Back to the Birds

I have neglected my bird photography for awhile.  I will try to make up for it and get more feathered friend pictures.  Starting today!

I took a trip this summer and saw a bunch of birds.  Most of them are probably common birds, but since I don't even have an official list, they are all basically new to me.  Even if they are common, it is still fun to practice my identification skills and then read more about them in my bird book.  Of course, I would have a much harder time identifying birds without the help of web sites like WhatBird.com with their interactive wizard that narrows down the list of possible birds to a manageable number. 

Take this guy for instance.  I spotted him when I was walking around Mono Lake in CA.  WhatBird helped me to narrow down the list which leads me to think he is a Violet-green Swallow.  Let me know if you think that is a correct ID or not.  If you would like, I would be happy to provide more details on location and environment to help confirm this id. 

Honk, Honk!

New week, new Twitter icon. Waterfowl this time around. In fact, we could probably call them IronGeese. You see, I took this picture while I was watching and photographing Ironman Arizona this past November. I made it there for at least part of the day for the third consecutive running of this race.

First in April of 2007, I volunteered on my motorcycle and spent quite a few hours on the course as an official race vehicle. Next, in April of 2008, I attempted to complete the race as a participant. (successfully in about 14.5 hours). This time, I was there to repay some friends that were there to cheer me on who were competing in the new November edition and to try and capture some sports photos.

After a while, all bikes look the same and so I looked around and saw these guys flying overhead. I'm not sure if they were coming or going, but there were sure honking a lot.

I call this one Wingman. "You can be my wingman anytime." (name that move).

Where Horses Run Free...

I've been seeing small groups of horses for the past month or so. More than I had seen for about a year or so, but only 6-8 horses at a time. Today, my wife called me in the morning and told me where she had seen a huge group of 20-30 horses really close to the highway. I figured they would be long gone by the time I headed for home in the afternoon.

Sure enough, by the time I was on my way home, I saw a few horses a ways off the road, but only 3 or 4 of them. I stopped to take a few pictures as they were prancing around and kicking up their heels with a bit of horseplay.

Then, I got back in the car and started to merge back into traffic when I glanced a little ways ahead and got a surprise. On the other side of some trees that blocked my view from further back, was another group of horses. I don't know how many horses it takes to become a herd, but I am pretty sure this qualified.

I counted about 24 in this picture alone and I would have had to put my wider angle lens on my D60 to get the others in the picture. Some of them were only 20 feet away from the fence until they saw me get out of the car when they backed off a little. Some of the closer horses kept a close eye on my and the other people that also stopped for a closer look.

It was great to see that big of a herd roaming free. I hope to see them on a regular basis, but I know it will probably only be for awhile before the roam off in search of better grazing. Feel free to take a closer look by clicking any of the pictures for a bigger photo or click the link to see the rest of the wildlife in this gallery. I think there are some good shots there, but I would love your feedback with a comment or a "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down" on the photos.

The weather was good for these shots. While it would be nice to have a picturesque blue sky, the overcast sky provided a nice soft light with no troublesome shadows to fight with. Clouds make excellent diffusers.

So what is the most exciting thing you've seen on the way home from work? Leave me a comment here or holler over on Twitter.

A Big Bird

These birds are pretty big and we frequently find them standing like sentries around water features and man-made lakes in the area. I get a kick out of seeing the way they space themselves out right on the shore like this:

Here is a closer look at one of the gray ones. I like the black and white coloring on the head and the intensity in his gaze.

After spending some time with my favorite paper resource, The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Birds, as well as a bit of time on whatbird.com I am pretty sure this is a Great Blue Heron. Click on the whatbird link above to see what I mean.

Is there any controversy this time or is my identification a good one? According to the Encyclopedia, there is also a white variety, so is that what the other big white birds are or are they gender differences? I will be looking to identify the little white bird right next to the heron soon, so if you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment, either here or on Twitter.

