Gordon S.
New member
Hi All!
Newbie birder here. I've come to this hobby sort of backwards. I've been an avid landscape photographer for many years, but until recently have not owned anything approaching a proper bird lens. I now have a camera/lens combo that I think will be quite good, and I'm eager to take some nice bird photos with it. I've been out looking for birds for several weeks, but have had very little luck. I've been to what I assume are good locations: Oaks Bottom, Ankeny NWR, Baskett Slough, Ridgefield, Sauvie Island, Camissia. I have seen and photographed many water birds at these locations, as expected, but I've not seen much of anything else. A few Red-winged Blackbirds, that's about it. I realize it's not a great time of year, that many species have migrated south, but it still seems like I should be finding more perching birds, songbirds, woodpeckers, etc. So I'm realizing if I want to become a good bird photographer I'll first need to learn a lot about migration patterns, bird habitat, behavior, and so on. Where to start though? The sheer volume of information out there just seems daunting. Hopefully some of you can point me in the right direction to get started. Mainly right now I'd be keen to learn of any resources in the Portland area that suggest where a person might go during a given season to see a certain species, or a certain type of bird. I've not had much luck finding something like that so far.
Thanks for the help!
Gordon
Newbie birder here. I've come to this hobby sort of backwards. I've been an avid landscape photographer for many years, but until recently have not owned anything approaching a proper bird lens. I now have a camera/lens combo that I think will be quite good, and I'm eager to take some nice bird photos with it. I've been out looking for birds for several weeks, but have had very little luck. I've been to what I assume are good locations: Oaks Bottom, Ankeny NWR, Baskett Slough, Ridgefield, Sauvie Island, Camissia. I have seen and photographed many water birds at these locations, as expected, but I've not seen much of anything else. A few Red-winged Blackbirds, that's about it. I realize it's not a great time of year, that many species have migrated south, but it still seems like I should be finding more perching birds, songbirds, woodpeckers, etc. So I'm realizing if I want to become a good bird photographer I'll first need to learn a lot about migration patterns, bird habitat, behavior, and so on. Where to start though? The sheer volume of information out there just seems daunting. Hopefully some of you can point me in the right direction to get started. Mainly right now I'd be keen to learn of any resources in the Portland area that suggest where a person might go during a given season to see a certain species, or a certain type of bird. I've not had much luck finding something like that so far.
Thanks for the help!
Gordon