Nancy my darling wife of 10 years who passed away on Monday November the 16th 2009 after an illness

My photo gallery http://thekiwi.org/photography/index.php

 

luv2bird writes:

toss some seed closer to the camera

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Actually, I have never tossed seed on the ground. The chickadees and nuthatches make enough of a mess to keep the ground feeders happy. I have quite the mob of ground feeders and by dusk they don't leave a speck. Fortunately, that mess (while it lasts) attracts things like Fox Sparrows.

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Last two photo-lifers: Tundra Swan and Varied Thrush.

 

Same day same sparrow. Shot through an open window at dusk. Not cropped, so you can see I was pretty close. The focus is poor and the lighting was poor, but again, this was a lifer for me and I was pleased to get any pics at all.

The bird spent the day and did not return the next day. You can almost hear the scratching in the leaf litter. And believe me, this thing was scratching up a storm.

 

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Last two photo-lifers: Tundra Swan and Varied Thrush.

These are such pretty sparrows.  This is the first one that I had seen - it came to my feeder last winter when we had a lot of snow.  I hope the bird comes back but not the snow!

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New for 2010: horned lark, prairie falcon, red-necked grebe, bewick's wren, snow bunting