Nikon – Circadianreflections Blog

Friday’s Feathered Friends-A Great Day Birding

May 10, 2024May 5, 2024Posted in Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Friday's Feathered Friends, PhotographyTagged American Bald Eagle, Birds in Flight, Birds of Prey, Black-billed Magpie, Brewer's Sparrow, Friday's Feathered Friends, Lark Sparrow, Marsh Wren, Nikon, Sage Thrasher, Song Birds43 Comments

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Last week I was birding with a group I belong to. We had a very exciting birding day with 66 species sighted. There were lots of great sightings, one was while in a big field in a Washoe Co. in the sagebrush, we saw a Brewer’s Sparrow and I got a few good images. It’s a “lifer” for me. A “lifer” is the first time you’ve ever seen a bird species.

*Brewer’s Sparrow Singing its Morning Song*

We saw two adult Bald Eagles which was exciting because one flew onto a telephone pole carrying food of some sort and started eating. Then we heard another Eagle call out and fly into the scene ready to attack from behind!

It tried to steal the food of the BE on the pole. The BE with the food took its prey and flew over to a nearby telephone pole and carried on eating while the would-be thief sat on top of the pole trying to figure out what went wrong and why he now had control of the pole but no food. 😂

In three images: The approach, The Attack, and the would-be thief flying off several minutes later very disappointed. I was too far away from the poles to get good images, but they’re keepers and good enough to tell the story with.

The Would-be thief flyby was better as I had moved closer by then.

Some other cool birds I saw and photographed were:

*Black-billed Magpie with Blue reflected in its eye*

I don’t have any cool bird fun facts for you today as the post would be too long. It’s already longer than my usual post.

FYI, I will be late getting back to you on the comments but, I will get to them.

I hope you all have a great week-end!

Nikon D850|Nikkor 500mm PF-e| PS CC 25.7.0

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Owls

April 24, 2024April 23, 2024Posted in Birding in Nevada, Nature Photography, Owls and Owlets, PhotographyTagged Birds in the Wild, Breeding Season, D850, Great Horned Owls, Nest, Nevada, Nikkor 500mm Pf-E, Nikon58 Comments

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The first week of March I started hiking out to see if a Great Horned Owl had returned to a nest she has used many times in the past. She wasn’t there. March 9th I returned and she was there!

It was time to start looking for the Owlets. I returned on the 19th, 25th, and 26th of March and saw no owlets but, hoped Mama was sitting on eggs.

I returned on April 4th, 14th, and on April 20th a birding girlfriend sent me an email telling me she went by and there were two Owlets! I went the following day, the 21st. When I arrived I only saw Mama no Owlets. So I birded the area and waited and waited. After an hour or so I saw a little white fuzzy head stirring behind Mama then not too long after that the cutest 2 Owlets you’ve ever seen popped up to see what was happening in their new world. They must have just hatched days before by the looks of them.

*Great Horned Owl Female with her Owlets in the nest.*

They barely could keep their eyes open. They were so tired. Mama had one eye on me the whole time though.

I’ll be making regular trips over to watch them grow, and hopefully this year will be the year I see them branching. I’ve never seen the previous year’s owlets do that here, and I’ve also never seen the Male GH Owl who I know has to be nearby.

Spring is here so I put out the outdoor cushions Monday morning and wouldn’t you know it Tuesday morning it rained. 🤣

I hope your week is going well.

Nikon D850| Nikkor 500mm PF-e| PS CC

more to come…

Thursday Doors- For Rent

April 18, 2024April 18, 2024Posted in Birding in Nevada, Photography, Thursday DoorsTagged Birdhouses, D850, Douglas Co, Fun and Whimsical, Nevada, Nikkor 500mm Pf-E, Nikon, Portals33 Comments

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Available at Sparrow Pole Bungalows! Cute one room birdhouse with plenty of floor space and a tall ceiling for that perfect cozy nest. You’re sure to be the Early Bird in the neighborhood as the front door faces east so your day will start with the sun shining into your cozy nest.

You’ll love your neighbors, and there are bird feeders nearby.

This post is part of the Thursday Doors- a weekly challenge group hosted by Dan Antion over at No Facilities. Click on the link to see other doors from around the world-https://nofacilities.com/2024/04/18/still-in-oakland/

more to come…

Whatever Weds- The Stars have It

April 3, 2024April 2, 2024Posted in Comets, Photography, Stars, Stars and Planets, Travel and Tourism, Travel PhotographyTagged City lights, Clouds, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, Comets, Defraction, Nikon, Skyline, Snow, Sparks NV, Star bursts, Stars, Travel, Wide Field Astro Photography47 Comments

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Last week He-Man and I had a little get-away for our 43rd anniversary. We didn’t go too far just up to Sparks, NV.

We booked a balcony suite at Hampton Inn & Suites at the marina for the view of Helms Lake, and view of Reno’s skyline. This lake has an interesting beginning.

