Birding – Page 13 – Circadianreflections Blog

Vermilion Flycather-Male

January 31, 2016January 31, 2016Posted in Bird Photography, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Life List Birds, Photography, Vermilion FlycatcherTagged Bird Photography, Birding, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Life List Birds, Rare bird sightings, Vermilion Flycatcher30 Comments

I met my friend Dali yesterday morning to do some local birding, but he said he’d read in a bird forum before leaving his house that there was a Vermilion Flycatcher in the area where we were last week-end birding in Sacramento Valley.

“Did I want to go look for that bird?” He asked.

“Oh yeah!” Was my reply. I had one errand to do in the opposite direction before I could leave for the 2.5 hour drive north.
I finished up my errand in record time. Thankfully there is very little traffic early Saturday mornings, then I met Dali again to head north to look for the Vermilion Flycatcher.

Vermilion Flycatcher-Male

We arrived at the spot that the bird had been seen hanging out and found a half dozen birders there observing the bird. We spent 30 minutes observing and photographing it before it flew off into a field and we lost sight of it.

Isn’t he beautiful! My Audubon Bird Field Guide says this bird’s “breeding range is Southeastern California east to western Texas and south to the tropics. Winters in southern part of breeding rage, but wanders as far east as Gulf Coast.”

It’s a resident of Southeast California, southwest Arizona, southern Texas, and Mexico. It Winters along the Gulf of Mexico’s coast.

Vermillion Flycatcher

We’re seeing this Vermilion Flycatcher in Sacramento Valley, California which is well to the north and west of its normal habitat! What a gift!!

This bird is a “lifer” for me! The definition of a “lifer” is, ” A bird species when it is first seen and positively identified by an individual birder. Generally birds must be observed in the wild, and in appropriate conditions to be added to one’s life list. Dead or captive birds are not usually counted as a “lifer”.

Vermilion Flycatcher-Male

“The bright colors of the male have earned it the Mexican name brasita de fuego, “little coal of fire.” ~ Audubon Bird Guide app for ios. I love that name don’t you?

I also saw a Bald Eagle, and a Juvenile Bald Eagle yesterday. It was a stellar day for birding!

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

More to come…

Hermit Thrush…I think!

January 29, 2016Posted in Backyard Birding, Bird Photography, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, PhotographyTagged Bird Photography, Birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Hermit Thrush, Nikkor 200-500mm VR, Nikon19 Comments

This little bird lives in my neighbors Oleander bush, and I rarely see it. I tried photographing it last year when it flew up to the fence, but the shots were through a window, and I really wanted an image without a window between us.

Hermit Thrush I think

A few days ago while #1 Grandson was in the backyard playing and I was sitting in the middle of the lawn hoping the Chick-a-Dee would stop making such a fuss about us being out there and fly down to the feeder so I could take its picture the Hermit Thrush flew up to the top of the fence to see what all the fuss was about.

What luck! I got two frames of it before it jumped down into the safety of the Oleander.

I thought it was Fox Sparrow, but now that I have decent image to compare with the birds in my bird books I now think this little bird is a Hermit Thrush.

If I’m wrong please let me know!

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

More to come…

Ring-necked Pheasants

January 27, 2016January 27, 2016Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds of North America, National Wildlife Refuges in California, Photography, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Sacramento Valley, CATagged Bird Photography, Birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, National Wildlife Refuges, Ring-necked Pheasant, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge29 Comments

I don’t see these birds too often, and seeing two together last Saturday was very exciting!

Ring-necked Pheasants

It was a challenging image to make. I was in the backseat, the birds were in front of us; we were on an auto-route only in a National Wildlife Refuge, we had to stop a good distance from them to keep them from dashing off too soon, the driver’s mirror was in the way, and the back windows only rolled down halfway or a tad less. Why are manufacturer’s doing that? GRRR!! There should be a way to roll them down completely!

I had removed my shoes earlier to be able to sit with my legs tucked under me to get more height to shoot down on birds that were near the shore edges, or grassy levies and it helped to get me over the challenges of shooting this pair from the car.

The sound of my shutter clicking spooked the pair and off they flew!

I can’t tell you how pleased I am to have one keeper image of the pair together!

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 200-500mm VR| Lexar Professional Digital Film| hand-held from a car| rental lens- san jose camera & video

Blue Heron

January 25, 2016January 25, 2016Posted in Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Blue Heron, California, National Wildlife Refuge, PhotographyTagged Bird Photography, Birding, Blue Heron, California National Wildlife Refuge, Nikon10 Comments

It was pretty windy Saturday morning in Sacramento Valley while on the refuge birding. I loved the way its breast feathers/hair looked all fanned out, and don’t you just love that log/perch he chose to stand on? I did! 🙂

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 200-500mm VR:hired lens| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015

More to come…

Anna’s Hummingbird-Female

January 24, 2016January 24, 2016Posted in Anna's Hummingbird, birding, Birds in Flight, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Nikon Lenses, Photography, Santa Clara County BirdingTagged Annas Hummingbird, Birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Camera Gear, Nikon AF-S 200-500mm VR, Nikon Lenses, Photography30 Comments

I hired the Nikon AF-S 200-500mm 1:5.6E ED VR lens to try out for the week-end since my old 300mm f4 AF-S ED lens is acting weird, and I’ve always wanted more reach.

