Tag: Birds of North America

Clark’s Grebes

Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds of North America, California, Clark's Grebes, Clear Lake CA, Grebes, Nature Photography, Northern California, Northern California Birds, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , , , 26 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I spent the week-end with old friends Theresa, Dali, and Alex birding up in Clear Lake. We went to see Grebes, we hoped dancing on the water.

We booked a boat with the same tour group we used last year Eyes of the Wild with Faith as our Captain. You can read that post here.

We booked early and Faith kept us abreast of the Grebe situation on the lake on and off up until our booking day. Last week she sent me a text message saying that courting had really slowed down, but she had a surprise. Babies were early and she’d found several pair of Grebes with babies! Did we still want to come up?

Did we still want to come up? OF COURSE WE DID!  We’d go to see the chicks alone! We had hoped to get up there again last summer to see Grebe chicks, but there was a huge fire, the drought, add to that predators, well, it all added up to a low number of Grebes and not too many babies so, we didn’t go back up last year. We went this time!

Here’s my favorite image today of the babies and their parents.

Grebe Family

Dad had brought the fish, made a perfect transfer of it to Mom, and the chicks were out and exposed from their Mom’s wings peeping their heads off to get that fish!  The morning light was lovely, and I managed to keep the shot in focus and made before the boat moved up or down with a swell!

This was such an exciting, wonderful,  beautiful sight to see!

We also saw a few dances. We saw Osprey pairs with chicks, and a really pretty sunset among the most notable things we saw this past week-end.

I came home with 1700 images to cull. I’ve made my first pass and deleted about 400 already.  I’ll try to break up the posts so I don’t bore you to death with images of Grebes all the time. 🙂

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| SunDisk Digital Film|

More to come…

 

 

 

 

Gray Flycatcher

Posted in birding, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Flycatcher, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography, San Jose California Nature Photographer, Santa Clara County BirdingTagged , , , , , , , , , , , 22 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I went birding on both Saturday and Sunday this past week-end hoping to find two birds I’d never seen or photographed before. I got lucky with really good looks on the first bird on my list: The Gray Flycatcher.  A “lifer” for me!

Gray Flycatcher

There were other birders there looking for the same bird which made the experience more fun and exciting. It also helped to have several pairs of eyes, and ears on the lookout.

Gray flycatcher

It’s migrating south, and this one is further west than it’s regular migration route.

Gray Flycatcher

He was pretty far away from me, and in the shadows of the trees so I boosted my ISO to keep up my shutter speed to prevent blurring, and these images are cropped.

Sunday I went back to look for the second bird on my list, but I was not successful.  I’ll have another go this week-end if I hear it’s still in the area.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| Tripod|

Note to self- take the bug spray! I got eaten alive by mosquitoes!

More to come…

 

Killdeer

Posted in Bird Photography, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Photography, ShorebirdsTagged , , , , , , 15 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Killdeer-

The Killdeer is a year round resident in California, and gets its name from the shrill, wailing kill-deer call it makes.  I love their big eyes.

Killdeer_ Photography

Happy Earth Day!

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

More to come…

Twitterpated

Posted in Bird Photogaphy, birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Common Goldeneye, Nature, Nature Photography, Photography, San Mateo CountyTagged , , , , , , , , , 17 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I had a most delightful morning a couple of months back watching  some Common Golden-eye males doing the their mating dance/display.

Common Goldeneye Male-Mating Ritual Dance-Photography

Common Goldeneye male- Mating Ritual Dance Photography

Common Goldeneye Male-Mating Ritual Dance-Photography

Common Goldeneye Male-Mating Ritual Dance-Photography

She likes me!

Common Goldeneye Male-Mating Ritual Dance-Photography

I think I nailed that.

Common Goldeneye Male-Mating Ritual Dance-Photography

The word Twitterpated was first used in the movie Bambi. It means to be overcome with romantic feelings; smitten.

UPDATE: I looked up the scene in the original Disney movie and found the dialog about Spring Twitterpation.  I think it’s delightful! Hope you do too.

Bambi 1942

Flower: [about two birds fluttering around] Well! What’s the matter with them?
Thumper: Why are they acting that way?
Friend Owl: Why, don’t you know? They’re twitterpated.
Flower, Thumper, Bambi: Twitterpated?
Friend Owl: Yes. Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime. For example: you’re walking along, minding your own business. You’re looking neither to the left, nor to the right, when all of a sudden, you run smack into a pretty face. Woo-woo! You begin to get weak in the knees. Your head’s in a whirl. And then you feel light as a feather; and before you know it, you’re walking on air. And then you know what? You’re knocked for a loop, and you completely lose your head!
Thumper: Gosh. That’s awful.
Flower: Gee whiz.
Bambi: Terrible!
Friend Owl: And that ain’t all. It can happen to anybody. So you’d better be careful.
[points at Bambi]
Friend Owl: It could happen to you…
[points at Thumper]
Friend Owl: …and you, and…
[Flower looks at Owl shyly]
Friend Owl: Yes, it could even happen to you!
Thumper: Well, it’s not gonna happen to me.
Bambi: Me neither.
Flower: Me neither.

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

More to come…

 

 

I’ve got a song, I’ve got a song…

Posted in Bird Photogaphy, birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Jim Croce, Photography, SparrowsTagged , , , , , , 16 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

“I’ve got a song, I’ve got a song
And I carry it with me and I sing it loud
If it gets me nowhere, I go there proud”

~Jim Croce

Song Sparrow- Bird Photography

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

More to come…

California Quail

Posted in Bird Photography, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Nature, Nature Photography, Nikon, Northern California Birds, Photography, Quail, San Jose California Nature PhotographerTagged , , , , , , , , 34 Comments

Copyright © 2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

When I was setting up my rig a few weeks ago in Santa Cruz to photograph Hummingbirds a California Quail jumped up on an old weathered post not too far from me surrounded by lovely flowers.  I moved pretty quick to finish setting up my tripod w/Sidekick and mounting my camera hoping it would stick around!

California Quail on Post

“You lookin’ at me?”…

California Quail- The Look

A little Morning Stretch…

California Quail-Morning Stretch

Seeing and photographing this Quail first thing in the morning made my day. They’re so quick, and skittish that I’ve only been able to get a few good images of any.  The rest of the images I made this day were icing on the cake.

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

Wishing you all a great week-end!

More to come…

 

 

 

Violet-Green Swallow Pen & Wash

Posted in Bird Art, Birds, Birds of North America, Pen & Wash Watercolor, Photography, Watercolor, Watercolor PaintingTagged , , , , , , , , 28 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I don’t normally post twice in a day, but as it’s St. Patrick’s Day I thought I’d post something Green in honor of it.

Watercolor Line and Wash Violet-Green Swallow

I painted this with Turner Artists Watercolor paints, on Canson 140 lb Cold Press Fine

Grain paper.  I used my 12 round Mimik Kolinsky, #8 round Robert Simmons Sapphire, and #6 rd Winson & Newton Kolinsky Sable brushes, and Pigma Micron 03, 05, and 01 pens.

My reference image is one of my own which I made in the Spring of 2014. You can see the reference image here.

I hope you all have a great St. Paddy’s Day!

Panasonic Lumix FZ200| Lexar Professional Digital Film| Hand-held in natural light| PS CC 2015

More to come…