Category: birding

Northern Mockingbird

Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, National Wildlife Refuge, National Wildlife Refuges in California, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , 17 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Look at that eye!  Really not liking me and my camera clicking away.  They are characters Northern Mockingbirds.

They mimic other birds. There’s one in my neighborhood that mimics a car alarm.  Really!

They’re fiercely  territorial.  I’ve witnessed a Northern Mockingbird dive-bombing a cat trying to nap in the sun more times than I care to count. The cat just flinched and went back to its nap. REALLY? Why didn’t the cat strike out and eat that bird? Cats eat birds! The Northern Mockingbird must have more power than a cat!

Northern Mockingbird

When this one grew tired of my clicking it flew away. Leaving me nothing to photograph. Sigh.  It’s a cunning bird for sure!

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2017

More to come…

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Posted in Bird Photogaphy, birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , , , 29 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVE

It was a busy week-end with little to no time spent on the computer. Of course Photography figured high on my list of things to do this past week-end.

The Super Moon was number 1 on my list and I made plans months ago to shoot it with friends in Central Valley Calif.  We were a large group and while waiting for the group to assemble before heading to our chosen shooting location I was photographing little birds in a nearby bush.

A friend and I spied a little flighty bird hopping from one branch to the next all the while staying deep in the foliage.  I thought it might be a Warbler of some sort, but couldn’t be sure until I got a better look.  I watched and waited hoping it would come out just for one good look and image. A little patience paid off.  It showed itself in the open less than a minute! I managed to get only 3 frames of it hoping with fingers crossed that just one of those frames would be good.

Imagine my delight at finding I liked all three well enough to keep and share!

Then late last night I was trying to catch up with blogs and emails and read Donna’s post about her latest birding adventure and there in her images was a bird that looked just like the little bird I photographed that very afternoon!

I pulled out my Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America to compare my bird, and Donna’s bird with the Field Guide to see if I had a match and positive identification.  I believe so!  If true then this bird is a new ” Lifer” for me! An exciting spotting indeed! Thank you Donna!

Without further ado I present a Ruby-crowned Kinglet with the 3 images I made:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet

If you think this is different bird please let me know!

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film|

More to come…

Fall Colors in the Eastern Sierras

Posted in birding, Eastern Sierras, Fall Color, Landscape Photography, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , , 38 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Here are several images I made while in the Eastern Sierras looking for Fall Colors.

A spillover along a creek…

Spill Over

The back-light was gorgeous on this little tree, but the broken branch looked like an arm with fingers placing the tree in the light to me.

Backlit Leaves

a little cluster of color among the sage brush…Fall Colors

After sunrise I turned around and saw some Alpine Glow on the Sierras so hustled over to the this side to make a quick image. The reflections were nice too.

Alpine Glow on Eastern Sierras from Mono Lake

I was delighted to see a little flock of White Crowned Sparrows. They’re just beginning to show up in the Bay Area to winter where I live.

White Crowned Sparrows

a valley full of color!

Fall Colors

I couldn’t resist a little close up of the new pinecone with the golden Bokeh gleaming behind it.  Feels like Christmas in October. 🙂

Pinecone Virginia Lake Area

I walked back from Misty Fall about a quarter mile to get this shot.  I’m so glad I did. I love this sign!

South Fork Bishop Creek Canyon

 

Nikon Df| Nikkor 17-35mm & 180mm lenses| Delkin Digital Film| Tripod & Hand-held

More to come…

Clark’s Grebes

Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds of North America, California, Clark's Grebes, Clear Lake CA, Grebes, Nature Photography, Northern California, Northern California Birds, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , , , 26 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I spent the week-end with old friends Theresa, Dali, and Alex birding up in Clear Lake. We went to see Grebes, we hoped dancing on the water.

We booked a boat with the same tour group we used last year Eyes of the Wild with Faith as our Captain. You can read that post here.

We booked early and Faith kept us abreast of the Grebe situation on the lake on and off up until our booking day. Last week she sent me a text message saying that courting had really slowed down, but she had a surprise. Babies were early and she’d found several pair of Grebes with babies! Did we still want to come up?

Did we still want to come up? OF COURSE WE DID!  We’d go to see the chicks alone! We had hoped to get up there again last summer to see Grebe chicks, but there was a huge fire, the drought, add to that predators, well, it all added up to a low number of Grebes and not too many babies so, we didn’t go back up last year. We went this time!

