Yellow-rumped Warblers were not the only birds to take advantage of Cape May’s smorgasbord on Friday and Saturday. Goldfinches were wherever there were sunflower or thistle heads left standing. Again, they were so busy stoking the migration machine that they allowed unusually close approach. A digiscopers dream. Catching the feeding action, on the other hand, was difficult, especially that “hanging upside down off the flower head” thing they do. It just does not impress as much in a still image. Once more, late afternoon/early evening sun picked out the details of the plumage and warmed the shots.

So, of course, I slid the little switch over to video and shot the action in HD. See below.

Stills are Canon SD4000IS behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece of a ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for equivalent fields of veiw of 1) 2500mm and 2) 1200mm. 1) ISO 400 @ 1/1000th @ f6.7 (scope limited), 2) ISO 125 @ 1/400th @ f4 (camera limited).

Blackpoint, Clarity, sharpened, and color adjusted in Lightroom.

Video is a few clips from the SD4000IS edited together.