Craig's Birds

Macro Monday

2009-08-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Macro Monday

2009-07-27T09:00:00.001-05:00

Macro Monday

2009-07-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

Macro Monday

2009-07-13T09:21:00.001-05:00

Killdeer at Sherburne NWR

2009-07-07T14:46:00.001-05:00

Last week, my father and I took a drive up to Sherburne NWR and had a pretty successful day. At one point as we were driving around the auto tour we pulled off into a viewing area that had a small platform overlooking a pool. As we got out of the car we could hear a Killdeer calling very near to us but honestly didn't think that much of it at the time. So we spent some time on the viewing platform and when we had our fill of cormorants and ducks we headed back to the car. The Killdeer started screaming and we could tell that it was close. It sounded like it was just across the road but we could not find it. All of a sudden my father saw the bird, practically under his foot. It was so close we were actually looking right past it! We immediately backed off and the bird took a few steps to the right and sat down. I started to take some photographs only to realize that this bird was actually sitting on an egg. She had made her nest (for all practical purposes) right in the middle of the parking area! Anyway, we backed away to the car, which was only about 20 feet from the nest, and left the bird alone. Here are the shots that came out of that brief encounter with the Killdeer.

If you look closely in this photo you can see the egg under the bird. Click on the photo to see a larger version of the photo at my Flickr site.

Macro Monday

2009-07-06T09:20:00.001-05:00

Macro Monday

2009-06-29T09:20:00.000-05:00

Macro Monday

2009-06-22T09:18:00.001-05:00

Dickcissel

2009-06-21T13:38:00.000-05:00

The first bird we saw at Randolph was the Dickcissel, yet another life bird for all three of us. They were all over and are very chatty birds. They pretty much sang the entire time we were there. I think I was most pleased with these shots from the day.

Bobolink

2009-06-20T13:30:00.000-05:00

We had never seen a Bobolink before and although we had heard they were there, we didn't spot this one until right before we left. We were just saying that it was time to go and my Father spotted a bird farther out in the field so he went to check it out and low and behold it was a Bobolink.

Grasshopper Sparrow

2009-06-19T13:28:00.001-05:00

Here's the Grasshopper Sparrow from the other day. There call is actually quite distinctive. My mother compared it to a locust which I had to agree with.

Again, if this looks like the wrong ID please let me know! :)

Savannah Sparrow

2009-06-18T14:21:00.000-05:00

Hello All,

Last weekend I went down to the Randolph Industrial Park with my mother and father we saw quite a few new birds for all of us. My expectation was that this was going to be a park in the sense that it would have trails, or a playground, or something generally associated with a park. However, this is basically an undeveloped area with roads that will eventually lead to commercial buildings. It's looks like an undeveloped neighborhood at present so when we got there we had a little trouble locating it due to our somewhat mis-guided preconception of where we were heading. Upon our arrival we were greeted with birds within minutes of stopping the car. We saw Savannah Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, Dickcissel, and Bobolinks, all of which were life birds for the 3 of us. I would say that one of my biggest weaknesses with bird ID's has got to be sparrows so if my ID's look suspicious, please let me know. I'll post photos of the above mentioned birds over the coming days. Let's start with the Savannah Sparrow!

Carlos Avery Continued

2009-06-10T09:52:00.001-05:00

I did find a life bird while I was at Carlos Avery on Friday. When I saw it, I knew that it was not a bird I had seen before. I didn't have my field guide but I made a good guess at what it was and was able to confirm it when I got home and looked it up. I was pretty excited to see a new bird. Since I've been birding for a while now, seeing a new bird is pretty exiting since it just doesn't happen that often to me. Anyway, here are my shots of this somewhat shy Black-billed Cuckoo!

It's worth looking at the larger version of this photo to see the red in the birds eye. It's quite brilliant. (Click on the photo to see a larger version on my Flickr page.)

Carlos Avery

2009-06-09T09:49:00.003-05:00

Hey All,

I was able to get out for a short evening at Carlos Avery last Friday night and I had a really nice time. I saw quite a few birds and did a bit of shooting as well. This Green Heron was a really cooperative bird so I took quite a few shots and here are the ones I liked best.

Green Heron:

Chestnut-sided Warbler

2009-05-19T12:35:00.000-05:00

As promised here are the shots of the Chestnut-sided Warbler!

