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.

Roadrunners

One of the birds I have been wanting to catch ever since I got my Nikon D60 last year is the roadrunner. Not an impossible goal since I live right smack in the middle of the desert which is his habitat. Every time I have seen one, by the time I get out of the car and over to where they were, they are gone.

A few weeks ago, my Dad told me that he had seen some roadrunners near his house, so the next time I was over there, we took a different route on our way home to drive by where he had been seeing them.

As soon as we turned down one street, I saw a couple of shapes run across the road. Everyone else in the car saw them too and everyone was wondering aloud "Were those roadrunners?".

As we got to where we had seen them, I slipped the car into neutral, rolled the windows down, killed the radio and air conditioning. I had my camera out and ready.

Not the best picture I could hope for, but the best I got before they both jumped a 5 foot fence and were gone. I will keep looking for another chance to capture this speedy bird. In the meantime, feel free to stop over in my animal photo gallery and take a look at some of my other pictures.

So are there any elusive targets on your list to see or photograph? Leave a comment here or say something 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.

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!

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.

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.