Birds
Early Bird Breakfast for Two
Our pair of Eastern Bluebirds enjoy a breakfast of juicy mealworms every morning. This scene seems to suggest a little friendly competition between the sexes. Notice them holding up their worms to see who snagged the most sumptuous fare.
To get a better look at those worms, I suggest you click on the photo.
Just the Two of Us
This handsome pair of love birds – or…ummm…bluebirds – showed up early this spring. We have several bluebird houses around our yard and expect these (and more, hopefully) to raise a brood, as they have the last couple of years.
They are sitting on the edge of a stoneware bowl that I stock with a treat of mealworms for them each morning. It’s set on a post about three feet off the ground. As you can see from the lilac bush behind them, the leaves are just starting to sprout in our neck of the woods.
I took this photo remotely. I had my camera on a tripod about 20 feet away from the birds…while I watched from the window in our pantry (probably 40 feet in the opposite direction) and pressed my wireless remote shutter button when I saw the birds at the bowl.
Watch for more of this pair in coming days…and through the summer; now that I’ve got them trained to pose for me.
To see a larger view, click on the image.
Bluebird Dawn
Just before sunrise I noticed a bluebird checking out the bluebird houses in our yard. I grabbed the camera and headed out the back door. I got a picture but not the one I was after. Here’s the story…
My goal was to snap a picture of the bluebird posed on the bluebird house, framed by a big, bright sun behind him. While I was trying to line up the shot, the bluebird flew off the house, into a nearby tree. I was able to click off a quick photo of the bird in the tree before he flew off for good. Then I turned my camera to the sunrise and snapped a couple of frames.
The image above is a combination of two different photos (shown on the right). I started with a shot of the sunrise and overlaid the silhouette of the tree branches with the bluebird. As you can see, the original photo of the bird and branches had a background of just light gray sky. Not very interesting or appealing. The sunrise was pretty on it’s own, but the branches and bird adds interest .
Both photos were taken within a minute of each other. Not quite the image I was shooting for, but I think the final result turned out well.
To see a larger version of the above image, simply click the photo.
Here a Goose, There a Goose, Everywhere a…
It was an extraordinarily windy day along the Lake Michigan shore. I was out taking photos of the rolling, crashing waves on the lake. On the way home, while driving home something unusual caught my eye.
There were hundreds of Canada geese floating in the harbor at Kewaunee, WI. They had retreated to the calm waters, waiting out the strong winds. Nearly all of them were facing in the same direction… facing into the wind. It just struck me as interesting and worthy of a photo.
To see a larger version of either of these images, simply click on them.
Sailing Past the Sun
Great Blue Heron
I took this photo while gliding by in a canoe on the Kewaunee river. I was on my way up-river to, hopefully, catch some small mouth bass. It was early morning in the middle of summer.
There’s a little bit of digital trickery in this image. There was only one Great Blue Heron along the shore. I took several pictures and combined two of them to make it look like a pair of birds. I thought it made the image more interesting.
You can click the image to view a larger version. You comments are always appreciated. Feel free to share this image with your friends.
Sunrise Frolic
I stopped on my way to the church this morning and took some photos of the sunrise from Algoma’s marina. As I was snapping, a couple of seagulls were bumping into each other in front of the sun. Unfortunately, I missed the moment when they made contact.
There will be a few more photos from this session. Watch for them to show up here in the next few days.
To see a larger version of this image, just click on the photo. And, by all means, if you like it, share it.
Almost Angry Birds
The unusual angle of the subject and the very limited focal depth makes this image interesting – at least to me.
This is a House Finch was hanging off the side of a cage-like feeder. You can see he’s munching on something. I took this out the window of our home using a 300mm lens.
I’ve never played the Angry Birds game, but the head of this bird reminded me of it.
You can see a larger version of this image just by clicking on it.
Keeper of the Lighthouse
This view of the Algoma, WI lighthouse was taken early in the morning. I believe the bird is a cormorant.
This was taken a good distance from the subject. To make the cormorant the focus of the shot required a pretty aggressive crop. There’s quite a bit of digital noise in the image. I decided I liked it and did nothing to diminish it.
On the Wing
These are Sand Hill Cranes that spent the night in the farm field across the road from our home. They are a very exotic and, unfortunately, elusive bird. I’ve not been able to get close enough to capture any decent pictures.
There were at least a dozen Sand Hill Cranes sharing the field with three or four times as many Canada Geese. I tried to slowly work my way toward them, but before I could get any worthwhile photos they took off. The only saving grace is that a few happened to fly by on their way to some other secluded spot.
Sand Hill Cranes are graceful and somewhat majestic in flight, with a wingspan of six to eight feet. They are also very noisy when flying. (They can be pretty noisy on the ground, too.) Their distinctive “call of the wild” has been described as a bugling or trumpeting sound. It’s very annoying, particularly early in the morning when you’re trying to sleep in. They can be heard long before they are seen.
To see a larger view of either image, simply click on it.