Daily Pics #270

The weather man is calling for freezing rain and snow. So far he has been half right.

I'm sitting here with my cup of tea catching up on this thread. OMG!!!!! What wonderful pictures.
Everyones pictures are just awesome. My fav is the Painted Bunting. I've never seen one before.
What a beautiful bird.
:)

burn_2007, nice start.

reddirtretiree - I like the crow on the snow background.

Mrs_Ed - I like the Fox Sparrow.

gardenpom - I would love to see a male Painted Bunting.

pelletory - sweet looking female Northern Cardinal.

dellrose - "We have a few Goldfinches" - I'll say you sure do!

Burd_Fotos - even though they may be bullies, I still think male House Sparrows are nice looking birds.

ducbucln - I confused. I was thinking the Dark-eyed Junco had black on the wings, too.

Mrs_Ed - I like the N. Mockingbird perched atop the cactus.

f_chisolm - that's a nice capture of an American Goldfinch.

2dCousinDave - The Titmouse looks nice. Sharp image.

Hack

Nice shots Everyone and Happy New Year to All!

Mr. Cooper has been menacing the feed area the last couple of day's. With his success on the House Sparrow's things have been dead quiet around here. I had a Downy chirping at me, here he was trying to tell me Mr.Cooper was around and he was right, he was in an old Cedar bush/tree hidden from view. I will go out there shortly to let everyone get something (in theory) to eat as they show up sometimes when I,m standing (guard) so to speak. I know strange, but that's how it works around here. lol Mr. Cooper leaves the area when I,m outside. Don't know how many times Ive seen him take off when Ive gone outside.

I have a couple shots from the other day, when there was some light. Female Cardinal

Dark-eyed Junco

Hanging around..

A shot of Ella.

Yet another Black-capped shot. I cant help it they pose for me so nicely I guess.lol

Lastly, I was fooling around with cropping some male Cardinal pictures, this one has a touch too much saturation but look's good on the Desktop.

GP, that close-up of the Red bellied is just gorgeous! Love that cardinal too-especially loved the bare branches which set the bird up beautifully-wonderful! Loved the hawk and the mocker is beautiful. We watched one this morning that wouldn't let any robins in it's tree and looked like it was on the warpath. Spectacular bunting-I'm so jealous! Good one of the osprey too.

Mrs Ed, cute mocker!

Frank, glad I'm not the only one taking photos through the windows! Your goldfinch and lady finch are sure pretty.

GP that convention must have been staking out a roadkill somewhere close.

Burd, great stop and grab shot!

Burn, love your starling and jay photos!

Donna, sorry about the crop loss. Guess I'll enjoy the white crowns while they're here-I don't have any fruit trees for them to damage.

Red, cute junco and titmouse. I just have a couple of the lighter colored juncos. I wonder if they're just immature or the females?

Here's one of my Scrub Jays.

Oh my Burd, that's a beautiful cardinal-WOW!

The red berries are so bright that you can hardly see the Cedar Waxwings!

These two Greater White fronted Geese were a rare find to our lake.

Thx Duc! I need to get more pictures of my bird's, in a more natural setting like yours, from my patio my shots to the feeder are only 9 feet away, so sometimes I have these wopping large shots, but its part of my learning curve with this new camera, even though I can get good shots hand holding now, they just don't get super sharp unless I use the tripod, will be picking up a mono-pod also. Ive purchased a 500mm MF lens plus a 2x converter to get those more natural shots of bird's waiting in the tree's for their turn to feed. Only 80 days left till spring. lol

Wonderful shots guys!

Duc, I love the Cedar Waxwing w/ the berry in his mouth!

Burd, wow, you'll really be up close and personal with that new tc and lens. Congrats, hope you enjoy them!

I switched to an open dish to feed the meal worms and got some interesting pics. Biggest problem is my dish is too small. Here you have five blues crowded on the rim and one waiting on the stem.

And of course, when Papa comes, he has to have it all to himself.

Looks like an 18th c. painting!!

Here's another I somehow managed to keep in focus. Remember these were shot off hand from about 10 feet away, so they were hard to keep in the frame

Missouri Blue Jays.

I found me a neat add-on to Forfox that shows the details of a digital photo. After I added it to Firefox (my broswer) all I have to do is open a photo, right click and then click on "Properties."

For example, here's the EXIF data for Dave's in-flight Blue Bird shot.

Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Image Date: 2009:12:31 13:10:40
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 200.0mm
CCD Width: 21.21mm
Exposure Time: 0.0006 s (1/1600)
Aperture: f/2.5
ISO equiv: 500
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

Hack

Margaret you are too funny.

Eastern Towhee eating seed spilled on the ground.

Hack

Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 40D
Image Date: 2009:12:29 18:19:21
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 210.0mm
CCD Width: 22.25mm
Exposure Time: 0.0063 s (1/160)
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO equiv: 1600
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Spot
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual


This message was edited Jan 1, 2010 2:19 AM

A pair of Mourning Doves.

Hack

Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 40D
Image Date: 2009:12:29 18:35:49
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 260.0mm
CCD Width: 22.25mm
Exposure Time: 0.0063 s (1/160)
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO equiv: 1600
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Spot
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual


This message was edited Jan 1, 2010 2:18 AM

Male House Sparrow, chilling.

Hack

Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 40D
Image Date: 2009:12:30 15:21:30
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 300.0mm
CCD Width: 22.25mm
Exposure Time: 0.017 s (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO equiv: 400
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Spot
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual


This message was edited Jan 1, 2010 2:17 AM

Hack, which Firefox add-on is that. Might be useful for debunking some of these urban myths that get circulated around the net.

Getting ready to go on a wild swan chase. Got a report of both Tundras and Trumpeters on the same small lake, so think we will check it out. About an hour's drive.

Some of this a.m.'s visitors.

The crows and doves are still wary of me, but less so now that it's cold. Hunger is beginning to displace some of their fear. This crow has a mouth full of biscuit bits I threw out. The gather up as many scraps as they can and then fly off a ways to eat them.

Thanks everyone for the great bird photos. None of the above are hereabouts now. 3 inches new snow yesterday afternoon. I did some snowshoveling, but lots more to do as soon as daylight.

Donna

Dave, your Bluebird photos are breathtaking!
Hack, great shot of the Eastern Towhee. It's interesting that some of these birds have red eyes (in the southeast) and some have the the white (in the north). Our Spotted Towhees have the red eyes.
Red, cute one of the finches. Interesting that your crow is wary of you, maybe I've been around mine longer because I can get to within 5 feet of mine. Hope you were able to get some photos of the swans.


Here's one of my Spotted Towhees that came up to the deck for some suet.

One of my crows prefers the suet downstairs in the yard.

This crow prefers to come up on the second floor deck and eat both suet and chopped nuts. The fog has been over the lake for two days now which makes for very bright backgrounds. I sure am glad my birds don't mind me photographing them through the windows.

This message was edited Jan 1, 2010 7:44 AM

During a break in the fog, this Robin seemed to be watching the water.

This Robin was more interested in the berries.

I took this through the window, but the Junco looked so cute.

Happy New Year's everyone!

Duc, how big are those bushes and how many of them do you have?