Harbinger of Spring

Copyright © 2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

This has been a fantastic birding season so far!  The Vermilion Flycatcher,  the Red-tailed Hawk with its prey, the elusive Loggerhead Shrike, the Bald Head Eagle I didn’t get a photo of, the pair of Ring necked Pheasants, and the sweet Hermit Thrush on my fence all were amazing, and exciting sightings, but in Winter is there anything better than a Harbinger of Spring?

I heard Cedar Waxwings were showing up, a sure sign that Spring is on the way!  I’ve had Robins in the Ginko tree out in the front yard, and in back yard lately so, I’ve been looking for the Waxwings because, they usually arrive with the Robins, and last year there was a flock of Waxwings in the Ginko trees a few houses away from me. That was a first for me.  You can read about that here

Last week-end my birding friend and I stayed local and found some!

Cedar Waxwings

Soon they were taking turns flying down to the bush with  luscious, ripe red berries   beneath this tree.

Cdear Waxwing Feast

… and one was shy,

Cedar Waxwing

I spent some time photographing the Robins that also were there to feed on the same berries, but I’ll save those images for another post.

I’m off to Yosemite National Park today to photograph something other than birds, and my son and his girl-friend are arriving early Saturday morning for the week-end. It promises to be a stellar week-end!

I’ll catch up with all your posts when I return.  I hope you all have a wonderful week-end!

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

More to come…

 

 

Early Spring!

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I had a walk-around the neighborhood Sunday morning and found Spring everywhere.

The flowering trees are in bud, and beginning to blossom while others are in full bloom!

A Prayer in Spring by Robert Frost-

“Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.”~Robert Frost (from A Boy’s Will, 1915)

Flowering Tree in Full Bloom

The huge white flowering tree was a hive of activity in the canopy. The buzz of bees

was dizzying, and the warmth of the sun on my face when I looked up felt wonderful, healing, and nourishing.

The branches were heavy with blossoms,

Flowering Tree in full bloom

papery white, with lovely “look at me!” centers.

Blossoms on a Flowering Tree

Plus one more…

Nearly home I found a huge Sweat Pea vine spilling over a fence with dozens of busy bees.

Honey Bee and the Sweet Pea

Nikon Df| Nikkor 28-105mm| Hoodman Digital Film| PS CC 2015

More to come…

 

Monochrome Madness 2 34/52 Birds

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

This week’s Monochrome Madness 2 I selected an image from a recent day I spent birding in the Pacific Flyway.  The Pacific Flyway is a section of CA. that is part of the Winter migration path used by birds fleeing the cold months in the Winter.

These are Black-necked Stilts, and Long billed Dowagers foraging for food.

MM2  34 of 52 Black Necked Stilts and Long Billed Dowagers

I was trying out the Tamron 150-600mm super telephoto lens this week-end for the extra reach which was nice to have, but I won’t be saying much about the lens because I wasn’t able to use it as much as I had hoped. We had rain come in which kept me indoors the following day instead of out photographing birds.  I won’t complain too much since we need all the rain we can get. 🙂

I’m really behind reading blog posts, but am catching up ever so slowly.

Too see all this week’s posts in Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 2 click here

Nikon D700| Tamron 150-600mm| Hoodman Digital Film| CS6 & Silver Efex Pro

More to come…

Dawn-Vasona Lake Los Gatos, CA

Copyright © 2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

When I woke up this morning at O’Dark Thirty (4:30am) I peeked outside to check out the sky. The clouds that moved in two days ago had some breaks and pockets with a few stars poking through here and there so, I thought it might be worth getting dressed and going out for the sunrise.

It’s been sometime since I have shot a sunrise by the water so I headed to one of my “go to” spots; Vasona Lake which isn’t too far from me. While walking over to my shooting location on the lake I could hear that the geese were already up making a fuss about something, and soon they had the mallards, and coots up, and it wasn’t too long afterwords that I spied the first morning runners and walkers out for their morning’s exercise. Then the sun started making its way up and over the mountains bringing with it some wonderful yellow and pink hues.

Dawn Vasona Lake Park Los Gatos CA

All and all a wonderful sunrise!

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 24mm f/2.8@ f/14| Tripod

More to come…

Snowy Plover

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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

Snowy Plover

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.

Two Sanderlings and a Snowy Plover

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

More to come…