For the birds

I'm getting pretty desperate to take a decent photo of a bird at the bird feeder now that spring has arrived. This past Saturday I couldn't sleep past 7:45 am (don't you just love when that happens?!) and decided I'd get up and stare at the bird feeder until a blazing red cardinal came for a feast. I bundled up in my cold morning gear, put my zoom lens on the camera and headed for the back yard.
I could hear the birds scatter as I approached. I tried to hide around the corner of the house and fool them into visiting the feeder; I wanted them to know I meant no harm. But these birds are ever so cautious.
When no birds came after 5 minutes, I walked back around to the front of the house and searched the trees for birds. They flew away in my presence as well. I got a photo of this little fellow eating scraps off the street in front of my neighbor’s house.

I then decided to brave the back yard again. Hubby’s grandmother’s boat sits–currently in large puddle of excess rainwater–in perfect sight of the bird feeder. I took a seat on a not-so-comfy edge of the boat and waited for 10 minutes. I’ve heard that birds will come near so long as their surroundings are kept constant. So if I sat there long enough, they’d feel comfortable enough to approach.
Sure enough, after 10 minutes this little guy shows up near the vegetable garden. He assesses his surroundings for a bit and stares me down.

Looks again toward the bird feeder to weigh his options.

Lunges and makes a beeline for the feeder.

Yum. The sweet taste of success.

I think I fell in love with this bird. He was the only one brave enough to visit the feeder while I was present. When it gets warmer out I’ll spend even more time back by the feeder and perhaps even more birds will find their courage.
I also fell in love with the plump robins. They tend to take great interest in pillaging the yard for goodies. Right now they must be pleased because tons of worms have surfaced with all this rain.

One of the number one reasons I purchased my zoom lens was so that I could take photos of birds. I’m obviously not good at working it yet, as almost all of my photos turn out slightly blurry, never quite as crisp as ones taken with my smaller lens. I’m not sure if it is just a bad lens, or if I need to be using a tripod at all times, or if there is a specific setting I’m forgetting to use. Any suggestions, photography friends of mine?