Hooves or wings

I knew I wanted to get some pictures processed and uploaded, but was not sure which ones to start with. Several weeks ago we stopped at a man-made lake and waterfall by a new shopping center and took some pictures. A week later, I was shooting in a little park with my wife and youngest son and saw a crane (I think, not identified for sure?) and after getting some shots of him, saw a pair of ducks hanging out nearby. Then, last week, I finally got some pictures of the wild horses on my way home (they were fairly close to the highway) so I was leaning towards them since they are one of my rare treats. However, I decided to go with wings in the hopes that the horses will be closer one of these days (last year, one lone horse was about 50 ft from me).



Now for the tricky part. I am pretty certain this is a hawk, but what kind. After going through the WhatBird wizzard, the 2 I think most likely are listed below. I've deleted the parts of the description that do not contribute to this identification since I did not see him flying or hunting.

Harris's Hawk: Large hawk, dark brown head, neck, back, belly and rust-brown shoulders, underwing coverts and flanks. Tail is dark brown to almost black with white base and terminal band. Undertail coverts are white. Legs and feet are yellow.

Red-tailed Hawk: Large, highly variable hawk with brown upperparts, head and throat. The underparts are pale with brown streaks. Wings are pale below with dark bar at leading edge and dark tips. The tail is red-brown with dark terminal band. Legs and feet are yellow.

While it could possibly be a prarie falcon, I think the prarie falcon seems to have more white in the the head and back (based on the pictures in whatbird and in my book, The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Birds). In some of the shots, his tail looks red-brown which is my current reason for calling it a Red-tailed Hawk, but I would be happy to accept the advice on more experienced birders (and you are all more experienced birders than I am). Please leave comments here (very easy and no login needed) or on Twitter. Comments here are considered "DoFollow" so they will link back to your site which helps your site in the Google rankings (many sited are noFollow and that seems to be the blogger default).

I have more pictures of this guy, but am not happy with the colors and will be working on them more before posting them, so stay tuned in my photo galleries for more of this guy in the hopefully near future.

Thanks for stopping by.

Name That Bird

Yes folks, it is indeed time for another round of name that bird.

If you are tired of bird pictures, please feel free to leave me a note to that effect in the comments of this post. Suggestions of what you would like to see more of would be appreciated as well.

If on the other hand, you like our winged and feathered friends, continue on for the rest of this episode.

Once again, I was able to capture this image thanks in large part to my youngest son who is a great spotter and who also is developing a good eye for composing a picture.

This contestant was spotted in February 2009, in the desert in the southwestern part of the USA. He (or she, I'm no expert on bird genders) was near Phoenix Arizona as a matter of fact, just to the East of town, in the lower parts of the Superstition mountains.

I am using the first picture (with a tighter crop) as my avatar on Twitter this week. I asked the folks there for guesses as to his heritage and lineage and received several very good suggestions within a few minutes.

@WolfSnap said: I think it's a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

@CoopersDesign said: Looks like a Rock Wren

So tonight I finally made enough time for this entry and pulled out my faithful guide, The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Birds. I looked at both the Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher (p. 190) and the Rock Wren (p. 189).

The Rock Wren habitat sounded right "pebbly areas ... to [areas] with large boulders".

But the Gnatcatcher also sounded like the right habitat "...primarily Mojave and Sonoran desserts". I am leaning this way, based on two things, the guide says the size for a Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher is about 4.5 inches tall (My best guess) instead of the stately 6 inches typical for a Rock Wren. Also, the pictures in my book make the Rock Wren look a bit more brown which does not fit this guy. I realize that I have a definite advantage in that I was there and have some idea of how big he was, so I don't want to take anything away from any of the suggestions that were twittered to me as they were based only on the picture in my avatar which gives no sense of scale.

As always, I'll add my disclaimer that I am a total and complete newbie to this birding game and am willing to reconsider my choice in the face of any additional ideas or reasons, so please, comment (here or on one of the photos) or even on Twitter by sending me an @ message.

So what animals (birds or others) have you seen in your part of the world? I would love to know what critters to look for if I were to visit your area. Please leave me a comment here and let me know what part of the country or world you are in and what some of the typical sights I would see.

Thanks again for dropping by.

--------------Updated 3/5/2009 8:30 pm
Ann sent me this pic that she has id'd as a Rock Wren

(displayed here with her permission). Thanks!

