Daily Bird Pics - Vol. #359

Welcome to a new Bird Pics thread. Here is the link to the previous thread if you wish to re-visit and peruse through some fine photos of our feathered friends.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1142606/

Except for our DG friends Down Under, most of us are experiencing a transition into much colder weather. For me, it is the time I look forward to each year with the arrival of the Bald Eagles from up North. From mid-October through mid-December, I am totally engrossed in photographing the Bald Eagle. I guess one could call it an "addiction". Here are a few shots of the Bald Eagle to begin this new thread.

Most of the photographers anxiously wait for the eagle to glide in and catch a fish from the surface of the water. When this happens, activity tends to pick up as the other eagles begin to chase the one with the fish.

Here it appears as though he has his eye on the prize.

There are a lot of juvenile Bald Eagles around and they must learn to fish quickly for survival.

An adult Bald Eagle circling the area enjoying the breeze and riding the warm thermals of the atmosphere.

These I took this Sunday morning. I used the 55-250mm lens in the AV mode, and I started at F4 in some of the pics and went up to F8 to see what happens. I kept an eye on the shutter speed, to make sure it's at least half the focal length at all times. Your thoughts

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Beautiful start, Linth. I am a bit partial to those majestic Eagles....even if I rarely see one myself.

I LOVE the Bald Eagles, unfortunately in my location we don't have very many, and the area where they are is only accessible by boat. And we don't have one. They are on an island that is off limits to people. You are right about the squirrels, one way to keep squirrels coming to your dinner table outside is feed them Sunflower Seeds. I guess I will have to be patient, if that is possible, maybe put more sunflower seeds in the feeder. Its worth a shot, I looked at the weather report and no snow yet, and it is supposed to be in the 50's tomorrow. So no go on the snow for awhile yet.

Wonderful shots Linth! Love the Eagles. Thanks for starting the new thread!

Nice practicing syndicate; you can see what a big difference it makes.

I will to avoid squirrels on the feeder. We have a baffle & the current generation of squirrels seem not to have thought of jumping from the trunk of the tree to the feeder. Plenty of acorns around if they want something to eat.

Nice pics of the black squirrel, Syndicate, I noticed a few extra holes in your tube feeder, did you do that, or did the birds do it?

From the last thread-congratulations Hack, that new female finch is a beauty. Also, congrats to Pelle too.

Lily, maybe one of the herons left some bites of fish for those crows-they're sure cute.

Linth, thanks for the new thread-I'm glad to see you're back with the beautiful photos of the eagles. I especially loved the juvie shot, but they're all amazing. Looking forward to more soon.

We walked along the shore of our lake and found all kinds of different birds. These are Double-crested Cormorants.

This Great Egret was trying to balance itself on the top of a tree.

We watched Bonaparte's Gulls diving for bait fish everywhere.

Here's another one.

There were lots of Black-crowned Herons along the shore too.

I guess this Osprey is spending the winter here by its nest. It let us walk directly under its tree and just continued watching the water.

Quite the line-up of White-winged Doves under cloudy skies.

Had to lighten this Baltimore Oriole to see it.

This Blue Jay has two acorns.

Some Gulls in high flight.

Eastern Phoebe.

This Painted Bunting was ignoring the feeder and eating weed seeds.

Male Cardinal eating Crepe Myrtle seeds.

Turkey Vulture.

Last pic. Identified by Resin as a Coopers' Hawk.

I understand Syndicate, they are determined buggers, if they want something bad enough, they WILL find a way to get ot. We had a tube feeder almost like that one when we first started feeding the finches, then we learned the folly of doing that. There are no drain holes in the tubes and if moisture gets into it the seed will spoil. Thats what happened to ours, that is why we have the finch sock, it drains when it gets wet and the finches usually eat all the seed so it won't go bad. Maybe you could get a Squirrel Stumper for your seed, the squirrels can't get into it and it has drain holes so it won't spoil. Just a suggestion. I am getting SO impatient to see this little lady again and see if the Rose of Sharon I planted blooms for her.

Duc, You did such a great job on the pics! love the gull shots!

Great variety GP! Love seeing the Painted Bunting and Oriole!

Sweet Hummingbird pic teddy!

My hubby actually got that one, they fly too darn fast for me to get one, I tried and the minute I got focused on them, they were GONE!!!!

linthicum - very nice start. That second pic with the eagle carrying away the fish blew me away - fantastic!

syndicate1 - several of your pics looked under exposed (dark), but the ones with the Goldfinch and Chickadees at the feeder with silver hardware were really nice. Only thing that would have made them better was if they were cropped (to bring them up close).

ducbucln - your pix of Bonaparte's Gulls diving for bait were great.

gardenpom - that Painted Bunting that was eating weed seeds is beautiful.

teddy_8905 - you hubby did a good jop capturing that hummer.

Hack

We had some sun today, so I snapped a few pix.

Here is a snap of the activity at one on my feeders. 2 male HOFINS and a Tufted Titmouse in flight to the feeder.

Hack

Carolina Chickadee

Chickadee in flight.

Female Cardinal, looking pretty.

Male Cardinal looking handsome.

I had a lot of birds today.

2 HOFINS and a Titmouse

Captured this female House Finch perched on a limb.

This male House Finch was enjoying some Black Oil Sunflower seeds.