Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION!
Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 100-400mm| Photoshop CC 23.5
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Wordless Wednesday- Your Voice is my Favorite Song
Category: Bird Photography
Friday’s Feathered Friends-Northern Cardinal Male
Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION!
Hello! I’m back from taking a short blogging break. I have a few exciting things to share but, I haven’t been able to turn my mind to writing about them or processing my images yet. When I got home from my latest trip I came home to find #1 Grandson here for a summer visit!! He’s staying until next week then we’ll take him home. His school resumes in late August! It seems like summer is going by too fast. Already it’s dark here by 8:30 P.M.!
I’m so far behind processing and sharing images I fear I’ll never catch up, but let’s go back to my trip to Illinois which was in July this year. The day after my son’s wedding I went birding and He-Man came along for the walk, while we were at The Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center I ran into a birder and we got to chatting about birds we’d each seen so far that morning, and I asked him if he’d seen any Northern Cardinals in the area and he said he had just up the trail!! We were off on the hunt. It wasn’t long too long after that I saw a red streak fly by in the trees ahead. I raced forward, He-Man raced forward as now he too was excited and on the hunt!! I saw it dive into the bushes but, couldn’t see it then suddenly it flew up to a dead tree snag and perched!!!
I’ve been dreaming of seeing this bird for what seems my whole life…more so since I started birding more seriously in 2010. Can you see me doing my happy dance? 💃💃 I still am so excited to have finally see this beautiful bird! One day I hope to see the Female so that’s still on my list.
I saw one other “Lifer” here at this Nature Center that I’ll be sharing soon, and I’ll be telling you all about my trip to Wyoming where I met up with Janet from This, That, and the Other Thing!!
I hope this finds you all well, you have a wonderful week-end!
Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 100-400mm @ 400mm| PS CC 23.4.2
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Friday’s Feathered Friends-Western Kingbird
Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
While out for good long walk along the river recently I spied a Spring/ Summer visitor perched on a fence. The Western Kingbird. They’re one of the birds with lovely yellow in their coloring that visit here.
I think they’re so cheery with their bright yellow feathers, and gray heads.
They are in the Flycatcher family that hunts flying insects from its perch on a fence, trees, or utility wires.
They’re also famous for chasing and scolding intruders like Red-tailed Hawks, and American Kestrels.
Fun Facts gleaned from allaboutbirds.org
- The Western Kingbird’s breeding range has been spreading for the last century as an unplanned result of human activities. By planting trees and installing utility poles in open areas, people have provided hunting perches and nest sites, and by clearing forests they have created open habitats suitable for foraging.
- Though known as birds of the West, Western Kingbirds tend to wander during fall migration. They show up along the East Coast, between Florida and Newfoundland, every autumn—but only rarely during the spring. In 1915 Western Kingbirds began spending winters in Florida, where they are now regular winter residents.
- Western Kingbirds aggressively fend off predators and other kingbirds from their territories. The males warn off intruders with harsh buzzes or whirring wings. Both males and females snap their bills and raise their red crowns (normally hidden under gray feathers on their heads) when provoked. As the breeding season wears on, each pair defends a smaller and smaller territory. By mid-incubation time the territory includes the nest tree and little else.
- The Western Kingbird was originally known as the Arkansas Kingbird, but scientists changed its name to acknowledge its wide range across western North America.
- The oldest Western Kingbird on record was a male, and at least 6 years, 11 months old, when he was found in South Dakota. ~allaboutbirds.org
We’ve been having big, strong winds lately so my sinus’ are a bit of a mess, but we’re looking at nice sunny days for the week-end here and hopefully the wind mellows out too.
I’ve been thinking about photographing the upcoming Lunar Eclipse. I won’t be able to see the entire thing from start to finish, but I’ll be able to see Totality. I’ll probably just photograph it from my yard. What about you, are you planning to watch it or photograph it?
I hope you all have a lovely week-end, and to all the Mom’s and Grandmother’s, I wish you a very Happy Mother’s Day! 🌼💗
Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 100-400mm| PS CC 23.2.2
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Friday’s Feathered Friends- A walk by the slough
Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Last week I met up with some local Audubon club members for a bird walk. Here’s some of the exciting birds we saw.
