So I went ahead and purchased the Nikon D7000 digital camera with a zoom
lens (up to 300mm). I am actually not fond of the camera, I find the focus
on the lens isn't very refined (I remember more focal precision on older
Nikons back in the day). I also can't stand the auto-focus, nor am I
particularly thrilled with how you have to fuss with the thing if you want
to override the automatic settings of aperture and speed. In general, the
camera is not balanced well or agile, it seems designed to take great photos
with auto-focus and automatic, but once you want to graduate from that, it's
clunky and not as responsive as I would like. I am fussy though, fussier
than the average bear anyway, so take my criticism with a grain of salt.



But, thankfully, my wife and my daughters love the camera. They've been out
each night to photograph the sunset and have even taken to photographing the
birds at our feeders.



So I set up a little web site to show off their bird photographs. These were
taken by my 16-year old daughter, so be kind. Of course, the species are
nothing to be thrilled about, but some of the photos are quite nice. My wife
calls our array of feeders "Chez Tweet" so in honor of her, I dubbed the
link the same thing:



http://snazel.com/cheztweet/



That's a safe URL right there, so feel free to click it if you are curious.



A small update on my quest as a new birder.



1. I got to add "Evening Grosbeak" to my life list, as one has become
a regular visitor in the last few days and eats like a horse when he does!

2. Towhees and Robins have figured out that the "spillage" from the
feeders on the deck trickles down to our lawn and they are now regular
evening visitors.

3. The Cooper's Hawk I saw has been twice since, usually early morning
and always keen to dive into the finches. When he misses he sometimes swoops
back and stands on the tallest pole of the bird feeders as if to survey them
all. One morning he stood there, scoping the entire space for a good 10
minutes (no photos yet, he arrived just before the camera).

4. We spotted another Western Tanager.

5. Bandtail Pigeons now appear in flocks of 5 or 6, devouring what
they can. They are easily frightened though, even one Jay will scatter them,
despite being twice the size of the Jay.

6. My wife saw a Pileated Woodpecker! I was so jealous as I missed it.



I'll post more photos next week, thank you again everyone for your
encouragement and advice.



- Douglas Snazel, West Seattle

- douglas at snazel.com