North Shore Hummingbirds

Well these little birds were quite active at the feeder on the deck as well as on the wildflowers around the cabin. Getting a shot of these birds is quite difficult to do as I'm sure you can imagine. I wanted to get a shot of the bird on the flower not on the feeder so I was even less successful, but I did get this shot and I was pleaseed with it since it is definitely my best shot of a hummer on a wildflower.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird:

Another Seagull Shot

I thought this shot of the Herring Gull turned out quite nice as well . . .

More North Shore

I was sitting on the deck watching the seagulls pass by and decided to grab the camera, sit on the rocks and take a few shots. I think they turned out pretty cool!







As always, there are bigger versions of these photos posted a flickr. Just click on one to go see the larger version.

North Shore Warblers Continued . . .

There were a number of Black-and-White warblers around and let me tell you, they are very difficult to photograph. I have so many shots of this that are blurred I can't believe it. Even when the stop jumping around they continue to move their head. Blur was the name of the game with these guys. So with as difficult as they are to get, I was pretty happy with this shot:

Black-and-White Warbler:

North Shore Warblers

OK, so it's been a long time between posts and I was getting good-natured heckling by a friend in Palo Alto to update the blog(you definitely know who you are).
So, two weekends ago I went up to the North Shore of Lake Superior and had a very nice time with family and saw some really great warblers. We saw Tennessee, Nashville, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Green, Mourning, and even a Northern Parula. The warblers were quite abundant even around the cabin we were staying in which meant we really didn't even need to go and find them. In fact the one time that we did drive to a known good birding area, we got completely blanked. Upon returning from this little excursion there were about 20 or so warblers in the trees above the deck on the cabin. The irony was not lost on us. Either way we did have a great time and I'll be posting some of the photos from that trip over the next week or so.

Here's the Chestnut-sided Warbler:


Tennessee Warbler (it's a bit out of focus):

Hunting Success!

Well here's another post on the Barred Owls in our yard. Tonight we witnessed two of the immature owls fighting over a kill. They were right out in front of the house on the ground yelling at each other. I grabbed my camera and ran out onto the deck only to discover that I didn't have the CF card in my camera! So I ran back into the house, grabbed the card and dashed back outside only to find that the owls had moved off to the side of the house and into the woods. I moved that way slowly and into the woods. They were so distracted with each other that I didn't even warrant a look until I got in closer. As soon as he turned to look at me I stopped and took the following shots. The shots show what looks to be a rabbit.

This shows the owl with its wings covering what appears to be a rabbit:


Here the owl was moving up the limb of the tree and you can clearly see the rabbit:


Another photo of the owl and its prey:


I snapped this photo of the owl flying away, not the greatest shot but I thought it was worth posting:


All of the shots were taken at a high ISO in the woods so they are a bit noisy and not terribly in focus, but it sure was fun to witness this exchange.

Another Back Yard Visitor

Well, this littel guy has been hanging out around the feeders the last few days or so. He's pretty territorial! When he's staged on the branches near the feeder anytime another bird flys in he gives chase. This includes the Downy Woodpeckers and the White-breasted Nuthatches that are constantly on our suet log. I got a shot of him this morning while he was guarding "his" feeder. :)

Eastern Wood Pewee:

More Yard Birds

Well I've been on the couch for about a week now with Bronchitis. It's really not as much fun as it sounds. ;) Anyway, I sat out on the deck today for about an hour and watched the bird feeders. It was about all I could manage. We've had a pair of immature Red-bellied woodpeckers in our yard for the past few weeks. I took a shot of this one today. The other is actually beginning to show a bit of red on it's head. It's not that great of shot since it was in the shade and at high ISO. Anyway, here ya go . . .

Immature Red-bellied Woodpecker:


I took this shot yesterday through the window and it shows about 1/3 of the Turkeys that were actually under the feeders.

Turkeys:

Nictating Membrane

I was going back through some of my photos of the Sandhill Cranes I took at the end of June and I came across this photo of a crane that clearly shows the nictating membrane on the birds eye. I thought it was really interesting to see this, my wife thought it was a bit creepy. :)

Happy 4th of July to All!

Sandhill Crane (It's easier to see in the larger version of the photo. Click on it to see a larger version on Flickr.):

Barred Owls Hunting!

OK, so my wife and I just spent the last 20 minutes watching the 3 immature Barred Owls attempt to catch a squirrel that was feeding on the ground under our bird feeders. At first the squirrel seemed to pay no attention to the one owl that was about 12 feet off the ground and right next to our deck (about 20 feet from the squirrel). We watched the owl watch the squirrel. Eventually the owl swooped out of the tree and down after the squirrel. He missed. Then he tried again from a different spot. Then the second owl made his attempt and also missed. By this point the third owl is in the mix and they attempted to "corner" the squirrel on the tree. Honestly they never really got that close with the exception of the very first attempt. You can tell they are still a bit awkward in flight compared to the adults, but they were trying their best. :)

We were watching these owls learn how to hunt! How cool is that?!

