1&2 nuthatch
3,4 &5 female downy woodpecker
6&7 chickadee
Finding the sweetness of winter. It’s a cold one…
© Karen McRae, 2015
A Bird (or two) in the Hand…
1&2 nuthatch
3,4 &5 female downy woodpecker
6&7 chickadee
Finding the sweetness of winter. It’s a cold one…
© Karen McRae, 2015
draw and shoot 
Precious…
They are sweet little characters for sure.
Amazing. How did you hold out your hand and take the photos?
One hand for the birds and the other for the camera. : )
I pre-focused the lens (on my hand) so all would need to do is press the shutter.
Thanks!
Wonderful shots. You have the love of the birds.
What’s your shutter speed like for these? I love the way the feathers are fanned out…there’s so much movement and vitality in these.
Hi Scilla, the shutter speeds are very fast on these. I had the camera set at f /5.6 (and ISO 400) so the shutter speeds were generally around 1/4000 s. I love the patterns their wings make!
WOW!!!!! I feel the beating of wings in my heart.
What is it about the magic of a bird on the hand? It makes my heart race and rise just seeing these. You’ve captured it perfectly. Sigh.
What a great idea, and wow the closeups are just gorgeous!
Oh! How lovely! And how lovely that must have been for you to have the trust of the little birds!
Karen, can I include one or two of these on strata of the self, please?
Hi Ashley, I hadn’t really thought about these as self portrait work, but I suppose it is in more ways than one. You are, of course, welcome to use any of them. Thank you!
Lovely, thank you, Karen.
These are wonderful, Karen. Up close and personal…
Nice shots, Karen. They sure trust you; do they know you, or are they just very hungry.
What I was impressed most was, that you managed to kept yourself still while stretching
your hand in midair and holding your camera in the cold —– until the birds mistook you are a feeding post !
Amazing Karen, well done.
Wonderful! How long did you have to wait before they came to you?
Lovely!
Wow, amazing shots Karen and to have the birds eating out of your hand while you take their pictures can’t have been easy! As soon as the birds in my garden see my camera, they’re gone for the day.. Fabulous! 🙂
Quite an accomplishment taking those shots, Karen, and I bet it must have been sheer joy! 🙂
Magical! Amazing captures!
We feed all three sorts of beauties, but they are never bold enough to come to our hands. These are remarkable photos. Wonderful!
Amazing photos! – thanks v.much
So incredible! Your pictures are so very precious, Haren. Thanks!
Karen… Sorry!
Great images. Just goes to show that a wildlife photographer doesn’t have to have a 600mm lens, tripod, and a gimbal head.
This is really awesome – I’ve not gotten our
I haven’t gotten the birds around our place comfortable enough to hand feed them – really enjoyed this series of photographs Karen.
Wow!
I’ve always wanted to be able to do that – don’t think I stand still long enough. They’re gorgeous shots, Karen!
What a great feeling to feed them! Sweet little angles from God 🙂 Great photos
WOW…I never realized that the woodpeckers would become so tame. Fabulous shots!!!!
Love these pictures, Karen, especially the top one. I’m biased of course, being an ex-birder, but I do like the thought of just holding a hand out in this ferocious weather, and having these little beings come to it for food. Adrian
look at this…marvelous.
Gorgeous but I can’t believe wild birds would come this close they obviously can sense a warm and kind heart. No sense of worry or fear – amazing!
Wonderful “delicate”images and amazing capture.
That is so amazing! I love the female downy woodpecker. Beautiful photography.
Amazing indeed! I get a picture of you freezing your feet off in the snow with your other hand slowly getting attached to the camera by ice… It takes passion to hold on till you have your pictures 🙂 Lovely!
Absolute magic
This is so cool ~ I am amazed at the crispness of these shots and making everything work so well to have this perspective of the birds actually eating out of my own hands 🙂 Brilliant shots Karen.
Beautiful images 🙂 Can’t have been easy to take a picture while they where eating out of you’r hand!
Thank you! Im glad you like them. It’s a bit tricky with the focusing part.
Really gorgeous pics! Congratulations!!