I’ve spent a little time photographing swans lately… it adds a considerable challenge to my photography. Here are a few images…
This last photo isn’t as spectacular, but if you look closely all three swans are flying directly towards, and looking directly at, the camera. And the faces of all three are in relatively good focus. (Click on the photo to enlarge it.)
On Tuesday, Feb 23,2015, I headed out into the county for some birding. I drove south to a site that had yielded no birds the previous day, but I had found birds here before and I was optimistic that it was only a matter of being at the site at the correct time and on the correct day. My persistence payed off… I discovered a large number of birds, and on making my third round of a rather small circuit I discovered a puddle by the side of the road with adjacent bushes and a forest beyond. I had overlooked the water on the previous circuits because I had been looking out the car window at eye level or above, and not down on the side of the road. I knew when I found the water I was on to something and so sat in my car and waited for the birds to come to me.
n no time I had birds visiting the puddle and adjacent area. I saw my first warbler of the year, an Orange-crowned, but it’s a year-round resident to at least some degree so this one probably wasn’t a harbinger of spring.
But let’s get to some of the photos…
This is a female Downy woodpecker, probably our most common woodpecker but sometimes difficult to photograph outside a controlled setting, i.e. , a yard with suet and hanging feeders.
Next a couple of Chestnut-backed chickadees. There were many chickadees in this area.
There were also a lot of Dark-eyed juncos (Oregon race) in the area. This one’s plumage is quite pale and is probably a female and/or first year bird.
And finally, as far as photos go, a Robin enjoying a dip in the puddle…
Monday, Feb 16 dawned clear with only a very high, thin cloud layer developing in mid-afternoon. I had plans to photograph a couple of birds on the overlook but my plans didn’t work out as well as I had hoped. But I put in the time and as often happens in such cases, the day worked out just fine.
My day started when I photographed a male House sparrow on the way up to the overlook. The bird was in a nice setting but was otherwise unremarkable until I processed the photos. I then noticed that the bird apparently had a tick or some other abnormality attached to its left cheek. I have never noticed this in any other bird I have photographed.
As soon as I arrived at the overlook I heard singing and saw a Bewick’s wren sitting on the exposed limb of a bush. I couldn’t find an angle to eliminate the small branch between the bird and I but nevertheless obtained some nice photos. Considering the problem I have just finding one of these birds I was happy to obtain a photograph.
I then ran through three more species of sparrows at the overlook… Song (this photo is one I actually took in my yard during a break), Golden-crowned and Fox, pictured here in that order.
While I was photographing the birds pictured above, I noticed some movement in a dead madrone tree out from the parking lot. I looked and saw that an accipiter had flown in. I carefully snapped a couple of photos but had/have no hope of identifying the raptor. It’s either a Sharp-shinned hawk or a Cooper’s hawk… they both look very much alike and I’ve given up even trying to guess between the two species. However I have sent the photos to a friend who is a much more accomplished birder than I and I’m hoping to hear back from him regarding the identification. In the meantime you can perform your own research! : )
Finally, upon ending the break I took at the house I scattered a little “habitat enhancer” in the yard in the hope of drawing out our Slate-colored junco. We’ve had one over-winter at the house for the past 7-8 years, and I hadn’t obtained a good photo of one with my good camera and lens. The bird is substantially shyer than our Oregon juncos and doesn’t interact well with its cousins, but at one point it emerged in the yard and stood very still on a rock for a minute or two… time enough for me to obtain some excellent photos of it. So here is the Dark-eyed junco of the Slate-colored race!
It wasn’t like I didn’t try to get hummingbird photos again today (Sunday, Feb 15, 2015). The sun was out and it was 63-degrees with no clouds. But the hummingbird, even though in the area, wouldn’t cooperate. So I made do with a marina tour and some other birds in the area. To wit…
Not the greatest photos, but I could hardly swim out to get better ones. Shortly after I first arrived at the marina this Common loon surfaced with a crab about the size of my hand. I couldn’t see any legs, so I think it might have already died. After ‘breaking’ it for awhile it swallowed the crab whole!
I watched for a good while and have become somewhat adept at realizing when a loon intends to rise out of the water, so I was ready on the two occasions I witnessed. (This is the same loon in both photos.)
Next up was a Spotted towhee that responded to some ‘habitat enhancer’.
While waiting for the hummingbird I saw a single (!) Cedar waxwing visiting some of the madrona trees. I watched it for a couple of flights and then saw it fly into an area where I had photographed berries on a Hawthorn tree a few weeks ago. I edged over to the tree and found it eating berries. Unfortunately it stopped eating when I approached, but it remained in place and allowed me to take lots of photos.
Like the food addict that’s offered virtually unlimited free cake, I find it extremely difficult to resist the opportunity to to photograph the male Anna’s hummingbird in the neighborhood. I’ll try to find something else to photograph this next week, but in the meantime here are just a few more photographs.
