Here’s a follow-up to the last post about the robin. Hardly a spring goes by that a pair of these orange-breasted birds does not build a nest, lay blue eggs, and raise a young family somewhere around our house. But this year, this annual rite has captivated my attention like never before. The door from the sunroom onto the deck has a large window, so the room functions as a blind. I can set my camera and zoom lens right next to the door on a tripod. If I’m home for lunch or just have time to kill, I wait for either Mama or Daddy robin to come swooping in with food for their babies. At the instant this happens, I focus and shoot.
So I have lots of pictures.
Pictures of both Mama and Daddy robins with worms in their beaks; pictures of Mama extending her food-carrying bill directly into the wide-open mouth of one of her youngsters; pictures of the four hatchlings poking up their heads from their tiny crib.
All the while, I’m becoming more familiar with my camera. By trial and error I have gradually found the best combination of speed, aperture, ISO, and available focusing options to capture clear, sharp images of this mesmerizing activity.
So I have lots MORE pictures of all the same things in better quality.
But one of these shots stands out for me – the one I have posted below. It reveals
Click on the image to see a larger version. Notice the tiny sparkle in the eyes of both mother and child. Both are reflections of the same light, bearing witness to their common creative source. The God of the sun and stars, Creator of the universe, is also visible in the faces of these common backyard fowl.
Didn’t Jesus say something about this? “Look at the birds of the air...”
It sure beats anything on TV or the Internet.
©2016 by J. Mark Lawson
Very cool! Mother nature at it's best!
Posted by: Deb Record | 06/04/2016 at 11:44 AM