Blue-headed Vireo

2009-05-18T12:29:00.003-05:00

Hey All,

I know that you thought I had forgotten about you, and honestly there is a bit a of truth to that. Life brings its ups and downs and I have had my fair share of both over the last months which has been quite distracting. I haven't been out to bird pretty much at all this spring but I did see a few birds yesterday while sitting in my parents back yard. No promises on consistent posts but I'm hopeful that I'll be getting out and taking more photos over the next month or so. Anyway, I wanted to share these photos since they turned out pretty good and the Blue-headed Vireo is a life bird for me. I hope all of you are healthy and happy!

Craig

Tomorrow I'll post a few photos of the Chestnut-sided Warbler from yesterday as well.

Macro Monday

2009-02-09T09:00:00.002-06:00

Can you guess what this one is?

Macro Monday

2009-02-02T08:18:00.000-06:00

Macro Monday

2009-01-26T08:16:00.000-06:00

..and More Back Yard Birds

2009-01-23T07:58:00.000-06:00

We've been fortunate to have a good supply of woodpeckers in our yard over the last few years including regular visits from Pileated and even a visit from the Red-headed Woodpecker. The Downy Woodpecker is also a regular at our suet feeder and deserves some recognition for being a part of our birding lives.

Downy Woodpecker:

More Back Yard Birds

2009-01-21T07:54:00.000-06:00

Interestingly enough, I realized the other day that I really didn't have a decent shot of a Black-capped Chickadee. These birds are always in our yard and at the feeders. They are dependable that way and I appreciate that. :)

Black-capped Chickadee:

Back Yard Birds

2009-01-20T07:49:00.000-06:00

It was such a nice day out today compared to the recent weather we have had I decided to just sit in the backyard and take a few shots of the birds in my yard and on my feeders. I had the "usuals" that visit my feeders which are Downy's, Chickadees, and Nuthatches. I was kind of hoping to see the Pileated since I could hear him not to far away but he decided not to show today so I'll have try again another day.

White-breasted Nuthatch:

Macro Monday

2009-01-19T08:15:00.000-06:00

Sitting and Landing Swans

2009-01-13T13:30:00.000-06:00

I still find it hard to believe that the cold water and ice doesn't bother the birds. They seemed quite content even though we were all freezing!

Macro Monday

2009-01-12T08:12:00.001-06:00

I've been working more on my macro photography so I thought I would start doing a Macro Monday shot. Here's the first one! :)

White Sea Shell:

Flight of the Swans

2009-01-10T13:26:00.000-06:00

Here's one more flight shot:

Swans in Flight

2009-01-09T08:21:00.002-06:00

There were a lot of opportunities to shoot pictures of the swans in flight, and I was somewhat successful. Swans make for good practice on shooting birds in flight mainly because they are big enough to make focusing on them easy and are slow enough that you can keep up with them as the pass in front of you. I think birds in flight is going to be an area of focus for me this year, although, given the opportunity to photograph a sitting bird I'm pretty sure I'll take the photo. :)

Swans in the Mist

2009-01-08T08:19:00.000-06:00

Due to the cold, there was a bit of mist/steam coming off of the water which made for a very pretty seen, but it also made for a bit of trouble when taking shots. Sometimes the mist was thick enough where it somewhat obscured the birds. Either way it was still pretty cool to see.

Sleepy Swans

2009-01-07T08:54:00.002-06:00

Did I mention that it was about 0 degrees when we went and that there was a pretty good breeze which made it quite chilly to be holding my camera? My first battery didn't last very long, so it was nice to have a second battery which was a gift from my wife for Christmas.

Monticello Swans

2009-01-06T09:38:00.004-06:00

Hey All,

I hope that the holidays treated you all well and that you've had a chance to spend time with family and friends. I certainly did!
I started out the new year of birding (the first birding I've done in a while as many of you know) by going up to Monticello, MN to see the Trumpeter Swans with my parents. It's quite a spectacle, with a phenomenal amount of birds, mainly Mallards, Canada Geese, and of course Trumpeter Swans. We also saw a some Common Goldeneye, although they were at quite a distance.
Here are a couple shots of the swans to start with. I'll be posting a few more over the coming days.

Gone for a bit . . . but not forever . . .

2008-12-11T15:33:00.002-06:00

Hey All,

It's been a long time since I've posted to my blog. I really don't have an excuse other than life leads you in other directions at times. I haven't been out birding much at all over the last months mainly because of other things in my life. I've got many things going on right now and birding has fallen to the wayside (for now). However, I'm planning on heading out over the holidays to try my luck at getting some owl shots up north. I've still never seen a Great Grey or Snowy Owl, so those are going to be the main focus. My father also found out some information about Swans near Monticello so I'll heading up there soon to hopefully get some shots.
I enjoy posting to the blog and communicating with all of you so I just wanted to let everyone know that even though I may not be posting much right now, I'll be posting again in the near future. I hope everyone is well and has a wonderful holiday.
With all of that said, I have been spending some time shooting black and white in a studio setting trying to learn more about lighting as of late. It has been a great learning experience for me and definitely applies to both my personal and professional life. Here is one of my latest experiments:

Stillwater Gulls

2008-10-24T12:35:00.002-05:00

I was recently down in Stillwater walking along the river and snapped a few shots of the gulls. They were so close I decided to get a few head shots. I liked these two, although they turned out a little darker than I would have liked.

