We have Carolina Wrens nesting in a ceramic birdhouse attached to the side of our screened porch. I love these little perky birds. They rarely help themselves at the bird feeders apparently preferring to snag a bug or worm or some flying insect. In the winter, when we see them, they are digging about under piles of oak leaves.

I treated myself to a new camera given my growing interest in birds. My old camera, while it takes pretty good photos, has limitations. For one I have to be almost on top of a bird to get a good image. For another, the camera action is very slow. It takes a long time for it to reset itself between shots and when trying to get darting little birds in focus and then a moment when their head is turned the right way or they have settled or even when about to take flight, I can’t wait 3 to 5 seconds for the camera.

One of the birds I’ve been trying to capture in a photo for almost a year is one of these Carolina Wrens. And they are quick! But the new camera does the trick. I still have a large learning curve ahead of me when it comes to remembering f-stops, etc. But I also bought a book and, unlike the first time I learned photography, there is an abundance of instructional videos available on-line.

So here are a bunch of neat little photos. And a painting I completed this morning using one of them as a reference.