Sunday bird blogging

A white-breasted nuthatch in Central Park yesterday.

I've been going to the park more frequently lately because my trip to Africa is fast approaching, and while it's fun to joke about what a lousy wildlife photographer I am when it's tufted titmice I'm trying to shoot, I will, I hope, have many many more opportunities to stalk the elusive titmouse. (Saw a couple yesterday -- no luck.)

But I don't think there are infinite safaris in my future, so I will only get one chance to capture the birds of southern Africa, and it would be nice if I actually knew what I was doing.

So I'm practicing, partly inspired by the amazing photos in the bird groups on Flickr. I want to be able to take razor sharp pictures of birds in flight, but I will settle for being able to take reliable shots of birds sitting on branches in plain sight.

That's how I happened to take the photo on the right. It's not nearly as clear as I would like but it captures the whole "Gravity? I sneer at your gravity!" attitude of the nuthatch. They crawl along branches upside down, they hang like little bats, and they dive bomb from one branch to another without even bothering to flap their wings.