Blackbird

I have my older Reconyx camera home for a few days, fitting it out with new batteries and fiddling with the software settings. Seeing it on my desk, I had forgotten how big it is. In comparison to the newest Browning, it is gigantic. And it takes 12 "AA" batteries. (The Brownings take only six.) The Reconyx doesn't go through them very fast, but my last purchase of eight lithium batteries was $19, so it costs nearly $30 to replace 12. I went through my accumulated lithiums with two different battery testers and came up with 12 that I hope will be good through the end of the year.

But the images here are from the Gardepro T5CF #14. The red-winged blackbirds are one of the regular customers at the platform feeder scarfing down sunflower seeds, but for some reason they rarely visit the small birdbath just a few feet away. Today we finally got some blackbird action. Trying to process these images in Photoshop just reminds me that trail cameras are better at scouting than they are at making images. I find the easiest way to make all the color and contrast adjustments at once is to bring up the camera RAW filter. With a Canon RAW file, sliding the Shadows slider to the right brings detail out of dark areas. With a JPG file shot by the Gardepro, it reveals mud. With those limitations in mind, here are two images of a blackbird, a magpie, robin, sparrow, and the obligatory flicker on a mostly gray day.