Serendipity

I had a friend over for coffee this morning and she spotted the female cardinal. She said, "quick, take a picture!" My camera was not on hand, but I dashed upstairs, grabbed the camera, fumbled to get the chip in and by that time she had flown away.  Our disappointment was short lived as she then flew up on the tree in front of our house.  The sun shone down on her and I was able to get this picture.  I'm delighted!

At the Feeder

This is our first year feeding the birds over winter and it has given us hours of enjoyment.  After I let the dogs out, I fill up the bird feeder and have my coffee and watch from every room in the house as the birds come to feed.

 

Common Redpoll visit daily, as do the chickadees, juncos, and goldfinches. 

 

Less frequent are the pair of cardinals.  It took a few weeks for them to find the feeder and I'm obsessed with taking their picture! They are a shot of colour in our muted palette of winter.

 

It is tough to get any shots of them because as soon as they see me, they fly off.  I would love to get a photo of them both together, so I'll keep trying!

 

The male from the kitchen window...

 

A little competition...

 

The woodpeckers are bold and we have a small one (this guy...a flicker maybe?) and a bigger one.

 

The chickadee's will let me get close...this was taken standing about 10 feet from the feeder.

 



Who doesn't love these little happy birds?  They are like a cup of cheer on a cold winter day!

It's Been a While

2012 was a year of great trips, fabulous meals and good times. Although as a breeder, I will probably remember it most as a year of loss.  Loss that was inevitable, and loss that came from out of the blue and left me numb.  It isn't something you ever get accustomed to, and when it happens in waves it can rock you to your core and make you wonder why you subject yourself to it.  In the process I lost my voice; hence the lack of posts.  I think slowly by putting one foot in front of the other, things have gotten better and I am ready to face the world again.  I've even picked up the camera and started capturing the gang on their romps in the back fields.

 

 

Rehannah loving the fresh snow we had in December

 

A chickadee and nuthatch being fed during the deep freeze of last week.

 

I was amazed at the clarity of these pictures as they were taken through my dirty window with the 70-200 hand held.

 

Hope for the future..."Hilton", who will be formally known as Laureate Be My Guest.  We are delighted to share this beautiful boy with Gisela and Phil Aston, who lost their boy "Pirate" last year.

 



Early Spring by the Creek

While it is still cold, the birds, waterfowl and assorted furry critters have returned to the creek.  It was like a super highway of action on the weekend.  Three male wood ducks chasing a female, the mallards, a pair of herons and two very large beavers.

The very skittish blue heron stayed briefly until it spotted movement on our deck.

There were two of them, something we don't see very often.  They are usually very territorial, so we wondered if they were a breeding pair.

The mallard giving a beaver wide berth.  We watched the beaver chase off some ducks earlier...grumpy fellow.

You can sort of see the flat tail in these photos.

They have been very visible this year and we're hoping they haven't decided to take up residence on that little island. I'm not the biggest fan of our national animal as they are very destructive to our trees.  Move along buster, move along!

Turkeys in a Willow Tree

This picture was taken moments ago right outside my office window! They have been hanging out for about a month; and Pete counted 35 of them in the back field on Sunday. In the morning around 6:30 or so, just as it is getting light, they will fly out of the tree down to the lowlands. I remember being shocked the first time I saw one up a tree; it just never crossed my mind that they could fly.

Close Encounters

Our feeders are out the front door, hanging from branches of a blue spruce. We have a feeder with sunflower seeds and one filled with Niger seeds. I have a few days worth of pictures...

On Saturday even though it rained the feeders were incredibly busy!

The chickadees are probably the most common bird at our feeders. They are so cute and cheerful.

Experimenting with the flash. While the experts recommend 3 strobe lights to freeze the wings, I used the flash on the camera and got the opposite result! I kind of like it though!

The flash brought out her colours. The shutter speed is only 1/250 sec.

Translucent wings...

1/2000 sec...tongue sticking out!

And again...

I don't think I've ever seen a porcupine here before. I was out on the steps feeding the chipmunks when this prickly guy came right out of the center island! Luckily I had just put the dogs away.

He was in no hurry as he ambled towards the dog yard!

I'm hoping I don't see this guy again anytime soon...especially when we're out on a walk!

Hummer Obsessed

Ho hum, another hummingbird at the feeder picture. I'm afraid I'm a bit obsessed with trying to get "the" picture of the hummer. Summer is almost over and soon the feeders will have to be taken away. I bought a new beautiful glass feeder, but the hummingbirds won't go near it.

I like the sharpness of this one and I think the pictures are improving... I really love this shot (but it's still not the one). I really like the curve of her back; almost like a swan dive.

For the photography buffs, the camera is on a tripod, the focus is pre-set and I am using a remote control to take the picture, so as not to scare the birds. I used the 70-300 mm lens and was shooting at 270mm, f/5.6 and ISO was 320. Shutter speed was 1/1,250 sec; and that still didn't freeze the wings!

Raspberries are in Season

When I took the puppies out for a walk the other day, I spotted this fellow having a snack. He is a rose-breasted grosbeak -almost looks like he has raspberry stains on his chest!

This bird is a beauty. We see his baby at the feeder constantly. I hope he knows how to get food in the wild as well.

July 9: At the feeders

It was a perfect day weather wise; comfortable temperature and beautiful sunshine, a rarity this summer. I decided to take a break from mowing the lawn and I saw what I thought was a baby woodpecker sitting on the branch above our bird feeder.

I took out the camera with the 500 mm lens and snapped some pictures. It was a baby, but I didn't know what kind of bird it was. He sat there snoozing for a long time, while goldfinches came and went to the feeder. He wasn't bothered by them, he was perfectly content.

Soon his father showed up, and the mystery to his identity was solved...a Rose-breasted Grosbeak! Pete had told me they were around and showed them to me in a bird book a few days ago. While they are supposedly common, I'd never seen one before. He was a beauty.

He would eat the seeds and then go over and feed the baby, who by now was awake and hungry!
I'm still trying to get a shot of the hummer that captures the red on the throat, crisp detail and the wings stopped. Didn't get it this time, but not for lack of trying...

They are so cute! I love seeing them on a branch, or on the hydro wires...they are so small (this was taken the other day when I was out with 'Mayer').