Through the Looking Glass, er… Fence
While visiting Michigan we had the opportunity to go birding with our great friends the Mannings. Carl and Judi are the top birders in western Michigan and we were fortunate enough to make their acquaintance a couple of years ago and have gotten together with them every chance were are in Holland. This outing we met at the Upper Macatawa Natural Area, a large park with a river flowing through the middle, a couple of small lakes, and a variety of habitats; in other words, a great place to see a variety of birds.
As Karen and I drove to the park she said, “I haven’t seen any Sedge Wrens yet. I want to see a Sedge Wren.” Easier said than done – except in Karen’s case. Sure enough as soon as we walked into the park there by a small bridge over a marshy area were a couple of Sedge Wrens! How did she do it?
The bridge we were on had a fence on either side of it and of course the Sedge Wrens were on the opposite side of the fence than we were. Here’s a shot of the fencing:
I still wanted to get some shots of these elusive birds so I tried to focus through the fence. I had my camera focus point set to the smallest setting available (on my Canon – Spot Focusing). This allowed the camera to focus on the bird through the openings of the fence. Really. If you look closely you can see a faint black band near the bird in some of the shots, which is part of the fence. You hardly notice it because the overall picture is focused on the bird.
Admittedly, on some of the shots I took that day the camera did focus on the fence and not the bird. But overall I was quite happy with the results. Give it a try some time you’re fenced in.
Stay Safe. Go Birding. Take Pics. Share Here. Repeat.
Mike
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