Right after all three attempted to corner the squirrel the each in turn landed on a downed tree on the ground. I just took these shots a few minutes ago. They are both taken at ISO 3200/f5.6 and 1/30 of second hand-held. They are heavily cropped, pretty noisy, and definitely blurry. However, this was a really cool moment for both my wife and I and it's worth sharing here. I hope you all enjoy it as well.

The Three:


The Two:



Here's another shot I took this morning:

American Redstart

Well I had a bit of time today so I made run to Carlos Avery and to be honest, didn't have that great of a day. The highlight though was a pair of American Redstarts that I was able to spend quite a bit of time with. They sure do flit around a lot though making for some tough photos. Here is one of the shots that I got.

American Redstart:

Yard Birds

Well, we have had a number of new birds in our yard over the last couple weeks. We have had an Indigo Bunting show up 3 times which has been quite a treat and we have also had a Three-toed Woodpecker. We get a lot of woodpeckers on the suet log and when he showed up, we weren't sure what it was. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera for either of these birds. However, I did get some shots of 2 of the 3 Barred Owl owlets:

Barred Owl:

Cranes and Warblers

Last week I went to Carlos Avery with my Mother and Father for about 3 hours. We saw quite a few birds and had a really nice time. My father got to see his first Common Yellowthroat which was pretty cool. There were quite a few Yellow Warblers, a Catbird, and a pair of Sandhill Cranes that were the closest I have ever had to my car at Carlos Avery. We were driving down the road and I spotted just the head of a crane sticking out of the tall grass about 15 feet off the road. We stopped and he stayed. I expected the brid to just walk off like they normally do but I was able to pop my head out of the sun roof of the car and take quite a few shots. I liked this one in particular:

Sandhill Crane:


The Yellow warblers were quite cooperative and I took this shot which I liked because of it's bright color in the photo. Generally when I take shots I like to fill the frame with the bird, but in this instance I liked the overall look with a wider angle. I think it helps to see the photo larger so click on it and you can see a larger size on Flickr.

Yellow Warbler:

Tree Swallows

OK, since it's been a while I thought I would add another post and photo. I watched this Tree Swallow fly in and out of the holes on this tree for about 15 minutes. It would have food in it's mouth when it went in and none when it came back out. It's hard to be 100% positive because I couldn't hear or see young, but I would bet this was a Tree Swallow on the nest. Either way, it was pretty cool to watch.

Tree Swallow:

Green Heron

So it's been way to long since my last post. I've been getting out now and then to bird and take photos, but just haven't had a lot of time to get through all the photos and pull a few out for the blog. I should be posting on more regular basis again with photos from the last few weeks. Anyway, I took this photo of a Green Heron about 2 weeks ago up at Carlos Avery.

Green Heron:

Today at Carlos Avery

Well today was a pretty good day at Carlos Avery. It started out with a pair of Scarlet Tanagers, a number of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, a few of Common Yellowthroat and a single Baltimore Oriole. I also had a great view of an Eastern Kingbird. Here's some pictures from today.

Eastern Kingbird:


Rose-breasted Grosbeak:


I have a pretty good guess of what this bird is but I sure would appreciate a few more opinions:

A new Yard Bird!

Well, we had a Swainsons Thrush, Redstarts, YR Warblers, and what I initially thought was a Hermit Thrush in the yard this weekend. What I had incorrectly ID'd as a Hermit Thrush (a guess in the field since I still haven't seen one of these), is actually an Ovenbird. A new lifer for me!

Ovenbird:

Scarlet Tanager and Warblers

We had a flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers and this Scarlet Tanager move through the yard this morning. I was lucky enough to be able to run back in the house, grab the camera, go back outside and get this photo. I'm surprised he stayed long enough for that, usually when I go back to get my camera the birds fly away about the time I pull the camera up to shoot.

Scarlet Tanager:

Springbrook Nature Center Part 2

I really did have a great time at Springbrook yesterday. There weren't a lot of people, so I was able to walk quietly and see plenty of birds. I have to admit that as much as I like photographing birds I missed quite a few shots yesterday just watching. I guess that's a pretty good sign that I was having a good time! Here are a couple more shots that I took:

Yellow Warbler:


Brown Thrasher:


There were plenty of Swallows as well . . . including one rubbing his head on his perch:

Tree Swallow:


I had initially ID'd this as a Tree Swallow, thanks to those that helped me correctly ID this bird.
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Rubbing his head:

Springbrook Nature Center

I was able to leave work early yesterday and I made a run up to Springbrook Nature Center. I had a really good evening and was able to get shots of a number of birds, including 2 new birds for my photography life list (Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Brown Thrasher). I would also like to thank Ivars for his help in locating this Red-winged Blackbird on the nest. Thanks Ivars! I'll be posting more photos of my evening over the next couple of days.

Red-winged Blackbird on the Nest: