Fall Splendour - enhancing your bird photography with autumnal colours

Fall Splendour – enhancing your bird photography with autumnal colours

A Yellow-rumped Warbler – the colours and leaves clearly convey that this autumn!

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” – Albert Camus

I like Chickadees any day of the week, but I like them even more with a splash of colour in the image

I love the quote above from Camus as I wholeheartedly agree with him. Having grown up in Australia, I find the autumns here so much more vibrant with colour – thanks to the many native North American deciduous trees. And just as an image of a bird is enhanced with a colourful spring flower, so is an image that uses fall colours.

A Rusty Blackbird in its striking fall plumage

However, the colourful leaves fall fast & I find I only have 2 to 3 weekends before most of the colour has gone. My favourite spots to visit are obviously those with colourful trees & shrubs, but if I can find a spot that has water (a lake, pond, stream or even irrigation canal!) then I get twice the bang for my buck as water reflections of fall colours are just as good, if not better!

An Eared Grebe paddling through some reflected aspens.

A Northern Shoveller stretched its wings

The same Shoveller giving a view from the back

A Canada Goose on a pond of liquid gold

Indeed, even the common local birds that don’t always rate a 2nd glance normally (gulls, anyone?) look a little more interesting with some autumnal upgrading…

Ring-billed Gull reflected

Ring-billed Gull again – this was taken in the middle of the day

Bonaparte’s Gull with a little splash of fall yellow

Forster’s Tern

So here is my 2014 ‘fall collection’ – I hope you enjoy. And if the leaves are still around where you live in Canada I very much encourage you to get out & try some using the fall colours to transform your images into something a little more colourful!