Daily Pics - Page 321

Wonderful pics duc, nanny and Lily!!

This wasn't very good because of the lighting but here is a Red-tailed Hawk from this morning.

Okay I lost all my pics from this morning so I'll tell you about it.

This morning I had the company of a baby Robin on the porch with me for about 30 minutes. He kept calling for his parents but they weren't coming around. First he was about 5 feet in front of me then a little further. He then flew over my head onto the patio table for a while. when he went near the air conditioner I shooed him out to the closest daylily bed. Finally one of his parents showed up and started feeding him and then the other parent. I had so many cute pics of him alone and with his parents,oh well.

Sorry you lost your pics Pelle but your description sounds darling!

Wild Rose...love your Heron shots and others, thanks for the new thread! Nice to see everyones shots from all over the country.

Lots of rain lately but got this shot of the Red-headed Woodpecker drilling a nest hole in the back yard dead tree.

I read that it take up to 2 weeks for them to complete the nest hole...he is sure working at it!!

Excellent shots Rose! He is a beauty!

Duc...Love the Towhee pic!!!
Pelle...Cool Red-Tailed Hawk capture!!!
Dellrose...Great Woodpecker pics!!!
Lily...Adorable Wren capture!!!
Burn...Oh, such lovely pics of Waxwings...I dream of seeing one someday!
Hope I didn't miss anyone...

Here's just a pic of our male Downy Woodpecker. We haven't seen the 2 females in quite sometime, so hope they have fledglings that they will bring around soon!

This message was edited May 20, 2010 11:23 AM

Just saw a grackle land at the pond with another dead bird in its bill. Really hate those grackles! but on to happy bird thoughts...

Nice Susan Louise! The downies around never come to any of my feeders. One has been eating the caterpillars in the ash tree though, so good for him.

So many great pictures!!! A few of my favorites then:
Rose, LOVE the red-headed woodpeckers. I think they are my favorite woodpecker.
2ndCousinDave, just love all your pics but those two fledglings posing is so pretty.
Burn, stunning waxwings in the apple tree blossoms -- the stuff bird pic dreams are made of.
VA_Wild_Rose, just fantastic start to this thread. That spearing of the fish with the blood drops flying is unbelievable!
Mrs. Ed, too cute! I love those babies.
Nanny, jealous of the catbirds and nice capture of the flycatcher.
Duc, love all your pics but I really love Acorn Woodpeckers!
I don't know which favorites I forgot, but this thread is just stunning!

Here is a Yellow-billed Cuckoo

This Yellow-crowned Night-Heron nest is the same one that I showed you last week. They are getting really big!

This pic has a Little Blue Heron nest in front with a Little Blue Heron on a stick next to it and behind them is the nest of the Yellow-crowned Night-herons.

This is my last one. Hope I didn't crop this too much. This is a close-up of the Little Blue Heron babies.

Nice one Susan, i love the Downy Woodpecker!

Elphaba, Great shots! I love the Cuckoo and the nesting Herons are just precious!!!

Wonderful shots everyone, loved each and everyone!

Pelle, I think that's a great capture of the hawk! Your photos sounded perfect and so memorable for you. Sorry about that loss. Hopefully, the little one will give you another photo opportunity soon.

Rose, spectacular pictures of the red-head! He sure has a good start on that nest hole. How wonderful for you and any future photos we'll all enjoy too. He sure is a handsome guy.

Susan wishing you luck at seeing some future babies too!

Elphaba, sorry to hear about the grackle killing another bird. Your Yel-billed Cuckoo is a beauty!! I loved all the heron chicks, especially the smaller powder puffs.

This is one of my Tree Swallows that already has a mate with little ones. I don't think he knew what to do with the feather since they apparently have enough in the birdhouse.

Goodness! I didn't know Grackles would mean harm to other song birds. Sorry Elphaba to 'hear' about the demise of an innocent one. This morning I saw my Lord Byron, one that looks just exactly like Rose's Redheaded, he ran off a grackle from the feeder. Yes, Lord Byron can go to war if it has too. lol. Great pics. everyone. Not much time in bird watching due to nice weather, and chores in the garden and more chores. lol. I do have some bad shots will share later on the awful birds pic. thread. ^_^

A baby Robin out in the yard.

