It is all in a day’s work, or a day’s retirement, for Walter Agnew of Westville who has a stunning collection of bird and other wildlife shots taken on his property and around Pictou County.
Through his living room window, Agnew can watch 60 to 70 birds feeding at a variety of feeders that include a carved-out coconut shell, a cage feeder that offers safety to tiny birds and a wooden feeder with a roof where a chattering squirrel is often in residence.
“I’m a patient man,” he said, when asked how he manages to get birds to land in his hand.
He has accomplished it with two types of birds, black-capped chickadees and pine siskins.
“The chickadees will land, pick up a seed and go off with it. The pine siskins will stay in my hand to feed which is pretty amazing.”
He was filling a feeder one day when birds rushed in to eat the seeds that fell on his boots. That is when he decided to see whether it might be possible to hand feed them.
“I stood with a handful of seeds, my hand outstretched, for a long time and eventually it worked.”
It just takes patience, he notes, adding his three-year-old grandson Noah was able to attract a bird to his hand when he was still two years old.
“He was used to being around the bird feeders with me. We talked a lot about birds and he listened attentively. I put a light pair of gloves on him because it tickles when the birds land and he waited quietly until a bird came. He stayed very still and he was just in awe to have a bird in his hand.”
When he walks in the woods, which he does frequently, Agnew always carries seed for the birds.
“The chickadees will follow me, then take seeds from my hand, stick them in trees and come back for more. I’m just happy to have them share their time with me. I suppose I feel a calling to look after the birds because they are God’s creatures.”
For close-up photography, Agnew uses a small lightweight camera he loops around his wrist and can operate with one hand.
“I get lots of shots with movement, but I’ve gotten many I am very happy with. Recently, I got a shot of two pine siskins feeding in my hand and I call that one A Place at the Table. I got another that does a good job of showing the colourful tail feathers of the pine siskin.”
One of the birds he photographs most is blue jays, often using a larger camera and telephoto lens against a glass window or opening a window and removing the screen to freeze his house this time of year. He sometimes tricks the saucy jays into a set-up shot, which he might forward to baseball writers or fans.
“I take lots of natural shots, but it can be fun to stage some with bats or balls. Jays are not as trusting – they won’t let you get as close, but they are interesting birds.”
Agnew and his wife Dawn have witnessed nature at work when predator birds swoop in for the kill. They once saved a bleeding black duck from a hungry red-tailed hawk, but also witnessed an eagle take down a mourning dove.
“We don’t like it on our watch, but those are the laws of nature.”
Through the years, Agnew has learned to identify the birds who visit his feeders and live in his woods, including European starlings, American gold finches, nuthatches, downy and pileated woodpeckers, ring necked pheasants, eagles, owls, pigeons and crows, but there is one bird he still has hopes of meeting – the bright red northern cardinal that he’s heard sightings of as far east as Truro.
“I’ve seen them in Ontario and they are on my bucket list. Wonderful to photograph – if you ever get the chance.”
In the meantime, he is happy to share his nature shots with the Nova Scotia Bird Society, Scotsburn-Northumberland Photography Society and on Facebook.
Resource: http://www.trurodaily.com
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