This first bird was a neat sighting. It’s a Graylag x Swan hybrid we discovered. The ebird monitor for Washoe county wrote me after seeing my images of the goose this. “Your documentation shows this is a “Domestic goose with a mix of Graylag and Swan Goose (aka Chinese Goose) ancestry. The dark stripe from the top of the head down the back of the neck, and the bulging forehead are Swan Goose traits, while the orange bill and a few other features are Graylag traits. ” P.H. Isn’t that interesting! It’s a handsome goose and several people we ran into while admiring and photographing it told us they named him. One family called him Barney, and another one calls him Harry. He’s quite the celebrity there.
Another exciting sighting was a large group of White-fronted Geese. We don’t see those a lot here so, we watched and photographed them for awhile too.
Saving the best for last, and it was the last bird we saw on our way back to the parking before we finished up was the Immature Audubon’s Yellow-rump Warbler. This was a lifer for me! Isn’t it cute!
I’ll be birding with friends this week-end and hoping to see lots of birds. I hope you all have a great week-end!
Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 100-400mm @400mm| PS CC 23.2.0
more to come…
Whatever Weds. Red-tailed Hawk Immature
Copyright ©2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Red-tailed Hawks are the most common hawk in North America and certainly the one I see most often. While birding with the birding group a few weeks ago another lady and I veered away from the group a few minutes to check out another path and saw this Red-tail perched with its back to us. It stayed for a good bit then turned and flew right over our heads. That’s when I got this shot. It’s probably a 1st year since it doesn’t have its red tail feathers yet.
Fun Facts- gleaned from allaboutbirds.org
- The Red-tailed Hawk has a thrilling, raspy scream that sounds exactly like a raptor should sound. At least, that’s what Hollywood directors seem to think. Whenever a hawk or eagle appears onscreen, no matter what species, the shrill cry on the soundtrack is almost always a Red-tailed Hawk.
- Birds are amazingly adapted for life in the air. The Red-tailed Hawk is one of the largest birds you’ll see in North America, yet even the biggest females weigh in at only about 3 pounds. A similar-sized small dog might weigh 10 times that.
- The “Harlan’s Hawk” breeds in Alaska and northwestern Canada, and winters on the southern Great Plains. This very dark form of the Red-tailed Hawk has a marbled white, brown, and gray tail instead of a red one. It’s so distinctive that it was once considered a separate species, until ornithologists discovered many individuals that were intermediate between Harlan’s and more typical Red-tailed Hawks.
- Courting Red-tailed Hawks put on a display in which they soar in wide circles at a great height. The male dives steeply, then shoots up again at an angle nearly as steep. After several of these swoops he approaches the female from above, extends his legs, and touches her briefly. Sometimes, the pair grab onto one other, clasp talons, and plummet in spirals toward the ground before pulling away.
- Red-tailed Hawks have been seen hunting as a pair, guarding opposite sides of the same tree to catch tree squirrels.
- The oldest known wild Red-tailed Hawk was at least 30 years, 8 months old when it was found in Michigan in 2011, the same state where it had been banded in 1981.
The Scrub Jays here mimic the Red-tail Hawk’s call and has been fooling me a lot lately! I’ve been listening to calls so I’m not so easily fooled next time. Ha!!😂
After the group broke up I headed east in search of another bird, but had no joy finding it but, the river was pretty. I saw a few mallards, and Yellow-rumped Warblers and people so headed home for lunch.
The image of the Red-tail looks so bad here on WordPress! I’m beyond frustrated with this happening all the time. I haven’t changed the way I process and resize my images in a decade so it must be WordPress! I need a tutorial! Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
My images look fine and the way I want them to on flickr. Here’s the link to the same image of the Red-tail. https://www.flickr.com/photos/dmzajac2004/51529739409/in/dateposted/
See what I mean? I’m really not happy with WordPress at the moment! Any ideas for a not savvy computer person to fix it?
Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 100-400mm| PS CC 22.5| iPhone 7Plus
more to come…
Friday’s Feathered Friends- Lifers 3, 4, & 5 for 2021
Copyright ©2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
At the end of May He-Man and I went for a hike on a new to us trail called Deadman’s Creek Trail. It’s a nice short trail just a wee bit over a mile up and 280 foot elevation gain with a wonderful payoff at the end. There’s a lovely gazebo at the top of the hill, and the view is gorgeous.
