Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting with my wife on the front porch of her little quilting shop. We have a couple old redwood rocking chairs. Ben and Charlie were laying on the porch watching the neighborhood.
I was fooling with my phone, I had taken a photo of some clouds and was typing in a caption, when two red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) appeared flying by right in front of me. I fumbled my phone and grabbed at my camera, but managed only this one shot, which would be a great shot if the right wing was in the frame 😢. I got a couple more pictures, but the hawks were flying away by that time ... it's just not the same.
I strive for perfection but seldom get it - I didn't get it here either. This Carolina chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) is fleeing a feeder that I have for woodpeckers with some kind of seed. Having said that, I've yet to see a woodpecker at that feeder. The photo is a little soft but looked crisp before I cropped it. It was a decent photo and I didn't really need to crop it, but I wanted to, so there we are.
"Carolina Chickadees visit feeders for sunflower seeds, peanut chips, and suet. Make sure any peanuts you provide stay dry so no mold can form on them. " - allaboutbirds.org
Here is a ruddy turnstone (brown with orange legs) and a sanderling. I've read that sanderlings are very protective of their feeding territory, i.e., their stretch of the beach - at least from other shore birds. But these two birds don't seem to mind each other. Perhaps, because they each have their own feeding niche so one doesn't compete with the other.
"Sanderlings are easy to find on sandy beaches from fall through spring. Pick a beach with a low, gradual slope and walk along the water’s edge. Look for small shorebirds running back and forth in sync with the waves—these are likely to be Sanderlings. While other shorebirds such as plovers and Willets may feed alongside Sanderlings on these outer beaches, this is truly the Sanderling’s domain; these plucky birds often aggressively defend their feeding territories at water’s edge from other shorebirds." - allaboutbirds.org
I cropped this in quite a bit to show off the tail feathers of this ruby throated hummingbird. I don't think I have another photograph of one of these birds with tail feathers spread out like this. But, I'll look around. I think this is a female, but it could be a juvenile, there are lots of them around right now.
I learned, sometime and somewhere, that there is no pigment for blue. So the blue you see on this blue jay is merely a trick of light. Same goes for my blue eyes. Don't ask me how that works because I don't know.
"The pigment in Blue Jay feathers is melanin, which is brown. The blue color is caused by scattering light through modified cells on the surface of the feather barbs." - allaboutbirds.org
This cooper's hawk was around a while back and I had the opportunity to get several photographs. This one was just inside the wooded area behind my property.
"Life is tricky for male Cooper’s Hawks. As in most hawks, males are significantly smaller than their mates. The danger is that female Cooper’s Hawks specialize in eating medium-sized birds. Males tend to be submissive to females and to listen out for reassuring call notes the females make when they’re willing to be approached. Males build the nest, then provide nearly all the food to females and young over the next 90 days before the young fledge." - allaboutbirds.org
Foliage is not a photographer's friend, unless, of course, you're photographing foliage, which I sometimes do. The small birds disappear into trees anytime they feel threatened. During the winter, I could still see them and got some pretty good pictures but now when they disappear, they disappear.
We had a false spring this year and leaves started growing early on some trees. Then there was a couple days of freezing weather and those leaves withered. The leaves are just starting to grow again on those trees most of which are still completely bare.
“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.” - Ernest Hemingway
I love this photograph, I may have posted a version of it before, I'm not sure. This is at the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge in Cameraon Parish, Louisiana. It's not far from the Gulf of Mexico. This was a good day for bird photography, there were birds of different species everywhere.
I felt like a trip to the beach. At least in my photo library. So, here's a ruddy turnstone.
"Walking on wet and slippery rocks can be treacherous for just about anyone without good gripping shoes. Ruddy Turnstones have special feet that are somewhat spiny, with short, sharply curved toenails that help them hold on. They also have a low center of gravity thanks to their short legs that helps keep them anchored." - allaboutbirds.org
The clouds in the sky this morning look pretty ominous. It's supposed to rain today, we'll see.
I went to sleep late last night, at least late for me. I try to be asleep by 10 PM. In the olden days, long ago, I could push that to 4 AM. But those days are long gone. Bottom line, I's still a little sleepy because my buddies were right on time this morning. Ben is snoring.
Speaking of sleep, I have a sleepy internet connection. It's faster than dialup but not by much. It also drops off once a day and that is what just happened, saved my work and rebooted. Perhaps my router is starting to have problems.
