Birds – Page 17 – Jennifer Sawicky Photography

January 17, 2016

2016-01-18: What I’m sharing this week

I’ve modified the title a bit this week, since I’ll be honest, I’ve really not been out with my camera very much, and the few photos I do have, I think would be better for tomorrow’s Monochrome Monday post.

So instead, I thought I would share a sample of a project I worked on in November and December for a Christmas gift – a custom colouring book. It was a really fun project to do, and was very popular with the recipient as well.

I’ve included a few pages as a PDF available to download, if you are interested in printing them out and having a relaxing time with some coloured pencils. It’s my first attempt at making a PDF available for download, so fingers crossed I’ve done it right (It should be an easy control click or right click and select download linked file).

That’s all for today, I hope you enjoy, and have a lovely evening.

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Jen Sawicky Colouring Book Sample

January 13, 2016

2016-01-13: Wordless Wednesday

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January 10, 2016

2016-01-10: What I’ve seen this week

Earlier this week, I was getting concerned that I would end up with another weekly post dedicated to deer and bird, birds and deer; so I headed out in the yard with my macro lens to play around a bit and see if I could come across anything interesting. Also, it was simply a gorgeous, brilliant blue sky day, and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend fifteen minutes while taking a lunch break from my work. I also got out that evening for a few night sky shots.

Don’t worry though, most of the photos are still deer and birds!

I hope you enjoy my selections for the week. Have a great day!

20160110_What I've seen this week-9 — An older male with lots of scars. I wonder what his story is? Clashes with other males perhaps?

20160110_What I've seen this week-7 — This girl has a very unique left ear… and a hearty appetite for birdseed! She makes quite a mess, but the redpolls and grosbeaks seem to enjoy pecking around in the snow for all the seeds she’s dumped out.

20160110_What I've seen this week-8 — A younger male who happened to be heading into the yard while I was outside with my camera (and refilling the bird feeders). He kept to the bushes, luckily in some beautiful light.

20160110_What I've seen this week-5 — Beautiful light on a beautiful bird – a northern flicker.

20160110_What I've seen this week — It was snowing quite heavily at the start of the week, and this young deer was cloaked in snow from tip to tail. I loved this view though, something a little different.

20160110_What I've seen this week-10 — The young male pausing for a portrait.

20160110_What I've seen this week-11 — My little walking buddy, wanting to get in on the photo action when I took my camera out on a morning walk for a pretty sky at sunrise.

20160110_What I've seen this week-2 — For the past few weeks, I’ve had a few common redpolls every day at the feeders. Early this week though, I ended up with an entire flock in my backyard. Here is a smaller part of the group, all trying to get to the suet cake.

20160110_What I've seen this week-3 — Not a great shot, but I included it anyways just to show a part of the redpoll flock. I counted 28 on the ground, and there were loads up on the feeders as well.

20160110_What I've seen this week-4 — Something startled one of them, and they all scattered. That repeated a few times throughout the morning.

20160110_What I've seen this week-6 — An evergreen with a light dusting of snow.

20160110_What I've seen this week-12 — This could have been so much better, if I hadn’t been too lazy to go to the detached garage and turn off the exterior lights. I’m including this as a reminder to self to take the time to do the proper prep work!

January 3, 2016

2016-01-03: What I’ve seen this week

Last week it was all about the birds, this week, it was pretty much all about the deer. They stopped by singly, in pairs and in a group of four, and were around every other day, if not more. The one day I didn’t take my camera out on my afternoon walk, I spotted the great grey owl again. I got a snapshot with my phone, but as it was getting dark, I didn’t head back out with the camera and try to capture some better photos. I spoke with one of my friends in the neighbourhood, and she said that the owl has been spotted in her yard a couple times, and I am quite certain I caught a brief glimpse of him or her as she flew into the bush last week. Fingers crossed I’ll get to spend more time with the owl in the future.

I picked up some additional editing software during black Friday sales, and have finally had the opportunity to play around with some of it. Hence all the photos look completely different this week, as I wanted to see what different filters and treatments did.

I think that’s about all, so onto the picture.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week.

20160103_What I've seen this week-7 — Browsing through the selection of evergreens in the yard.

20160103_What I've seen this week-8 — The lovely grey jay, enjoying a nibble from the deer feed bowl.

20160103_What I've seen this week-5 — The whole gang together. In the fall I would see either a group of two or a group of three in the neighbourhood. Either they have lost a member overall, or just split into different groupings when I saw them before. Regardless, it was great to have them all here.

