Alfred Hitchcock Would be so Proud!

[JimFox]

I was driving some backroads through Minnesota while heading back to Colorado after fall colors in the midwest, when out of no where as I approached this town I saw all of these dead sunflowers and saw they were covered in birds and that huge swarms of birds would fly up into the air like a symphony.

So I did a quick U-Turn, and stopped on the opposite side of the road and started taking photos. The birds hung around for a few minutes, but maybe I had spooked them and in large groups they flew off to the SW. So I left hoping to see some more, didn't so I turned around and went back to that sunflower field, and the thousands of birds that were there 10 minutes earlier were completely gone. Not even one bird was left. I waited a few minutes, but they never returned.

I didn't have a lot of time with the birds, but I got quite a few shots I really liked. Here are 2 of them to start.

All comments are welcome,

Jim

#1

#2

 

[AlanLichty]

That's a lot of birds - makes it hard to lock onto any of them with autofocus. That looks like more than they had on the screen in the Hitchcock movie.

 

[JimFox]

Thanks Alan. I didn't focus on any of the birds, I focused on the sunflowers as I wanted those to be in focus for sure, and then let the birds fall or fly where they will.

 

[Roger Bailey]

What a great experience, Funny how in nature it is pretty rare to see the same thing twice, good>lucky timing on your part!

 

[JimFox]

What a great experience, Funny how in nature it is pretty rare to see the same thing twice, good>lucky timing on your part!

Thanks so much Roger! It was such a fleeting moment, but I don't often capture birds but always wanted to get one of those bird photos where there are hundreds or thousands of birds flying in the air. So it was a good moment!

 

[Trent Watts]

What a fantastic experience Jim. That is a load of Red-winged Blackbirds and whatever else is in with them. I have seen a similar flock of blackbirds when they are gathering for fall migration. Certainly not as many as you experienced.