Daily pix #269

Nice shots Duc and Gary!

A Mountain Bluebird was seen in Mercer County, NJ today!

crazybirdlady51 - that female red-bellied WP looks nice.

MargaretK - Short-billed Corella, what a strange looking bird.

dirt_in_ozone7b - what were those two birds? - I couldn't figure them out.

rutholive - Wow, so yu have all the goldfinches.

ducbucln - That robin is super. Hope you get to feeling better - fast.

Grasmussen - Great Blue Heron, neat. Time for a new computer?



I did some birdiing today.

Close-up of a male Downy Woodpecker. Used the Tamron 1.4x teleconverter on my 70-300 lens (at 300mm).

Auto focus worked on this snap.

Hack

This message was edited Dec 27, 2009 10:07 PM

Here he is again. I have two, Mr and Mrs, I guess.

Hack

Here's the female Downy WP. In this snap you can easily see the black on the tail feathers that distinguish the Downy from the Hairy WP (Hairy's are solid white.) These two walk down the gum tree, feed on the suet and scamper back up. So far, I've never seen them feeding at the same time.

Hack

Here's a snap of a male Northern Cardinal. My DW particularly liked this one.

Hack

But I liked this snap the best. Had to use manual focus, auto kept going back and forth with the branches in the way..

Hack

This message was edited Dec 28, 2009 2:20 PM

I have more than five pics to share. I'll load some more tomorrow or the next day.

Hack

This message was edited Dec 27, 2009 7:09 PM

I don't have a picture, but a link instead. If you've never heard a bobolink before, make sure you click through. And don't leave until after you hear it at 1/3 speed (1:35 into video). Amazing that a set of vocal chords can pull that off!

http://bit.ly/7rKwx7

Nice link. We have them here in spring and summer especially if the farmer cuts the hayfield next door late in the season.

That's it, duc. Your photo of the Robin has convinced me that I NEED the 7D. How are you finding its programmes? I hope you recover really fast.

Sorry you're sic Duc, but glad you're getting some quality time with the 7D. Watch your back! LOL.

Was thinking about new cameras and lenses and such and looked at a Nikkor/Nikon lens, reportedly very fast for bird photography. 400mm = 9000$ US. har!


So… we had really pretty snow all yesterday. Big flakes, but dry. The kind that you can see all six sides and such. The birds looked so pretty feeding in that.

Here is a tray of house finch, including Ms. Bleach-ee. Looks like I got to close to her with the Chlorox!

And some payback… a female cardinal eating the Squirrel's food.

I always LOVE the daily pix threads, and now that I've been foolin with my "big" camera, I'll hopefully have photos to share once in a while. (I know my Nikon P90 "bridge" camera can't hold a candle to the DSLRs and great lenses some folks are using on here, but I'm just loving the 24x zoom all the same!)

This Carolina Wren is one of our favorite birds, so perky & brash!

Duc, that is a gorgeous shot of the Scrub Jay and the berrries!

I like your cardinal too Hack!

We got snow today. Out here we got about 4 inches I am guessing. My female Cardinal thought she was a finch!

Mrs_Ed - I haven't seen many House Finches lately - usually I'm covered up with them. But, I have a lot of Chipping Sparrows, now and Cardinals - I always have Cardinals.

critterologist - Your Carolina Wren is one of my favorite birds, too. They'll come right up to the house and pose, until I open the door to no have to shot through the glass.

nanny_56 - Thanks, I like mine Cardinal, too. You got snow today, we got sunshine to the first time in a while. Your female Cardinal looks cold to me.

Hack

Grasmussen - I saw the photo associated with your user name. Those Pacific Giant Delphiniums are gorgeous!

You must have two green thumbs.

Hack

We've got sun and its throwing rays like spears of hot metal. If you step outside you can feel the moisture being sucked from your eyeballs. I put a pair of jeans on the line just over an hour ago and have just brought them in, bone dry.



Baby Willie Wagtail from the osprey site yesterday. The tail never stops brushing from side to side.

