Birds of North America – Page 7 – Circadianreflections Blog

American Kestrel-Male

January 20, 2017January 20, 2017Posted in birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of Prey, Falcons, National Wildlife Refuges in California, Nikon, PhotographyTagged After the Storm, American Kestrel, Birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Birds of Prey, Foggy, January 2017 Storm, Male Birds, Morning, Nikon, Photography25 Comments

The American Kestrel is the littlest Falcon in North America and the most colorful. They’re quite fierce for the size. They often perch on wires, or poles to watch and wait for unsuspecting prey. ” Hunting for insects and other small prey in open territory, kestrels perch on wires or poles, or hover facing into the wind, flapping and adjusting their long tails to stay in place.”~AllAboutBirds.com

Gordon and I stopped at San Luis National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday morning before joining a Meet-Up group we’re in at another National Wildlife Refuge and while on the auto route where the Tulle Elk are we spotted this Kestrel on a post. It was just after a heavy rain storm so there was Tulle Fog all over the valley hence the white sky. I love the rain drops or dew drops on his breast feathers.

American Kestrel Male

We didn’t see any Tulle Elk in the paddock. Not one! They must have been deep in the trees until it warmed up. Thankfully for us this Kestrel was out and about looking for breakfast!

Nikon D700|Nikkor 200-500mm @ 460mm| Lexar Digital Film| PS CC 2017

More to come…

Wordless Wednesday 2/52: Psst!

January 11, 2017January 10, 2017Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds of North America, Ducks, Nikon, Photography, Project 52, Wordless WednesdayTagged Birding, Birds of North America, Dipping Ducks, Ducks, Nikon, Northern Pintail, Photography, Project 52, Wordless Wednesday32 Comments

Northern Pintail- Male and Female

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…

Project 52: Wordless Wednesday 1/52

January 4, 2017January 3, 2017Posted in Birds, Birds in Flight, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, California Wildlife Reserves, Photography, Project 52: Wordless Wednesday, Snow GeeseTagged Birds, Birds in Flight, Birds of North America, California Wildlife Refuges, Dusk, Nikon, Photography, Project 52, Snow Geese, Wordless Wednesday24 Comments

Snow Geese in Flight

Snow Geese in Flight

Snow Goose in Flight

Snow Geese in Flight

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm @500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2017

More to come…

Belted Kingfisher-Female

December 12, 2016December 13, 2016Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds in the Wild, Nikon, Pacific Flyway, PhotographyTagged Belted Kingfisher, Bird Photography, Birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, California Pacific Flyway;, Nikon56 Comments

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.

Belted Kingfisher

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

November 19, 2016November 19, 2016Posted in Bird Photography, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Birds of Prey, Nikon, PhotographyTagged Bird Photography, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, California, Hawks, Nikon, San Joaquin County33 Comments

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.

The Look

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

November 14, 2016November 14, 2016Posted in Bird Photogaphy, birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Nikon, PhotographyTagged Bird Photography, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Nikon, Ruby-crowned Kinglet29 Comments

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:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet

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

August 6, 2016August 6, 2016Posted in Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Clark's Grebes, Nature Photography, Nikon, PhotographyTagged Bird Photography, Birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Clark's Grebes, Grebe Behavior, Grebe Chicks, Nature, Nikon, Photography20 Comments

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;

Clark's Grebe Pair making fish transfer

…but that little fish was a slippery one and she dropped it, fortunately, she was able to retrieve it quickly!

Clark Grebe Pair

Here a Clark’s Grebe male is just about to make the transfer;

Clark's Grebe Male making Fish Transfer to Female

Here’s a Clark’s Grebe male feeding a fish directly to a chick. That fish looks too big for that tiny bill!

Clark's Grebe Male Transferring Fish to Grebe Chick

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. 🙂

Western Grebes

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…

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