Dismal and Murkier than yesterday. I finished the floor cleaning and put the furniture back in place and got set up to take a few pictures. Damn Coopers Hawk must have been on the prowl. For a few minutes it was heaving with birds then back to nothing. Here's a couple from today using the same manual flash setup as yesterday.
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| Carolina Wren |
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| Northern Cardinal |
... you use flash. Today was really dark, dismal, foggy and drizzly but I really needed some PhotoTherapy. I got the remote flash setup outside with a plastic bag cover to protect it from the rain. As it's a wireless remote you need a little gizmo to plug into the camera. I couldn't find it, I was sure it had become a cat toy and was hiding under a bookshelf or maybe it had made it's all the way down to the kitty kitchen. I found it eventually, I had put it back in it's drawstring bag where it should be. Doh! Initially very quiet and I only managed a few shots in an hour and a half. I gave up and vacuumed and polished 2/3 of the living room/ dining room floor. I noticed much more activity after lunch and one nice thing about a day like today is that you don't have nasty harsh lighting limiting your phototherapy. I got set up again and got quite a few nice shots even if I do say so myself.
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| Blue Jay |
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| Dark-eyed Junco |
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| Downy Woodpecker |
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| Eastern Bluebirds |
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| Northern Cardinal |
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| Red-bellied Woodpecker |
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| Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
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| White-breasted Nuthatch |
In the UK the day after Christmas Day is called Boxing Day. It originates from when the rich gave boxes of gifts (probably unwanted gifts they got for Christmas) to the poor and to the servants to the rich and famous of the time who had to work on Christmas Day and were given boxes of presents also probably the unwanted gifts.
Anyway Boxing Day US style is simply called the Day after Christmas Day, well it's still Boxing Day to me. It is nice and sunny and I took a few pictures before the light got too harsh. Not a bad haul of birds.
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| Downy Woodpecker |
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| Eastern Bluebird |
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| Eastern Bluebird |
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| House Finch |
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| Northern Cardinal |
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| White-breasted Nuthatch |
I popped out yesterday to go and get some wild bird seed. I looked into the field and there were 3 large birds by the side of the lane. Vultures I thought but as I got closer I could see the white head of an adult Bald Eagle. After a screaming Uey I was dashing back home for my camera. By the time I got back the adult was circling above me and there were now 3 juvenile Bald Eagle's. Two of them took off leaving just the one which took off as I got too close. One my return a while later there were several Turkey Vultures around the deceased Raccoon and one juvenile Bald on the road looking on, just as a car was coming. It flew as the car got too close thank goodness but I did manage to get a flight shot of it.
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| Juvenile Bald Eagle the extended feathers on the rear wings indicate it's this year bird. |
when it seems like everyone is shitting on you?
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| Turkey Vulture (someone's gotta be the lowest bird in the roost) |
While hanging out at the front windows waiting for the nice UPS man to deliver my new lens I noticed the dreaded evil Cooper's Hawk fly into the nearest Yew tree. Luckily my camera was on the table and I took a few shots through the glass and when he flew back into the tree further I slid the window open and stuck the lens though the gap. He was having a good old look around for some poor bird to pounce on. He's quite welcome to reduce the House Sparrow and Starling population but should stay away from the rest or I'll be pissed.
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| Cooper's Hawk |
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| Cooper's Hawk |
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| Cooper's Hawk |
There's a place I've found just a few miles away that is promising for some out of backyard photography. On a minor twitch (birding term) on Saturday for a Ross's Goose at Memorial Lake (I dipped BTW(dipped means I didn't see it, another birding term)) I stopped off on the way back and there were White-crowned, White-throated, Song and Field Sparrows. I managed to get a few shots but not the adult White-crowned which I was really hoping for. Better luck next time.
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| Song Sparrow |
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| White-crowned Sparrow (immature) |
After yesterdays yucky rainy day which eventually gave us 61F temperatures Friday was not too chilly overnight and nice and quite sunny at times. After being a House Elf all day yesterday I decided I was going to take a few photographs today. The first one was a White-bellied Nuthatch at 8:23 and the last one was a Downy Woodpecker at 9:36 and in that time I took 1073 images.Out of those 1073 I actually downloaded only 118 so less than 10%. Of those 118 I actually processed only 12 of them. Birds are not easy, the little buggers are always moving and blinking their eyes and often while you're pressing the shutter release. Not a bad selection of birds today however.
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| Blue Jay |
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| Blue Jay |
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| Downy Woodpecker |
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| Eastern Bluebird |
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| House Finch |
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| House Finch |
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| Northern Cardinal |
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| Red-bellied Woodpecker |
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| Red-bellied Woodpecker |
