Daily piccies #283

Resin - thanks for starting the new thread.

ducbucln - you're right, that little Oak Titmouse is cute.

gardenpom - that was as good pic of the Blue Jay.

gardengus - that is a cool pic. You had me sitting here counting Cardinals.

sacarvounis - I like those little Carolina Wrens. I have quite a few around here.

MargaretK - That Kookaburra is a strange looking bird. Its head appears to be way too big for its body.

2dCousinDave - I really like the snap of the Tufted Titmouse. What lens are you using to get a
Focal Length of 200.0mm and an Aperture: f/3.2?

It was so lousy here today that I didn't get the 40D out. Maybe tomorrow will be nicer.

Hack

Sarc, Love your Bluebird, Titmouse and Carolina Wren!

Margaret, Nice shots! I really like the Kookaburra and Pelican!

Dave, Great shots! Love the mad Bluebird and thats a great catch of the House Sparrow chase!

Thanks everyone! Wow, Dave.....that shot of the three thugs is unbelievable. And chilling!

2dCousinDave, the wingspread bluebird is outstanding. What shutter speed did you use to stop the action? The trio of baddies has a perverse beauty.

here's a caption for that wingspread one:

"And it snowed THIS much."

LOL, Mrs. ED....perfect!

Great bird shots everyone.

Dave how do you prevent house thievery or do the bluebirds take care of the problem themselves. I have lots of birdhouses, but can't keep the E. sparrows out of them.

Donna

Donna,

Here's a good website with info on bluebirds:

www.sialis.org

Check it out!

Alison

Hack, on days like yesterday and today, when the light is so bad, I usually choose the Canon 200mm. It has an aperture of f/1.8 and is the fastest telephoto lens I own. It is very heavy (about 6 pounds). Right now it is mounted on the 7D and I have been trying to get a few shots of the birds despite the nearly blizzard conditions wer are currently experiencing. We have more than a foot on the ground and they say the worst will come today. We have lost power twice this morning and right now it is snowing very hard and coming in horizonally.

Here is a shot taken with the 7D and the 200mm a little while ago when I was outside feeding the birds.. I had the ISO set at 1000 earlier because it was so dark and this guy landed practically at my feet while I was shoveling a path to the feeder. I just grabbed the camera and fired without checking the settings, so you can see the shutter fired at 1/8000 sec.

Dave

One lone gold finch on the feeder.

Linth, I do hope that all the eagle eggs will survive the snow.
Gardengus, love all those cardinals in the snow. Gee, you're welcome to send some or all of them west to my home!
GP, I'm so happy to hear the tree will remain there for the birds.
Sacarvounis, great photos! Loved seeing the bluebird and titmouse.
Margaret, great to see your photos too. Love that Kookaburra and cute little wrens. Your pelicans are great!
Dave, great shots! Great timing on the one of the sparrow and the bb diving toward it. The three trouble makers is great! Loved seeing that last one-beautiful.
Sacarvounis, that link is really full of information. I had no idea a house sparrow would kill an adult bb.

Our Lesser Goldfinches are still coming up close to the windows.

This guy was looking at me and saying he was glad we didn't have all that snow like your photo Dave. Brrrr!

Donna, that chase shot was the best of several I took yesterday. Here is link to a slideshow with more of them.

http://secondcousindave.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=11154697&AlbumKey=zaE4a

Sunfarm, the settings on the picture was ISO 1000, aperture f/3.2, shutter speed 1/1250 sec

Here is another taken at the same time.

Dave....love your BB shot in the snow!! Hope you all get through this storm OK.

Duc....yes, those house sparrows are quite vicious. I had a personal encounter with them this summer with several of the nest boxes in my yard. And the rest of the birds seem to "know" as my yard goes berserk when they are present.

Duc, I lost my male bluebird last May. He was trapped in a nest box and killed by a HOSP. I would post a picture here but it is too gruesome. He was here for four years so losing him was like losing a family pet.

Here is link to one of the the less gruesome shots but be warned, it is not pretty.

http://secondcousindave.smugmug.com/Eastern-Bluebirds/Papas-corpse-WARNNG-graphic/IMG9966/549730459_qhzt2-X2.jpg

Dave

Thanks Dave, How much snow did you get. Haven't talked to my daughter inFairfax in a couple of days so don't know how it went there.


