Promised Flicker nest w/remote

I promised an update on using a remote shutter release on a camera – in this case photographing a northern flicker nest in Grand Teton National Park… I just received a ProMaster remote shutter release and am trying it out. Setting up a camera at a bird nest and then staying back so as not to impact the subject(s) seems like a good idea.  We all want to be good stewards of our natural resources and allowing wildlife to be wild is one of the goals of an ethical nature photographer. So, I went to the site early in the morning, setup the camera, then walked away and waited.  Pre-focusing the camera is a good idea.  The focus then

A female northern flicker feeds her chicks at the nest.

stays where you put it.  Making sure you have enough depth of field  and high enough shutter speed are both important also.

I used a Nikon D3 and D300 with a 600/f4 on a Satchler tripod with Wimberley gimbal mount and set the lens to manual focus. Having watched the parents come to the nest a couple times helped in knowing how they approached the nest and how they positioned themselves once at the hole in the tree allowed me to set the distance from the tree and how wide a field of view I needed to include the whole body of the parent plus the chicks as they reached out from the nest hole…