Fun shots everyone. Having lousy weather here. No sign of the Grosbeaks. They were here, the beginning of December last year. No Redpolls either.

But have Starlings to share.

Wonderful shot of the Willy Wagtail!!! Margaret.

Another Starling.

A couple of Blue Jays.

LOL, those wrens do seem to be camera shy! Ours are quite bold also, coming right up to the feeder at the window... but that's the best shot I've managed, and it's in the mimosa halfway across the yard!

burn, love the blue jays! Starlings aren't exactly a favorite bird, but your shots make them seem much more attractive than I generally give them credit for. ;-)

Pretty jays, downy's, wagtail and cardinals.
I made a mistaken identity of my last pic.
Folks who are far smarter than I ID'd my
bird as a Yellow Rumped Warbler, subspecies
Audubon.
They do winter over in Pac NW but slightly
uncommon around here. Was very nice to see it.

Happy Holidays everyone, I've yet seen any Baltimore Oriole posted recently. So here's one. This is my very first one that migrated to our area this winter. She's my Xmas' day delight.

Gras, your heron is great. What a perfect landing spot for it to observe the sky.

Hack, thanks for the well wishes. Great downy photo!! I'm surprised you could get that tc to work between the branches. Think I'm with your wife, I liked the first photo of the cardinal, but that second one is great too.

Evie, great link. Sure is a pretty bird!

Margaret, I really can't say much about the 7D yet. It is a little heavier than my Xti which isn't a problem. Wish you were here to help me set it up properly. I seem to have problems with focusing in the center of the photos (which is usually a bird). My DH thinks it's a problem with my lens rather than the camera. I'll let you know later.
That baby wagtail is adorable!

Mrs Ed, I think I'm safe so far. LOL. I really love that little Ms Bleach-ee. Looks like she fits right in with that snow. Ms. Cardinal is a beauty too!

Critter, adorable wren!!

Nanny, your little lady said it was too cold to be choosy about the food-cute! Keep warm!

Burn, beautiful starling photos and I love the jays too! Brrr, sure looks cold there. You keep warm too!

I haven't got many good pictures yet. Takes me a while to get used to a new camera. I'm seeing lots of Cedar Waxwings and just love them.

Congrats on the oriole Lily. I've been wondering why we haven't seen more of your migrating birds.

Thanks Duc, I'll trade one Baltimore Oriole for a Cedar Waxwing. Just kidding. I love those CW much. I haven't seen them here since early summer last season.

Hey Nanny--cardinal is a finch, just a very big one. I think more polite than the little ones.

MargaretK - that Willie Wagtail looks cute.

burn_2007 - I haven't seen a Starling in longs time. But those two blue jays are my favorites

dirt_in_ozone7b - Don't fret about missing an ID, Lord knows I've had my share of missses.

Lily_love - Nice Baltimore Oriole. I don't think I'm too far from you. Maybe I see one or two myself. What's in your feeder that it liked. I heard of using fruit and jelly, but I never done so.

ducbucln - The snap of the Cedar Waxwing is awesome. You said your were surprised that I could get that tc to work between the branches. I went full 300mm on the lens and then used manual focusing.


Here's one I got of a female Cardinal.

Hack

Here's a Brown-headed Nuthatch and a male House Sparrow sharing a feeder.

Hack

And a couple of Chipping Sparrows sharing a feeder.

Hack

Congratulations Lily!

Nice pics Duc and Hack!

Great photos everyone.

Mrs Ed - great shot of the Cardinal eating corn. I put out some ornamental corn leftover from Halloween last winter and no one ate it until spring when the Cardinals found it. They really seemed to enjoy it.

Here's a Dove that might have over-indulged over the holidays.

Here is some ground feeders trying to figure out how to handle the new snow.

A downy holding on during the snow storm.

Great shots Everyone!! Was snowing and windy this afternoon and I had to keep wiping the window in the patio to get a few shots of the bird's.

Start off with a Black-capped Chickadee

Another of the B-c C.

Dark-eyed Junco's were the most active today.

No. 2 of the D-e J.

Last one of the Junco.

Female House Sparrow.