When do your bluebirds show up or don't they migrate. Our weather has been warmer than normal and I keep hoping to see bluebirds or phoebes soon. Guess I will have survive on the interenet bluebirds.

Donna

One more shot of a bluebird. I need to get back out there as they are hungry again.

One last one for a little while. This one with the 600mm lens

Donna, I live in Stafford County and we have about 18 inches on the ground. Some parts of Fairfax County, especially to the west, are reporting as much as 24 to 30 inches. Even further west they have received as much as 40 inches. But it has not stopped and we (and they) should be getting at least another foot before it does. It will easily break all records for this part of the country.

I just fed my birds again and again it was a real feeding frenzy. I take my camera out with me, although the snow blows up in your face so badly that you can't see through the viewfinder. And sometimes you are too close. As with this shot, totally uncropped.. Somehow I got most of him in focus. Sheer luck.

Dave, your slideshow was amazing! What do you do with that Van Ert Trap once you've captured a sparrow though? Or maybe I don't want to know. The House Sparrows are now nesting in two of my houses. Luckily my Tree Sparrows haven't arrived yet. Last year I watched the two fighting and my husband and I spent hours standing by the houses and trying to protect our swallows who aren't afraid of us standing so close.

You sure have a way of making a sweet looking bird look even sweeter! Nice captures. Glad you stocked up, stay safe!

I'm sorry, but I can't hate this House Sparrow pair that's nesting in one of my birdhouses. I hate it that they're so cruel to the other birds and can endanger the species, but it's not in my nature to interfere in any other way other than standing close to the house.



This message was edited Feb 6, 2010 10:25 AM

Here's mama looking out.

This Red shafted Northern Flicker rested in the tree before beginning to groom itself.

I thought this was a cute pose.

Duc. The VanErt trap doesn't hurt them. It is affixed on the back of the front door and is spring loaded somewhat like a mousetrap, except when the bird trips the wire, the flap swings up and blocks the hole. The red dot tells me that the trap is sprung. If it is anything except a HOSP, I release it. Some people relocate the HOSP. Not me.

Dave Thanks for the snow info.

Your pictures of bluebirds are just fabulous.

Donna

Me either, Dave!

LOL Dave! Great shots guys.

We've gotten a lot of snow here, I think we're up to 28". I talked to my sister down the shore in Cape May County and she said so many tree's have fallen and there is no power. They have a wood burning stove luckily and they were on their way out to get gas for the generator. It's very dangerous because of so many of the lines being down.

I took some pics at 6 am this morning so I'll see if they turned out. The 6 quart feeder that was full this morning was Completely empty when I got home six hours later. I have six other seed feeders besides this one.

Here are a few of the feeders (2 shots).

Nyjer feeders.

Oh my, Pelle, that's way too much snow! Thank goodness for people like you and the others that keep the feeders filled!

Beautiful shots everyone...love your Cal birds Duc, so clear and sharp. Margaret it is always a pleasure to see your birds from down under, those Kooks always make me smile. Sac your shots are just adorable. Dave...goodness those Blues leave me speechless (as well as the others).

Pelle...I agree with Duc...that is way too much snow!

I have been watching the Bald Eagle web-cams that Linth posted earlier in this thread...amazing how they survive in this weather.

Edited to add that I hope you are all hanging in there on the east coast...be safe and warm.

This message was edited Feb 6, 2010 3:24 PM

Taken today, thru the window

Lots of bird activity at the feeder

Flowerjen, your cardinal in the evergreen is just precious.

Yes he is precious Jen!

AWESOME snow pictures! Hope everyone is OK.
Here is a new one for me, the Yellow-rumped warbler.

I think I have about 18 inches in my part of the 'Burg as well.
Here's a few of our little guys today...

Song Sparrow....

Black-capped Chickadee...

A Carolina Wren with the peanut the Titmouse is always looking for... *LOL*

And the Titmouse with a sunflower seed... but he didn't throw it away today!