Not A Tiny Tiny Plush Toy

tags: Central Park, NYC, tufted titmouse, Baeolophus bicolor, image of the day

The photographer writes;

A few days after capturing the image of a Tufted Titmouse in midair that appeared on this blog on December 30, 2008 I returned to get more shots of these birds. I had not been delighted with the quality of most of my photos partly because the lighting conditions had been poor and mostly because these tiny creatures don't stay still long enough to keep them in the viewfinder for more than a second or so. In general I use the camera flash sparingly when photographing birds but I discovered that this species is particularly averse to it. Abandoning the use of the flash made it harder for me to get properly focused images so I decided my best bet was to wait for a sunny day so the flash would not be necessary. I had also planned on trying a different approach that might yield better close-ups but first I had to locate the Tufted Titmice. They were not in their expected spot in the Locust Grove but I soon found a group of six not far away. The titmice were foraging amid a dozen or more American Robins, several White-throated Sparrows, a Downy Woodpecker and a Red-bellied Woodpecker. I did not know if the titmice were the same ones I had previously visited because they did not appear to recognize me as before. That did not matter at all because they quickly lost their inhibitions and zoomed in to claim the free lunch I offered.

Encouraged by the bright but glary winter sunlight I worked for about an hour in the twenty-five degree air to slowly lure the titmice incrementally closer to the camera lens. After each landed and left my palm I retracted my arm a tiny bit until the birds were perching about six to eight inches from the camera lens. The short distance helped but the rapidly moving birds continued to challenge the limitations of my point-and-shot camera. Eventually a couple of individuals held still long enough to give me the chance I needed. I was able to get this close-up but I have mixed feelings about it. My goal had been to get the most lifelike image but instead I got a curious one. Here the titmouse might look to you more like a tiny photo-shopped plush toy than a live bird but no kidding this is the real deal.