Photographs Through a Window – November 2016

November has been a good month for photography through my office window. The crows come to look for things in our gutters.

House finches come for water (this one is a male).

There was a purple finch (female) that visited too – seemingly very nervous.

There were bluebirds too – two days in a row. The second day was colder and the feathers are fluffed to keep the bird warmer.

The Carolina Wren is still around. The noises it makes in the fall are quite different than the spring song.

The bird I got the most excited about was a Northern Flicker (yellow shafted) that was in the maple tree long enough to get several pictures.

The blue jays have been around (very noisy)…but have not settled for long enough for me to photograph.

The squirrel has visited our deck several times and I suspect that the bird feeder is the attraction. It is supposed to be squirrel proof and – so far – has not been dumped. One squirrel figured out how to do it last spring….but so far the area under the feeder has remained free of large amounts of seed.

Usually we do have leaves on the roof --- but the leaves are swirling and it rained, so we have a few that are temporarily stuck: tulip poplar and maple. They dry out soon and be blown away (hopefully not into the gutter).

Photographs through a Window – August 2016

August has been hot, humid – punctuated with thunderstorms. Photography through the windows of our house has still be good. The doves are still around – coming for water at the bird bath frequently.

There always seems to be a wasp that leans too far into the bird bath and ends up drowning. I watched one for several minutes and saw that even when it maneuvered itself close to the side, the wasp could not get enough leverage from only 2 or 3 of its legs touching the side to lift itself out of the water.

There has been an uptick in gold finch visits. The bird bath is popular with them just like it to the doves.

But the gold finches like the zinnias

And the high narrow perch of the hanger for the bird feeder (empty during the summer) that the doves are too big to enjoy.

There was a molting American Crow on a neighbor’s roof.

We had more butterflies around in August. The zinnias were visited by spicebush swallowtails and

Tiger swallowtails.

The tiger swallowtails are probably our most prolific large butterflies because we have so many large tulip poplar trees in the forest behind our house (tulip poplars are host plants for the tiger swallowtail caterpillars).

August was a good month for through a window photography!

Ten Days of Little Celebrations – February 2016

Here are my top 10 celebrations for February – there was a lot to celebrate in this winter month:

There were a lot of birds to celebrate through my office window –

The crow with a glint in its eye,

The pileated woodpeckers in the forest,

And the mourning doves that were around frequently including a pair that mated on our deck railing!

I also celebrated good results from medical tests on myself and a family member (that counts as 2 celebrations!). Even when the majority of tests result in good (or benign) findings, there is always worry that builds and the relief translates into a little celebration when the results come back

Every time I wear my new fern imprint jewelry (ring, bracelet an earrings) I celebrate – savoring the living ferns I remember and the event where I made the purchase.

I also celebrated Christmas again every week that I work the cuddle socks one of my sisters gave me as a gift! They are indeed warmer than regular socks and comfy without shoes.

There were outdoor activities to celebrate too –

A walk around the neighborhood in the snow,

A sunny day walk at Mt. Pleasant farm (even though it was cold, breezy, and muddy), and

The birds on the ice at Centennial Park.

Zooming – February 2016

Birds dominate the zooming post for February. There are a lot of clips of the heads. If you want to see an enlarged version of a collage – click on it and a window with the enlarged version will appear.

In the first collage, there is a female cardinal, a male house finch, a pileated woodpecker (from the top of his head), a titmouse and a male cardinal.

Next up is a dove, a crow, velvety buds of a Princess Tree (one of the few botanical images), a robin’s foot – missing a toe, and a blue jay.

The swish of color at the top of the collage below is a blue jay flying away. The blur of color appealed to me. There is snow in a Crepe Myrtle seed pod, and a robin.

The last one is for fun – showing a dove showing off what is under its wing…and a dove blinking. In the lower right corner is the empty ‘nests’ of bird’s nest fungus.

Centennial Park in Winter

I posted yesterday about the Canadian Geese at Centennial Park. There were other things to see as well. There were gulls on the ice and swooping down for fish in the open water part of the lake. Feathers littered the edge of the ice. This Ring-billed Gull (juvenile) was close enough and stood still long enough for a portrait.

There are quite a few crows around too….cawing attention to the themselves!

There was a tree that had had a large branch cut – probably last fall. It was one of the more colorful natural elements on this winter day. The asymmetry of the cracks caught my attention as well.

This is an example of a not-so-good picture being good enough to identify the birds: a female and male Bufflehead. They are small ducks that winter in our area. There were at least 3 of them feeding in the lake while I was there but they were clearly at the limit of my handheld ‘zoom’ capability.

The mallard ducks were closer. The male was swimming along the edge of the ice (notice the feathers on the edge of the ice)

And the female was a little further into the lake. The pair meandered through the Canadian Geese without harassment.

I took a few ‘intimate landscape pictures: the rocks near the boat launch with a remnant of snow and last season’s plants gone to seed,

The empty nests of Birds Nest Fungus in the same location I photographed them last spring full of ‘eggs,’

And a collection of hardy plants encircled by roots of a tree holding the soil above the level of the path.

It was a warm afternoon for winter…but still cold. And we probably are not done with winter yet. None of the deciduous trees around the lake looked ready for spring and the ice on the lake shows bright white in the background.

Bird Photography through a Window – February 2016

It’s been a good month for bird photography through my office and kitchen windows. There are several kinds that visit daily. The male cardinal is so brilliantly colored that he always stands out. He is bigger and quite assertive about keeping the juncos at bay when he’s hungry. He’s too big for the feeder so he hogs the seed bowl when he is around.

His mate is the same way.

The blue jays visit the maple tree

And the bird bath. The jays are noisy so I usually have plenty of warning that the flock is passing through. The bird bath is popular when it is very cold because it is heated and probably the on only liquid water around.

The dove come in pairs…and sometimes larger numbers. They like both the seed bowl and the birdbath but sometimes sit on the deck railing and look out over the yard. There was one odd instance when the dove turned around and appeared to be watching me cook dinner through the kitchen window.

The robins have been increasingly common at the bird bath. Previously I saw them in the yard occasionally. One afternoon when the snow was melting the robins were having a feast of worms that must have been close to the muddy surface.  This particular robin has come to our birdbath several times. Can you spot what distinguishes this bird? (Part of the left foot is missing.)

I see the crows frequently and sometimes here them. They sometimes flip debris from the gutter over my office. They very seldom sit anywhere that I can photograph them. This one seemed to be posing for his picture.  Note how different the feathers on the head are from those on the back and wings.

There are others that are less common. A pair of pileated woodpeckers came through a few times this month. They stay in the woods behind the house.

We sometimes see house finches but the juncos generally drive them away from the feeder.

The same is true of the titmice.

A flock of red winged blackbirds came through early in the month. At first I thought they were something else because they were not all black. But I did notice the red and yellow patches. It turns out that these are immature males!

Some of them were blacker…and more mature.

Cowbirds also came as a flock and gobbled up most of the seed in the bowl. There are still some around but not as many at one time as that one cold afternoon. No other birds could get close to the bowl.