Backyard Birds... Spring and Summer, 2011

Hope I make the deadline for World Bird Wednesday... whether or not I do, you should check it out! Feel free to click the collages to see a larger image of each.

Female Cardinal wondering what I'm doing; male Cardinal escaping from the deck and male House Finch posing.

Female (or young?) House Sparrow doing who knows what... have never seen such a pose! I put out some bread crumbs and blueberries on the table outside... the Sparrows didn't know what to make of the blueberries and left them behind when eating the breadcrumbs... I'm not sure which of the many birds visiting my garden finally ate the blueberries. Maybe a bluejay! In the last image, I imagine the sparrow is yelling to come and get it before he eats all of it!

Sharp-shinned Hawk revisited... from the winter of 2011.

In March, as some of you may recall, I posted a single image from a series of images captured while photographing a Sharp-shinned Hawk perched in a neighbor's silver maple. He was EXTREMELY interested in the House Sparrows that he could see and hear cheeping in fear while 'hiding' down below him in the brambles of a wild rose bush that is about 10 feet in diameter and over 7 feet tall. The sparrows were either gathered on the ground or perched on the lowest limbs of the rose bush and were inaccessible as far as the raptor was concerned.

I was having breakfast when I spotted him on a cold day in March so I grabbed my camera and dashed outside, hoping to not spook him. He was clearly more interested in the sparrows than any silly photographer and I snapped pictures until I nearly froze because I'd run out without putting on a coat or gloves! While revisiting these images the other day, it occurred to me that some of them tell a story so here you go.

Is this my best side?

Or is this?

OK, I can hear the sparrows... but where are they?

What? Those sparrows are hiding in the rose brambles???

That's too bad... I think I'll see what's on the other side of the garden.

Aren't you tired of taking pictures yet?!

Between the previous perch and this one, he landed within 10 feet of me on the fence... I don't know who was more surprised between the two of us... the hawk or me! He didn't stay long here and by the time he landed here, I'd been out for 20 minutes or more in freezing cold so was finished taking pictures anyway!

I'll be posting this to World Bird Wednesday later on... if you haven't found your way there yet, do drop by and have a look!

Mallards... as commonly seen in Sweden as they are here in the US! Summer, 2011

Female Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos seen in one of the many water features on the grounds at Drottningholm Palace, the official home of the Swedish royal family since 1981. Visit my vacation blog for more information and images of our visit to Drottningholm.

A few days and miles away from the female above, this Male Mallard was enjoying a pond at Gammlia, an outdoor park in Umeå. I'll be posting about our visit to Umeå on my vacation blog at some point.

I'll be posting this to World Bird Wednesday later on and would appreciate feedback on whether or not I should combine my vacation blog and photography blog into one blog? One of my readers suggested that idea to me and I'm definitely open to doing that since I cannot figure out how to do BIG pictures on my vacation blog. (Of course, BIG pictures don't scale for mobile devices and I'm totally inept at figuring out how to code my blog to downsize the images for mobile devices... keep hoping Google/blogspot will do it for me!) And while I'm open to combining my blogs, it will take some thought to figure out how to do it properly and not lose anything! (may have to call on a tech geek in the form of my brilliant nephew Dan for assistance should I go forward with the idea)

Continuing with some images from Sweden and Iceland... BIRDS!

I'll be posting this to World Bird Wednesday as the images are birds of the world outside my usual viewing environment. I do have one request for an ID on one of the birds shown in the collage of birds of Sweden, below. I'll be posting more of my adventures in Sweden and Iceland to my travel blog but am definitely finding that slow going... so far nothing new there since my fourth post about our journey added three days ago.

Viewing from the upper left corner, the birds shown are a Jackdaw, Coloeus monedula ssp monedula (Wikipedia reference); a Black-headed Gull, Larus ridibundus; a European Magpie, Pica pica; and the White Wagtail, Motacilla alba, which has been kindly identified by Andrew who writes rambles with a camera. I had noted when I first posted this morning that I needed an ID for the fourth bird and that it has a flight pattern similar to a lark... when it is on the ground... it darts around and is rarely still, making it extremely hard to photograph. We saw it in parks and roadsides nearly everywhere in Sweden and Iceland too. (the links on the bird's names take you to the full size image for each)

The Puffin images are not the best images of birds I've ever managed... but they were so much fun to see and watch. I hope you enjoy them. The large image shows MANY birds onshore and is more picturesque than it is useful if you are a serious birder and want to see details... the center image below is another picturesque view of the Puffin colony, this time with quite a few in flight, as seen from the distance while on a rocking boat... not the best of conditions for sharply focused images! And the others are two of the better close views (still not very close!) that I was able to capture of two Puffins at ease on the water and one of a Puffin coming in for a landing. From National Geographic's Puffin page, I learned that these birds are fast fliers... by "flapping their wings up to 400 times per minute they can reach speeds of 55 miles (88 kilometers) an hour." No wonder I failed totally at catching one in flight!

Fun with a macro lens... not just for extreme close-ups!

This collage is another set of images from the macro workshop at Green Springs Garden (mentioned in a previous post). Clockwise from the top left corner: a hoverfly and smaller unidentified insect on an unknown yellow flower (larger image), goslings (larger image), Ninebark 'Coppertina' (Physocarpus opulifolius flower (larger image) and Mama (or Papa) goose with goslings (larger image). I wondered when I posted an image on Flickr that was very similar to the last image how one could tell the sex of an adult goose... a couple of my Flickr friends referred me to a web article telling in more detail than I wanted to know exactly how to tell whether an adult Canadian goose is a male or a female. Personally, I think I will just continue to wonder!

