All types of Birds
No Jumping From Pier – Pelicans Talking
“George, are you going to jump? It says no jumping”
“But look at all those fish down there, I’m jumping”
Woo Hoo
“Look at George go, I’m going next”
Lunch is served
Short video below of Pelicans on the pier. There isn’t a link for this one, so you have to click visit to go to the web page to see it. Have a great weekend.
Have a great weekend.
No Jumping From Pier
It is So Hot – I am a tree
What are you looking at over there?
So many different captions for these photos.
Boo
It is So Hot
The Double Crested Cormorant – The double-crested cormorant gets its name because during breeding season adults sport two tufts of feathers, one above each eye; the rest of the year, these tufts do not appear.
But what I find so fascinating about this bird is its teal colored eyes. This is not a clear photo but look at the ring of teal color at the bottom of the eye. It almost looks like it is lit up. I will be trying to get a better photo of this next year.
During the high of the breeding season, a cormorant’s teal-blue eyes, bright yellow throat pouch, and tufts of feathers just above the eyes (for which the bird is named) cause this bird to stand out among the rest
The Double Crested Cormorant
Sweet Color of Sunlight – Out of all of the colors, Yellow is the most noticeable to human eyes. This color is said to aid in analytical thinking. It also brings up feelings of happiness and optimism in those who see it.
Though too much yellow at one time can actually lead to annoyance and agitation from viewers and may also make you visually fatigued. Who knew one color held so much power!
Have a wonderful weekend.
Sweet Color of Sunlight
Splish Splash I was taking a bath.
Ah hem, a little privacy please. 🙂
Splish Splash
Swallow Tailed Kites, I finally got to see some of these flying high. Some folks told me about this bird when I was down south. They said they only pass through the area and stay for just a few days. They actually look like kites gliding up above.
Swallow-tailed Kites spend most of their time in the air, capturing and swallowing their food in flight. Rarely flapping their wings, they soar and make tight turns, rotating their tail to steer.
Swallow Tailed Kites
Natures Firework Colors – During the 4th of July fireworks displays, they end with what the call the grand finale.
This is natures grand finale for today’s 4th of July. Bright beautiful colors on display right outside all day every day. 🙂
Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts
Natures Firework Colors
He Needs a Bigger Condo, a heron likes to perch up high just like a cat. This one was watching us fish down below. It is a purple martin house and that isn’t a real one laying at the feet of the heron. It is a fake purple martin to attract the real ones. Short video of the heron below or click this link; Heron on a Bird House
I have a fake one on my purple martin house, but I have never seen a purple martin up there yet. It is the end of June and here is wishing everyone a wonderful month of July.
The warm summer days are ahead of us, they remind of being a youngster, enjoying the fresh green grass between your toes, the warm breezes brushing up against your skin. Just love it.
Have a great weekend.
Have a wonderful weekend. 🙂
He Needs a Bigger Condo
I Took a Lot of Photos of this bird, the Indigo Bunting, I was under the impression that being in the far south was the only place you would see this bird. But come to find out I saw it all the way up into Illinois. Now I know they don’t come to Michigan, that is a little to far north for them. 🙂
We were out for a walk one day and looked over to the right and here sat this large unusual looking bird. I had to look it up when I got back. Plus I had the bridge camera on this walk and it just does not do very well when you max out the zoom lens on it.
Anything over 400 mm with this bridge camera the photos will not be clear. But I still was able to get a photo of it to write down in my bird book.
It is called a Bobolink, I have never heard of it but it is quite a fascinating bird.
This picture below is from the internet, I did not take it, it is just to show you what it looks like.
I Took a Lot of Photos
Really Fast Birds the Foster Terns. Smaller than all the gulls, with thinner and more pointed bill. Distinguished from other terns by pale whitish wings and orange-based bill in summer, and isolated black ear patch in winter. Forages by circling and hovering over bays, ponds, and lakes, then dropping to snatch fish.
It was very difficult to follow these guys as they were diving. My camera was going all over the place.
They capture their food by plunge-diving from heights as low as a few feet to as high as 50 feet or more.
Really Fast Birds
Hanging Out at the Beach Kind of Day, I still have a few photos from down south, so I will be going back and forth with post as I get a chance to edit my backlog of shots.
The first two photos are birds you almost always see at the beach. I don’t know the exact species name but they run in the family of plovers I believe.
Video of Beach Birds below or here; Beach Birds
With a couple of Oyster catchers hanging out, the birds with the orange bills.
Hanging Out at the Beach Kind of Day
Another Warbler, this one being the Hooded Warbler with its bold color of yellow and a black cap like a hood. This bird was very easy to spot in the trees. So many colors this spring.
Another Warbler
The Palm Warbler – Warblers are a group of birds in the family Parulidae. There are 100species of warbler in North America.
