Birding and Bird Photography

Damn, that frontal attack!

I agree, Gray Jay!

 

That was wicked!

I went out shooting today. But it was as gray and boring as it could be. Most of the birds were settled in the water as well. Even the hunters were struggling

 

Shit happens fast in the bird world.

 

It sure does.

Another slow day at the swamps today too.

 

Went out to the North Davis Area Drainage Ponds yesterday at around sunset for some birding and photography. Got some good photos, and added a few to my list (78 now).


Canada Geese by 92shawman, on Flickr


Killdeer by 92shawman, on Flickr


IMG_8711_edit_small by 92shawman, on Flickr

This poor guy had a deformity in his upper mandible. It looked like the tip melted and flopped below the lower mandible. Seems healthy enough, so I guess it's not a problem.

Northern Mockingbird by 92shawman, on Flickr


House Sparrow by 92shawman, on Flickr


Anna's Hummingbird by 92shawman, on Flickr


Golden-crowned Sparrow by 92shawman, on Flickr

Here's a bit of an ID challenge:

IMG_8668_edit_small by 92shawman, on Flickr

Fiiinnally got a pretty good Ruby-crowned Kinglet photo!

Ruby-crowned Kinglet by 92shawman, on Flickr


American Robin by 92shawman, on Flickr

 

Nice job Kevin! Been skunked three days in a row.

 

Amazing.. I spent a number of years in Cali, both Southern and Northern. I usually headed to the mountains and desert, had no idea that there were that many birds along the coast. And I was in the Navy LOL.

I blame you for the camera and lenses sitting next to me! And the other bastages on this thread. Don't know if I should thank you all or cuss you. Well OK I do know, thank you, very much so. Purchased a Cannon AE 1 in Japan with 4 lenses in the 70's and only upgrades since then has been a couple of P&S cameras till now. Been looking a long time and finally pulled the trigger in large part due to this thread. Have a long ways to go to say the least but looking forward to the journey. That picture looks a lot like the hairy woodpecker. Took my first pictures today with the DSLR and a few actually came out OK. Temps are heading to -20 F with wind chill of -50 so birds are very active loading on the food as much as they can.



Looks a lot like the back of the bird in your picture. Not sure of the range they live in though.

Picture P00001- got lucky on my first pull of the trigger. And am still in autopilot. Goldfinch and red breasted nuthatch.



The red bellied woodpecker made an appearance today too.



As the blizzard approached for the first time saw more than a dozen house finches on the feeders. I will wean myself off the bird feeders for pictures sooner than later. But what a great day despite the cold.

 

Im gonna say that the second to last pic is a yellow rumped warbler. But not 100% sure

 

That's what I'm thinking right now, too. From the brief glimpse I had of the general size of the woodpecker and the size of the bill I'm saying Downy Woodpecker. The plumage patterns point to either Hairy or Downy Woodpecker, size indicates Downy.

I'm glad you're getting into it! Just another way TW is hurting our wallets...
And if you're interested in general birding, definitely get a pair of binoculars. You can get pretty good ones for about $150, so definitely look into it.
Nice first picture, too!
I think that might answer Ben's second unknown, too vvv

Awesome shots, man! You're so good at those waterfowl. The wood duck and American Widgeon are spectacular! I wonder what happened to that poor pintail's pin tail? That Kestrel is so puffed up! They're super adorable. I really like Belted Kingfisher's, too, I think they're in my top 5 favorite birds.
Unknowns: Definitely Yellow-rumped Warbler. We have about a billion of them here.
Given the photo posted by Cold Iron above, he said his is an American Goldfinch, and his looks exactly like yours, Ben. I just checked the guide and I'm pretty sure that's right, a winter-plumage American Goldfinch.

Edit: By the way, what settings do you usually use to shoot your waterfowl?

 

So jelly of the wood duck! I have yet to see one in person.

 

Love the waterfowl pics, they are by far my favorite birds. The woodies and wigeon are very vivid, and i love how the shovelers get into their feeding ring. Thats crazy how the one with the stud plumage is the one in the very middle, the other drakes need some time for their colors to fill in. None the less, great shots!!

 

I live at the coast so i see tons of buffleheads, and yes that metallic head is so cool. We dont get many wood ducks but definately one of my favorites too... My absolute fav would have to be cinnamon teal (deep red color, blue on the wings, red eyes, yellow feet, crazy combination. )

 

Yes those gulls are huge, we get a bunch down here along with the ringbills

 

Finally got a chance to see a couple of the local rarities. The Scissor-tailed flycatcher and painted redstart showed up down here about a month ago. The photos are not great but the redstart was crazy and typical warbler, jumping all over. Now I need to get out to the coast for the waterfowl and shorebirds. So many incredible photos posted here. And Kevin, we need to go to Texas!

Scissor-tailed flycatcher by amhayworth, on Flickr

Painted redstart_1 by amhayworth, on Flickr

Painted redstart_2 by amhayworth, on Flickr

 

Gaaah I'm still so jealous of those two birds, mom! Scissor tails are so freakin' awesome. And yes! Definitely need to get out to that Texas coast, maybe during next fall's migration.

 

Ya yall come to tx, Corpus Christi to be more specific, thats where i live and i know alllll the hot spots

 

I had a Pacific Wren ( Winter Wren ) spend all day yesterday and today hang around me within 3' , I was stacking a pile of firewood that had been sitting out for a couple years and as I would expose farther and farther into the pile he would hop right in where I exposed and get all the little bugs as I walked to the stack , when I came back he would hop a couple feet away and wait for me to dig in a bit further and repeat the whole process , haha

Anybody watching from a distance would be wondering who the hell I was talking to all day


Part way through the day a female Anna's Hummingbird buzzed down to check us out and then sat on the fence just long enough for me to fish my camera out of my pocket and just as I was about to take the pic , whizzed away


Haha

 

(Magpie is my mom, I helped her post the pictures, and we're both jealous of lockeman's birds, so we wanna go to TX now to see them )

Awesome, thanks! We'll definitely hit you up when we get out there.

Nice little mutualism you got goin' there! Wrens are super cute. So tiny and inquisitive.
Typical hummingbird...In Argentina once I thought I saw a hummingbird whiz by and I jumped but decided to stay with my girlfriend instead of chase after it. She said, no, go for it! But my on-the-spot response was, "Nah, it's already gone, that's the nature of hummingbirds." We both laughed at that for a few minutes.

 

Love the raptor photos. So, now that my job is transitioning from bio impact analysis from development to habitat management of preserves, I need a REAL camera. This P&S is ok but need to do better next time I get to the Refuge - amazing waterfowl and shorebirds there. The quandary is: bumpers and skids for my Tacoma or a camera and long lens for bird photos. Looking at some of the Canon DSLRs.

 

Yep. I've spent more money on camera gear than I have on truck parts