On my visit to the National Butterfly Center in Mission Texas, I was standing watching Green Jays and House Sparrows (now there is a contrast) at the feeders set up in one corner of the Butterfly Garden, when this little yellow bird landed on a branch 20 feet from my head. I swung around and grabbed a record shot at whatever the camera was set at…which turned out to be about 200mm equivalent…then, when the bird just sat there and looked at me, zoomed in to the the full 1200mm equivalent for a few more intimate shots. I could not quite figure out what kind of bird it was…and I was too busy shooting to worry about it right then. The light was dim enough so the camera was having difficulty fining focus…and I could see the motion blur in many of the shots as the bird fidgeted on its branch…but I was persistent…and got off a dozen or more shots that might include a few keepers.

I got three keepers in fact…three frame filling portraits of what turned out to be a Yellow-crowned Warbler.

Canon SX50HS. Program with auto iContrast and Shadow Fill. – 1/3 EV Exposure Compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/60th @ ISO 800. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. This is a exceptional image in many ways. 1/60th of a second is nearly impossible for an active bird, hand-held at 1200mm equivalent…and a testimony to the effectiveness of the Canon’s Image Stabilization. And, at ISO 800, the image quality is really quite good for a small sensor camera. Way to go Canon!