I'll quite possibly be posting this to several linked blogs... Macro Monday over at Lisa's Chaos, communal global on Tuesday and World Bird Wednesday. I'm sort of running out of time to get ready for travel and will be posting to my vacation blog while I'm away. I've already posted my itinerary for those who might want to follow along with my journey.

In the meantime, I'm hoping to queue up a few blog posts between now and when I leave so that I don't completely drop off everyone's radar while I'm away. :-) I will try to visit blogs while on travel but am not sure how well that will work out since I'm traveling with no computer and will have only my iPhone and a Wi-Fi enabled iPad to use for limited connectivity from time to time as circumstances allow.

Starling antics... after suet in my garden... Spring, 2011

So I bought a suet feeder that is SUPPOSED to keep birds (such as Starlings and Grackles) from dining on the suet because they don't like to feed upside down. And I hung it temporarily where there is a way to access it from underneath IF standing in just the right spot and stretching to reach the good stuff. Or perhaps, mimic a hummingbird and flap wings rapidly while powering up to the suet feeder. Or, obviously, ignore the belief that Starlings do not like feeding upside down and just pretend to be a woodpecker and have at the suet until sated!

I do intend to move this suet feeder where approaching from underneath will not be quite so easy to do. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the images. I watched these silly birds for quite awhile today and snapped away like crazy. I'd have never done that with a film camera!

Maybe next week I'll include a series of images of a quite frustrated Catbird attempting a similar approach and not quite succeeding. In the meantime, I'll be posting this at World Bird Wednesday which you should definitely check out for some marvelous bird images!

Something different for today... wild horse from the Pryor Mountains... Spring 2010

The Pryor Mountains, which span the Wyoming/Montana border, are home to a herd of wild horses. Although I grew up in Wyoming and Montana and have visited numerous times since heading east years ago to attend college (and staying after that until the present date), until this past June, I'd never visited the wild horse preserve. Now that we visit annually due to our ownership of a house in nearby Red Lodge, Montana, I spent a day with a high school classmate (an accomplished photographer) searching out the horses and photographing them. This is just one of the many images from our adventure... and I'm quite proud of it!

Male cowbird in sunlight... on my deck rail... March, 2010

Another "plain" bird showing iridescent beauty in the sun... we see cowbirds when they are migrating... but we have NO cows! They passed through the other day on their way north (at least that's what I assume) and stopped by my feeders. This is a Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater.

Common Grackle... Iridescent beauty in the sun!

My bird book says that grackles "arrive from the South early in spring and depart late in the fall." Since spring hasn't officially arrived yet, I was a bit surprised to see these familiar visitors at my feeders today. The first time I posted a photo of a grackle on Flickr, I made a comment about them not being particularly pretty birds to which my friend "wolfpix" responded that he thought they were beautiful. When seen in full sun, the iridescent feathers of this bird do indeed make him a beauty. (and if you want to see some lovely nature photos, visit my friend's Flickr stream to have a look)

A very healthy rascally squirrel at my bird feeder... January, 2010

Look how beautifully glossy his black fur is... guess I must be providing the right mix of food for him in my BIRD feeder! This one they can jump on from the fence or from the deck rail (where it hangs)... my others (one squirrel proof that actually works) and a tube feeder (not squirrel proof) that hang nearby are less appealing to the squirrels. BUT, if I don't restock this one, the squirrels will go after the smaller (not squirrel proof) of the feeders hanging nearby. One of these days, I hope to catch them in the act on that one! (they hang upside down, legs wrapped around the feeder and eat from the bottom seed ports)

Tomorrow, I'll post another of my bird feeder in snow scenes but wanted to put up something different today!

Three on a feeder... one on approach! Snowy day feeder visitors... January 30, 2010

Surprise... the 1-2" of snow forecast for our area turned into about 8" of accumulation... and provided more snowy opportunities for capturing the feathered visitors to my garden and feeders. You may have to look carefully to see the tail of one almost completely hidden bird (the third ON the feeder) sticking out behind the feeder... I just love that I managed to capture the House Finch on approach here. Enjoy!

Male cardinal in the rose brambles from December 19, 2009

Anyone living in the Greater Washington , DC metropolitan area will recall our huge storm of Dec 18/19, 2009. It's pouring down rain today which MAY melt the remaining piles of snow left behind when our streets and parking lots were plowed. In the meantime, thought I'd share another snowy image from that storm... taken through my kitchen window because the snow was piled so high on our deck that I couldn't get out the back door!

Robin in Holly tree... December snowstorm...

Another image from the "great" snowstorm of December, 2009... at one time... I counted 12 (or more) robins going after the berries on my holly. Since we had the tree trimmed last year, this year the crop of berries was HUGE and there are still many left for the birds to continue their dining.

Female Cardinal in Dogwood... December 2009 SNOW!

Another one from our record breaking snowstorm... birds visiting my garden included cardinals, house sparrows, house finches, starlings, Carolina wrens (saw three at the same time), blue jays, robins, juncos, mourning doves, chickadees, red-bellied and downy woodpeckers... think that is all. Some came for the holly berries and dogwood berries (although most dogwood berries were gone) and some came to the feeders and cleaned me out!

Woodpecker stopping by my bird feeder today...

So far, we've had about 19 inches of snow in the past 22 hours... it's not often I see a woodpecker at my bird feeders but this one kept stopping by today to help himself to the safflower and sunflower seeds. Between the wind and his weight, the feeder is not hanging straight up and down. I feel lucky to have managed to capture him on camera!