“The site was once a gravel pit owned by the Helms Construction Corp. (1968-1995) The pit is 100 feet deep. They found petroleum and solvent contamination seeping into the pit in 1987 so it was declared a Super Toxic Sight and clean up began. In 1996 it was declared free of petrochemicals and the site was turned over to the city of Sparks.

Millions of dollars of spill mitigation money was made available to the city, which they used to construct the park and make the pit a recreational pond. They had planned to fill the pit to 30 feet, but in January 1997 the Truckee River overflowed its banks and filled the Helms Pit creating what is now Richard Helms Lake or Sparks Marina Pond.” You can read a little more about how it stays filled at the link. https://www.ndow.org/waters/sparks-marina/

Now for our view-

It was pretty windy the day we were up there as you can see by the water.

We both really enjoyed having this evening view when the lights in the city came on.

I had hoped our 4th floor balcony room would afford a great view of the sky so I could also try to photograph Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, but alas we had a storm rolling in and cloud cover.

Finally, Monday night April 1st…no joke! We had a clear night so I went out to my front yard and spied the Comet.

*Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks with faint tail*.

*Green Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks cropped in.*

*Dialing in my focus I got Jupiter and her Moons too.*

We had a lovely anniversary walking around the lake both days, and we found a new Indian place we liked a lot for dinner so, we’ll make the drive up for that again when we’re craving Indian food, and we’ll be staying there again when the weather is warmer and we’ll take our kayak up for a paddle around the lake.

I hope the stars have lined up a fantastic week for you.

Nikon D850| Nikkor 80-200mm| iPhone 14 Pro| PS CC 25.5.1

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Waxing Gibbous Moon

March 27, 2024March 26, 2024Posted in Moon, Moonrise, Wide Field Astro-photographyTagged Almost Full, Blue and White, Clouds, March Moon, Moon, Nikon, sky, telephoto lens, Waxing Gibbous Moons, Whatever Wednesday35 Comments

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*97.7% Waxing Gibbous Moon and Clouds* 3.23.2024

Nikon D850| Nikkor 500mm PF-e| PS CC 25.5.1

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Backlash

March 6, 2024March 6, 2024Posted in Photography, Whatever WednesdayTagged Birdsnest, Fishermen's Birds Nest, Fishing Line, Fishing line Bobber, Fishing Line Bouy, Fishing Weights, Nevada, Nikon, Power Cable, The Things You See While Birding; Fishing Line Gone Wrong, Things That Don't Belong, Washoe Co47 Comments

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I’m guessing it wasn’t a good day fishing?

Nikon D810| Nikkor 500mm PF-e| PS CC 25.4.0

more to come…

Friday’s Feathered Friends- Western Wood Peewee

March 1, 2024February 29, 2024Posted in Birding in Nevada, Friday's Feathered Friends, PhotographyTagged Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Flycatchers, Nature, Nikon, weather, Western Wood Peewee41 Comments

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

I don’t think I’ve ever shared this bird before. This is an image I made last summer.

Fun Facts:

The breeding ranges of the nearly identical Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees overlap only in a very narrow zone in the Great Plains. Despite the birds’ physical similarity, no evidence has ever been found that the two species interbreed in that area—perhaps because their songs sound so different.
Where exactly the Western Wood-Pewee goes in the winter is still a mystery. Both Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees migrate to northern South America, but because they look so similar and they don’t call much on the wintering ground it’s hard to say for certain where each species spends its winter.
The scientific name of the Western Wood-Pewee is Contopus sordidulus. Contopus comes from the Greek word kontos which means short and pous which means foot—referring to the relatively short legs on Contopus flycatchers. Sordidulus means dirty or unkempt, a reference to the dusky brown wash to the breast and flanks.
The Western Wood-Pewee makes a clapping noise with its bill while chasing and attacking intruders in nest defense.
The oldest recorded Western Wood-Pewee was a female, and at least 8 years, 1 month old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in California in 2002. She had been banded in the same state in 1995.
Fun Facts gleaned from allaboutbirds.org

Nikon D810| Nikkor 300mm f/4| PS CC

We’ve been under a high wind and storm watch since yesterday morning. As I write this the wind is howling at 24 mph with gusts up to 47 mph. They’re saying we may get 8 inches of snow between now and Saturday. The sun is out, the clouds are big white and fluffy in some spots to the east but, gray and looming over the Sierras to the west. As you can imagine we’re hanging out at home.

I was planning to go birding with a local birding group this morning, but due to the weather that’s been rescheduled.

I’ve been re-watching The Expanse while waiting for the new season of Vera to be released on Wednesday. After I finish The Expanse I’ll be binge watching Vera if all the episodes are available, and I’m still working my way through the Woodlands and Trees Ready to Paint class in a book. I finished exercise 6 but, the little wood bridge over the creek came out really wonky…even more wonky than my normal wonky so, I’m on my second attempt with that one, and I mixed up a dark green shade of paint that I don’t like on this second pass, so they’ll probably be a 3rd attempt at mastering exercise #6. 😀

That’s me all caught up. What’s happening with you?

more to come…

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