Here’s my favorite image today of the babies and their parents.

Grebe Family

Dad had brought the fish, made a perfect transfer of it to Mom, and the chicks were out and exposed from their Mom’s wings peeping their heads off to get that fish!  The morning light was lovely, and I managed to keep the shot in focus and made before the boat moved up or down with a swell!

This was such an exciting, wonderful,  beautiful sight to see!

We also saw a few dances. We saw Osprey pairs with chicks, and a really pretty sunset among the most notable things we saw this past week-end.

I came home with 1700 images to cull. I’ve made my first pass and deleted about 400 already.  I’ll try to break up the posts so I don’t bore you to death with images of Grebes all the time. 🙂

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| SunDisk Digital Film|

More to come…

 

 

 

 

Gray Flycatcher

Posted in birding, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Flycatcher, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography, San Jose California Nature Photographer, Santa Clara County BirdingTagged , , , , , , , , , , , 22 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I went birding on both Saturday and Sunday this past week-end hoping to find two birds I’d never seen or photographed before. I got lucky with really good looks on the first bird on my list: The Gray Flycatcher.  A “lifer” for me!

Gray Flycatcher

There were other birders there looking for the same bird which made the experience more fun and exciting. It also helped to have several pairs of eyes, and ears on the lookout.

Gray flycatcher

It’s migrating south, and this one is further west than it’s regular migration route.

Gray Flycatcher

He was pretty far away from me, and in the shadows of the trees so I boosted my ISO to keep up my shutter speed to prevent blurring, and these images are cropped.

Sunday I went back to look for the second bird on my list, but I was not successful.  I’ll have another go this week-end if I hear it’s still in the area.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| Tripod|

Note to self- take the bug spray! I got eaten alive by mosquitoes!

More to come…

 

Twitterpated

Posted in Bird Photogaphy, birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Common Goldeneye, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography, San Mateo CountyTagged , , , , , , , , , 17 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I had a most delightful morning a couple of months back watching  some Common Golden-eye males doing the their mating dance/display.

Common Goldeneye Male-Mating Ritual Dance-Photography

Common Goldeneye male- Mating Ritual Dance Photography

Common Goldeneye Male-Mating Ritual Dance-Photography

Common Goldeneye Male-Mating Ritual Dance-Photography

She likes me!

Common Goldeneye Male-Mating Ritual Dance-Photography

I think I nailed that.

Common Goldeneye Male-Mating Ritual Dance-Photography

The word Twitterpated was first used in the movie Bambi. It means to be overcome with romantic feelings; smitten.

UPDATE: I looked up the scene in the original Disney movie and found the dialog about Spring Twitterpation.  I think it’s delightful! Hope you do too.

Bambi 1942

Flower: [about two birds fluttering around] Well! What’s the matter with them?
Thumper: Why are they acting that way?
Friend Owl: Why, don’t you know? They’re twitterpated.
Flower, Thumper, Bambi: Twitterpated?
Friend Owl: Yes. Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime. For example: you’re walking along, minding your own business. You’re looking neither to the left, nor to the right, when all of a sudden, you run smack into a pretty face. Woo-woo! You begin to get weak in the knees. Your head’s in a whirl. And then you feel light as a feather; and before you know it, you’re walking on air. And then you know what? You’re knocked for a loop, and you completely lose your head!
Thumper: Gosh. That’s awful.
Flower: Gee whiz.
Bambi: Terrible!
Friend Owl: And that ain’t all. It can happen to anybody. So you’d better be careful.
[points at Bambi]
Friend Owl: It could happen to you…
[points at Thumper]
Friend Owl: …and you, and…
[Flower looks at Owl shyly]
Friend Owl: Yes, it could even happen to you!
Thumper: Well, it’s not gonna happen to me.
Bambi: Me neither.
Flower: Me neither.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015

More to come…

 

 

I’ve got a song, I’ve got a song…

Posted in Bird Photogaphy, birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Jim Croce, Photography, SparrowsTagged , , , , , , 16 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

“I’ve got a song, I’ve got a song
And I carry it with me and I sing it loud
If it gets me nowhere, I go there proud”

~Jim Croce

Song Sparrow- Bird Photography

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015

More to come…