Birdwatching – Page 10 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Interlopers

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We love having feeders in the yard to attract the birds. Cynthia has even gone a step further and buys a cheap loaf of bread so that she can put some out when she gets home from work.

We’ve got tons of sparrows, Ricky and Lucy our mated pair of Cardinals, the occasional Mockingbird, plenty of Doves, a screeching Blue Jay and the House Finches.

We also have squirrels.

We keep trying to find a way to keep them off the feeders but it’s no use. They have all day, every day to ponder and scrutinize the situation and formulate their plans.

They’re a 24/7 think-tank of diabolical, food absconding EVIL with one objective…

Our feeders!

Damn their furry hides!

Gull pics from Bolivar

I have a fond memory of reading the book “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach during the early 70’s. It was a very popular and inspirational story in my youth and it came highly recommended to me by many of my friends.

It’s one of those memories that looses detail over the years but gains in mental and emotional significance because it marks a change in mental state. I have not read it again since that first and only time, and I am rather certain it would not have anything close to the same effect on me today as it did back then so I choose not to re-read it.

Rather, I choose to let my flawed and scattered recollection tickle my consciousness each and every time I find myself near the beach with an opportunity to feed the seagulls.

In doing that, I reach back and make a connection with a distant but pleasant memory. And maybe, just maybe the serenity and joy I experience in that moment is the true benefit of having nurtured this fond memory for over 30 years.

At least I hope so, because otherwise I am just giving free bread to a bunch of filthy sea pigeons.

Bolivar Ferry

As mentioned previously, Cynthia and I went to Bolivar on whim a few Saturdays ago when the sun was bright and the sky was blue.

I managed to talk her into riding the ferry which was an accomplishment in and of itself since she HATES boats.

She actually ended up enjoying the experience and it was a great opportunity to take pictures.

—–

I am the mighty Sea Grackle!

See me dance my Sea Grackle dance!

Aren’t you Seagulls impressed?

Well? Aren’t you?

Weekend birdtivity

I can totally see that I will be that old man, you know the one sitting on the park bench using his meager funds to purchase a loaf of bread to feed the birds?

Wait a minute. I AM that old man.

Friday morning I had to wait on the exterminator so I found myself sitting on the front porch marvelling at the early morning bird activity. There’s a Red-tail hawk who has taken up residence somewhere nearby. I saw him flying low and into a neighbor’s tree and I almost got a fix on him but it was no go. He took off again and flew directly toward the rising sun so I couldn’t get a shot.

I did however, finally get a shot of the elusive Goldfinch who’s been flitting about the front yard.

They’re erratic in flight and in constant motion so it’s been a struggle. Too bad that by the time this guy dons his mating plumage he’ll have moved on.

There was also major Mockingbird action as 2 males duked it (beaked it?) out on the neighbor’s driveway.

You talkin’ to me? You best not be talkin’ to me!

It was hilarious! They would go from side to side in this comical shuffling manner and then they would just stand there and stare at each other while lifting one foot in the air.

In the backyard I was pleased to find that a sparrow had taken up residence in one of the cheap little birdhouses I installed last year.

Cynthia has named her “Daisey”

We’re worried that the Bougainvillea may not have survived the winter.

Click for larger version

It’s still attracting the birds but if it’s dead we’ll need to remove and finds something to replace it with.

The return of Ricky Handsomepants

Not really the return. Cardinals don’t migrate so he’s been here all along.

We just don’t see much of him until spring when he and his mate usually raise a chick in our back yard.

Returning guests

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This weekend we noticed a pair of House Finches at the feeder.
I suspect they are on return migration as I have not seen them all winter.

They’re both rather wary of us so I had to shoot these through the back window.
Even then, the female flew away and the male retreated to the bougainvillea and gave me a dirty look.

Click for full size

Photography weekend – Part 2

Sunday was shaping up to be an even better day than Saturday so we decided to slack on the chores and go out shooting pictures again.

I had been hearing a bit about the West 11th Street Park and figured we could go there and at least have a look around. In one of the reports I had heard on NPR they indicated the park had some interesting wildlife.

When we got there, it really didn’t look all that interesting. In fact, we were about to just drive on past it and look for something else when we noticed three ladies coming out of the park toting binoculars. I decided to swing around and ask them if there was any interesting birds in the park. All three exclaimed that yes indeed, there was all manner of Woodpeckers, Hawks and even a Great Horned Owl in that park. They offered to show us the Horned Owl as they had just come from where he was nesting.

The ladies took us down the path and into the woods and we came to the base of a stand of trees. They pointed to the sky and described where in the top of a very tall tree the owl could be seen. Cynthia and I craned our heads skyward and peered into the trees but could see nothing.

After about 5 minutes of explaining which branch off of which tree and so on and so forth Cynthia finally exclaimed that she could see the owl. A minute later I spotted him as well.

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Time to see what the new 300mm zoom lens can do.

This was shot a the full 300mm handheld. That is to say, no tripod.

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You gotta love image stabilization.

We admired the owl for awhile and then set off to explore the park.

The next creature we encountered was a hawk.
You could see him flying in circles high above the tops of the trees.

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SUPER TELEPHOTO XPEALADOSSHAS!

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Again, totally handheld. Amazing.

That allowed me to crop this out:

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Even more amazing was the shot Cynthia got with her Pentax with the 320mm telephoto:

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And from that we were able to extract this:

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What a wonderful couple of sightings!

As we were leaving we heard the familiar tak-tak-tak sound, indicating that a woodpecker was nearby.
Looked up and sure enough, there he was!

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We left the park and headed home. But before calling it quits we had one more stop.

Terry Hershey Park

If you get off the main bike trail and onto some of the footpaths you can really have some cool creature moments. I found this Egret hunting fish in a small pond:

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It was a great weekend for taking pictures!

Still singing where the weeping willows wave

Acquired a Tamron 18 – 200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR DI-II LD lens for my Sony.
Extremely versatile lens. It allows me to go from a nice wide angle to a reasonable zoom without changing lenses. This will be the perfect travel lens.

Took it out to Terry Hershey Park over off the Beltway. It was just too nice a day to spend indoors. The hike and bike trail extends all the way to Highway 6 and is very pleasant.
Cynthia and I saw many Warblers, a few Woodpeckers and this Mockingbird:

Click image for full size

Aperture: f/6.3
ISO: 400
Focal length: 200mm

The image stabilization in this camera is very helpful at these extended focal lengths.