To top this off being a nice hike it was an even better hike because I saw three new to me birds on this trail!!
Number 3 new bird for the year was the Rock Wren. It posed for me nicely. Later it sang for us too.
On the way down I saw the next two. First was the Female Lazuli Bunting. It’s not a great image as she was out of range of my lens, but it was a good enough look to get her identified. I’ve seen the male before but, not the female so I was excited to have now seen both the male and female of the species.
The last new to me bird was the Black-throated Sparrow. I’ve been back to try to get a better image of it twice, but I haven’t seen it again.
All I know of how the trail got its name is back in the 1860’s a man bought a ranch near here and grew produce to sell to the miners in the valley. In 1864 he sold half his ranch to another man who became his business partner, but in 1865 the two ranchers were found shot dead. It was first thought they were murdered, but later they changed the thinking to a murder suicide situation. It’s a story true to the Wild West tales that’s for sure.
On a happier note there were wildflowers in bloom along the trail too. I put together a Contact Sheet with several thumbnail images of the highlights of the hike to share.
We’ve had #1 Grandson with us for 11 days and Big Baby Boy flew up for a short visit too. We’ve been going to the lake to beat the heat and paddle on my SUP board. If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen some of my images and videos of that so I won’t repeat that here.
Big Baby Boy left Tuesday, and Baby Girl, The Handsome Surveyor, and Littlest are arriving this evening for a short overnight stay and take #1 Grandson home tomorrow. The visits went by too fast!! That catches you up on my doings. What’s new with you?
I hope you’re all having a lovely week, and you have a great week-end!
Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm| iPhone 7Plus| Photoshop CC 22.4.2
more to come…
Friday’s Feathered Friends-Warbling Vireo
Copyright ©2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Continuing on with the newest “lifers” that I’ve picked up this year I present Lifer N° 2 for 2021…the Warbling Vireo.
I confess I would have missed this bird had I not been out with a local birding group. The leader for that day’s outing recognized its song, and I started peering into the foliage and spotted something flitting around. Hoping for it come out in the open for peek I waited, and waited. Finally a brief look!!
Then just as quickly it flew to another bush behind a branch and began singing its morning song.
These are the only decent images I was able to get of it, but I’m happy to have them!
They have a large range in the United States, but breed here in the Summer months.
Since this little one is singing in the last image I thought I’d try to add a sound file so you can hear one of its songs. Nuts! The link didn’t embed the sound file.
Clicking the link will open a new window with the recording of the Western Warbling Vireo
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/110999
Fun Facts: Gleaned from allaboutbirds.org
- Warbling Vireos have a good name—the males sing a fast, up-and-down, rollicking song that suits the word “warbling.” The early twentieth century ornithologist William Dawson described the song this way: “fresh as apples and as sweet as apple blossoms comes that dear, homely song from the willows.” The highly variable song usually ends on a high note, leading the birder Pete Dunne to describe it as sounding “like a happy drunk making a conversational point at a party.”
- Across their wide range, Warbling Vireos differ from one population to another in several characteristics, including overall size, bill shape, plumage coloring, molt patterns, wintering areas, and vocalizations. The differences are significant enough to lead ornithologists to recognize six separate subspecies of Warbling Vireo, and at one time divided them into two species.
- Brown-headed Cowbirds frequently deposit their own eggs in the nests of Warbling Vireos. In some instances, the vireo pair incubates the alien egg and raises the young cowbird until it fledges. Female vireos in some eastern populations, however, tend to puncture and eject interlopers’ eggs.
- Researchers speculate that Warbling Vireo song is at least partially learned rather than hard-wired. They base this supposition in part on observations of one individual whose song more closely resembled that of a Red-eyed Vireo than that of its parents. The garbled song, they concluded, probably resulted from a flawed learning process during the bird’s development.
- The longest-lived Warbling Vireo on record—a male that was originally banded in July 1966—was at least 13 years, 1 month old when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in California.
I hope you enjoyed seeing these Warbling Vireo images today, and I hope your Friday is going well, and you have a lovely week-end and I wish an early Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s in the US!
Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm| PS CC 22.4.2
more to come…
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