20160103_What I've seen this week-6 — A few moments after I shot this, two of the deer headed off into the forest.

20160103_What I've seen this week-2 — A pair of pine grosbeaks perched on a small evergreen in the back yard.

20160103_What I've seen this week-3 — Enjoying a new years eve lunch.

20160103_What I've seen this week-4 — Taking a pause from eating. Isn’t he a beautiful boy?

20160103_What I've seen this week — I keep the bowl full and what do I get? She sticks her tongue out at me while I’m taking her photo! The nerve

20160103_What I've seen this week-9 — On my afternoon walk today, I found a happy face in the snow. When the universe smiles at you, smile back

20160103_What I've seen this week-10 — A watery winter sun tries to peek through a combination of clouds and fog.

December 29, 2015

2015-12-29: Birds

I felt like doing bit of editing this evening, and decided to work on some bird photos that wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to take flight.

Enjoy!

20151229_Birds-9 — A pair of guinea fowl going for a morning jog. May, 2015

20151229_Birds-8 — Ostriches are one thing that are not plentiful on Londolozi. We came across this one while driving in for our stay. The sunlight on her backside is not an obvious lighting choice (but hey, work with what you get, right?). I do like the way it show the detail on the feathers. May, 2015

20151229_Birds-6 — A pied crow with the amazing Damaraland landscape in the background. Namibia, April 2015

20151229_Birds-5 — An orange breasted sunbird resting in the shade of one of the lovely flowering bushes at the Cape Town Botanical Gardens. April, 2015

20151229_Birds-4 — A double collared sunbird at the botanical gardens. April, 2015

20151229_Birds-3 — Another red winged starling, this time at the Cape of Good Hope. April, 2015

20151229_Birds-2 — A pair of black oystercatchers on Robben Island. April, 2015

20151229_Birds — One of the incredibly tame red winged starlings at the top of Table Mountain. South Africa, April 2015

20151229_Birds-7 — A robin chat tucked deep in the bushes. I resorted to laying down on my tummy and shooting through the deck railing posts to get some shots. This was the best that I could managed. South Africa, April 2015

December 27, 2015

2015-12-27: What I’ve seen this week

This week, all the photos were taken in my backyard, watching the birds. The pine grosbeaks have discovered the bird feeder, and a flock of them now frequent the area; today I got distracted by the group fluttering around and lost count after 12. I think here were around 16 or more individuals at one point. It’s wonderful to have them close and listen to them calling to one another.

We’ve had some significant snow yesterday and today, and I’m late getting on with editing and posting as I was busy using the snow blower on the driveway and shovelling out a new pathway to the feeders.

Some of the photos were taken out the window from the basement, giving a unique angle to the feeder… I’ve had to shovel out in front of the windows to be able to see the birds on the ground!

That’s enough chatter for this evening, I hope you enjoy seeing some of the lovely birds that have visited this week (the deer have been around too, but always after dark so no photos of them this week).

The pine grosbeaks have been around in force since they discovered the feeders:

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20151227_What I've seen this week-13 — A pine grosbeak shares the feeder with a common redpoll

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The hairy woodpecker stopped by for some seed as investigating the trees.

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The flickers have been visiting regularly, though are usually quite skittish and fly away if anyone is outside.

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The grey jays have been around frequently as well. They are usually quite skittish but I was outside taking photos of the grosbeaks Saturday and one of the jays stopped in for a snack; previously they would fly away if they saw someone move too quickly at the window. 20151227_What I've seen this week-7

I’m not a fan of the squirrels on the bird feeders (and with the set up I have, that hasn’t been a problem) but I’m happy for them to stop by and act as the clean up crew.

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December 24, 2015

2015-12-24: Gathering

20151224_Gathering — A group of female impala bunched together, ready to bolt at a moments notice. Okavango Delta, April 2015

The Daily Post: Gathering

December 20, 2015

2015-12-20: What I’ve seen this week

I managed to take a lot of photos this week; the skies cleared after a large snowfall, and I spent some time shovelling a pathway out to the bird feeders, and then hung around with my camera to see who would show up.

It’s been a full weekend and I almost bailed on putting together this post, but since going through my photos and editing is one of my happy places, it seemed wrong to deny myself that joy just because I’m a bit fatigued.

I hope you enjoy my selections for the week.