Gluttony

Tags

blue jay, gluttony, peanut, photography, postaday, red-bellied woodpecker

Gluttony is the third deadly sin, but that’s for humans. Blue Jays don’t care, they practice gluttony with abandon, as evidenced by the way they swoop down on the peanuts I put out for the birds.

Most birds take one then fly away. Not Blue Jays.

Blue Jay eating peanuts. We have seen some who swallow as many as seven peanuts at one time.

There was an older Blue Jay, who began by scaring away everyone else.

Elderly Blue Jay scaring away other birds.

Elderly Blue Jay surveying the scene, making sure he was the only one near the peanuts. Only then did he start eating.

In the meantime, the Red-bellied Woodpecker was the model of bird table manners.

Red-bellied Woodpecker always pick a single peanut. They may make multiple trips, but only one peanut on each trip.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Tags

photography, postaday, red-bellied woodpecker

A Red-bellied Woodpecker came to partake of some roasted peanuts. While doing that, an insect flew by, and the moment was captured in the following photo.

Red-bellied Woodpecker. He dropped a peanut to snatch the insect, but missed.

Rookery Scenes

Tags

Black-crowned Night Heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, rookery, yellow-crowned night heron

Yesterday the rookery next to Ocean City Welcome Center was very busy, with photographers and birds. The former brought their long lenses firmly anchored to bulky tripods, or to study arms. The latter, especially the younger ones, were up to their natural feistiness.

Black-crowned Night Heron.

I tried to shoot a few bird-in-flight pictures, but ended up discarding most of them.  Below is one of the better images.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron in flight.

Two juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron did not let up on their play acting, and I saw that other young ones in nearby nests were behaving likewise. Perhaps it’s a part of their growing up, preparing themselves for an independent life in a few more weeks,

Young Yellow-crowned Night Herons. I don’t know why the one on the right was showing his throat.

The one on the left promptly responded.

Young Yellow-crowned Night Heron on left: “Keep it closed, capice?”

Wordless Wednesday

Tags

allium, daylily, glossy ibis, hen, photography, postaday, rooster, wordless wednesday, yellow-crowned night heron

Allium in the rain.

Daylily.

Daylily.

Glossy Ibis.

Young Yellow-crowned Night Herons.

Rooster and Hens.

Heron Sibling Rivalry

Tags

Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, sibling rivalry, yellow-crowned night heron

Yesterday at the rookery next to Ocean City Welcome Center I took many pictures of heron nests and their occupants, as well as of other birds flying and nesting in the area. However, I think you may enjoy looking at the ones below, which offer a unique perspective on sibling rivalry.

A pair of young Yellow-crowned Night Heron, they have grown up quite a bit since last week, were confronting each other, and the facial expressions of one of them are priceless.

Young Yellow-crowned Night Heron to opponent: “You want to fight? Come on!”

Young Yellow-crowned Night Heron to opponent: “Oh no! He is really going to get me!”

Young Yellow-crowned Night Heron: “Please, I didn’t mean it!”

Young Yellow-crowned Night Heron: “Mommy! Help! He is going to kill me!”

Young Yellow-crowned Night Heron: “Aaaargh!”

The above reminds me of another photo I took last year, at around this same time.

Young Red Foxes, May 2015.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Curve

Tags

curve, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

I have not participated in the Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge for a while, but here are my entries for this one which is titled “Curve.”

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/curve/

I was too eager yesterday and went out to the lotus pond near our house to photograph lotus flowers. It was too early in the season, and there was no flower to be seen, only green leaves and stems, and lots of curves.

Rain water on lotus leaf. It looked so pure.

Curves at lotus pond.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Hummingbird

Tags

photography, postaday, rose-breasted grosbeak, Ruby-throated Hummingbird

This week, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a bird I had never seen before, made its appearance in our backyard. It was late in the evening, sunlight was fading, and this beautiful bird landed on the bird feeder then sauntered about, asking to be photographed.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Earlier, our familiar Ruby-throated Hummingbird was back, persistently visiting the nectar feeder.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

Software Choice

Tags

digital photo professional, dxo optics pro, photography, postaday

Reading blogs of photographers on WordPress, I sense that almost everyone is using some software, such as Photoshop or Lightroom, to edit their photos and improve on their quality. I am no different, except that up to now I have been using the free software that comes with Canon cameras, Digital Photo Professional. DPP is very basic and crude, lacking in many nice features as compared to other software. Not every Canon camera owners use it, and I am one of the very few who does.

Well, that could still change. I am trialing DxO OpticsPro, version 11. Among its features is its renowned noise-removal tools which help improve images shot in sub par lighting. Below are two of the same raw photo that I processed first with DPP, then a second time with DxO OpticsPro.

Black-crowned Night Heron, processed with Digital Photo Professional.

