Warm Winter Wildlife Shooting

For the time being, we’re putting off a classic Winter here in the heartland as there was no white Christmas and no significant snowfalls even in the first quarter of January and that’s plenty okay with me, but snow will probably fall soon all the same.

For those that like to photograph the birds and other wildlife while dreading the cold Winters we normally have nearby, I want to remind you of indoor wildlife photography. From the comfort of a sheltered room, you can still photograph the birds and some of the critters at our MetroParks. They’re called “Windows on Wildlife” and they appear all over.

Secor Park has a nice one at the Nature Center. Side Cut Park has one up high on the canal side of the park (it’s super heated in the Winter, like a sauna without the humidity), Oak Openings has one and Wildwood Preserve has one, too; there might be others as well. Yesterday and today I went to the one at Wildwood and it’s the best I’ve seen so far.

It’s like watching reality TV on a big screen but the content is better and there are no commercials.

Wildwood Preserve's Window on Wildlife

The birds and animals are not captive outside a wildlife window so the photography experience falls somewhere between shooting at a zoo and shooting in the wild. The animals are not tame at all but they come in such great numbers at feeding time that you’re bound to get a shot; still, there’s great sport in doing so and your reflexes will be given quite the workout because these suckers move fast.

Nuthatch

You’ll want to use a telephoto even at 20-30 feet away because most of the subjects are no bigger than your hand. A 200mm lens would suffice, 250mm even better, 300mm recommended, 400mm or more if at all possible. Use Aperture Priority mode with a large f-stop (small number) or use Portrait Mode which will force the camera to use a large f-stop. That way, the background will blur away and prevent fences, signs and natural clutter from competing with your subject matter.

Tufted Titmouse with corn cobs in background

Timing matters as much as anything in this kind of shooting. For one thing, you might want to be there for feeding time if you can determine when that is. There will be food all day long but when it’s freshly stocked you’ll see the greatest amount of visitors unless a hawk visits and scares the little ones away. Even more importantly, you might want to be shooting in some dramatic light which is likely to be a couple hours after dawn, or like some of these pictures show, a couple of hours before dusk.

Squirrel

Cloudy days are okay, too, because they afford a super soft lighting situation with an absolute absence of shadows…

Hairy Woodpecker

…and sometimes that’s precisely what you need…

Female and Male Cardinals

…but the sunny days give you high drama lights-and-darks for the utmost in color intensity. Plus, more light from the sun means you can use a faster shutter speed when necessary.

Finch at Feeder

For a little excitement, train your camera on a busy feeder, set your camera on Shutter Priority mode and choose a fast shutter speed somewhere faster than 1/1000th second. Or, just use the Sports Mode to force the camera to use a fast shutter speed. Lean gently on the shutter button and shoot a burst of 10 or 20 or even 50 shots if you like. The action of sparrows and finches is so fast you won’t even see what you’re shooting but you’ll get to check it out when you get home again.

Sparrows

Be aware that the light meter in your camera might well get fooled by the relative darkness of the surrounding area compared to the bright feathers of your sunlit subject. As a result, your pictures will have a weak, washed-out look to them.

Red Bellied Woodpecker - exposure comparison

Locate the button with the +/- graphic on it if you have one. On some models you have to press-and-hold the button while pushing a rocker switch or turning a command dial while other models have Exposure Compensation as a menu option. However yours works, you’ll probably want to set the Exposure Compensation to about -1 to get rich, luxurious exposures of birds in the sun.

So go shoot some wildlife this winter without all that messy walking around. There’s plenty to capture right outside the window; you just need to find the right window!

Male Cardinal

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