bird photography : ovenbird

Monticello Park is known as a 'warbler hotspot' in the Washington, DC area for its propensity to attact migrating warblers in the spring. Though it had rained off and on throughout the day, the license plate of the car at the entrance to the little park--OVENBIRD--proved a good omen, as John and Beth found just that bird in the brush along one hillside.

Equipment: Canon EOS 30D Canon EF 300mm f4L IS with 1.4x Teleconverter Settings: f6.3; 1/25 sec.; focal length at 420 mm; ISO 1250 Date: May 14, 2006 2:17 pm Location: Monticello Park / Alexandria, VA Photography Notes: The cloud cover and intermittent rain--not to mention the lush foliage all around--made for poor photography conditions... and to make matters worse, John left his monopod at home. Still, by bracing his carmera against a tree limb, cranking the ISO up, and the benefits of IS and firing off several frames in a row produced this usable photograph. The noise in the photo is fairly high, and the bird's own motion blurred the image somewhat.