Wordless Wednesday
16 Wednesday Feb 2022
Posted Photography
in16 Wednesday Feb 2022
Posted Photography
in30 Sunday Jan 2022
Posted Photography
inYesterday a Nor’easter blizzard blew through our region, dumping about 9 in (22 cm) of snow on us, while other parts of the state received 19 in (48 cm) and more. In some areas of New England it was even worse. I had food ready for our backyard birds and they came out in droves, consuming most of the sunflower seeds and suet.
31 Friday Dec 2021
Posted Photography
inTags
Brigantine, bug sur, cranberry, death valley, junco, McWay Falls, Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, monument valley, paratroopers, paris, postaday, Princeton, South Jersey
I started this blog in 2012. To make room for newer posts, I had to delete some of the older posts, but kept their images on my PC. Following are some of the most liked photos throughout the years.
10 Sunday Dec 2017
Posted Photography
inTags
blue jay, downy woodpecker, house finch, house sparrow, junco, northern cardinal, photography, postaday, tufted titmouse
Today skies are mostly sunny and snow is melting at a good pace. I took the opportunity to photograph the various birds that come to our feeder all day long.
Finally, the one and the only Northern Cardinal, resplendent in colors rivaling its human counterparts in Rome.
17 Friday Mar 2017
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Standing on snow that had piled up on top of our deck, these Juncos looked like toy birds.
09 Monday Jan 2017
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Saturday was a cold and snowy day. Only one inch of snow was forecasted, but it kept snowing most of the day and in the end we got at least 3 inches. The poor birds sheltered among our magnolia branches, but only because they know I usually stock our feeder with sunflower seeds to the brim.
After it stopped snowing, as a special treat, I put out a tray of roasted peanuts to provide them with some energy food. Within a few minutes, Blue Jays appeared and swooped down to literally gorge themselves.
26 Monday Dec 2016
Posted Photography
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Last week, there were two sightings of the Snowy Owl on the Jersey Shore, so yesterday I went to the southern tip of Long Beach Island to find and photograph it. After walking for almost four hours, I failed to find the visitor from the Artic. There were only Seagulls and some birds which flew by too fast for identification.
The above Ring-billed Gull had just walked out of a fairly large sea water pond on the beach. The pond banks, shaped by wind,looked intriguing.
Back home, it was cloudy today as the sun obstinately refused to come out. Our bird feeder, however, attracted the usual crowd of small birds, even after one of them was attacked and carried away by a hawk. I didn’t have a chance to capture the hawk, but here are some photos of the small birds.
10 Sunday Jan 2016
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Today I took a few photos of a Dark-eyed Junco that was coming to our bird feeder. It had its left wing slightly higher than its right one as you can see below.
A while later, I saw it at the bird feeder and took the following photo.
It was moving, but not as fast as the other Juncos. It was eating. There was no blood that I could see. If you know what the problem is, and how we can help this bird, please comment and tell me what I should do.
21 Saturday Mar 2015
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Yesterday’s snow brought many birds to our bird feeder. At one point I counted more than 20 juncos perched on it and on the nearby magnolia branches. However, as usual, the cardinals stole the show with their brilliant colors.
One lonely starling also came by.
02 Monday Mar 2015
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It was snowing, and a Downy Woodpecker was dining by himself.
Out of nowhere, an aggressive Junco flew in and chased it away from its perch.
A fraction of a second later, this is what it looked like.
20 Friday Feb 2015
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Those Juncos are at it again. In the winter, many of them cluster around the bird feeder, and they will chase each other away at the slightest provocation. I haven’t been able to find out why since there is plenty of food and feeding perches.
11 Wednesday Feb 2015
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Even though it was still fairly cold, the sun was out today, allowing me to take advantage of the good light falling on three regular visitors to our bird feeder.
05 Thursday Feb 2015
Posted Photography
inTags
cardinal, house finch, junco, magnolia, photography, postaday, sparrow
If you are getting bored of my BIF photos, this following picture, taken at Holgate two weeks ago, is for you.
All right, so no more BIF today.
The other day, while trying to capture the Red-bellied Woodpecker in flight, I noticed our magnolia tree was getting loaded with birds.
That was not the end of it. One more bird hopped on.
Then there was our House Finch next to a Junco.
30 Friday Jan 2015
Posted Photography
inTags
BIF, chickadee, house finch, junco, photography, postaday, tufted titmouse
For a photographer, taking pictures of birds in flight (BIF) is probably the ultimate challenge. Birds fly very fast, they won’t wait for you, and you have little control on such matters as lighting and angles. You must shoot at very high speed, bump up the ISO, and just hope that your camera can meet those critical demands.
I have started to do BIF with the small birds around our bird feeder, as you can see in the following photos.
26 Monday Jan 2015
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A major storm is beginning to fall in our area. It’s expected to become a blizzard with whiteout conditions. From inside the house, I took the following photos of the beautiful birds descending on our bird feeder to stock up for the next day or two, just like people going in and emptying store shelves.
Here are two cardinals looking and waiting for the right moment to fly to the bird feeder, only about 10 ft away from them.
A typical scene at the bird feeder.
10 Saturday Jan 2015
Posted Photography
inAnother cold day as our bird feeder continues to be the gathering place for our feathered friends: juncos, chicadees, sparrows, tufted titmice, woodpeckers, cardinals, blue jays.
Suddenly all the birds flew up and scattered in every direction. A brown shape landed on our yellow magnolia tree. It was a Cooper’s Hawk. This was the first time I have been able to take photos of this bird of prey.
The hawk stayed perched on a magnolia branch, gazing intently at the bird feeder, but all the medium and small birds had flown into hiding. After a couple of minutes, it gave up and flew back into the sky. It wasn’t until about half an hour later that our usual contingent of birds returned to our backyard.
15 Saturday Mar 2014
Posted Photography
inThis week, I acquired a Canon SX50 HS camera which can zoom from 24 mm to 1200 mm, or 50X. This camera is used by many bird photographers who cannot afford to buy those giant lenses, some costing as much as a second mortgage on a home.
I must say that the camera has lived up to its reputation. See for yourself in these three photos that I took over the past three days.
Here’s a junco, that came to partake of sunflower seeds I put out on our deck. I shot this through our glass patio door, but it is still very sharp.
Next is a robin, running on the grass near the Delaware Raritan Canal about 1.5 miles from home. We also have them in our backyard, but until now I haven’t been able to take as close a shot as this one.
Finally, here’s a nuthatch hanging upside down a tree trunk. I thought it was a female downy woodpecker, but Jet Elliot (see her comment below) pointed out my error. Thanks, Jet!
07 Friday Feb 2014
Posted Photography
inThis winter has really been the coldest we have experienced. On some days, when I left the house to go to work, the temperature has been as low as -5 F (-24 C). I have had to replace my car battery one night, and the AAA man who came to replace it said they never ever had to replace so many batteries in one month.
Here’s a photo of a branch of our yellow magnolia tree encased in ice. I hope the flower buds will survive and bloom again this spring.
The animals of course have to find food any way they can. I saw the deer below nib at one of our neighbor’s tree. If you look closely you’ll see that it has lost one of its antlers. This is normal, and the remaining one should fall off eventually. Around this time of the year, deer shed their antlers, which will regrow in the spring.
I put out sunflower seeds and managed to take pictures of some cute birds.
Our backyard cardinals were not to be seen. Maybe they got offended by the post I wrote the other day.