Tag: Birds

Draw-a-Bird Day

Posted in Art, Bird Art, Create Art Everyday, Draw a Bird Day, Pen & Wash Watercolor, Photography, Watercolor, Watercolor PaintingTagged , , , , , , 18 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I’ve been painting or trying to paint flowers the last month, but I did want to try one bird for Draw-a-Bird Day so, painted a House Finch using my newest watercolor Lukas 12 half pan palette. I painted it in my Strathemore Mixed Media Journal.

This is a male House Finch that has been coming to our feeders for a long time.  I love his bright red coloring.

House Finch in Watercolor Draw-a-Bird Day

The reference image

House Finch Male-Photography

This is part of Draw-a-Bird Day at Methodtwomadness. To see all the bird art posted today click here

To read the original story of how Draw-a-Bird Day got started click here

Bird image: Nikon D300s| Nikkor 300mm f4| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015

Watercolor Image: Lumix FZ200| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015

More to come…

 

Great Egret Reflected

Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Coastal Birds, Great Egret, Nikon, Photography, Santa Clara County BirdingTagged , , , , , , 38 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Great Egret Reflected

I made this image with the rental Nikon 200-500mm VR lens the morning after I rented it.

I saw this Great Egret out in the pond within the range of the lens so I walked out to the edge of the pond to photograph it. I initially set up in landscape orientation then I zoomed out to 500mm, and only had its head and half its neck in the frame! “Oh no, that won’t do!” I thought. I switched to portrait orientation, which fit the whole Egret in the frame, but only half the reflection, and I wanted to get the reflection because it was very clear, and the blue sky and water were gorgeous on this morning.  Next I started pulling my zoom in…400mm, nope, 300mm, nope, 200mm, not quite. I had to back up to get the whole reflection in, and stay at 200mm.  This image isn’t cropped at all.  So, began my learning curve with this lens.

After that week-end I liked the lens so well I bought one,  and have been using it a lot.  I’m on the down side of the learning curve now. 🙂

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 200-500mm VR hired unit| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital film| PS CC 2015

More to come…

Harbinger of Spring

Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Cedar Waxwing, Nature Photography, Photography, San Jose California Nature PhotographerTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , 19 Comments

Copyright © 2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

This has been a fantastic birding season so far!  The Vermilion Flycatcher,  the Red-tailed Hawk with its prey, the elusive Loggerhead Shrike, the Bald Head Eagle I didn’t get a photo of, the pair of Ring necked Pheasants, and the sweet Hermit Thrush on my fence all were amazing, and exciting sightings, but in Winter is there anything better than a Harbinger of Spring?

I heard Cedar Waxwings were showing up, a sure sign that Spring is on the way!  I’ve had Robins in the Ginko tree out in the front yard, and in back yard lately so, I’ve been looking for the Waxwings because, they usually arrive with the Robins, and last year there was a flock of Waxwings in the Ginko trees a few houses away from me. That was a first for me.  You can read about that here

Last week-end my birding friend and I stayed local and found some!

Cedar Waxwings

Soon they were taking turns flying down to the bush with  luscious, ripe red berries   beneath this tree.

Cdear Waxwing Feast

… and one was shy,

Cedar Waxwing

I spent some time photographing the Robins that also were there to feed on the same berries, but I’ll save those images for another post.

I’m off to Yosemite National Park today to photograph something other than birds, and my son and his girl-friend are arriving early Saturday morning for the week-end. It promises to be a stellar week-end!

I’ll catch up with all your posts when I return.  I hope you all have a wonderful week-end!

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

More to come…

 

 

Loggerhead Shrike

Posted in Bird Photography, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, National Wildlife Refuges in California, PhotographyTagged , , , , , 21 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I have only seen this bird a handful of times, and managed to get an image even less.

This Loggerhead Shrike was on the fence bordering the Tule Elk Paddock as you enter the Refuge. This one was pretty accommodating and let me take its photo for a couple of minutes.

Loggerhead Shrike

Coming around to the end of the auto-route in the Refuge was this Loggerhead Shrike perched on a dried plant in the Tule Elk paddock. It was pretty far away and behind a wire fence. This is cropped in a bit. I wondered if it wasn’t the same Shrike I’d seen when I first entered the Refuge? I’ll never know but am thrilled to have seen it!

Loggerhead Shrike

This was an exciting start to my day of birding.

Nikon D300s| Nikon 200-500mm VR| Lexar Digital Film| PS CC 2016

More to come…

 

 

Vermilion Flycather-Male

Posted in Bird Photography, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Life List Birds, Photography, Vermilion FlycatcherTagged , , , , , , , 30 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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…

Top 10 2015 Images

Posted in Astro Photography, Birds, Candid Portraits, Landscapes, Photography, Still Life Photography, Top 10Tagged , , , , , , , , 20 Comments

Copyright 2015-2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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…