2020-03-15: African Birds

It was far too cold for me to get out and photograph any local birds this week, so instead I have come up with quite a random assortment of African bird images to share this week.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.  Stay safe out there!

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A pair of crested francolin, part of a large group that were foraging along the side of the road.
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My personal favourite, the lilac breasted roller.
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A female bearded woodpecker seen on an early morning game drive.
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This photo makes me laugh, because when I look at it, I can hear the bird calling “Go Away”.  These are a pair of grey go-away birds.
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A coqui francolin pausing from it’s foraging to give me a photo op.

2016-05-01: What I’ve seen this week

The back yard continues to get busier, as more and more birds are heading into town.  The warm weather has also meant trips to the garden centre to start sprucing up the yard, and getting some colourful flowers to contrast the sea of green.

This weekend has flown by, and there is still much to do, so I will leave it at that and get to the photos.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

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Not the sharpest photo, but nice to have evidence of a few rufous hummingbirds getting along, and sharing the feeder.
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A pileated woodpecker seen on a morning walk.
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The purple finches have arrived, and along with the yellow pumped warbler, are filling the yard with lovely songs.
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The yellow pumped warbler – he’s quite a shy one!
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From the trunk up… I have no idea what type of tree this is, but it was one of the things that caught my eye while doing a photo walk downtown early this week with my local photo club.
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Lovely blossoms, but again I ave no idea what variety.
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I saw three deer while out on my bike Sunday afternoon, and then this single one spent a great deal of time in the yard on Monday.
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I snapped a few quick photos of this bird before it flew away; I was unable to tell until I got it on the computer that it is a red breasted sapsucker.
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Another view of the lovely deer that visited on Monday.
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Enjoying the backyard salt lick.

2016-04-17: What I’ve seen this week

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 🙂

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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.
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A hairy woodpecker pauses from pecking between the tree branches early yesterday morning.
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A sure sign of spring are the robins singing from the treetops every morning. I caught this one searching for worms on the roadside.
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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.
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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!).
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The pileated woodpecker was tapping away at the top of this pole, making quite the racket.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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Sunflower seed success.

2016-03-13: What I’ve seen this week

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.

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Aurora glow and a satellite passing by.
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The house, garage and forest getting in the way of a clear shot!
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There was a green glow to one side of the house, and magenta on the other.
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The hairy woodpecker stopped by one morning for some suet and to browse the trees in the back yard.

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The lovely redpolls.  I will be sad to see them leave, they are very spirited and chirpy in the yard.

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2016-02-28: What I’ve seen this week

This week has flown by, as most of them seem to do lately.  Rather than ramble on and on, I’ll get straight to the pictures.

I hope you enjoy, and wishing everyone a wonderful week 🙂

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A pileated woodpecker that I spotted at the top of my road Tuesday morning. 1/640sec, f4.0, ISO125
(Taken with my new Panasonic camera. I’m pretty impressed with it, and it certainly is nice and light to take on walks)
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I glanced out the window while in my office, and noticed the pileated woodpecker in the forest behind my house. This one was shot through the window with my Nikon / Tamron combo.
1/500sec, f6.3, ISO640 @ 600mm
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I ventured outside to get a few shots, keeping a safe distance so I wouldn’t startle the woodpecker.
1/640sec, f6.3, ISO 2200
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Not a classic bird photo, but I love the contrast of the blurry branches and the nicely lit eye.
1/640sec, f6.3, ISO 2500 @600mm
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I ventured out to West Lake yesterday, because as you can see, it was just too nice to be indoors. There was quite a brisk breeze, and the place was deserted save for one other car. Spencer had a great time sniffing along the edge of the frozen lake.
1/640sec, f8, ISO 125
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An eagle’s nest high in the treetops. I imagine once the tree is in full leaf, many people sitting at the benches below wouldn’t even realize that it is there.
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I noticed movement in the nest, but was having a hard time seeing what it was. On full zoom, I finally caught sight of an eagle 🙂 1/640sec, f4.0, ISO 160
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An explosion of movement that I wasn’t prepared for at all. I had no idea there were two eagles in the nest until they decided quite suddenly to vacate it and head for another nearby tree. Given the proximity to my house, I wonder if this is the pair I saw a few weeks ago at the deer kill site?
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Eagles always look quite fierce to me, so it’s hard to tell if this is a dirty look, or just a normal one.
1/1250sec, f4.0, ISO200
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A bit of preening in the sun.
1/1250sec, f4.0, ISO 160
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One final shot before it was time to head home.
1/1250sec, f3.8, ISO 125
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