South Dakota Sunset

2008-10-15T09:57:00.004-05:00

Well, it was a great trip and I've had a lot of fun going through the photos, editing, organizing, and of course sharing them with all of you. Here is the last shot from the trip that I'll be posting and I thought it quite a fitting shot for a conclusion to the trip.

Sunset on the grasses of the Badlands:

Black Hills Landscapes

2008-10-14T10:45:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine has an Infrared converted Canon D60 and she was kind enough to let me borrow it for the trip. Thanks MG! I didn't take a lot of photos with it mainly because I didn't always have it with me when hiking so most of the shots were taken with in walking distance of the vehicle. Here are the two best shots of the bunch with processing done in Lightroom for conversion to full grayscale and the addition of just a bit of Sepia in Shadows.

If you're interested in learning more about infrared conversions, here is the company that converted her camera and a page of sample images. Life Pixel

South Dakota Mountain Goat

2008-10-12T14:01:00.002-05:00

The day we arrived, we pretty much went straight to Mt. Rushmore. I had seen it as a young child, but my memory of it was not that great. It really is a spectacular monument both to the people portrayed and to those who carved it. What a collosal effort. Just outside of the park on the road was this Moutain Goat. The only one we saw the whole trip. It was a bit dark and overcast but I think the picture turned out all right. I had never seen one before!

Custer State Park Pronghorn

2008-10-11T17:01:00.000-05:00

Well, I can't leave out the Pronghorn! They were much more abundant than I would have expected. We saw them all over, but this shot with the wild flowers just seemed to be the right one to post.

Custer State Park Buffalo

2008-10-10T17:00:00.000-05:00

I think that this was probably the most representative shot of the day. It was a great day that we truly enjoyed.

Custer State Park Buffalo

2008-10-09T16:41:00.000-05:00

Here is another shot of a Buffalo (Bison) converted to Black and White. The original shot in color was pretty mediocre. It was the middle of the day with full sun so the color shot appears washed out. With a bit of work though, the contrast between the dark color of the animal and bright grass and sky seems to really work out well.

The Black Hills

2008-10-08T16:11:00.003-05:00

So I am continuing, although quite slowly, to work through my photographs from South Dakota. The next few shots are some black and white (converted in Lightroom) that I was quite happy with. Below is a shot of the Black Hills in Custer State Park near Sylvan Lake. What a spectacular place to visit!

By the way, this one might be worth seeing in full size over on my Flickr account, just click the image to get there.

South Dakota - Bison

2008-09-30T13:22:00.002-05:00

While we were in the Black Hills(Custer State Park), we took a Bison Safari which was very cool. They actually take you off road up into the hills and right into the Bison herd. There are about 1500 in the herd and you get quite close to them throughout the tour. Here are a couple of shots.

South Dakota - Black-billed Magpie

2008-09-29T13:17:00.001-05:00

Here are a few more shots of the Black-billed Magpie. Not the most fantastic shots overall, but it is such a cool bird, I thought they were worth posting.

South Dakota - Black-billed Magpie

2008-09-28T14:36:00.002-05:00

This bird was a close second in terms of a 'coolness' factor on the trip. I have a few more shots of the bird showing the wonderful coloring which I'll post over the next few days. It's much larger than I was expecting and they were very curious birds. Again, these were all around the cottage we were staying at in the Badlands. I never really expected to see the numbers of birds in the Badlands that I did. I fully expected to see more birds while in the Black Hills, but as it turned out, the majority of my photos came while in the Badlands.

South Dakota - Spotted Towhee

2008-09-27T14:34:00.003-05:00

Well, here is another new bird for me, and probably the highlight of the trip in terms of birds. I was hoping to see one, but didn't expect it since this wasn't really a birding trip. I was pleasantly surprised to find this guy right next to our cottage in the Badlands.

South Dakota - Horned Lark

2008-09-26T09:00:00.001-05:00

I was also able to see a number of horned Larks (another new bird for me) while in the Badlands. This particular bird was on the ground and at first appeared as though injured, although by visual inspection looked basically fine. He never flew away but definitely was wary.

