Note: this is the full interview with Russ Sandstrom. A summary of his photography tips is published in the Sept/Oct 2024 Bird’s-Eye View Newsletter. 

 

What is your earliest memory of a bird? (Is there one that sparked your interest or curiosity?)

I wasn’t really into birding at the time, but when I was a teenager, I remember seeing a Pileated Woodpecker for the first time. It was in a wooded area along a road. I knew what it was, but they were much rarer to see back then.

 

Where did you grow up? Was being out in a nature common for you as a child?

I grew up in St. Paul, MN. I was always an outdoor person who loved being in nature. I probably grew my love of the outdoors going fishing with my dad and uncle. I was a city kid that liked the country.

 

When did you start feeding birds?

I started feeding birds as an adult, probably since the 80s. My interest in birds really started because my wife was interested in birding and helped with bird banding at the Lowry Nature Center. Eventually, I went along and helped. I wasn’t so interested in the banding part, but I liked seeing the birds close up. That was in the late 70s.

 

What is your favorite feeder and/or seed to serve in your feeding station?

To attract the most species of birds to your yard, I generally recommend a feeder that has a seed mix like Joe’s Mix, a suet feeder, and a hummingbird feeder.

In my yard currently, I have a hopper feeder with Joe’s Mix. I have a suet feeder that has a perch on it so cardinals, chickadees and even warblers can eat from it (great for early spring before bugs have arrived for warblers to eat). I have a hummingbird feeder, and an oriole feeder with jelly. Orioles, catbirds and House Finches like the grape jelly.

 

Do you photograph birds in your backyard?

I have photographed birds at the feeder, but I prefer to capture their image in a natural environment. That said, most birds “stage” before coming to a feeder. You can wait until they fly to or from their staging position on a branch or trunk to get that natural shot.

 

Have you always had an interest in photography?

My interest in photography really began 11 years ago. It was 10 years ago that I retired from my full-time career, so I had the time. I worked part time at All Seasons Wild Bird Store for 6 years (2014-2020) after I retired. But when I was fully retired, I had time to go out birding.

There’s a creative aspect to photography. The camera is just a tool—the person behind the camera makes the great photo.
~Russ Sandstrom

What motivated you to start photographing birds?

I loved being in nature. Photography allowed me to capture the beauty. There’s a creative aspect to photography. The camera is just a tool—the person behind the camera makes the great photo. I also liked the challenge: birds are small, quick, and far away. You might get 1–2 good shots for every 100 you take. It’s rewarding when everything comes together for something you’re satisfied with.

Also, photographing birds is helpful because in the field I can’t always identify what I’m looking at. It’s nice to have the photo to take home and use a field guide to make an identification. Or, if needed, you can send the photo to another birder or upload it to the Merlin app to help you out. It’s exciting when you can figure it out or don’t know. You learn through the process of looking it up.

 

What makes a photo a “keeper”?

• Well-focused
• Angle of the bird is interesting or shows the bird well
• Lighting is everything!
• Unlike portrait photography, you can’t pose a bird. Getting the bird in the perfect lighting can be tricky, but that usually makes the best shot.
• The bird fills most of the frame.

 

What tips would you give to people who would like to get started photographing birds?

1. Timing: go in the first 3 hours or last 3 hours of the day. That’s when the birds are most active, and you get the best lighting—the golden hour.
2. Get down on the bird’s level as much as possible. This is especially relevant when shooting shorebirds or waterfowl (egrets, herons, etc). It just looks more natural that shooting them from above.
3. Focus: Really focus on the eye of the bird. This helps the focus and makes the bird come alive in the photo. If the eye and the head is in focus and the body isn’t as sharp, it’s still a really good photo.
4. Burst mode: Shoot in continuous or burst mode to help you catch the bird’s many different poses in a short period of time. Often, you’ll find one where the bird cocks its head a bit that looks more interesting than straight on.
5. Framing: Try to fill the frame of the picture with the bird as much as possible. The exception is if the background is particularly scenic (like a flowering tree).
6. Change your position relative to the bird: Sometimes if you step 2-3 steps to the left or right you get a better background (ie. one that’s less busy), the light may be better, or the angle of the bird in the frame looks better. Get the shot, move carefully, get another shot. You can also take a shot, move slightly closer, then take another shot. Most songbirds have a tolerance that you learn to predict for stepping closer to it before they fly off. Shorebirds tend to have more tolerance for you getting closer.