In DPP, I selected and adjusted the settings for colors, lighting, noise reduction, sharpness, gamma correction, and so on. It used to be an arduous undertaking, but after so many years I have become more proficient and can now process each image fairly efficiently. All the photos you have seen in this blog have so far been results of adjustments made solely in DPP, with no other additional software.

Black-crowned Night Heron, processed with DxO OpticsPro 11.

With DxO OpticsPro 11, I just selected one canned preset and within a few seconds it produced the above image, after cropping of course. It is still possible to go into the details of each preset and change or fine tune just like I had to do manually in DPP.

Also, DxO Optics Pro can produce the final JPEG image directly, or can be integrated with other software, such as Lightroom, for even more adjustments. DPP does not offer that choice.

Which of the above two images do you like better?

Rookery Flights

Tags

Black-crowned Night Heron, grackle, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

This past Sunday, as I stood by the side of the Ocean City Welcome Center to photograph Night Heron nests, there were many herons flying in and out of the rookery every few minutes. I tried to swing my camera around and aimed at them, but they were so fast that I never knew whether I managed to capture any of them. Actually, I did miss most of them, but the following somehow came out rather well.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

Black-crowned Night Heron.

Same Black-crowned Night Heron, a fraction of a second later.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron carrying a stick back to nest.

This Grackle had just landed in a tree. It had some kind of berries in its beak.

Night Herons Nest Activities

Tags

Black-crowned Night Heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

The Night Heron hatchlings from last week are now wide awake, clamoring for attention and food. You can see them in the following photos and the two short videos at the end of this post.

Newborn Yellow-crowned Night Herons.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron mother: “Open wide!”

One Yellow-crowned Night Heron nest still had a few more eggs to hatch.

I finally located a Black-crowned Night Heron nest.

Black-crowned Night Heron and hatchlings. The video is right below.

The following video shows activities at a Yellow-crowned Night Heron nest.

 

House Finch Fledgling

Tags

fledgling, house finch, photography, postaday

Yesterday we saw a House Finch flying erratically around the bird feeder, up and down, left and right. It turned out that it was a fledgling trying to land on the feeder perch. His mother was coaching.

Female House Finch coaching fledgling.

House Finch fledgling trying to land on bird feeder perch.

House Finch fledgling resting on deck railing after an unsuccessful attempt. Note the muddy colored, immature eyes.

Update: looking as closely as possible, I think this young House Finch only has one eye! It may not survive for long, and has been continuing to fly erratically. I will keep the bird feeder stocked up to help him, but its long-term propects do not look good.

Cardinal, Downy Woodpecker, House Finch

Tags

cardinal, downy woodpecker, house finch, photography, postaday

Scenes at the bird feeder this afternoon.

A female Cardinal was dining when a male Downy Woodpecker landed.

Female Cardinal: “Hey, I was here first!”

Female Cardinal: “Wait your turn! Scram!”

The Woodpecker flew away.

Female Cardinal: “Some birds have such bad manners!”

House Finch patiently waiting his turn.

Backyard Flowers

Tags

clematis, heritage rose, knockout rose, photography, postaday

We are having an unusual Spring, with wild fluctuations in temperature, too much rain, lots of wind. In our yard, weeds look like they love it, I cannot keep up with them. After an auspicious start, peonies wilted or even rotted. Only roses and clematises are still looking good, as seen in the following photos I just took this afternoon.

Knockout Rose, the most popular these days. You see them everywhere.

Heritage Rose, small but with outstanding color and texture.

Clematis, a faithful flower that keeps coming back year after year.

Clematis after wind blew off its petals. 

Night Herons

Tags

Black-crowned Night Heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

Yesterday was the first time I used my camera to shoot a short video of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron tending to its babies in their nest. It is a little noisy, but here it is anyway so that you can see the interaction between mother and babies.

Going through my files from yesterday, I found one of an immature heron, probably a Black-crowned Night Heron.

Immature Black-crowned Night Heron.

And here’s one of an adult heron carrying a twig.

Black-crowned Night Heron.

Hatchlings

Tags

Black-crowned Night Heron, glossy ibis, great egret, hatchling, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

As predicted, the eggs in the Night Heron nests have begun to hatch. I went to the Ocean City Welcome Center today to look at them, and saw little balls of fur moving while the parents were busy preening or redecorating their nests.

Yellow-crowned Night Herons with new hatchlings in nest.

Yellow-crowned Night Herons planning redecoration.

At another nest, the male heron brought a twig back.

Female heron: “What took you so long?” Note that one egg still had not hatched.

Male heron passing twig to female.

While he flew away to look for other twigs, she tidied up their nest.

At yet another nest, no eggs had hatched.

All the eggs were still whole.

There were many other birds around the herons. I only managed to get shots of Ibises and Great Egret.

Great Egret throwing up food.

Several Glossy Ibises were flying around. Maybe they also had nests in the rookery.

Black-crowned Night Heron. They also had nests but those were well hidden in the rookery trees.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron on the hunt.