Daily Pics_ Page 1

Woodpecker, I know he is thinking "mary, you need to refill this suet"

He took a short refuge in the fly-thru during the snow

My poor little birdies are cold, check this out, it hasn't been above freezing in about a week, until today.

Nice pics everyone!

Murmur, I love the siskins and the hairy!

Mary, I know what you mean about the cold weather, the wind actually felt like it was biting my face today,lol.

claypa, aren't there one that can actually connect (binos)?

Today the weather was BRUTAL!! When I went to work this morning it was 10 degrees and the wind chill was a whopping -10 !!!!! Tomorrow its supposed to be worse!
Didn't have much of a chance to take any pics but theres mainly just Junco's around anyway.

Murmur - Siskins are cute! Never seen them before. I've never had a woodpecker enlarge a feeder hole before but have had squirrels chew up thistle feeder openings.

Deb: Amazed at all the close-up hawk pics I'm seeing. I only see them flying or perched about 60 feet up in the trees.
I envy your warmer weather! :)

Dinu: That Koel looks like a big one! I, too , hope you'll post more birds!

Marylyn: Brrrr!

It's been cold so I haven't had the patience to wait outside to catch the birds. I did see the first junko of the season yesterday but the pic was taken thru a window and isn't very clear.
Deb(inSC)

That's one gorgeous shot of the Junco pelle!
I remember the NJ cold, just hang in there girl, not too much longer now, Spring will be here!
I've been out all day in the GH sorting out what's been sown, and organizing everything.
Don't hate me when I tell ya that I was actually perspiring... (yeah sweat)!

I didn't get any pics today at all. :-) Soon I will be moving all the seed feeders to the front again, and only serve mealies. hummer water and cherries in back by my window. This way I can keep Mock around to mind the back yard for me. Then maybe all my Caterpillars won't get eaten up by so much bird traffic in the back gardens. We will see how that goes..:-)

Deb

I've been trying to get pictures of Bohemian Waxwings all winter. There was a sever snow storm when the mass migration went through. They strip the berries from Mountain Ash trees and move on. When the storm ended, most of the birds had left. This afternoon I looked out the window, and saw a small flock in the top of a big Cottonwood tree a block away. I had to get out the binoculars to identify them. I walk over and took a few pictures. The white on branches is hoar frost, from last nights ice fog. Their real beauty is in the very fine red and yellow markings on the wings. But, standing below them perched in the tree top, there was no hope of the angle I wanted for the shot. This is the best I could do.

Neat looking shot Gras! Hoar frost??? Never heard that term before.

It's finally warming up here, and it's actually comfortable to spend the day outside. I'm sorry for you folks in the extreme cold.
Here's one of my lil' chestnut dee. I'm happy for the shot I got, but wish I'd managed to get the top of it's wings too.

towhee all stretched out

junco

sparrow

Tigerlily, that is an incredible photo - I always get just a blur from the wings!!!

Gras, I know the term "hoar frost" from doing crossword puzzles!!! Love your photo of the waxwings!

Debin, good junco shot - aren't they cutest things ever?

Pelle, that's also a good junco shot - and a super feeder!

MaryinLa, good birdie pics and also a good ice pic (lol - ice pick?).

Tigerlily, we cross posted - your photos are marvelous!!!! i don't think I've ever seen a towhee stretched out like that!!! All good, clear photos.

These are AWESOME photos everyone. Definitely "calendar" quality!

I haven't taken many photos of birds lately. I did acquire something though that will make taking bird photos much easier in the future (I hope!) I found a pair of binoculars with a built in digital camera at Goodwill not long ago. I haven't had a chance to use it very much yet. I tried to download the few photos that I did take (practising) and was only able to see one of the images that I knew I'd taken. As soon as I figure it all out, I'll post some photos.

It's supposed to be best from 40+ ft. and outside.

This one I got was $15.00. It was new and still in the package.

Here is some info I found on the web about it.

From SharkCamera.com:
Specifications
Product type:Digital Camera
Sensor:CMOS sensor 300K pixels
Resolution:640 x 480 VGA
Format:AVI
Frame Rate:15fps
Lens:f=2.6F2.4(54)
Image Process:Auto white balance
Transmission interface:USB 1.1
Working Voltage:USB 5V
Operation Temperature:0-40°C
System Requirements
Windows98/Me/2000/XP
Pentium® II 333MHZ or Pentium® compatible processor
64MB or more RAM
200MB free hard disk space
Colour Monitor with high colour (16-bit) graphic capability or higher
Standard mouse and keyboard
Available CD_ROM
Available USB Port
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the meantime, there is a bird that showed up on my back deck last fall. I never did find out what he was. Any ideas? I managed to get about a dozen photos of this big bird. I was inside of my house and the photos were taken from about 40 ft. with full zoom on. If you need more photos, let me know. I live in the city. There is a drainage ditch that runs behind my house. We get a lot of bigger bird varieties back there, but this was the first time I'd seen one land in my yard... well, sort of in the yard anyway.

Janet

This one wasn't today, but is a favorite of mine.

tiger, All the photos are terrific. My favorite is the Junco, its so perfectly clear you can see all the details of the feathers. I too have never seen a photo of a towhee stretched out like that.

Janet, Very nice pic, can't wait to see your others!

Thanks! I'm looking forward to some warmer weather. Aren't we all? :-)

This is from April last year. These guys and gals are constantly in my yard. I think they are just beautiful.

