Use The Weather To Your Advantage - Wind

As we all know, it has been very windy an unusually high percent of the time in the Tri-State area lately. While this makes it tough for Wildflower photography, it can help in some ways for bird photography. Different birds prefer different habitats of course, but they also prefer different heights. Windy conditions can make these canopy dwellers come down lower (as can rain), where we stand a much better chance of seeing and photographing them. The photo above is of a Great Crested Flycatcher. They are fairly common in the Tri-State but usually prefer the upper canopy of the trees.
I credit the wind more than anything else for me getting to see and photograph this bird. It's not likely that I would have seen him if he was at his usual height above the ground and even if I had seen him, I would have had no chance of a decent photo. Great Crested Flycatchers,Yellow-throated Warblers,Baltimore Orioles and Scarlet Tanagers are just some of the birds that are in our area, but we seldom get to see or photograph because they prefer to be in the canopy or at least a long way up on tall trees. So don't let the windy days keep you from going out on a nature photo safari. You stand a better chance of seeing some kinds of birds because of the wind.