 

Do you keep a life list of birds you’ve seen or photographed?

Sometimes I use the ebird app to keep a list. You download the ebird app to your phone, put in the area where you live or where you’re birding, then it gives you a list of likely birds in the area. You can check off the ones you’re seeing—and the quantity—as a record. The eBird app also lets other people know what you’ve been seeing at various locations, and you can see what others are seeing. It’s a good tool for finding birding hot spots—where there are frequent sightings of birds. You can check the app daily to find where people went and what they found and use that to inform you where to go.

The Merlin app is nice to have too. It can help you ID if you have a photo. It can also identify bird sounds and tell you what’s around you. It’s a good way to hone in on a bird and to learn the sounds birds make.

I’ve also used Robert Janssen’s Birds in Minnesota book as a helpful tool to inform me of the earliest and latest migration dates for bird species.

 

Do you have any special memories of looking for or photographing a bird?

I once took a photo of a juvenile Green Heron preening its neck where everything came together perfectly: the focus, the light, the background. I was really happy with that one.

I use my feet to “zoom” in or out. Sometimes it can be tricky with larger birds…I’ll have to move further back to get the shot.
~Russ Sandstrom

What type of camera are you using?

I started out using what’s called a bridge camera—it has a long telephoto lens that is built in (not detachable like an SLR). I actually took the Green Heron photo with it. It was a good starter camera.

Now I’m using a mirrorless camera—an Olympus. I primarily use a 300mm “prime lens”—it doesn’t zoom in or out; it’s a fixed aperture. While 300mm usually isn’t enough magnification to photograph birds, I’m using a crop sensor camera (not full frame), which effectively increases the range to 600mm (35mm equivalent). Also, I’m using a 1.4 teleconverter that takes that effective range up to a whopping 840mm (35mm equivalent)* focal length. It works great. I use my feet to “zoom” in or out. Sometimes it can be tricky with larger birds…I’ll have to move further back to get the shot.

*The reason being, is that the actual focal length of the 300 mm lens itself does not change, but rather, the camera’s built-in crop sensor crops the image (which narrows the field of view) giving the 300 mm lens the same (equivalent) range as a 600 mm lens mounted on a full-frame camera. 

A mirrorless camera isn’t as heavy as a traditional SLR, so it’s actually pretty easy to hold without a tripod. Both my camera and lens has image stabilizers, so I don’t have to worry about shaking.

 

How often do you go birding?

Twice a week most times of the year. More—3x weekly—during migration, especially in May.

 

Where do you like to go birding?

In general, I look for a place that has a variety of habitats, like water and woods. If you can find a place with water, woods and prairie, you’ll get the most variety of birds.

Specifically, some of my favorite places include:

• Bass Ponds in Bloomington. Warblers like to hang around the water. There are shore and water birds, plus woodpeckers in the woods.
• Crow-Hassan Park Reserve. It’s in the northern metro. It has all 3 habitats. You see some horseback riders there.
• Veteran’s Park in Richfield. Mostly a good place to go during migration.
• Carver Park Reserve. It has all 3 habitats and is one of the largest preserves in Hennepin County.
• Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. There’s an about 7-mile wildlife drive for spotting birds from your car, plus a short prairie trail and a short woodland trail for walking. Sometimes I can just roll the window of my car down and get good photos from my car; it acts like a blind. You can see Sandhills here most of the year. There are hundreds of sandhills there in the fall.
• Sax-Zim Bog. In the winter, I’ll usually make at least one trip here. It’s a 3-hour drive. You can go up really early and get their by sunrise at 8am and stay until sunset. Or you can stay overnight in the area and get some birding in over two days. It’s a great place to go birding because you’ll see a lot of boreal species that come down from places further north to spend the winter in Minnesota. They’re species you wouldn’t see in the Twin Cities area. Look for Great Gray and Northern Hawk Owls, Evening Grosbeaks, Pine Grosbeaks and Boreal Chickadees. It’s an exciting break from all of the common birds we see in the Twin Cities in the winter. In the summer, a lot of warblers are nesting there, but it’s VERY buggy, which can be prohibitive.

By Guest Contributor KATRINA HASE