Birds in the Wild – Page 15 – Circadianreflections Blog

The Surprise Visitors

January 22, 2015January 22, 2015Posted in American Robin, Bird Photography, Birds in the Wild, Birds of Northern America, Cedar Waxwing, Northern California Birds, Purple Finch, Santa Clara County birdsTagged American Robin, Bird Photography, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Cedar Waxwing, Nature Photography, Northern California Birding, Purple Finch, Santa Clara County Birding11 Comments

This morning when I went out front I noticed a large flock of American Robins in the Ginko trees across the street, and there was a group of another bird I didn’t quite recognize, but knew it was something I’d want to photograph so, ran back in the house and grabbed my camera; hoping I had enough battery charge left to get an image or two!

I got a few shots then looked at them quickly in review mode, and saw that the birds were Cedar Waxwings! I’ve never seen them here before! Can you imagine my excitement? I was standing across the street from the tree which meant the images would need to be cropped in quite a bit so, I slowly advanced closer to the tree firing my shutter the whole time. I got too close, and all the birds scattered like leaves in a gust of wind. My only thought…COME B A C K!!!

Did I tell you that He-Man ruptured his Patella Tendon Nov. 10th? Ruptured…the whole quadricep muscle came off his knee cap! He had surgery on Nov. 12th and has been healing and in rehab since. His Surgeon told him he’d be “out” for the whole season and then some. He’s a cyclist, and a very active guy. This was the worst possible diagnosis. Yesterday he got the “okay” to start driving again. So, this afternoon he drove me in Pearl ( the Subaru Forester) to the post office which is 2 miles from our house.
It was like riding a bike. He was fabulous…moving from the brake to the gas pedal was no problem at all. When we got home he immediately got in Va-Va my 5 Speed Toyota Corolla Sport to take her for a spin, but I had spotted the Waxwings in the trees across the street again, and the light was nice. I begged for 5 minutes! As I was shooting he backed out, rolled down the window and said, “I’ll be fine. I’m just going around the block a few times.” I said, ” WAIT I’ll come with!” He said, ” No need. I’ll be fine. Get the shots.” He was back before I finished shooting. 🙂

5 Cedar Waxwings…

Mrs. American Robin with Mr. American Robin close by,

Cedar Waxwings

Purple Finch

Cedar Waxwing

Fabulous birds in front of my house, and the only thing He-Man needs me to do now that he can’t do for himself is put on his socks, and tie his shoes. Life is good!

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 w?AF-S Nikkor 14eII TC| Hand-held| Lexar Professional Digital Film| Developed in CS6

More to come…

A Good Day Birding PtII

January 11, 2015January 11, 2015Posted in American Robin, Bird Photography, birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of Northern America, Brown Pelican, Great Egret, Mockingbirds, Sea Gull, Shorebirds, Snowy Egret, Thrush FamilyTagged American Robin, Bird Photography, Birding, Birds of North America, Brown Pelican, Great Egret, Mockingbird, Northern Mockingbird, Sea Gulls, Shorebirds, Snowy Egret, Thrush Family of Birds7 Comments

There were quite a few opportunities to capture birds in flight while I was out birding this week.
A couple of times there were feeding frenzies right in front of me which allowed me to capture a few neat “flight shots” and a whole lot of near misses.

Here’s the American Robin just as it took flight.

Snowy Egret

Brown Pelican hunting for fish

Sea Gull

Great Egret

Northern Mockingbird just after take off

Brown Pelican diving- two images; I wish I had timed it so I got the tip of his bill going in the water. Sigh. Timing is everything!

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f4 + AF-S Nikkor 14eII TC =420mm| Hand-held| Lexar Professional Digital Film

More to come…

A Good Day Birding

January 8, 2015Posted in Bird Photogaphy, Birds in the Wild, Birds of Northern America, Pacific Flyway, ShorebirdsTagged American Robin, Bird Photography, Birding, Birds in the Wild, Black-necked Stilt, Eared Grebe, Greater Scaup, Horned Grebe, North America Shorebirds, Pacific-Flyway, Pied-billed Grebe, Winter Migration8 Comments

I was able to get out to do a little birding this week, and it started out on a great note. When I stepped out my front door

this American Robin was in the uppermost branches of the Ginko Tree in my front yard. I took that as a good omen!

Once at the pond I had a good walk-about, and found a couple types of Grebes, and many other wintering birds along with the regulars. Here are several I observed. I have many more I’ll be sharing in the coming days.

Pied-billed Grebe Adult Winter

Eared Grebe Winter

Hooded Grebe Adult Winter? I’m not positive what type of Grebe this is. Can anyone ID it for me?

Black-necked Stilt

Greater Scaup

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f4| Tripod & Hand-held| Lexar Professional Digital Film

More to come…

The Poser

January 4, 2015Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds in the Wild, Goldfinch Male, Santa Clara CountyTagged Bird Photography, Birding, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Goldfinch, Santa Clara County5 Comments

Last Friday, while sweeping the patio, and doing some general tidying up in the backyard I switched the seeds in the bird feeder because the mix I had in it wasn’t attracting any birds. I refilled the feeder with black sunflower seeds, and yesterday quite a few House Finches returned, and there was one Goldfinch Male that landed on the perch, but was quickly chased away by the male House Finches. I grabbed my camera hoping he’d make another appearance, but sadly he did not. That visit prompted me to revisit some images I took in early May 2014 of several Goldfinches.