I spent all day Saturday out birding using the lens, and several hours on Sunday before having to return it. I hated to part with it! I LIKE IT A LOT!

Anna's Hummingbird

I used it on my Nikon D300s and found the lens very quick to focus with very little hunting even in low contrast areas, and the images have lovely colors, and contrast. The VR was quite snappy and worked very well on the few images I shot hand-held. I won’t be doing that often.

The lens weighs 4.6 pounds so, I used this lens on a tripod with my Wimberley Arca Sidekick Ball to Gimbal Adapter, and let my rig carry the weight, or I shot from the car window using the door frame as my base on the auto-route parts of the refuges I visited.

This little Anna’s Hummingbird feeding on this succulent plant is an image I made this morning. The sky was overcast and gray, and she was in the shade.
Camera Settings: 1/320s| ISO 1000| Manual Priority| Matrix Metering| Single AF

A challenging situation that I think came out well. So, I guess you know I want this lens!

I shot just under 1000 images this week-end and have begun culling them. I’ll be sharing more images as I go through them.

More to come…

Top 10 2015 Images

January 3, 2016January 3, 2016Posted in Astro Photography, Birds, Candid Portraits, Landscapes, Photography, Still Life Photography, Top 10Tagged Astrophotography, Birding, Birds, Candid Portraits, Landscapes, Milky Way, Personal Favorites, Still life Photography, Top 10 201520 Comments

Last week I shared with you the Top 10 Images that received the most views over on my flickr site today I’m going to share with you My Personal favorite images from 2015. Most of these I posted on the blog, so you’ll probably recognize them or feel a sense of Deja-vu. 🙂

I selected these images based on emotions, technical merit, or because I met a personal goal. I got my picks down to 36 then spent a couple of days whittling those down to just 10. It’s so hard! I have an emotional attachment to all of them. 🙂

Without further ado…My Personal Top 10 Images of 2015:

1)Running in Rain Puddles. He’s just awesome, and brings me so much joy. I love being a Grandma!!

Running in Puddles

2) Milky Way over Mt Shasta- This was an Epic night spent with Dear Friends. I hope we are able to get together to shoot here again this year. Milky Way over Mount Shasta CA, USA

3) Total Lunar Eclipse over the Palace of Fine Arts San Francisco- This was another epic night. There was weeks of planning, chasing the Moon across town from one location to this one, working the camera to get the shots all the while hoping it would all come together in post production. It’s pretty great when it does. Totality-Lunar Eclipse over The Palace of Fine Arts San Francisc

4) Cooper’s Hawk- I think. There are a few images in this selection that I haven’t shared before. More times than I care to admit I find I lack the confidence that a certain image I love will be well received, or what happens to me quite a lot is that I’m not crazy about the images when I first upload them after a shoot so, I let them marinate awhile. When I return to them months or years later I find I like them a whole lot more.

This Hawk in the reeds in Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge is an image I really like, but thought it might be too pedestrian to post back in January 2015 when I photographed it. I love its face, the clarity of the eye, the natural environment, and the fact that I was able to make the image before it flew away.

Cooper's Hawk

5) Northern Flicker-Male – Another image never shown before today. This bird has been a nemesis of mine for years! They too are flighty.

I’d read reports of him being spotted in a neighborhood not from me in Jan/Feb. 2015, so one day a friend and I went looking for him. We found him deep in the shadows of this tree. Once I got it uploaded and did some post production work to open up the shadows I was happy with the image, and feel like I can say it’s not my nemesis anymore. They’re such beautiful birds.

Northern Flicker

6) Salsify macro- This was an image I photographed for my Project 52/2015 using my LensBaby Composer Pro wit the macro adapters. I love my LensBaby System and that creamy background. Salsify

7) Still-life “Why fit in when you were born to stand out.” Dr. Seuss

This one makes the cut because I got the lighting, and composition that I wanted to make right.

P52 29 of 52 "Why fit in when you were born to stand out?" ~Dr.

8) Orange Crowned Warbler. I haven’t seen this little bird too often and photographing them is so hard; they’re small, and are so fidgety you have to be quick. This particular morning I set up my rig by a seep that was drawing in birds from the area for a drink. Patience when birding is essential. It paid off this morning. I waited 30 minutes or so for this bird to come to the seep. This is the best image I’ve made of this species.

Orange Crowned Warbler

9) Great Egret- Another bird image I’ve never before shared. I love the colors, and how clear its eye is.

Great Egret

10)Sunrise cresting San Francisco Skyline from Kirby Cove. It was worth the mile hike back up for this image. Being there was awesome.

Sunrise over San Francisco CA

These are my favorites from 2015. Thank you for being so supportive, and letting me share my images with you. I look forward to seeing your images, reading your poems, thoughts, and seeing the places you travel from my arm-chair this year.

Happy and Healthy 2016 Everyone!

More to come…

Monochrome Madness 2 34/52 Birds

November 25, 2015November 25, 2015Posted in birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Black and White Photography, Monochrome Madness2, Nature, Nature Photography, Pacific Flyway, PhotographyTagged Birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Black and White Photography, Black-necked Stilts, Long-billed Dowagers, Monochrome Madness 2, Monochrome Madness2, Nature15 Comments

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…

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