Identifying warblers, indeed any bird comes down to knowing some basic facts about the species and then observing it closely. With about 111 species in the family, this can be a challenge. A few species don’t look very ‘warblerish’, like the Ovenbird, Waterthrush, and Yellow-breasted Chat, but for the others, you’ll need some additional help.
Color and plumage patterns, voice, behavior, and habitat are the most important characteristics. Armed with the additional knowledge of a species’ geographic range, you will likely be successful. A good field guide is also invaluable.
This one below I believe is a fly catcher of some sort. But it is also in the group of just another Brown bird for me.
Can you see what is in this tree?
I was surprised to see a dragon fly land in a tree. I was looking at birds and here came this guy with its big green eyes looking for his little bit of fame here on WordPress. 🙂
The Palm Warbler
The Quintessential Early Bird, American Robins are common sights on lawns across North America, where you often see them tugging earthworms out of the ground.
I am also an early bird, the best time of day for me to photograph wildlife is during the warm morning sunlight. It is what I call directional light.
It will add depth to a photo by casting shadows on certain parts of the subject as well as lighting up areas to brighten the focal point. In this case the wings of these two robins who are determined to chase each other over territory.
Of course it is a 50 50 chance that the photo will turn out the way I would like it to with light and shadows. But to me that is the exciting part of photography. Being in the right place at the right time to capture wildlife in motion.
This by far is my favorite photo this year. It is what gets me out every morning with my camera in hand, enjoying nature at its best.
Have a great weekend.
The Quintessential Early Bird
Rare Sighting according to the information on this bird which is called a Bay Breasted Warbler. I spotted this one in Illinois when we stopped at a campground this spring.
This one is very common in the south, The Brown Thrasher, it literally trashes around on the ground foraging for food. Good name on this one. It is a very pretty brown as well.
Rare Sighting
One Eagle This Year, I did get to photograph this beauty down by the ocean this past winter. On our way back north this spring we stopped near the Mississippi river where we usually see a lot of eagles. But the river was flooding so we could not get to the hot spots for eagle watching. Maybe in the fall when we head back that way.
One Eagle This Year
Tiny Birds With a Touch of Color, here are 3 more birds I was able to add to my list. Thanks to the Merlin app to help me identify them. Sometimes these little brown birds all look like sparrows until you spot just that little bit of color that sets them apart from the rest.
I am not an expert on finding the names of these birds. So if it is not the right name, feel free to add what you know it to be.
Yellow Rumped Warbler,
Red Eyed Vireo
Northern Parula
Tiny Birds With a Touch of Color
Lots of Colorful Birds, I still have a few photos to go through that I took from our visit to the gulf coast, we stayed long enough to see the spring migration of birds coming across the ocean. At first I was just not seeing anything, we drove all over the place looking at the hotspots where other birders said to go in this area.
The last couple of weeks we were there, all of a sudden flocks of the most colorful birds were landing in the trees right in our campground. Eating all these dried seeds on this tree in the photos below.
Grosbeaks, orioles, tanagers and lots of warblers, it was a thrill to see them all.
The hummingbirds made it as well, such a long flight for all the birds. There are always stories of how the birds land on boats and gas rigs out in the gulf waters. So they can rest for a bit before making it to land.
Lots of Colorful Birds
In Defense of the Grackle – In North America three grackle species occur: Common, Great-tailed, and Boat-tailed. All are generally similar in appearance, with males glossy iridescent black and females brownish.
Grackles, it turns out, do more than weigh down power lines, steal tortilla chips off your dinner plate and squawk in really loud voices. The gleaming black birds actually play a beneficial role in our society. (Well, besides cleaning up those food crumbs you dropped on the sidewalk.)
Grackles eat insects, for one. And that includes those you might not like crawling on you, such as wasps and spiders, and ones that damage crops, including moths, grasshoppers and beetles.
Video Below or click this link; Grackles Puffy Up at the Table
I get why people don’t necessarily like them, but I think they’re fascinating. They do eat insects, so that means fewer insects that are eating plants — or us. There’s also the argument that they’re part of a web of life — they’re part of the system.”
Along with the most amazing colors when they are in the sunlight. Just some of the reasons to like these birds as I do.
In Defense of the Grackle
The Colors of Spring we see in wildlife as well as flowers. Males of many species take on brighter, more eye-catching plumage in spring for a single purpose: to attract females.
This the Reddish Egret is a conspicuously long-legged, long-necked wader of coastal regions, more tied to salt water than any of our other herons or egrets.
Often draws attention by its feeding behavior: running through shallows with long strides, staggering sideways, leaping in air, raising one or both wings, and abruptly stabbing at fish.
