Category Archives: Birds

I Am Not A Birder #1

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

I am not a birder, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I just like taking the pictures. I don’t really know the species. I just know some of the basics. Blue Jays are blue. Cardinals are the red ones. Crows are black, Seagulls are white, and they’re both noisy. Beyond that, I need to hit the field guides for clues.

These are two shots I took at David Weld Sanctuary about three weeks ago. This guy was singing away in a dense thicket. It was his voice that caught my attention. Had he not been singing I probably would never have noticed him, but he was putting down some great licks and I wanted to find out who he was.

When I got home and was reviewing the day’s catch I pulled out my Sibley’s and tried to identify this Robin-sized songster. My first guess was a Wood Thrush. But the eyes weren’t right. Wood Thrushes have all brown eyes and this guy has a dark pupil with a golden ring around it. Also, the Wood Thrush has a comparatively smaller tail than this bird. And this bird has a long thinnish bill that Wood Thrushes do not have. So it was back to turning pages. And lo, five pages later was my bird, a Brown Thrasher. Or at least I think it is. I can’t be sure because I am not a birder. But perhaps some of you are and can confirm or contest my guess. At any rate, here is another pic of this guy belting out a tune. Go baby go. JK

Another Ring-neck Pheasant at David Weld

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Saturday, May 10, 2008

I took a hike through David Weld on Wednesday morning. Birds were everywhere. I went looking for this guy through the open fields. As I was following him I flushed up a hen. I snapped a quick pic but the focus was lousy. This male was content to let me trail him for a bit. I suspect he was leading me away from his loved ones. The colors on these birds really come alive in the sun. That breast flashes just as brilliantly as his red face. I’m not sure the camera truly captures it. Here’s another shot of the same bird. JK

Common Terns

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Friday, May 9, 2008

It’s a dark and rainy day out there today so I’ll do another post. These Common Terns were enjoying the sun on a floating dock off San Remo. In a few weeks the tops of their heads will become all black as they slip into their breeding attire. They look cool either way. I love to watch these acrobatic birds. I’ve seen them share (maybe steal) food in midair and later in the season I’ll get to watch them bring whole fish to their older chicks. At the end of last July I was lucky enough to get several shots of them doing just that. JK

Correction: These birds are not Common Terns. They are Least Terns. Go here for the whole sordid story. I apologize for any inconvenience my incompetence may have caused. JK

Golden Slippers

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Tuesday, May 6, 2008

I hit the river for about three hours yesterday. I took 499 photos. This was the best shot of the day. I nailed this Snowy Egret as he was flying past me. You can clearly see his bright yellow feet in this shot and his face is in near perfect focus. I lucked out here. The only thing lacking here is green. Green really helps bring a nature pic alive. In another month this same scene will be much more colorful, with that yellow face and those feet standing out against Mother Nature’s favorite color. Of course I won’t manage to put the bird in focus then. JK

Here’s the same shot, with a close up of the head.

Ring-necked Pheasants

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Thursday, May 1, 2008

Click for a larger pic.

If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. I went back to David Weld Sanctuary this morning to try my luck at getting a shot of a Ring-necked Pheasant. And lucky is what I got. After hiking the short loop (I’m not crazy about the long loop – it brings you very close to some back yards), I was going to see about going into the field where I saw one yesterday. On the way I spied two hens taking cover from me in some Timothy (tall brown grass). I took a few shots but the birds were in good cover.

Meanwhile, as I’m shooting, I’m hearing a rustling behind me which I take to be a squirrel in the undergrowth. Pheasants are cooler than squirrels, (no offense to you squirrel huggers), so I pay it no mind. When the two hens were out of sight I turn and this guy is ten feet away and coming out into the open. I think he was deliberately trying to distract me from his family. I’ve seen quail (I assume they were Bobwhites) do the same thing. I can’t say for certain that distraction was his intention but that’s the feeling I had. I was glad enough to get the shots.

This is one of the hens. They do a better job of blending in than their mates. JK