"Sleep is a key part of the requirements for resilience and good decision-making. " - James G. Stavridis
I think this is a house finch, in fact I'm pretty sure. But the head looks slightly different, so slight it fuels uncertainty. Also, Merlin Bird ID fails to identify the bird. I could just be that the photo quality isn't good enough.
I don't know what this female ruby-throated hummingbird was doing. But she visited the regular bird feeder. Curiosity maybe? This the first time I've seen that happen.
You can't see it in the photo, but this house sparrow was hanging with a bunch of red-winged blackbirds a couple months ago. This morning when I started to process this photo, I thought one of the blackbirds was in the upper right-hand corner. But after looking closer, discovered it was yet another interloper - a brown-headed cowbird. I cropped it out.
This tufted titmouse was caught with a sunflower seed. I guarantee, it was only at the feeder for a second or two. I like the deer in the headlights look.
"Tufted Titmice nest in tree holes (and nest boxes), but they can’t excavate their own nest cavities. Instead, they use natural holes and cavities left by woodpeckers. These species’ dependence on dead wood for their homes is one reason why it’s important to allow dead trees to remain in forests rather than cutting them down." - allaboutbird.org
I'm a little surprised at the yellow coloring on this mourning dove. Pleasantly surprised though, normally they are a drab brown. Well, most of the bird meets my expectations. Variation is the name of the game.
"When these birds grab seeds off the ground, they are not necessarily eating them. Instead, they are stockpiling for digesting later. The seeds collect in the “crop,” which is simply an enlarged part of their esophagus. Then they head to a secluded perch for digestion. Mourning doves often have a noticeably round breast, since it expands during feeding. Scientists once found a record-holding bird with 17,200 bluegrass seeds stuffed away in its crop." - birdsandblooms.com
When I selected this photo the image of the ring billed gull was much smaller in the sky. In fact, I initially thought it to be a forester's tern.
"Like the American Crow and Common Raven, the Ring-billed Gull is an opportunistic feeder and scavenger. Many call this bird the "fast food" or "french fry" gull, as it's often spotted hanging around restaurant dumpsters in search of a meal. It also frequents landfills, parking lots, lawns, and agricultural fields, especially when tractors and other farm vehicles stir up worms and other invertebrates. In addition, this intrepid gull readily steals food from other birds and even unwary people." - abcbirds.org
I thought that this chipping sparrow pose was interesting. Unfortunately, it was almost dark outside so there was very much noise in the photograph.
There was another sparrow to the right that I wanted to include in the picture but because the noise was so bad, its head just kind of blended with the bird seed behind it and any AI I employed just made it worse. The missing sparrow had its beak wide open as if squawking something in protest.
This is another image of the same male ruby-throated hummingbird that I posted a little bit ago. This one gives us a look at his ruby throat hence his name. I should note that only the males have this coloring. Females are mostly emerald all over. The emerald color can be iridescent in sunlight. It's quite stunning.
This bird positioned himself on the opposite side of the feeder and would only come into view for brief periods. Then I blinked and he was gone.
This is the first ruby-throated hummingbird that I've seen this year. It was visiting a hummingbird feeder I set up a few days ago. When I saw the photo, I couldn't help to think it looked like it was in a heavenly light. Maybe, this is a photo for a show like "Paranormal Caught on Camera." 😂 What is really going on is that there is an out-of-focus down spout from a gutter directly behind the bird. I couldn't help but want to post this, I have a better photo that I'll post in a little while. OBTW this is a little male.
"Ruby-throated Hummingbirds fly straight and fast but can stop instantly, hover, and adjust their position up, down, or backwards with exquisite control. They often visit hummingbird feeders and tube-shaped flowers and defend these food sources against others. You may also see them plucking tiny insects from the air or from spider webs." - allaboutbirds.org
These are boat-tailed grackles at Holly Beach, Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico. They look busy doing grackle stuff, though there is one in the background that looks like it's just enjoying the view.
"When you smell saltwater on the East Coast, it’s time to look out for Boat-tailed Grackles. The glossy blue-black males are hard to miss as they haul their ridiculously long tails around or display from marsh grasses or telephone wires. The rich, dark-brown females are half the size of males and look almost like a different species. Boat-tailed Grackles take advantage of human activity along our increasingly developed coast, scavenging trash and hanging out in busy urban areas away from predators." - allaboutbirds.org