South Dakota - Mountain Bluebirds

2008-09-25T09:07:00.001-05:00

Well, I'm back from my trip to South Dakota and have been steadily working my way through all of the photos I took. We spent a few days in the Badlands and actually saw quite a bit of wildlife including some new birds for me. So here is the first of many posts about our trip to South Dakota.
I had never seen a Mountain Bluebird before this trip and they were plentiful and also quite stunning in the sun.

What bird?

2008-09-11T09:00:00.001-05:00

Hey All,

I'll be heading out of town for the next 10 days and will hopefully have a few shots to share when I get back. For the time being I thought I would leave you with the shots below. When I was looking through my shots after the trip I thought this was a terrible shot of the back of a bird on a branch with the majority of it's body behind the trunk of the tree. I'm not sure what it is . . . maybe a Brown Thrasher . . .

However, if you look a bit closer you'll see that there are actually two birds in this shot!

Can you see the brown creeper! Man that bird camouflaged!

Rocks in Water

2008-09-07T09:05:00.000-05:00

Here is another experiment with a long exposure. Although it may look like fog, it is actually just a 4 second exposure as the water rushed over and around the rocks.

North Shore Cabin

2008-09-06T10:28:00.000-05:00

Here is the cabin we stayed at on the North Shore. It is just south of Tofte, MN and is a wonderful place to spend some quiet time.

Hummingbird Wars 2

2008-09-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple more shots of those Hummingbirds!

Hummingbird Wars

2008-09-04T09:00:00.001-05:00

The cabin we stay at has a hummingbird feeder right outside one of windows and the Hummingbird wars were raging on almost the entire time we were there. I believe that there were 4 different birds competing for the feeder at any given time. So I removed the screen from the window sat in a chair and shot these photos. The birds were so close that none of the photos have been cropped. They are such cool birds, so there will be more photos tomorrow!

Ruby-throated Hummingbird:

North Shore Sunsets

2008-09-03T09:00:00.001-05:00

Here are a couple more sunset shots.

Wizards of the North Shore

2008-09-02T09:00:00.001-05:00

Every year we are also visited by a Merlin and this year was no exception. This one spent it's evening dining on the hundreds of dragon flys that were flying about. This is one acrobatic bird in the air. We watched him chase and eat for about a 1/2 hour. Very cool!!!

Merlin:

North Shore Landscapes

2008-09-01T09:00:00.001-05:00

Well, as I stated previously, I took a number of landscape shots while up on the shore and I spent quite a bit of time working with long exposures near sunset. Here's one of the shots I really liked . . . I hope you enjoy it as well.

North Shore Continued

2008-08-30T09:00:00.001-05:00

The warblers definitely came in waves this year. We would have a fair number come through all at once, and then nothing for an hour, then another group would come through, then another lull . . . you get the idea. When they did show, it was a good mixture of warblers like the Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided, Cape May, Connecticut, Black-and-white, and a ton of Tennessee's.

Here's a Chestnut-sided Warbler:

I still have never seen one with the true chestnut color on it's side.

North Shore Photos

2008-08-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

Hello All! Long time no blog! I've returned from my trip up north with a number of photos that contain both birds and landscapes. It was a great trip that I enjoy every year. The north shore of Lake Superior is truly a spectacular place that I just don't seem to tire of visiting. Anyway, on with the photos. I spent a fair amount of time birding with my mother and father and we saw quite a few different birds. We saw a number of different warblers as we always do so let's start with a few shots of them.

Here's a Black-throated Green Warbler:

Lilies

2008-07-30T16:52:00.003-05:00

Here are a few more macro shots that I took of some lilies at a friends garden. His garden is quite beautiful and my first attempts at capturing all the wonderful green thumbed work he has done is a bit lacking. I'll need to go back and get more shots. The lighting on the day I went was overcast which can be good in some circumstances, but I think some filtered sun light would have been better.

The Daisy & Lightroom

2008-07-29T10:00:00.005-05:00

Here's another shot with my new Sigma 20mm. So far I'm still quite happy with the lens. I'll be heading up to the North Shore in mid-August and I'll be doing (hopefully) quite a a bit of photography. I'm looking forward to birding with my mother and father, and shooting a bunch of landscape shots with the 20mm. Anyway, here's the shot:

By the way, for those of you that use Adobe Lightroom, Version 2 was officially launched last night. We're quite proud of it, and are very pleased to have finished this release. As you can imagine, this is where much of my time has been spent over the last few months. :)

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

Carlos Avery Landscapes

2008-07-19T11:24:00.001-05:00

I spent some time shooting with my new Sigma 20mm F/1.8 on Thursday. I got it mainly for landscape shooting, and more specifically Black and White photography. I'm pretty happy with these shots, I hope you enjoy them. As I shoot more with this lens I'll report on it. So far I don't haven't shot that much with it, so it will take a while to figure it out.

