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| Is that the face of a storm trooper? |
It snowed most of the way home from Roger
Waters' film "The Wall" in Anchorage last night, but not around the
house. It did snow here a little overnight and there was enough residue this
morning to spur some action on the feeder front and I filled and put out two
feeders.
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| Red-breasted nuthatch. |
Mind you I haven't seen a bird around here
in about two weeks at least. Drove to town for some errands and when I got home
both feeders were crowded with black-capped chickadees and red-breasted nuthatches. The
sun peeked out and lighted up the yellow leaves left in the trees so it seemed
like time to fool around with that new lens. After wrestling with a new lighter
tripod that refused to do what I wanted it to, I went and got my old reliable
and set about making magic. About then a woodpecker flew over and I chased him
back into the woods by never did see him again.
The chickadees and nuthatches were much more
agreeable and I think I managed to pull off some interesting photos at the same
time experimenting with the lens to make sure I can use it the way it is
supposed to be used.
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| Female pine grosbeak at twilight |
Later in the day a female pine grosbeak
showed up and that shot of her was handheld and through a window, but at the
shorter end of the zoom lens. The lens does have an image stabilizer, but that
was turned off for the tripod work and by the time I thought of it, the bird
had departed.
Anyway, a pleasant day to get out in the sun
and mess around a little.
Love these bird photos - also the moon slideshow.
ReplyDeleteMy father was a lifelong birdwatcher. He kept a journal of all the birds he had seen from the age of 5. When he died, we found the weekly bird list he kept and mailed to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. We mailed it in for him.
Once when I was visiting him (he lived in Wimbledon), we saw a flock of fledglings leaving the nest one by one. We must have spent an hour watching each one take its first flight. It was magical.