After a few fairly quiet weeks at the feeders, the backyard is coming alive again with new visitors. The warm weather has brought in the rufous hummingbirds, and I’ve also seen a yellow rumped warbler around the yard. There are at least one pair of pine siskins feedings on sunflower seeds as well.
Out on my walks, I’ve been seeing bunnies every day (including a pair that looked as if they were planning a bunny rendezvous in the near future) but I wasn’t able to capture any decent photos of them this week.
Onto the pictures, have a great week everyone!
A male rufous hummingbird (with his tongue sticking out just a little bit).A yellow rumped warbler (Audubon’s).A yellow rumped warbler hanging around the back garden.A pair of crows I spotted on an early morning walk.A female rufous hummingbird.A pair of pine siskins.A ruffed grouse I spotted while out walking.
It’s been a great week for birds around the neighbourhood, especially yesterday, when I managed to capture photos of 5 different species in one morning walk (plus 3 different bunnies).
Wishing everyone a wonderful week 🙂
I actually saw a pair of flickers yesterday, and while they conveniently perched together in a tree, I didn’t manage to get any shots of the two together worth sharing, as they were so high up, and I didn’t have to big lens. This one was working hard tapping at this dead tree; I heard it long before I saw it.A hairy woodpecker pauses from pecking between the tree branches early yesterday morning.A sure sign of spring are the robins singing from the treetops every morning. I caught this one searching for worms on the roadside.Earlier this week, I saw frantic activity below a large pine tree; I snapped loads of photos just so I could try to identify the birds. This was the best that I managed, but I include it here as it was a new species for me, a white winged crossbill.The juncos are back in town, but generally don’t visit the feeder; they are part of the clean up crew that keeps that area beneath the feeder tidy (thanks guys!).The pileated woodpecker was tapping away at the top of this pole, making quite the racket.One of the 3 bunnies I saw yesterday; this one was right next to my driveway at the end of our walk. Luckily, Spencer only barks at them about 1 in 10 times that he sees them. Mostly he just patiently waits for me to finish taking a photograph.I’ve been hearing the ruffed grouse drumming for some time now, but this was the first time I’ve seen one this year. This beauty hung around under the bird feeder, cleaning up fallen sunflower seeds.I was happy I was able to quietly sneak outside and get a few photos (I was hiding behind the garden hose reel so I didn’t disturb the grouse browsing).Sunflower seed success.
I went for a quick drive this morning, after hearing about tree swallows and potentially mountain bluebirds nesting in a field fairly close to home. I was rewarded with seeing both. I’ve never seen mountain bluebirds before this, and the intensity of the males feathers reminds me of the brightly coloured birds of Southern Africa.
It’s far too nice today though to spend much time indoors, so I’ll get to the photos and wish everyone a wonderful week ahead. 🙂
The first time you ask your partner to do something around the house…
The 87th time you’ve asked your partner to do that very same thing around the house!So nice to have the sun shining to show off the beautiful iridescent feathers of the tree swallow.A perfect portrait pose.My first view of a Mountain Bluebird.One couple was hanging out around nest box 20.Another preferred nest box 30. How I wish I could have captured the male and female together. Perhaps next weekend!The shockingly blue male Mountain Bluebird.Moments before he took to the skies.
It’s been a very quiet week here for photos. We’ve been having some lovely, and unseasonably warm weather (20C in the afternoons!) which has really changed the dynamics with the backyard birds. The redpoll groups had been waning over the last couple weeks, but I’ve not seen any for days, so I assume they’ve finally headed back north.
The snow is all gone (hurrah!), and one creature that hasn’t caught up to that are the neighbourhood bunnies. They are very conspicuous in their white coats at the moment…making it easy for me to spot them while out on early morning walks. I’ve seen bunnies a few times this week; I assume it’s always the same one since it’s in the same area each day.
