In June I photographed several interesting birds at Umtanum Creek Recreation Area in Ellensburg, Wa. My favorite two birds were the Bullock’s Oriole and Yellow-breasted Chat. We typically don’t have these birds on the West side of the Cascade Mountains where I live. However, they can be found with a visit to central or eastern Washington.

It’s always great to photograph some colorful birds like these that I can’t find in my own backyard or nearby! I’m especially loving my Nikon Z8 camera for bird photography. The built-in bird subject detection makes it much easier to focus on birds than it used to be. (It almost feels like cheating!) That coupled with a Nikon Z 180-600mm lens makes it possible to get great photos of birds like these, even if they aren’t very close.