This is the first year I have seen this bird in the spring and its bill is the most colorful with blue, pink and black. Quite beautiful.
I like this photo below as if he is looking under their and thinking; ” It is so hard to clean my feathers way under here.”
The Colors of Spring
We Made It Home – we are back home and enjoying the warm weather. The robins are scraping for territory. I just happened to have my camera with and these two just kept chasing each other around. So I upped my shutter speed to catch them dueling in flight.
Capturing birds in action like this is what makes photography so much fun. It is that one awesome shot that makes me want to go out and get more.
Camera settings are; 1/2500 sec, ISO 6400, f6.3 500 mm.
Needless to say, I have a backlog of photos to go through yet, which is good because I am in the middle of planting flowers for the hummingbirds and butterfly’s. Planting some garden as well. I will definitely enjoy going through the photos and sharing them with you here.
We Made It Home
Time Keeps on Slippin – Into the Future, these are words to a song that I like by the Steve Miller Band – Fly Like an Eagle.
Fly like an eagle – let my spirit carry me. The video is below, for this song, if you click on the visit to go to the web site. It shows up there. It is an old song but I tend to think the songs from my younger days are the best. We probably all do that.
Well, I am going to let my spirit carry me, it is calling me to take a break from the World Wide Web. You know when I was growing up there wasn’t any internet. Younger folks probably can’t imagine not having any internet. Just like when my grand parents told me they did not have electricity or running water. It is hard for each generation to comprehend these things.
I went for a walk by myself today and just had the feeling that it is time to turn off electronics for awhile. It is probably the spring weather and seeing the world come back to life all around me.
There are a lot of distractions in this world because of technology and I must step back from it now and then to reconnect with our Father in Heaven, to reenergize, to sit back and just marvel at the beauty around us as if nothing else exist for just a moment in time.
The older I get the more I realize how precious time is. Reality sets in more and more for me with age, when we are young we think we might live forever. But as the years fly by, I know more of who I am and where I want to be when this life on earth ends.
But I also want to experience as much as possible while I am here, nature, wildlife. Creation itself is magnificent and photography helps me to see it in a way I never thought I would.
I wish you all a wonderful spring time and may our Father bless you with the wonderment of His creation, that which is around each and everyone of us. Immerse yourself in it and be joyous.
I will be back, we are headed out west again soon. I look forward to visiting with you all again. Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments and kind words. 💕💕
Time Keeps on Slippin
The Osprey Nest – the osprey birds are picking out their nesting boxes. I photographed this one below at sunrise, as the osprey was perched on top of the man made nesting box.
It must be exhausting making their nest. I was watching these two one morning, the one bird is going back and forth bringing one branch at a time. But when I looked closer at the bird perched on top, its eyes are closed.
Trying to get a nap in while its mate is bringing in housing material. He is just going to rest a minute. Needs a quick cat nap. 🙂
Video below of the osprey hovering or click here; Osprey Hovering
The Osprey Nest
Shore Birds Enjoying a Sunrise, spring is in the air. Multiple birds hanging out on the sea shore. Such a fun sight to see as they all are just enjoying a stroll on the beach together.
I came across these cute little sanderlings searching for food in a huge pile of broken sea shells. It looks like they are trying to climb a mountain but keep sliding back down all the shells. Video below or click here; Sanderlings and Sea Shells
Shore Birds Enjoying a Sunrise
Amazing Wings, big wings, little wings, man made wings. Wings in nature are a symbol of freedom. I often dream that I can fly, I have most of my life and that is probably from watching birds all the time.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Video of an Osprey Hovering in mid air below or click this link; Osprey Hovering
Amazing Wings
One of Those Mornings when the wind keeps messing up the feathers. Even birds can have a bad hair/feather day.
But when it is slicked back, it looks pretty cool 🙂
One of Those Mornings
Eyes of Blue, I think this bird is a cormorant, But I am not sure which one. As I type this I am adding the Merlin bird finding app to my phone. So now it should be easier to identify all these birds.
Someone was showing me the app and it will actually tell you the bird by listening to its call as well. Technology is amazing. So much better then having to get an encyclopedia out like the old days. 🙂
Eyes of Blue
In the Arms of an Angel, this photo reminded me of this song by Sarah Mclachian.
In the arms of an Angel, fly away from here, From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie You’re in the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here
I have shared some poems in the past, written by a very talented writer named Daryl Madden. He has a blog page here on word press where he writes the most beautiful poems inspired by other folks post. I treasure the words he writes when he chooses one of my post to create a poem with. https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/23196989
I then like to add his words to one of my videos. The result is below or click this link here; IF I
In the Arms of an Angel
Coastal Birds, from the Osprey in flight to the Brown Pelican and Terns. There are always a variety of birds to be seen along the coast.
Coastal Birds
