Posts Tagged “Bird photography”
A varied thrush confronts a steller’s jay at my feeder during the blizzard of January 3, 2020. (Robin Rowland)
The decade of the 2020s came in like a mountain lion on January 3, 2020 here in Kitimat, with (up until now) 75 centimetres or 30 inches of snow.
I came inside after digging out the first time (I would dig out twice more today) and sat down for lunch only to see at least a dozen juncos at my feeder in the midst of the wind and blowing snow. I have an older camera on the table so I can photograph any birds that might come to the feeder. A varied thrush flew down, scattering the juncos. The varied thrush was too big for the feeder (or at least it thought it was) so it waited while the juncos gorged themselves and picked up and seeds that dropped from the feeder.
About an hour later a steller’s jay joined the group. The thrush and the steller’s jay seemed to get along at first but later this was a confrontation between the two while the juncos watched. The steller’s jay, being a smarter bird (like all corvids) did find a away to get at the feeder.
Juncos congregate at my feeder in the midst of the blizzard. (Robin Rowland)
A junco waits its turn at the feeder. (Robin Rowland)
The varied thrush perches just below the feeder. (Robin Rowland)
The patient varied thrush waits for the juncos to drop some seeds. (Robin Rowland)
The varied thrush lands under the feeder beside the steller’s jay (Robin Rowland)
The varied thrush looks up at the feeder (the juncos had temporarily departed) as the steller’s jay watches. (Robin Rowland)
A shot of the steller’s jay. (Robin Rowland)
The steller’s jay finds a way to get at the seeds in the feeder. (Robin Rowland)
Most of the juncos and the varied thrush were still there a few hours later as it began to get dark.
I usually take a morning walk through a forest park near my house. We had the first major frost this morning, and so the resident birds, steller’s jays, American robins and juncos were very active.
A steller jay in an old tree. (Robin Rowland)
A steller jay explores through the cover of grass. (Robin Rowland)
A steller jay peeks through the cover of grass. (Robin Rowland)
An American robin in a forest mountain ash tree. (Robin Rowland)
An American robin in a forest mountain ash tree. (Robin Rowland)
An Oregon junco hides in the underbrush. (Robin Rowland)
I looked out into my back garden on the morning of October 2, 2019 to see more flocks of birds flying around in an early October downpour. Far more birds than I expected. It is bear season and there are more black bears around town than usual, which means my feeders are currently empty. No matter, the birds were concentrating on a mountain ash tree in the backyard.
In less than a hour I visited by a raven, a varied thrush, a northern flicker, steller jays, juncos and too many robins to count. I managed to get good photographs of the robins, the raven, the northern flicker and the varied thrush. I had no luck capturing the juncos and steller jays. I didn’t see any sparrows.
A robin grabs a mountain ash berry. (Robin Rowland)
I used two cameras for this shoot. I normally keep an older Sony Alpha 55 with a Tamron 70-300 lens on my dining room table all the time to shoot birds in the garden. Once I realized that the feeding was going to continue for a while I grabbed my Sony RX10-iii which has a 24 to 600 lens.
The raven (Robin Rowland)
American robin at the top of the mountain ash (Robin Rowland)
A robin grabs a berry from the top of the mountain ash. (Robin Rowland)
A pair of robins at the top of the mountain ash (Robin Rowland)
Varied thrush. (Robin Rowland)
A robin perches in the mountain ash. (Robin Rowland)
This morning the garden was quiet, so it looks like that for some reason, the gathering only happened yesterday,
An American robin reaches for berries on a tree in Kitimat, BC, March 23, 2019. (Robin Rowland)
Today is the first day the snow has melted enough that I could go for a walk in the play bush near my home. An American robin was on a tree branch and kept stretching its neck to try to get berries that were just beyond reach. After numerous tries, it finally realized it was a futile effort and flew off another branch where the picking was easier.
A juvenile bald eagle prepares for take off at the Kitamaat Village waterfront. (Robin Rowland)
Portrait of a juvenile bald eagle at Kitamaat Village, March 10, 2019. (Robin Rowland)
The juvenile bald eagle just after take off, March 10, 2019. (Robin Rowland)
A flock of Barrow’s golden eyes hug the shore off Kitamaat Village. (Robin Rowland)
A crow caws on a snag at low tide at Kitamaat Village, March 10, 2019. (Robin Rowland)
A song sparrow on stump on the Kitamaat Village waterfront. (Robin Rowland)
Storm clouds over Douglas Channel, March 10, 2019. (Robin Rowland)
A crescent moon sets over the mountains of Kitimat, with “earthlight” from our home planet illuminating the sphere, March 8,2019. (Robin Rowland)
A seagull hunts for oolicahn on the Skeena River, March 6, 2019. (Robin Rowland)
Went out for the monthly shore bird count this morning in the midst of the Polar Vortex hitting the west coast.About -8 C with a cold wind off Douglas Channel which probably made it even colder than airport windchill of -15. Even the birds, it seems, were huddling some place hidden for warmth.
A bald eagle hovers over Douglas Channel at sunrise. (Robin Rowland)
Ice on a snag (an old log) at the Kitamaat Village waterfront looks like alien invaders. (Robin Rowland)
Sunrise over Douglas Channel on an icy Sunday morning. (Robin Rowland)
Trumpeter swans, signets and canvasback ducks in the Kitimat River estuary, Dec.15, 2018. (Robin Rowland)
My portion of the Christmas Bird Count in the Kitimat River Estuary (courtesy Rio Tinto) was in an afternoon blizzard which cut visibility by up to about 80 per cent at times and was no help to the cameras, whether or on auto focus or manual.
A killdeer hunts for food on a patch of wetland grass as the tide rises (Robin Rowland)
A rare sighting of a Wilson’s snipe out in the open on the river estuary. (Robin Rowland)
A bald eagle overhead. (Robin Rowland)
Another shot of the killdeer. (Robin Rowland)
Another shot of the Wilson’s snipe. (Robin Rowland)
The Wilson’s snipe getting a last shot at a meal as the tide rises. (Robin Rowland)
The trumpeter swans, signets, canvasbacks and mallards. (Robin Rowland)
A great blue heron huddles against the snow storm. (Robin Rowland)
Another great blue heron. (Robin Rowland)
A loon in the choppy waves of Kitimat harbour. (Robin Rowland)