Mt. Tabor Park – Portland, OR, Jun 24, 2011

Home » Mt. Tabor Park – Portland, OR, Jun 24, 2011

Mt. Tabor Park – Portland, OR, Jun 24, 2011

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I spent an afternoon back at Mt. Tabor Park in Portland, OR, and had a real tough time getting birds to show up, let alone get shots of them.  I saw a goldfinch, song sparrow, spotted towhee, steller’s jay, northern flicker, and a robin.  Of these, three of the bird shots are (maybe) worth showing you.

I was pretty happy with the Flicker shot and the Towhee shot, but I really would have liked to have gotten a nice shot of the Steller’s Jay.  As it is, I am including an “so-so” shot but the pair of birds I spotted would not hold still in the relative dark of the forest trees.

Mt. Tabor Park is a beautiful park.  I’ve been using my vehicle as a hide and shooting through the open windows.  This limits where I can point the camera but I believe this disadvantage is made up for by allowing birds to perch closer to the camera than they might if I were out walking around.  As I drive the roads of the park, shade covers about 90% of the areas I can shoot from my vehicle.  So, I tend to stick around the few sunlit areas and see if some activity is happening there.  As the sun changes position, I adjust where I hang out for birds.

Some birds play “hard to get” and perch in the shaded areas–I use flash to try to light up these scenes.  Actually, all three shots included below were assisted by flash.  If it weren’t for this flash assistance, I doubt I would be writing this blog post right now.  🙂

Anyway, here are the shots!  I hope you like something here.

Northern Flicker (Red-shafted form)

Spotted Towhee

Steller’s Jay

I think I only took 83 frames on today’s trip, a far cry from my 300 – 600 shot average.  But I never get discouraged and am happy for the few “keepers” I did get.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my almost 5 years of shooting birds, I never know what will show up in front of me on any given day.  This and the thrill of the “hunt” keep me going back for more.

I’m amazed but I still haven’t had to utilize my bug shirt for mosquitoes!  I’ve heard there are plenty of them now at Ridgefield so I will be ready when I return there.  I haven’t noticed a mosquito issue at Mt. Tabor yet.  Great times!

Posted in

I spent an afternoon back at Mt. Tabor Park in Portland, OR, and had a real tough time getting birds to show up, let alone get shots of them.  I saw a goldfinch, song sparrow, spotted towhee, steller’s jay, northern flicker, and a robin.  Of these, three of the bird shots are (maybe) worth showing you.

I was pretty happy with the Flicker shot and the Towhee shot, but I really would have liked to have gotten a nice shot of the Steller’s Jay.  As it is, I am including an “so-so” shot but the pair of birds I spotted would not hold still in the relative dark of the forest trees.

Mt. Tabor Park is a beautiful park.  I’ve been using my vehicle as a hide and shooting through the open windows.  This limits where I can point the camera but I believe this disadvantage is made up for by allowing birds to perch closer to the camera than they might if I were out walking around.  As I drive the roads of the park, shade covers about 90% of the areas I can shoot from my vehicle.  So, I tend to stick around the few sunlit areas and see if some activity is happening there.  As the sun changes position, I adjust where I hang out for birds.

Some birds play “hard to get” and perch in the shaded areas–I use flash to try to light up these scenes.  Actually, all three shots included below were assisted by flash.  If it weren’t for this flash assistance, I doubt I would be writing this blog post right now.  🙂

Anyway, here are the shots!  I hope you like something here.

Northern Flicker (Red-shafted form)

Spotted Towhee

Steller’s Jay

I think I only took 83 frames on today’s trip, a far cry from my 300 – 600 shot average.  But I never get discouraged and am happy for the few “keepers” I did get.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my almost 5 years of shooting birds, I never know what will show up in front of me on any given day.  This and the thrill of the “hunt” keep me going back for more.

I’m amazed but I still haven’t had to utilize my bug shirt for mosquitoes!  I’ve heard there are plenty of them now at Ridgefield so I will be ready when I return there.  I haven’t noticed a mosquito issue at Mt. Tabor yet.  Great times!

2 thoughts on “Mt. Tabor Park – Portland, OR, Jun 24, 2011”

  1. I was wondering how the birds were at Mt Tabor right now… I figured after migration was over it would be pretty unexciting. Nice shots though! Love the Steller’s Jay! The mosquitoes are definitely horrible at Ridgefield as well as Kelley Point Park, but not so bad in other parks I’ve visited lately. Good luck with the bug shirt!

    1. Thanks Jen! Yeah, the birds were quite hard to come by. It was also a Saturday with great weather so there were a lot more visitors there riding, running, walking and driving. But I’m really glad mosquitoes were not a problem.

      Jen, I have tried several times to comment on your blog posts and I cannot get my comment through your security. I must be goofing up somewhere but I have not been successful in getting a comment posted in quite a while. I’ve really been impressed by many of the shots you have posted and wanted to let you know. I will continue to try to comment.

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