UniQue Treasures, I think your mystery bird is a juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron.

pelletory, there are binoculars that take pictures, like UniQue got, but I don't know of a way to attach a camera to binoculars. I just hold them together. Maybe Dinu can tell us more about it. I think he has a thread in photography, I'll go look.
Everybody's pictures are spectacular! It's nice to see a few Hairy woodpeckers, I don't see so many around any more.

tigerlily, great shots - the Junco is fabulous, the focus is soooo sharp. I really like that image.

Uni, while I can see why claypa identified the mystery bird, as a juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron, I disagree. The neck looks too long, and the markings on the throat don't seem to be those of the Heron. It would be very helpful if the tail was in the shot. The bird in the photo looks more like a Roadrunner to me.

Pell, I love to watch Siskins on a bright sunny day. When the sun strikes the yellow on the wings, it becomes an iridescent gold.

Herons can fold or extend their necks. Roadrunners have a much shorter neck than this bird, and even juveniles have a stripe behind the eye. Roadrunners have a crest, too, that this bird is lacking. And this bird has a straight bill, unlike Roadrunners.
The reason I think it's a Black-crowned instead of a Yellow-crowned is the yellow in the bill, and the white spots on the wing feathers. There's a picture on this link with the neck extended, not quite as much as this bird, though


http://tinyurl.com/232lok

I'm with Claypa, juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron.

Resin

Hey Janet!
Missed you girl! Great pic of the Night Heron and Dove.. Cool find on the bino-cam, and guessin' you found a good keyboard ... welcome back!

Deb o/~

I am not a good one to try to id birds, but in my book, the eye of UniQue Treasures' bird, makes me think it is a imature Yellow Crowned Heron. Can someone look at that one as a possibility please.

The pictures posted by everyone are so neat. What type of sparrow is in the pic Tigerlily?

Sheila may have a point.. check this pic>> http://www.pbase.com/passman/image/20483386

The Black-crowned seems to have more yellow on the beak..

Keep watching that one Janet! See if you can spot any that look like this around there>

Thanks everyone for your input on what he might be. I think he is an immature Yellow Crowned Heron, just like Sheila said. The photo Deb posted was RIGHT ON. I just made the collage below of some of the photos I took that day.

I've seen a pair of Yellow Crowned Night Herons 2 houses down from me at the top of a tree last summer. I don't honestly think they were nesting there, but I've been wrong before. Quite a few times, if the truth be told! HAHAHA

I'll post a photo of the Yellow Crowned Night Heron next.

BTW, Deb, not only did I get a new keyboard, my computer guru brought me a whole new laptop! Very unexpectedly, but most welcome at the perfect time. It never ceased to amaze me how God provides for me.

Janet

Here's the pair of Yellow Crowned Night Herons

Grrrrrrrrrrr that Send button needs to be moved! HAHAHA

As far as I know the eyes won't help much with i d, but what does make me wonder is the little white edges on some of the wing feathers, which is more of a Yellow-crowned characteristic. I'm sure it's one or the other, though.
When googling images it's easy to find mis-identified birds, and the more I look the more I find. The one thing I liked about the link I posted is it has a bunch of pictures of the same species, but I can't be sure. Another problem is these birds are often seen together. . .

debnes, I was hoping you'd be able to straighten this out! :)

I couldn't see the end of his tail in any of the photos. He sat there for about 10-15 minutes just looking around.

The YCNH's that I posted, I looked up in a bird book that we have. Don't ask me which one, I'd have to lie, rather that find it again. %^}

Although this wasn't the best photo, I loved how the squirrel was laying there as the bird "eyeballed" him.

Janet

Here is the Koel, down on the ground, trying to eat the pulp of the Thevetia peruviana fruits that have fallen. They are fond of them. The above picture of mine is of the same tree. I was searching for a little elusive yellow butterfly there when the koel did not seem to take notice of me! Which is very unusual. As soon as it spotted me, it tried to move away. There was a good 15-20 feet between us and that helped this shot. I only had my camera, and no binocular to help!

Some of you have been wondering what this "bino-zoom" is! Here is the rough drawing just to give an idea how I manage. I tell you, this method is not for impatient 'clickers'. While holding the bino in one hand and the camera trying to pin-point the spot for imaging (it keeps eluding on the camera monitor) ... it is indeed very tricky. There is no groove to fit the eye-piece. I have to first focus with the bino with my eye and then bring the camera into position.

Definitely have to try that - thanks for the excellent info, Dinu!

And, Janet, I have no idea what that bird is (I never know!!), but super photos!!

Great photos everyone!

Thanks Murmur. I was very pleased with the way those turned out, considering I was inside the house and from such a distance too. I love my camera! :-)


Ok Folks, Here's another one to ID. I looked in that same bird book, and to my way of thinking, this is a Cooper's Hawk. I was in the restroom and (out of the corner of my eye) watched this bird swoop down to my yard and pick up the other bird. I raced to the back door and grabbed the camera off the table at the door. I didn't open the door, but got this not so great photo of the hawk and the bird (looks to be a pigeon of some sort by the colors of the feathers) through the window. This was the only photo I got that morning.

Janet

Yes Coopers. Nice catch!

This message was edited Feb 6, 2007 11:20 AM

Had this Sharpie come through the yard twice today. He nabbed a Junco earlier.

Another pic