Butterflies

2008-07-18T11:00:00.000-05:00

When I was out in Carlos Avery on Thursday there were quite a few butterflies and moths flying around. I know absolutely nothing about these creatures, and I think I'm going to need a new field guide. :) Anyway, from what I can tell based upon an Internet search and a little help from the Minnesota Zoo Butterfly ID chart, this is a Great Spangled Fritillary. (If this is the wrong ID, please let me know.)

Great Spangled Fritillary:

Bank Swallows

2008-07-17T22:53:00.004-05:00

I was able to get out of work a little early today so I took a drive up to Carlos Avery. Overall the theme of the evening was bugs. The Deer Fly were by far some of the worst I have ever seen. I didn't see many birds, just the usual suspects at this time of year. Kingbirds, Sandhill Cranes, Sparrows, and a lot of Bank Swallows.

If you look close at this photo you'll notice that not all of the birds have the distinct dark line across there breast, but some of them do. I'm inclined to think that those without the line are this years birds. (If you think differently, please let me know.)

Whitetail Deer

2008-07-09T09:00:00.003-05:00

We have deer regularly in our yard, but this year we've frequented by a couple of this years deer. We normally see them just before sunset, but this time they were foraging in the trees during the middle of the day. There are 2 of them and I took a few shots of each, but this was the only one that turned out half way decent. I felt like I was disturbing them so I backed off and let them go about their business.

Hibiscus

2008-07-08T11:11:00.003-05:00

Another flower shot taken just after a heavy down pour of rain.

Hibiscus:

Treatment of the photo done in Lightroom.

Back Yard Birds

2008-07-08T10:47:00.004-05:00

So this little guy landed in my yard the other day and at first I wasn't entirely positive on the ID. After looking at it for a while and comparing it against my field guides I believe this to be an Eastern Wood Pewee which would be a new yard bird for me. Let me know what you all think on that ID . . .

More Flowers

2008-07-03T17:01:00.003-05:00

OK, I'm still working on getting out for more bird shots, so more flower shots from our garden will have to suffice for the time being. :) I'm still working on depth of field and focusing with these macro shots . . . it's honestly quite tough to do . . . but I am enjoying the challenge.

Astilbe:

Flowering Bush (not sure of the name, I need to ask my wife):

Lilies

2008-07-01T13:29:00.002-05:00

So I've been spending a little more time in the garden with the Macro lens. I've really been enjoying this new endeavor, although I have to admit that I'm missing getting out to bird, but that will come soon enough. Right now, I'm just taking the time to stop and smell the flowers. Here are a couple more shots.

Learning About Birds . . . Scarlet Tanager

2008-06-28T09:28:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I have done a Learning about birds post and I certainly haven't been posting much in the way of bird photos lately so I thought this would be an appropriate time to start up this series again.

Scarlet Tanager
- Scarlet Tanagers have been recorded eating over 2,000 gypsy moth caterpillars in an hour.
- They become noisy and swoop around most birds who prey on them, such as Blue Jays and Eastern Screech owls, however they remain still and quiet around Merlins and American Crows.
- A group of tanagers are collectively known as a "season" of tanagers.

My other posts on the Scarlet Tanager.

Lupines Continued

2008-06-26T13:49:00.002-05:00

Since people seemed to enjoy the last Lupine shots I'll post these as well. I hope you enjoy.

Lupines:

Flowers

2008-06-25T10:54:00.004-05:00

Well, between work and personal life, I haven't been out birding in quite a while and thus haven't posted any new photos. I also have not spent time keeping up on others blogs that I normally read which is something that I miss. Anyway, this last weekend though I had the opportunity to play with a nice macro lens so I spent time around the yard shooting some of the flowers and plants that my wife has planted. She has done a great job making our yard look colorful with all of the planting she has done. A few years back we got some Lupine seeds and planted them and this is the first year that they have bloomed.

Lupines:

Carlos Avery - Wild Flowers

2008-06-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more shots of the wild flowers from the other day.

Wild Flowers:

Carlos Avery - Wild Flowers

2008-06-15T19:47:00.002-05:00

Well I stopped by Carlos Avery last evening and saw a number of birds at distance but never really got any shots that I was even remotely content to share but the wild flowers are out in force right now so I focused my attentions on them. Here are a few shows that I liked.

