Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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…
Tag: Birds of North America
Project 52: Wordless Wednesday 1/52
Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Snow Geese in Flight
Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm @500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2017
More to come…
Belted Kingfisher-Female
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.
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.
The Look
Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
I’m not sure if this is a Sharp-shinned Hawk, or a Cooper’s Hawk, or something else all together, but I’m leaning towards a Sharp-shinned because of its long legs, overall size, and notched tail feathers.
It wasn’t happy about getting its picture taken. He was on a post in an irrigation canal probably hoping for a fish dinner. 🙂
If you know what species it is I’d love to hear from you!
Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film
More to come…
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
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:
If you think this is different bird please let me know!
Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film|
More to come…
Clark’s Grebes
Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Today I thought I share some images from my Spring Grebe excursion. We met at 5:45am to get out on the water to see the sun rise over the mountains and get that great light.
We were so fortunate to have a lovely morning with a rosy glow, and the Grebes were up and feeding already as well.
The male Grebes impressed me by how hard they work to feed the family. I’ll try to convey that with some images.
The male making a fish transfer to his mate and a hungry chick poking its head out in anticipation;
…but that little fish was a slippery one and she dropped it, fortunately, she was able to retrieve it quickly!
Here a Clark’s Grebe male is just about to make the transfer;
Here’s a Clark’s Grebe male feeding a fish directly to a chick. That fish looks too big for that tiny bill!
With several mouths to feed the male does a whole lot of fishing!
He helps with swimming lessons, and even gives the female a break by allowing the chicks to swim from Mom’s back to his. Western Grebes: Yes, it’s a butt shot. 🙂
Seeing this was so exciting and so darn adorable!!
Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015.5
Have a wonderful week-end Everyone!
More to come…
Draw-a-Bird-a-Day:June 2016
Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac ALL RIGHTS RESERVED!
I wasn’t motivated to paint for the longest time. I was planning my trip to NYC, then while in NYC all I wanted to do was take photographs. At the end of each day there I fell into bed exhausted from walking and touring, then when I got home my son: Big Baby Boy and his lovely finance the Dark Haired Beauty came home for a long week-end , so instead of wanting to paint, or develop images I wanted to hang out with them.
…and just like that May was gone! Who wants to paint when all that is going on?
Okay, I know real painters would! Just like I was making photographs the whole time. I get it! 🙂
Late this afternoon the image of a Killdeer I took back in April of this year called me to paint it. I don’t have clue how that happened because, my focus today has been on the letter A, and the Number 7. For the next 25 days we’re coloring and wearing Alphabet wristlettes…a letter a day…and I’ve added a number a day to that.
I’ve been teaching #1 Grandson who is already 3 1/2 years old his letter sounds, along with letter recognition, number counting and recognition, living science, earth science, literature, manners, and appropriate behavior in our house and in public since he was born, but it’s been getting more intense the the last year. I’m so ready for this kid to read and do kindergarten math!
Phew, is it any wonder I’m exhausted when Baby Girl gets home from work? He knows his alphabet from A to Z, and some numbers and letters by sight, but not all the sounds, letters, or numbers by sight. It’s time to step it up! Add this to a very busy boy who wants to play and be busy with his toys, inside and out all day!
Seriously, at the end of the day uncork a bottle of wine! I’m ready to unwind! 🙂
Armed with a glass of slightly chilled Zin I began to draw my second attempt at the Killdeer. The first attempt had too many issues.
Those issues were mostly proportion, shape, and size related, and color mixing. Sigh! If I could draw all my problems with art would be nil! Seriously. NIL! I WISH I COULD DRAW!
This is my second attempt: Still with issues related to proportion, shape and size, but much better than the first attempt.
The image is taken from a photograph I made in April 2016. This painting isn’t nearly as cute as my photograph is. Sigh. Perhaps a few more tries drawing it will achieve that.
I hope so!
The inspiration image here.
Oh, I forgot to add that I used my new Sennelier watercolor paints for this painting. He-Man gave me the 12 + 6 tin for my birthday last month. It’s the first time I’ve used them to paint anything besides a color chart. I love the way the colors look on paper. There’s a wonderful vibrancy to them. I need to add a couple of greens to the kit though.
I used my Escoda Reserva #6 rd, and Mimik Kolinsky #12 brushes, and painted this in my Strathemore Mixed Media Journal.
This is part of Draw-a-Bird Day over at Laura’s Createartevery.com . To see all the bird art posted today click here. Scroll down to the comments to see the links to all the posts shared this month.
To read the original story of how Draw-a-Bird Day got started click here
The post is also part of Charlie O’Shields doodlewash #NatureDoolewash
Lumix FX200| Lexar Professional Digital Film| Handheld| PS CC 2015
More to come
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