Another quick post for today. When I stepped outside after the last game of the tournament I shot last week, I passed by multiple berry trees (probably not the right name) on my way to the car. These familiar trees ripen their berries for months before birds start to pick them off for the winter. I happened to come across a feeding frenzy of THOUSANDS of birds on this particular day (first day after the winter solstice, actually). Starlings and robins made up the majority, but peppered in the mix were a number of other more exotic birds I don’t typically see out and about.
Unfortunately for me, the longest lens I brought along was the 105mm f/1.8 AI-s; in other words, I was grossly ill-equipped for birding. Thanks not only to the “cropability” of the NEX-7’s sensor, but also to the birds’ ignorance of me, I was able to get close enough for some interesting shots. Because of the cold, however, my battery ran out on me while I was shooting. I believe it’s time to purchase a second battery soon…
Starlings Everywhere!
105mm, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/1250
Yum!
105mm, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/1250
Bokeh Berries
105mm, ISO 100, f/4, 1/400
Downey Woodpecker
105mm, ISO 100, f/4, 1/160
Ceder Waxwing
105mm, ISO 100, f/4, 1/200
That’s all for this post guys and gals, thanks for dropping by! Still working on that Noktor review. Should have it up pretty soon. 🙂
Matthew Durr Photography 
That last photo is great. Good cropping decision. I also like the color contrast, between the sky and the berries, and the bird standing out from both colors. In that sense I’d crop out that foreground and blurred branch on extreme low left corner. It’s a little distracting. Otherwise, it’s a beautiful photo.
Hey Vandelay, glad you like it. Using a content-aware brush on it could help too, but a tighter crop may prove more useful. Though the thing is, it’s already such a tight crop already, any more and I’d start to get image-level degradation. 🙂
Another alternative would be to burn the branch (not literally :D) to tame the highlights on it. Your photo reminded me of chinese watercolor art. Cheers!
Ah, another good idea. 🙂 Thanks again Vandelay.