Wild Flowers:

Tennessee Warbler

2008-06-11T14:45:00.002-05:00

I've been going through more of the photos I took this spring mainly from an organization point of view. I want to make sure that I've tagged all the photos with appropriate keywords and any other pertinent metadata. It seems very easy to fall behind on this task and end up with thousands of photos that I have no way of searching in the future. During the process of tagging my photos I came across these photos of a Tennessee Warbler that I took in the parking lot at work. None of the photos are tremendous, but I liked the setting of the bird in the flowering tree. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Tennessee Warbler:

Scarlet Tanager

2008-06-09T09:26:00.002-05:00

Even though I haven't gotten out very much as of late, I've still had some good fortune with a few very nice yard birds. The Indigo Bunting still shows himself periodically and over the weekend we had multiple sightings of this Scarlet Tanger. This is just one fantastic bird!

Scarlet Tanager:

House Finches

2008-06-04T10:34:00.002-05:00

Well, the spring fling is over and the we're down to mostly those birds that will be here for the remainder of the summer. This scruffy little House Finch hangs outside my office window almost every day. He's so close to my window I just have to photograph him!

House Finch:

Indigo Bunting

2008-06-02T15:02:00.003-05:00

I was at friends cabin this weekend and there were quite a few Indigo Bunting flitting about so I grabbed my camera and got this sequence which I thought was pretty fun. I wish the last photo had been more in focus, but you can't have everything can you?

Here one moment, and gone the next!

Carlos Avery - Blackpoll Warbler

2008-05-28T18:58:00.001-05:00

Hey All, I could use some help on identification of this bird. I took this photo on Monday and I'm really not sure what this bird could be. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Update: Thanks to those of you that helped ID this bird as a female Blackpoll Warbler, I really appreciate it!

Carlos Avery - Baltimore Orioles and Scarlet Tanagers

2008-05-27T20:46:00.001-05:00

On Monday, we also saw more Baltimore Orioles than I have ever seen before in my life. It seemed like they were everywhere. We also saw about 6 different Scarlet Tanagers including the female which was a first for me. Again, the lighting was pretty bad so the shots aren't that great, but it really was a great day and I thought they were worth sharing. I hope you enjoy.

Baltimore Oriole:

Scarlet Tanager:

Carlos Avery Today

2008-05-26T20:39:00.003-05:00

I visited Carlos Avery again today with my Mother and Father and had a really great day. We saw about 40 different birds with a number of different warblers including another spotting of the Wilsons Warbler which was a life bird for both of my parents. Unfortunately, due the poor lighting I really didn't get any decent shots but it's always worth sharing the day.

Magnolia Warbler:

Gray Catbird:

Chipping Sparrow on the Nest

2008-05-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

I've been watching a Chipping Sparrow build a nest in our yard but I hadn't seen much activity around the nest over the last few days so I walked a bit closer (we've been staying clear of the area) to see if the nest was empty. I only took a few steps to see that the bird was still on the nest. I went inside and grabbed my camera t get a shot.

Chipping Sparrow:

Mr. Kingbird has somethin' to say . . .

2008-05-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

Carlos Avery - Black and White Warbler

2008-05-21T09:00:00.003-05:00

Well, here is the last post on the warblers from Carlos Avery last Saturday. I saw this one Black and White Warbler only for a short time but I sure was happy to see him if only for a moment.

Black and White Warbler:

Carlos Avery - Yellow Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler

2008-05-20T09:00:00.002-05:00

Saturdays photos continue with the Yellow Warbler, the Palm Warbler, and the Yellow-rumped Warblers. It was such a great day! I hope you all enjoy these great birds!

Yellow Warbler:

Palm Warbler:

Yellow-rumped Warbler:

Carlos Avery - Wilsons Warbler

2008-05-19T09:00:00.001-05:00

So the Wilsons Warbler is a life bird for me. I was watching all of the Yellow-rumps and Yellow Warblers flit around and all of sudden this guy just showed up right in front of me. At first I thought it was another Yellow Warbler, but the black cap was so distinctive I knew it was a different bird. I'm extremely happy with how these shots turned out.

Wilsons Warbler:

Carlos Avery - Warblers

2008-05-18T09:11:00.002-05:00

Saturday was one of the best days I've had at Carlos Avery. I saw a tremendous amount of warblers today including a Wilsons Warbler which is a life bird for me. I also saw a ton of Yellow-rumped, Yellow, and American Redstarts. I also saw a Black-throated Green and a couple Tennessee Warblers. I have pictures of most of the above, but with a day like that, I took a lot of shots and it will take a bit to get through them all so I'll be posting over the next week with what I got. Here's a few to start off with though.

