{"id":123681,"date":"2024-03-12T04:31:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T10:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=123681"},"modified":"2025-05-08T06:44:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T11:44:57","slug":"film-days-carolina-wrens-and-a-northern-cardinal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/12\/film-days-carolina-wrens-and-a-northern-cardinal\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Days: Carolina Wrens And a Northern Cardinal"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was going through old photos taken with film and decided to share this image of Carolina Wrens and a female Northern Cardinal on my suet feeder in Virginia.<\/p>\n

\"CarolinaCarolina Wrens and a female Northern Cardinal on my suet feeder – Canon AE-1
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m not sure of the year this image was taken, but it was likely between 1998 and 2000. Mostly, I used the Canon AE-1<\/span><\/a> to take photos of the flowers in my garden, turtles, butterflies, dragonflies, and scenery.<\/p>\n

I also loved the birds that visited my garden, and I couldn’t resist taking photos of them even though I didn’t have much reach with my lenses.<\/p>\n

This photo may have been taken with a 100-200mm lens. That was the most reach I had at the time. It was also manual focus, so at times, my photos weren’t as sharp as I would have liked.<\/p>\n

Back in those days before digital cameras, I was mostly a birdwatcher. My garden was filled with them, and I had loads of flyovers. I believe my yard list was in the low 90s for bird species.<\/p>\n

My garden in Virginia was a great habitat for birds and wildlife. My trees were native, and I made sure that more than half of the flowers and shrubbery I planted were native as well.<\/p>\n

Even way back then, I preferred wild to manicured landscapes, native plants over cultivars, and birds over water-sucking, sterile lawns.<\/p>\n

Every day in my garden was magical and filled with birds and wildlife. I studied the birds, insects, mammals and reptiles that made my garden their home. I knew them. I tended my garden and knew it too.<\/p>\n

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For quite some time, I’ve been asked, “How do you even know that?” The answer is: I pay attention. I’m also still learning every day.<\/p>\n

The photos I took of birds back then with film weren’t going to make it to the covers of books and magazines or the glossy pages of guidebooks. That has never<\/em> been the reason for my photography.<\/p>\n

I’ve always taken photos for myself, whether with film or digital cameras. My photos are reminders of the incredible birds and wildlife I have seen and know so well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Thanks for going back in time with me. Film was a whole lot different than digital is today. As for me, I’ve always been on a quest for more knowledge about the birds I see. My cameras, whether film or digital, have been very helpful in that regard.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Being authentic in my life? Even better.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my bird photos in their galleries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was going through old photos taken with film and decided to share this image of Carolina Wrens and a female Northern Cardinal on my suet feeder in Virginia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,14790,10269,7407],"tags":[14796,14199,14197,14200,14792,13981,14795,14198,14791,14794,4427,10660,5802,3822,14793],"class_list":["post-123681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-carolina-wrens","category-northern-cardinals","category-virginia","tag-canon-ae-1","tag-cardinal","tag-cardinalis-cardinalis","tag-cardinals","tag-carolina-wren","tag-feeder","tag-film","tag-northern-cardinal","tag-suet-feeder","tag-thryothorus-ludovicianus","tag-tree","tag-tree-trunk","tag-wren","tag-wrens","tag-yard-birds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t