Juvenile European Starling calling for a parent.

...

Growing up fast! Poor those fledglings that are forced to highschools when they haven't finished middle school -- so to speak. It shouldn't have been that long since this 'baby' Brown Thrasher (if I'm wrong, please some one helps correct me) fledged. Moma and Pappa were out and feveruous build another 'house' on the rose arbor. It took them a mere 2 days (I believe) for the couple to build a brand new 'home'. Whatever the case, I'm so glad to discover this juvie this afternoon. There were two of them, I caught only this sweet babe.

Now that I can see the picture more clearly, that wasn't a Brown Thrasher. Sorry, if I has it mistaken for B.T. female House Finch--again? My fault!

Wait, wait, there were the two birds! Those are too big to be HF. after all. Ahhhh.

Pelle, gorgeous photos of your babies. Love the colors in the last two, but that innocent look of the robin is "priceless".

Lily, whatever they are, they're cuties!!

Thanks Duc. Male Northern Cardinal Discovers new feeding station:

Elphaba and Lily_love, two days ago a Grackle killed a Sparrow on my patio -- when I stepped outside, it abandoned its kill but screeched at me from my neighbor's roof, swooping at me and circling the area. The poor Sparrow wasn't dead yet but it appeared its neck was broken.

I guess it's a normal part of nature, but it's just so unnerving! and they are such killing machines! I've seen them kill 5 birds in the last couple of weeks and that's just what I happened to witness. They do go for the neck. They actually come up at them from below and stab them in the underside of the neck. Mostly, they seem to be killing house sparrows and perhaps house sparrows would take over the world without grackles keeping their numbers down. Seems like the grackles are taking over the world though!

Yes, I noticed a wound under the beak of this one. I know it's nature, too, but I wish it wouldn't happen at my backdoor. Guess that's just the way it is.

A Mourning Dove this afternoon.

There were 6 Turkey Vultures flying around together today,here is one.

You guys have been busy. Lots of great photos I've seen.

I'm not sure what's going on in this photo, but the female Cardinal was at the feeder first. When the male showed up, it looked like she fed him. Could the male have been her youngun?

Hack

Looks like this Goldfinch had an itch.

Hack

Female house finch.

Hack

Male House Finch

Hack

I really like the inquisitive look of my Brown Thrasher.

Hack

This Brown-headed Cowbird paid a visit to my bird bath.

Hack

And had a grand old time.

Hack

I'm moving up from my Sigma 150-500 to a Canon f5.6 400mm prime lens. I've only taken a few "playing around" pics with it, but I'm looking forward to it becoming my main birding lens.

Does anyone know how well it performs with a Canon 1.4x teleconverter. I was wondering how well it auto focuses with the 1.4 between it and the camera.

My 150-500 is on ebay right now with less than 48 hrs left and has a couple bids. It's sale is going to help finance the 400 prime

Hack

Hack, I've got the 400mm f5.6. You lose autofocus with the 1.4x teleconverter. There is a way around it, by placing tape over some of the thingys where the lens joins the camera body. I tried it and although it worked, it was slow and I felt it was unreliable like that and never use it. You'll love that 400mm lens. The only time it frustrates me is when there is little contrast; it struggles to focus fast enough under those conditions. I took my 300mm out several weeks ago and it felt like a great, hulking dinosaur by comparison.

Thanks, Margaret. before you told me, my research said the same thing you did about it not being able to AF. So, I'm not going to buy it. I already have Tamron 1.4x and a 2x teleconverters and am going to play around with them.

I realize I'll have to manual focus the 40D, but I did that with the Sigma, too. But, if I remember right, the Sigma, on a bright day, would still AF some of the time. Maybe it'll be a bright day tomorrow.

Hack

It was late, but I had to try my new Canon 400mm prime. Here's a pic of a male Cardinal from about 25 yds away, the sun was going down. I know the distance because I was just outside my garage and the bushes are that far away. I used my range-finder.

Hack

Here's a Brown-headed Cowbird feeding on the ground, under a feeder.

Hack

Here's a female House Sparrow at the feeder.

Hack