Tennessee Warbler:

Black-throated Green Warbler

Learning About Birds . . . Great Egret

2008-05-17T08:25:00.000-05:00

It's been quite a while since I've done a Learning About Birds post so after seeing the green lores on this Great Egret shot I took at Springbrook the other day I thought it might be cool to show the difference. Here are a couple neat facts about these birds.

- The longevity record for a wild Great Egret is nearly 23 years.
- Aggression among nestlings is common and large chicks frequently kill their smaller siblings.
- In high breeding, the bill becomes orange-yellow and the lores become lime-green. (Lore, region between the eye and bill on the side of a bird's head.)

Here you can see the green lores:

For comparison sake, here is a shot of Great Egret taken down in Florida a few years back. You can see that the lores are not green in this shot:

If you are interested, here is a link to all my posts on "Learning About Birds".

Indigo Buntings

2008-05-16T09:06:00.000-05:00

The last couple of days have brought a number of great birds both in my back yard and outside my office window. At work I have seen a Tenessee and Cape May Warbler. At home I've seen Black and White Warblers, American Redstarts, and a pair of Indigo Buntings. This is a great time of year and I'm really looking forward to getting out this weekend. Here are some photographs of the Indigo Bunting (my first shots of this bird).

Indigo Bunting:

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks

2008-05-14T21:12:00.000-05:00

Continuing on my Springbrook Nature Center walk from Monday, here's yet another post from that night. (I've got one more post after this . . . just in case you were wondering.)

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak (in my opinion) is one of the prettiest birds around. It has a wonderful song and when it's in Spring plumage is just a striking bird. Well . . . you can judge for yourself! :)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak:

PS I recommend clicking on the photos to see the larger versions over at my flickr site.

Here's a previous "Learning About Birds" post on Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.

American Redstart

2008-05-14T11:14:00.000-05:00

We've had a couple neat yard birds in the last two days. Yesterday my wife saw an Indigo Bunting (wish I had been around for that one), and this morning as I was leaving for work, I took a couple quick shots of an American Redstart. Not the greatest photo, but I thought it worth sharing just because it's such a pretty bird and it was in my yard. :)

American Redstart:

Least Flycatcher and Kinglet

2008-05-12T21:04:00.000-05:00

So the Least Flycatcher is also a new bird for me which is very cool. I initially thought this was an Eastern Phoebe by the way it flew, but as soon as it landed I knew it was something else. I was lucky enough to get this shot.

Least Flycatcher:

Well after last weeks attempts to get a shot of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, I was really happy to get this shot. I'm pretty sure that these birds never actually stop moving.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet:

Northern Waterthrush

2008-05-12T20:48:00.000-05:00

Well, since the weather is likely to turn ugly again I ran over the Springbrook again after work and had a pretty good evening. In fact, I saw and photographed a new bird (for me that is)! I saw this Northern Waterthrush for only a brief period and I wasn't even sure what it was as I was taking the shots. I took some nice photographs of a Least Flycatcher, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Here's the Northern Waterthrush:

Springbrook Nature Center

2008-05-09T21:50:00.000-05:00

Here's the last post from Friday's trip to Springbrook. I have a friend that likes shots with reflections so here are a couple shots with reflections that I thought turned out nice:

Mallard:

Canada Goose:

Springbrook Nature Center (Continued)

2008-05-09T21:37:00.000-05:00

The Yellow-rumped Warblers were most abundant around the water, I'm guessing this was due to the larger supply of bugs. I watched them spend time swooping towards the surface of the water and then back up the cat tails. It was a behavior I've witnessed earlier this year up at Carlos Avery, but I'd never seen it prior to that.

Yellow-rumped Warbler:

This Kinglet landed only about 3 feet from me and then continued to jump from branch to branch staying in each spot for only about 1 second. I could not get a decent shot of this bird. I had the feeling it was just taunting me. Here's the only shot I got that was even close to in focus. I think this bird was giving me the bird.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet:

Springbrook Nature Center

2008-05-09T21:22:00.000-05:00

I stopped by Springbrook Nature Center today after work and saw a fair amount of birds: Brown Thrashers, White-throated Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Palm Warblers, and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks as well as a number of other birds. I'll post some more of the shots from this evening over the next couple of days. The Brown Thrasher is a very cool bird but is quite difficult to photograph because it generally stays near the ground in the under brush. He popped up for a bit and I snapped off this shot.

Brown Thrasher:

These Mourning Doves looked really good in the sun and I certainly can't pass up a shot like that now can I?

