Nov. 1, 2015 - Birds and Fall Colors

There are many ways to incorporate fall colors into bird photos. This Fox Sparrow was scratching around on the lawn at our home in northern Minnesota. It was almost hidden by the fallen leaves until it stood up straight and tall to look around.

SparrowFoxDunningLakeItascaCounty20151017

Here’s a way to indirectly use the fall colors in a photo. This male Mallard was swimming near the lake shore at Silverwood Park in St. Anthony, Minnesota. The brown oak leaves and yellow aspen leaves were reflected in the water. The low angle of the morning sunlight and the ripples caused by a light breeze produced an oil painting effect on the lake surface.

MallardmalefallcolorsSilverwoodParkAnthony20151022

Migrating American Robins seem to be everywhere in the Twin Cities metro area right now. This one was searching for food among the brown and yellow leaves on the lawn at our office in New Brighton, Minnesota.

RobinAmericancloseNewBrighton20151007vertical

Dark-eyed Juncos are also migrating through our area. This was taken at our home in northern Minnesota. I put a log with several branches in the middle of our yard and sprinkled bird seed around it. Often birds will land on the branches before jumping down to the ground to feed. The colored leaves (and some green ones as well) are far enough back so they are blurred out when I focus on the bird. That creates a pastel, watercolor effect as a background.

JuncoDarkeyedDunningLakeItascaCounty20151018

The Fox Sparrow really prefers to be on the ground so I had to wait a long time before it finally landed on one of the branches.

SparrowFoxDunningLakeItascaCounty20151018

Of course, the resident Blue Jays are not shy about flying in and looking like they are in charge of everything. As you can see, even photographing common birds can result in great pictures when you add some fall color.

JayBlueDunningLakeItascaCounty20151018

But when you can get a male Mallard coming in for a landing, with an almost perfect reflection, plus fall color on the water, you get a winner! This was taken at Silverwood Park.

MallardmalelandingSilverwoodParkAnthony20151022