Show Us Your Favorite Shot's (3) from 2008

Nice ones nanny! Love the Waxwing!

These are all great guys, I'll participate later in the week.

thank you Pelle....

very intense shots Linthicum

love the waxwing Nanny!

Outstanding photos, all of them!! Looking forward to seeing more!

Pelle, what a brilliant idea for a thread. Thank you. Fabulous shots everyone. Choosing a favourite would be like trying to choose a favourite tree in a forest. Impossible.

The Nankeen Night Heron never fails to bring a smile to my face, but this one, with the wind ruffling its feathers makes me laugh.

This one of Aussie and Mum from mid November melts my heart.

My #3 favourite is of Aussie and Mum.

Man, you guys have awesome shots.

"Sharp-shinned Hawk attacks an American Crow" - this might be the most awesome thing I've ever seen. You are SO lucky to have seen that in person, let alone get that on film.

Mine are all crap compared to everyone else! :)

Here a blue jay was finishing up drinking, and when I snapped it another one landed in the background. "Hey, what's going on over there?"

It is not the best quality, but I just like this pic, with the full berry in its throat.

d'oh! wrong button

evie, it is titled Favorite Shots...lol

My crow shot is not really one of my best, but I remeber what I was seeing when I took it and it really struck me. I was not able to really capture the sun coming thru the tree and hitting the crow. But I still see it in my mind..so it is one of my favorites.

Beautiful pics! Wish I'd gotten a good one of a Cedar Waxwing. I also tried getting birds with berries without too much luck. I'll have to go look at those photos.

I haven't narrowed down the other two yet, but this must be one of my favorites b/c I've had it as my screensaver since I took it last March and I'm still not sick of it!

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird in the Lady Banks rose. Wish the rose were in focus too, but I still like the suggestion of roses beneath her.

Elphaba wrote "Wish the rose were in focus too"

Well, that is asking a bit much isn't it?? I just want my photos to be in full focus at all, let alone have multiple things in focus! lol

I want it all! lol!

This one was in the shade, but I tend to like the dark pictures. At x-mas, my nephew picked out favorite pictures for me to print and then we drew them. This was one of the ones he picked, but I ended up drawing it. My nephew thinks that I'm an artist. He's the only one! I think that I probably should learn how to draw before he grows up and thinks differently! I added roses to my picture and the cool thing about drawing it is that everything is in focus!

Evie, I love the Blue Jay shot!

Elphaba, The Hummingbird is beautiful!

Here is my second favourite for 2008. The crakes and rails are very secretive birds, and to my surprise I had found both Baillons Crake and the Buff-banded Rail in Mathison Park and got photos of both of them. Just across the road from the park is a small elongated pond and in February it was drying out so it had a muddy fringe with rushes nearby. It looked a good place for crakes and/or rails, so I decided to stake it out one morning. I went down soon after sunrise at 7.00 am and sat down among the sedges on the bank of the pond, with the sun behind me giving perfect light conditions. I had a book with me and read on and off while keeping a close watch over the pond. After 20 minutes, my idea was justified, as a Buff-banded Rail flew across the pond, landed on the muddy edge and made its way quickly past me and disappeared at the end of the pond. I had good photos already, but it at least gave me hope that other crakes or rails could use the same spot. I sat there for another hour, and about 8.20 am another smaller bird flew across the pond to land on the mud and started feeding there. I was amazed to find it was a Lewin's Rail - Dryolimnas_pectoralis, a bird I had only ever seen in the wild once before and that was in Tasmania 20 years or more earlier. I had never had the chance to photograph it. The bird was very cooperative, feeding on the mud and walking up and down just across the pond from my position. I took some 25 pictures of it and many were very pleasing. here is one of my favourites.
Ken

That would have been a great shot of ANY bird with the reflection and shadow and good camera skill. The fact that it was THAT bird makes it a truly wondrous shot.

Yes ditto to what Juney said!

very nice

#1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

#2 Pine Siskin

#3 Cute Chubby Ruby-throated hummingbird.

awesome shots Mrs... boy do i miss the hummers

Mrs Ed, your RB grosbeak photo really show how pretty the bird is. I am dissappointed in the bird book pictures, they look plain. His red bib is vibrant!

This is truely a wonderful thread with everyones favorites.

Here is one of mine.

cparts, thats a nice pic of the 2 Pileated!

Oh yeah cpart!!

Thanks. I love them. It is always a treat to watch them.

Mrs Ed, The Grosbeak pic is outstanding.

Thanks Pelle, I sure hope they show up this year too!

Wonderful photos
Kennedy, I especially loved your photo of the Lewin's Rail, Catching it and the great reflection was the best.

It has been so cold and so much snow here this winter that I have taken very few pctures of birds. I keep feeding them and keep water available but that is the best I can do. There are 2 male and 1 female Ringnecked Pheasants still around. They are very shy but also hungry so they fly into the yard to find a bite to eat.

Donna

The White Crowned Sparrows come in spring for a month, I have to cover my newly coming up peas with bird netting to keep them from eating the small plants to the ground. They stay around for about a month then are gone for rest of the year. About a week ago this one WCSparrow showed up for a few days to eat and then went away, maybe to a warmer area. I took this picture thru the window.

Donna

Those pheasants are quite cool! Not anything I'd find by me, so it is great to see the pic. Thanks!

I'm loving this walk down memory lane '08 with all of you. Great thread everybody!

Angele, I was glad to see Rudi. You'll have to post what she's been up to over on the daily thread!

Thanks Mrs. Ed. I hope there will be another batch of babies this year.☺

Rudi has to be one of my favorites from last year!

Very strange bird for SE Oklahoma

Inca Dove

Resin

What a neat looking dove. I would love to see one.