Is that a woodpecker?

That is what my son asked me as we were out for a run last night. At first I didn't see what he was talking about, but then when we were about 10-15 feet away, I saw what he was talking about. This guy:

He could easily pass for a woodpecker to the untrained eye (like mine). We ran back home and grabbed the camera and came back hoping he would still be there. Sure enough, he was still there and was more than willing to pose for some pictures. He was so unafraid of us that when my watch alarm went off, he didn't fly away, but simply stopped what he was doing until my watch quit.

I walked to within about 10 feet of him clicking away the whole time and he never flew away. I guess he must be hungry.


Oh, and by the way, after looking up woodpecker in my Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Birds, I learned that he was a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker Red-Naped Sapsucker (look at page 130 and you will see this guys brother). That book sure comes in handy.

So have you seen any neat looking critters in your neighborhood lately?
Are you a bird-watcher that can confirm my name?
Just dropping by to say "Hi"?

Any of the above are great reasons to hit the Comments link below and leave a message. You can also give me a shout over on Twitter if that is more your style (but a comment here is quick and easy and greatly appreciated).

------- Updated 2/23/2009 -----
Thanks to a tip in the comments below and after looking a bit closer, based on the habitat map, I think I need to revise my identification slightly. I am updating this entry accordingly to the closely related red-naped sapsucker.

Don't know the words?

Then just hum the tune.



Once again I was rewarded for carrying my camera with me on an evening walk. I saw this hummingbird across the street from us and managed to get pretty close before he decided to leave the area. Unfortunately, it was dusk and the light was too far gone to get a great shot. Next time, we go for a walk 30 min earlier. You can see more of my pictures at my photo site.

So what about you? Have you seen anything interesting lately? Did you get a picture or did you say "I wish I had a camera"? You can use the comments here or tweet me.

Your identification please!

I enjoy taking pictures of flowers and wildlife. I generally take a picture because I like the subject and think that it will (or might) make a nice addition to someones wall, web page or commercial endeavour.

I have not been able to label some of my shots with a good name because I have not known what type of flower or animal it was. Consequently, many of my pictures are labled "yellow flower", "another yellow flower" and "bird" or "black and white bird".

For Christmas, I was given a gift that was really handy. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Birds. It is not just a picture list of birds. It has sections on how to identify bird types by their characteristics (long skinny legs for wading in water) and sections for different environments. The entries for each bird are also helpful in identifying specific birds. For example, if the bird you are trying to identify is black on the top and white underneath, and the entry for a similar-looking bird states that the "Stilt sandpiper ... is ... a pale buffish-gray bird with a white eye stripe", then you know you have not found it. Yet.

A little more looking and I found that "the Black-necked stilt ... has a black neck, crown and face giving it a masked appearance." I think that sounds an awful lot like this guy:



What do you say? Any experienced birders out there that can help me confirm this or point me to another name? Another shot of these birds is in my photo gallery.

From the photographic perspective, I really wish I had a longer lens than 200mm, but I still like the way part of this fellow's reflection is on the other side of that grassy patch.

Update: Nikon D60, f/5.6, 1/400. You can usually click my pictures to go to my photo gallery for additional info if I forget to include it here.

Pigs in the Hood

I have tried to carry my camera with me at ALL times for quite awhile now. It has been a very good strategy and has rewarded me with some great pictures... a coyote, a wild horse, some hawks and a double rainbow just to mention a few.

The other night I dropped my guard and left the camera at home when I ran out to pick up my son from a friends house. I thought "Why bother. It's dark and I'll never see anything worth shooting in the 15 minutes this trip will take me."

BOY WAS I WRONG! As we were pulling away from his friends house we saw something walking across someones front yard. We stopped for a closer look and got within about 15 feet from some javelinas. At least I had my cameraphone to get some kind of picture.

Maybe this will teach me a lesson and I will never again leave my house without my camera. That way, I could drop by this house and give them a picture for them to submit with the insurance claim for the damaged plante. In the meantime, feel free to check out some of my photo galleries over at Flowing Desert Photography.