I love every season, but at late February and especially when March arrives, I am usually looking forward to the end of winter. For me, here in the northeastern United States, a familiar voice of a particular bird signifies the beginning of the spring season. The red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) is a true sign of spring as its unmistakable song fills the springtime landscape with life. Red-winged blackbirds prefer open wetlands such as marshes where males proclaim their territories during spring. They like to sing on top of cattails and Phragmites where they can also show off their bright scarlet shoulder patches to defend their territory and attract a mate.
They are pretty birds to look at, however, their unique vocalization is their most lovely feature. Hearing a male blackbird’s scratchy o-ka-lee song in early spring is a clear indication of nature waking up after a long, cold winter. In cool mornings we can even “see” the songs the birds are singing in the form of breath. However, to photograph a singing bird’s breath, we need a few conditions to align perfectly. First it needs to be cold enough so the breath would condense. Ideally, it’s below freezing, but a few degrees above freezing temperature works too. Secondly, it needs to be calm as wind will quickly dissipate any visible breath. Third, we need a dark enough background to make the breath to show up nicely and of course we want to photograph towards the sun so the light can illuminate the breath.
Fortunately, one of my favorite places in Connecticut seems to be a perfect spot for bird breath photography. It’s a nice marsh and lots of red-winged blackbirds nest there. During March, the mornings are usually crisp in New England, so I only needed some calm and cloudless weather to take the previsualized photographs. Besides exploring the area a few times, I was able to spend three mornings here doing nature photography when the conditions were close to perfect. The first morning I took the first image with direct sunlight. I couldn’t find the best positions in time, and it got warm quickly before discovering the birds favorite singing places. The second morning, I took the backlight image of a singing blackbird on a cattail with a nice visible breath. The third day, I was able to photograph a different male on the top of a small tree. This was the coldest morning, so his song was more visible in this backlit image.
Even though, red-winged blackbirds are relatively easy to get close to, they are small birds, so I used my longest setup: Canon EOS 5Ds camera, Canon 500mm F/4 lens + Canon 1.4x extender. The first two images were taken on a tripod: Gitzo 1340, RRS-BH-55 ballhead + Wimberley Sidekick gimbal adapter. I took the final image handholding my gear utilizing the Image Stabilization of my lens. It was really fun to capture bird songs in still images.
