Category: birding

American Kestrel-Male

Posted in birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of Prey, Falcons, National Wildlife Refuges in California, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , , , , , 25 Comments

Copyright © 2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The American Kestrel is the littlest Falcon in North America and the most colorful.  They’re quite fierce for the size. They often perch on wires, or poles to watch and wait for unsuspecting prey. ” Hunting for insects and other small prey in open territory, kestrels perch on wires or poles, or hover facing into the wind, flapping and adjusting their long tails to stay in place.”~AllAboutBirds.com

Gordon and I stopped at San Luis National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday morning before joining a Meet-Up group we’re in at another National Wildlife Refuge and while on the auto route where the Tulle Elk are we spotted this Kestrel on a post.  It was just after a heavy rain storm so there was Tulle Fog all over the valley hence the white sky.  I love the rain drops or dew drops on his breast feathers.

American Kestrel Male

 

 

We didn’t see any Tulle Elk in the paddock. Not one! They must have been deep in the trees until it warmed up.  Thankfully for us this Kestrel was out and about looking for breakfast!

Nikon D700|Nikkor 200-500mm @ 460mm| Lexar Digital Film| PS CC 2017

More to come…

Wordless Wednesday 2/52: Psst!

Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds of North America, Ducks, Nikon, Photography, Project 52, Wordless WednesdayTagged , , , , , , , , 32 Comments

Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Northern Pintail- Male and Female

Northern Pintail-pair

Nikon D300s| 80-200mm @200mm + Tamron 1.4x TC| SanDisk Digital Film| Image made in 2011| PS CC 2017

More to come…

2016 Top Ten Most”Viewed” Images on Flickr

Posted in Best of the Year, birding, Landscapes, Photography, Portraits, WildlifeTagged , , , , , , , , , , 39 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

As we approach the end of 2016  I’m looking back on the year’s images; seeing which were the most liked by others, which images I love, which techniques failed,  or succeeded, and falling in love all over again with the places I’ve visited, and the people I met during the last year.

I made thousands of images in 2016 whittling them down to just 10 isn’t easy when I love so many, and divorcing myself from the emotional aspects of making the images and being purely objective is hard!

While going through my images I also took a look at my 2016 Top Ten most viewed images over at my Flickr site. Since those are easier to get to I thought I’d share those images with you again this year.  Most of these you’ve seen before if you’ve been following my blog this year. Voici!

1) Sunset Martin's Beach Half Moon Bay

2)Horsetail Fall 2016

3)Dawn in Manhattan

 

4)

5)Radio City Music Hall

6)Allen's Hummingbird Male

7)Swanson Creek Cascade

8)eyelashes-to-die-for_dmz1066

9)Anna's Hummingbird Female perched on a branch

10)Vermillion Flycatcher

Voila! The Top 10 2016 Most Viewed Images on my Flickr site.

I’ve whittled  down my favorites of the year down to 35. Getting that number down to 10-15 is my next task and I’ll share those images soon!

I hope those that celebrate Christmas had a lovely Holiday, and those celebrating Hanukkah are having a great one so far, and I hope we all have a fantastic week!

More to come…

Belted Kingfisher-Female

Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds in the Wild, Nikon, Pacific Flyway, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , 56 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

After several years of trying to get a decent image of a Belted Kingfisher I finally got one yesterday while out birding with Gordon and other friends in the Pacific Flyway.   I was birding in the refuge rich area north of Sacramento, CA.  They asked me to show them around the place and I was eager and happy to do it.

I’m sure Gordon will share many of his images too.

Belted Kingfisher

It was an amazing day of birding. We saw so many great birds. Most notable were the Belted Kingfisher, a Bald Eagle, American Bittern, Ring-necked Pheasants, Hawks, Falcon, Ibis, thousands of Snow Geese, some White Fronted Geese, northern pintails, shovelers, Egrets, Blue Herons, Night Herons, Sparrows, Wrens, Goldfinches, Hummingbirds, Warblers, maybe a Thrush of some sort. Need to work on getting an ID on it.

There were quite a few more types of birds seen. We even saw some other wildlife; skunk, deer, and hares, but for me getting this image means no more agonizing over all the butt shots, missed shots, blurry in flight shots, and how very skittish they are! 🙂 I finally got the shot!! 🙂

This one was quite content to sit on this branch looking at the pond below her while keeping an eye on us too. It was a gift!

Can you see me doing my “happy dance”? Yeah, I’m still dancing. 🙂 We had a GREAT day of birding.

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

More to come.

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…