This one pictured above looked at me then puffed himself all up, and gave me the best pose of the morning. I think he’s as handsome as he does. 🙂

I sure hope that Goldfinch comes back and brings some friends with him.

Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f4| AF-S Nikkor 14eII TC| Tripod

More to come…

A day in the Wild

November 10, 2014Posted in birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of Northern America, Coyote, Merced National Wildlife Refuge, Nature, Photography, San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, WildlifeTagged Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Coyote, Greater Yellowlegs, Merced National Wildlife Refuge, San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, White-crowned Sparrow, White-faced Ibis, Wildlife10 Comments

I spent Saturday at two Wildlife Refuges: Merced National Wildlife Refuge, and San Luis National Wildlife Refuge.

It’s takes just about 2 hours to get there from my house even with a stop for coffee along the way. It’s a fairly easy drive, and the only worrisome part of the drive is crossing Pacheco Pass, and only in the two lane windy section. Fortunately traffic was light going, and not much worse on the way home.

I was hoping to see Sandhill Cranes which my friend Judi shared were starting to return for the Winter.

With the drought being pretty severe here the Refuges have had their water allotments cut way back so, there’s not much water there. I suspect that will influence the number of birds that winter there, and the numbers will be a lot fewer than in past years.

At Merced National Wildlife Refuge there are a couple of observation decks, and a large auto-route with quite a few pull-outs. I arrived not long after the gate opened, and only saw one other car ahead of me. For two hours we were the only people in the refuge. It was really nice not having cars pass me and frighten the birds.

Here are the only Sandhill Cranes I saw. They were in the last field, and as always very skittish. They started moving deeper into the field when I stopped. While I was imaging the group I had the good luck to see two more fly in.

There was a flock of White-faced Ibis here, and they were so hungry they didn’t worry about me at all. There were a few quite close to the road. This one just yawned when I crept up. I love the colors in their feathers.

The White Crowned Sparrows are returning everywhere, even here.

It was foggy when I left home, and there was haze around the countryside, and Refuge. I had hoped to meet my friend Judi here, but the air quality was really bad. There had been a report the night before that the air quality would be bad and people should not go out. I got Judi’s message about that too late; after I arrived at the Refuge. She’s on bottled air and didn’t dare leave the house. You can see the haze in several of the images, but especially in this image of a Great Egret I saw. He didn’t bat an eyelash at my presence! Their stillness and concentration are amazing. I liked the back lighting, and the haze gave the image a soft, dreamy look.

The Coots are back, as are the Shovelers, Mallards, and some Greater Yellowlegs. While photographing the Greater Yellowlegs I put down my camera to take in the pond. You can see how much the water has already receded/evaporated.

…a Greater Yellowlegs

I have a lot of images to go through and can’t share them all in this post. I haven’t even got to the second refuge images yet.

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4| AF-S Nikkor 14eII Teleconverter| braced with this beanbag.

More to come…

Snowy Plover

October 28, 2014Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds in the Wild, Coastal Birds, Nature Photography, ShorebirdsTagged Bird Photography, Birding, Brids in the Wild, Sanderlings, Shorebirds, Snowy Plover7 Comments

This image I took a month ago while birding in Carmel, CA. They’re so little and cute!

Here’s one more. A Snowy Plover watching two Sanderlings foraging in the sand, and I’m sure it has an eye on me too.

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 w/ AF-S Nikkor 14eII Teleconverter= 420mm

More to come…

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”~ Henry David Thoreau

October 5, 2014October 5, 2014Posted in birding, Birds in the Wild, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Golden Gate Park, LensBaby Composer Pro II, San Francisco, WarblersTagged Birding, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Cactus, Flowers, LensBaby Composer Pro II, San Francisco Golden Gate Park10 Comments

I thought of this quote of Thoreau’s while out birding yesterday. “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

A friend and I had gone up to San Francisco Golden Gate Park hoping to see a Porthonotary Warbler. We knew it was being seen in the mornings, and late afternoons, but we both had obligations in the morning and couldn’t get up there, so we left late hoping for an afternoon sighting.

While we were in the area where the Porthonotary Warbler was sighted I spied some movement in the foliage of a huge Cypress tree. I thought it might be a Nuthatch, but it turned out to be a Black-throated Gray Warbler! A first sighting for me!

It was in the foliage so I kicked up the ISO. I used my Nik Plug-in Dfine to help some with the noise. I wish there was a highlight in its eye. This is the best of the images I took of it. It’s such a busy, flittly little bird that most of my images were soft or blurry. One day I hope I get another crack at one.

While hanging around the area where the Porthonotary Warbler was most likely to show up I was noticing the flowers,

and plants around me so I switched my 300mm f4 Nikkor lens for the LensBaby Composer Pro II with the Soft Focus Optic and made quite a few images. Most of which I don’t have names for. Here are several images,