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 …
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 …
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. …
Chagrin River Park
This bold nuthatch was determined to get more than his share of the sunflower seeds.
Mating on the mind?
I don't know much about the mating rituals of tree swallows, actually, I don't know anything, but I have seen their territorial disputes, complete with angry squawks and frantic dive-bombing. This doesn't look anything like that, so I am going to assume these birds had mating on their minds. If anyone has information contrary to …
Serendipity
Another sudden change in the weather has brought on a day that is sunny, hot, and MUGGY! I like it all but the muggy part, but it is what it is, and I'm not complaining. A walk in the park around mid-day captured several photos that made me happy. First, a red admiral butterfly. They …
A happy surprise!
For years I have been walking past this bird nesting box, stopping occasionally to check it out. Never have I seen any inhabitants...until today that is! I tried to creep closer, hoping for more detail, but screech owls are apparently very shy. At least this one is. As soon as I approached the box, he …
Not another bird!
Challenged by my daughter, Becky, to look for new subjects (and not just another bird) for the photos I post here and in my daily journal at Blipfoto.com, I set out for the park today without my usual 70-300mm lens, the one I've used throughout the winter to capture close up portraits of birds. In …
SEEN ALONG THE TRAIL 