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Friday, December 16, 2011

Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)

This is the Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus), a year round resident here who always seems to be more visible in the winter. I think it's because these large members of the sparrow family like to hang out in bushes where they can hide behind dense leaves during the summer. When the leaves fall they become more visible.


Nearly two years ago I posted another photo of this bird and if you click HERE you can see today's post and that post together for a comparison. The older post was taken with a different camera (Sony Alpha 200 - 10 megapixel sensor) and an old Minolta 75-300 mm zoom lens. Today's shot was taken with a newer camera (Sony Alpha A55 - 16 megapixel sensor) and a new Tamron 70-300 mm zoom lens. Most of the improvement visible in the more recent photo can be credited to the improved kit since the settings were nearly the same. However, I think my technique is getting a little better too since the most recent photo was shot with a smaller aperture that contributed to the increased sharpness.

6 comments:

Dean Lewis said...

Superb! What a week this has been for bird-lovers here on VDP.
It's remarkable the Towhee is a member of the sparrow family considering how it is about the size of a robin. Love it's calico colours and red eye.
Another great close-up.
The Blogger KB-resolution issue seems improved.

Benjamin Madison said...

Hi Dean - yes it's been a good week for birds. As far as the blogger resolution problem is concerned - I can't see any way to fix all the past photos but I've got a workaround for new posts that seems to be OK (for now!).

RedPat said...

The bird shots of the last few days have been wonderful! It is so nice to see such great pics.

JoJo said...

Such a cute and plump little guy!

Melissa said...

Wow, just stumbled onto your blog, and I'm very happy. I'll try to follow regularly, because I love bird photography! And I'm very jealous that you have a 300mm lens. Beautiful color and detail in this towhee photo.

trump said...

Greetings from an Amish community in Pennsylvania, I'm just checking out different blogs and thought id leave a comment. Happy holidays to everyone as well. Richard from Amish Stories