A great horned owl is sitting on a nest in the park where I usually take my photowalks. Last week it was pointed out to me, but the owl was not in sight, although others had seen it. Today I took a few pictures of the nest, came home, and brought them up on my …
Look what the sun brought out!
It's amazing the difference a little sunshine will make after what seems like weeks of overcast skies. The sunny skies brought lots of walkers to the trails in the park and lots of birds too. The red-bellied woodpecker is usually too shy to come within range of my camera lens, but today I captured three …
Bonanza!
On my photowalk this afternoon, the first "almost sunny" afternoon we have had in a long time, I headed down the trail with some sunflower seeds in my pocket. Passing a bench, I sprinkled a handful of seeds, hoping to attract a few birds for a photo opp. Some chickadees and titmice flew in, grabbed …
Sparrows can be SO confusing!
Juvenile white-crowned sparrow -2 I knew it was a sparrow, but I couldn't find it in my bird app on my iPad. Then I had a brainstorm (Don't know what took so long) and posted it to my Facebook page, asking for help with the ID. Within minutes, a friend I didn't realize was an …
A blanket of snow
Much to my delight, snow fell last night and covered the muddy trails in the park. Winter without snow can be pretty dull and tiresome, in my opinion. The unremitting brown-and-greyness of it wears on me after a while...a pretty short while to tell the truth. I think my feelings stem from our location on …
Unusual pose for a nuthatch
Walking in the park, I am much more likely to see the nuthatches (and there are hundreds of them) land in a tree and walk down the trunk. That is typical behavior for the nuthatch, but this fellow decided to pose a little differently for his portrait. I wonder if he is more vain than …
Something different
A late afternoon walk in the park garnered nothing more than the usual suspects: the chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, and other little birds. Then as the sun sank lower, it cast a soft glow on the scene, and I decided to go for a landscape shot of the power towers. Not my usual style, but I …
I found “big bird!”!
Look at those holes the pileated woodpecker has dug in the tree. I have been tracking this big bird for weeks, actually for the entire winter, ever since I realized that there was one living in our neighborhood park. Now I know that there isn't just one, but a pair, a male and a female. …
A photo portfolio
There is a pileated woodpecker nesting somewhere in our park, and I have been searching for him for weeks. Occasional sightings have not rewarded me with a good picture to post, so I will just have to keep trying. It is a very elusive quarry and perhaps, just perhaps, there is a pair. One day …
Birding with a camera
Most birdwatchers, or twitchers, as they are called in Britain, carry binoculars. I carry my camera. You can probably guess that I am not a serious birder with a long life-list and a longer list of exotic locations I've visited in the pursuit of elusive species. I have high regard (envy?) for the experts who …
SEEN ALONG THE TRAIL 