Mourning Doves:

Blue-winged Teal

2008-05-06T23:18:00.000-05:00

Hey All,

I haven't gotten out nearly as much as I would like lately so tonight I thought I would post a few photos taken back in April of 2005. Blue-wing Teal and Sandhill Cranes are two birds that I never tire of photographing. Both of these birds really got me going with birding and bird photography. I hope you enjoy . . . and I hope to get out soon. :)

Blue-winged Teal:

Sandhill Crane:

Carlos Avery - Palm Warbler

2008-05-03T18:16:00.000-05:00

Well, I took another run up to Carlos Avery today and to be honest, there wasn't much going on despite it being a bright sunny day. The wind was blowing pretty good so I have a feeling that was the major factor in terms of not seeing many birds. I did get the following two shots though.

Palm Warbler:

Red-shouldered Hawk:

Carlos Avery - Eagles Nest?

2008-05-02T10:44:00.000-05:00

For those of you that have driven through Carlos Avery, you've likely seen the large eagles nest (marked by a sign on the road). The other day, as I drove through I noticed a bird on the nest and thought, "Cool, it looks like there might be an eagle on the nest!". Note that this nest is pretty distant from the road, in fact, here's a shot of the bird on the nest at full zoom on my camera:

However, upon closer inspection, it's not an eagle on the nest (photo cropped for effect):

(Click on the photo for larger version - it's easier to ID the bird)

I had seen this bird on the nest a few days earlier, so it appears that the goose may actually be using this nest for the season. I'd be curious to hear from others, if they have observed the same bird on the nest.

Carlos Avery - Ruffed Grouse

2008-04-30T21:03:00.000-05:00

I was able to get to Carlos Avery for a short visit before the sun set tonight and got off a few shots. This was definitely the best shot of the night. More photos to follow over the coming days.

Ruffed Grouse:

Carlos Avery WMA - Yellow-rumped Warblers

2008-04-28T22:22:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, there were many Yellow-rumped Warblers on Sunday. They are definitely a very difficult bird to photograph (for that matter, most warblers are difficult to photograph), but I was very pleased with a couple of the shots I got.

Yellow-rumped Warbler:

Yellow-rumped Warbler:

Carlos Avery WMA

2008-04-28T21:35:00.000-05:00

After seeing the Red-headed Woodpecker yesterday I got the itch to get out so I took a drive up to Carlos Avery. There were a tremendous amount of birds in terms of volume. Yellow-rumped Warblers were tremendously abundant (Pics of this to follow in a day or two). I saw flocks of 10-20 at a time multiple times. There were probably hundreds of Ring-necked Ducks, lots of Blue-winged Teal, and a ton of American Coot. I was also able to see a few pairs of Northern Pintail which was definitely the highlight of the trip. My Mother and Father had not seen these before so they went up to Carlos Avery today and were able to locate them again.

I recommend clicking the photos to see the larger versions on my flickr account. It's a bit easier to see the beautiful details of this birds plumage.

Northern Pintail:

Northern Pintail (Hen):

Here's the location of the general area we saw the Pintail in case anyone is interested: Carlos Avery Pintail Siting

Red-headed Woodpecker

2008-04-27T20:55:00.000-05:00

OK, today was a very cool day! We had a new visitor to the yard, and a new bird added to my life list. Honestly, the Red-headed Woodpecker is one of those birds that I have always wanted to see and have never had the chance until today. This woodpecker visited our feeder today for about 1 minute and I snapped off a few shots through the window. Needless to say, I was extremely excited to see this bird!

Red-headed Woodpecker:

Red-headed Woodpecker:

"Red-headed woodpecker populations have declined 89% since 1967. The bird has experienced an average decline of 4.6% per year since 1980 due to loss of habitat and other factors. The Audubon Society recognizes Red-heads as a top five bird of concern in much of its range: Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, North Dakota and Ohio. "
- Quote taken from Redhead Recovery(.org). There is quite a bit of information on this website about the Red-headed Woodpecker.

Lochness Park Today

2008-04-23T21:15:00.000-05:00

On my way home from work today I stopped at Lochness park for about a half hour or so and saw quite a few birds. The Red-winged Blackbirds were plentiful including one female. I also saw a Common Loon, Tree Swallows, Yellow-rumped Warbler (First of the year), Goldfinch, Cardinals, and an Eastern Bluebird. For a half hour not to shabby!

Common Loon:

I liked this shot of the blackbird because of all the cat tails both in focus and out of focus.
Red-winged Blackbird:

I think the Cat Tails are very cool at this time of year: