Picture of the week

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) baby bird chicks

Small killdeer chicks hunkering down hoping they will not be spotted down along the bank of the American River.  These bird are well camoflaged and remained absolutely motionless when I happened upon them.  The parents seem to be able to communicate when danger is about to the chicks, thus improving their chances for survival.  While a lingered in this area for a few minutes to get this photograph, the older birds tried to decoy me away by feigning an injury, hoping I would go towards them instead, and occasionally flying over the chicks and chattering some message to them.

To capture this photograph I used my older cropped sensor Canon 50D with a 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L-series IS lens at 400mm, handheld from about 5 feet away.

All content and images are property of Stephen Fischer Photography, copyright 2013.  Last updated: 6/9/2013   ()