Tag: Birds in the Wild

Life in the Garden-Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Posted in Backyard Birding, birding, Birds, Life in the GardenTagged , , , , , , 2 Comments

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Shortly after the mornings began getting chillier here in No. California a pair of Chestnut-backed Chickadees showed up at my feeder. They make sorties for about 30 minutes or so in the mornings then I don’t see them again until the following morning. Since their arrival I’ve been trying to get a good image of them from my window, but I’ve not liked anything I’ve taken as they were too soft, or blurry, too noisey, or something so, I ended up deleting them all. I was quite frustrated I can tell you!

Thursday afternoon I was in the backyard with #1 Grandson who was busy getting into everything he shouldn’t…not being content with his climbing fort, toys, or sandbox as some toddlers are wont to be when a Chestnut-backed Chickadee perched itself on a tippy top branch of my Camellia bush!
Fortunately, I took my camera out with me just in case the Hummingbirds were brave enough to continue feeding with us in the yard. This is the best image of the Chestnut-backed Chickadee I’ve been able to make to date! I hope I’m ready the next time it makes an appearance.

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4| Nikkor 14eII Teleconverter| Lexar Professional Digital Film

UPDATE on the RUFF- A post by a birder on the birding forum reported seeing the Ruff in its favorite corner of the salt pond today. It had been flushed by the Harrier a couple of times. The Ruff is wounded on the wing, but it can fly without any apparent problems, and is eating.  Happy news indeed!

More to come…

Catch of the Day!

Posted in Birds, California, San Jose California Nature Photographer, Shorebirds, WildlifeTagged , , , , , 6 Comments

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Catch of the Day

The fish this Seagull caught was so big it kept slipping out of the Gull’s mouth onto the sand. It was still alive and flopping about too. Several times the waves came up threatening to pull the fish back to sea, but that Gull would grab a fin and pull it back to the dry sand and try to eat it over and over. Finally he managed to swallow it.

Carmel by the Sea-  Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f4| AF-S Nikkor 14eII Teleconverter

Ring-necked Pheasant

Posted in Birds, California, Nature, Photography, WildlifeTagged , , , , , , 3 Comments

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Ring-necked Pheasant MaleThis one is from my Archives. I made this image in late May this year.  This was a really neat and thrilling experience seeing this male Pheasant. I see them so rarely, and most the time they’re on the run the instant they spot me. This male was so busy eating, and I think used to people being around so, he didn’t pay much attention to my presence or the sound of my clicking shutter button.

I really liked the light on his back and face.

Nikon D3oos| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f4| Hand-held

If I had a Song…

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Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I’d sing it in the morning!

Song Sparrow Singing its Morning SongLast Saturday morning I spent a lovely morning out birding with friends Dali, and Rainey. The weather was great, cool,  with a blue sky with a few big, puffy white clouds for just the right amount of diffusion, and not too many intruding city-life sounds.

We went out with the hopes of finding Stilts, and Avocets with chicks or on nests, but we found few Stilts, and only saw two or three Avocets. Overall there were very few shorebirds at all in either of the places we birded yesterday.

We did see quite a few other birds so the morning wasn’t a total bust. Here are some of the images I took Saturday morning.

Black-necked Stilts

Black-necked StiltsMallard and chick. This was the only chick we saw with her sadly. Actually it was the only chick we saw all morning.

Mallard Female and ChickA Mockingbird imitating several birds. I like this pose and setting.

MockingbirdThe Cliff Swallows were very busy making sorties to and from their nests.

Cliff SwallowHummingbirds are very entertaining and didn’t disappoint this morning either. I saw a territorial spat, but with my 300mm lens wasn’t able to get both birds in the frame. Here’s the offended Hummingbird who thought he had territorial rights to the whole tree.

Hummingbird …after a little of this posturing this Hummer decided he wasn’t having another Hummingbird on the tree, so he went on the attack. I didn’t get them both in the frame, but here’s the intruding Hummer on the defense. They squabbled a bit then they both flew away, and neither returned for sometime, so we moved on.

Hummingbird Wings UpThe Bumble bees were busy with the only blooms I could see.

Bumble Bee

…and there were other kinds of birds practicing their landing skills at a nearby airport.

Another kind of Bird-Cessna 180Another little Anna’s Hummingbird posed for me.

Annas HummingbirdThe most colorful bird of the morning was the Ring-necked Pheasant.

Ring-necked PhesantSaturday morning was also a great opportunity to really give my 300mm f4 lens a workout. I hadn’t really since getting it back from Nikon. I’m so happy to report it works really well. It is quieter than before the fix, and AF (auto-focus) seems quite snappy, and responsive even with my 1.4x Teleconverter on it.

It was a good morning despite there being only few shorebirds.

Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f4| Hand-held

Violet-green Swallow Male

Posted in Birds, Nature, PhotographyTagged , , , 8 Comments

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Violet-green Swallow MaleI took this image earlier this month with the rented Nikon Df camera. It’s by far my favorite image that I took of the Violet-green male swallow.

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f4 @ f9| 1/160s| ISO 400| Manual Priority| Matrix Metering| Tripod w/Wimberley Sidekick

Violet-green Swallow-Female

Posted in Birds, California, Nature, PhotographyTagged , , , , 4 Comments

Copyright © Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Violet-green Swallow-FemaleWhile I was waiting for the Lazuli Bunting to return to its perch one last time several Violet-green Swallows were flying around.  I hoped since it was early in the morning they’d be less active and land on a snag. They’re so fast I doubted I’d be able to get one in flight.  Then just like that one landed! I had to move quickly to capture this image. I love the look she’s giving me here. I think she’s saying, “This is my best side.” 🙂

I like the painterly look this has. I don’t know why it came out this way…perhaps because I was shooting wide open? Who knows, but I like it.

A male Violet-green Swallow landed on another nearby snag a few minutes later. Her mate perhaps.

Violet-green Swallow-MaleIt was a great morning for birding.

More to come!

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4| Induro Tripod w/ Wimberley Sidekick mounted on a Markus Q20 ball-head