The camera I use on my birding outings, a Canon SL2, is getting on in years, and I’ve had a few cases of the shutter failing to fire in recent months. None was so alarming as what I experienced this morning while visiting the Reed-Bryan Farm side of Mercer Meadows.
The camera wouldn’t even turn on. None of my usual tricks — turning the camera on and off a few times, reseating the battery and the lens — would work. The camera was dead, I concluded as I sat on a low fence looking at a Northern flicker that was nibbling in a tree not 20 feet from me at eye level. A perfect photo opportunity, lost.
By then, I was resigned to knowing that I’d take no photos with my Canon on that outing, but I hoped I might somehow bring it back to life. When I got home, my first thought was to replace the battery. With the backup inserted, the camera sprang back to life. Whew — what a relief.
At 9:30, the sun was still shining, and the birds beckoned me back. I drove to the Pole Farm and saw only a few photo opportunities. One was of a catbird munching on some berries in a tree in a deer-fenced area by the old AT&T Building One site. I shot through the fence and got the photo topping this post and the one below.
It gave me a scare, but my trusty Canon came through for me in the end.
The Jersey Birder 
What gorgeous catbird shots! OK, so now I am thinking you should publish a bird calendar!!
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