That’s all I have for today, enjoy your week everyone 🙂
It’s a very bird centred post this week – I had some infrequent visitors to the yard that I managed to capture, and I took a trip out to Vanderhoof on Saturday to visit the Nechako Migratory Bird Sanctuary, where there a currently a fairly large population of swans. The light wasn’t in my favour, but I made the best of it (and be sure to check out tomorrow’s Monochrome Monday post, where my favourites from Saturday will be featured). The lacklustre light has let me play around with editing a little more than I would otherwise, which has actually been a lot of fun.
And with that, I’ll leave it to the photos.
Have a wonderful week!
Not a phenomenal photo by any stretch; I just think it’s so cool that I can capture Jupiter and 4 moons with my set-up. From top right: Io, Ganymede, Jupiter, Europa, Callisto. Being out looking at the stars makes me want to go rematch the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey. 1/8sec, f6.3, ISO 1000Since I was already outside taking a picture of Jupiter, ignoring the moon just didn’t seem right. 1/800sec, f6.3, ISO 1000I frequently see magpies around the neighbourhood, but it’s rare to see them hanging around the yard. This one stuck around just long enough to grab a photo through my office window. By the time I got outside, it was long gone. 1/1250sec, f6.0, ISO 1000Another bird I often see in the neighbourhood, but rarely in the yard. I’m pretty sure this is a raven, not a crow, but I’ll be totally honest, from photos I have a hard time distinguishing them, especially when perched. 1/1250sec, f6.3, ISO 1000A couple of swans having a morning gossip session. 1/800sec, f6.3, ISO 800I was told the number of swans that were there Saturday was really low (only maybe a hundred or so), but for me, I’ve never seen more than a couple at one time, so Iw as still impressed. The chattering was non-stop.
For me, this one is all about the wing shape.Going for a little pre-flight jog across the water 🙂 1/1250sec, f6.3, ISO 1600As soon as one group set off (apparently for foraging at a nearby farmer’s field) the rest soon followed. I was happy to capture a group of them in various stagesof taking off.
So low to the water, the wingtips are nearly touching.
I came across a few shots over the weekend that I thought deserved a re-edit. Just please don’t ask me what type of birds these are, as I believe the majority are one of the many sparrows that are common around the lower mainland, but I really don’t have a clue!
Last Sunday brought clear skies and a showing of the aurora; unfortunately I knew I would be really busy Monday morning, and decided to just hang around the yard and snap a few photos. I did see a few glimpses, but I’m sure if I would have headed for an area with fewer tall trees, the view would have been outstanding.
I spent a bit of time outside today watching, and photographing, the redpolls. I don’t think they will be here for much longer, but I know their absence will be filled with other birds heading back after wintering further south.
Signs of spring are all over the place; tree branches in bud, and more visible ground than snow, though yesterday we had quite the afternoon storm with driving wind, hail and a bit of snow. My attempts to photograph the near sideways hail left me flat.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week; here are the photos.
Aurora glow and a satellite passing by.The house, garage and forest getting in the way of a clear shot!There was a green glow to one side of the house, and magenta on the other.The hairy woodpecker stopped by one morning for some suet and to browse the trees in the back yard.
The lovely redpolls. I will be sad to see them leave, they are very spirited and chirpy in the yard.
I took my camera with me everywhere this past week, but just didn’t have any inspiration to use it. It happens sometimes! Last night though was brilliantly clear, so I headed outside for a couple shots of the stars. I was too tired to head anywhere more exciting then my front yard though.
Here are a couple shots from last night.
Have a great week everyone!
I do love that I can walk outside to inky blackness like this. I wish I would have had the foresight to see what stars I was photographing last night.I put the Tamron on my D5100 to get an effective 900mm lens. I had read and heard before that the movement of the stars is exaggerated by longer lens. Is it ever. This is Jupiter at 20sec, f6.3, ISO 800The best I could do with frozen fingers – Jupiter and one of it’s moons. 1.6sec, f6.3, ISO 2000
