birds (106)

Great Blue Heron

March 7, 2017 at 5:39 pm

Majestic birds, very spooky — at slightest perceived movement, they will take off. I shot this through the living room window yesterday morning, it was at the pond, looking for fish.

Tags:
Post a comment

Red-Shouldered Hawk in Tree This Morning

December 28, 2016 at 11:11 pm

It was giving the evil eye to the chickens. (They’re safely enclosed by aviary wire.)

I think this is a young hawk. I climbed up a ladder with my telephoto lens, was maybe 10′ away from him — he wasn’t alarmed. Come to think of it, maybe predators are more in attack than flight mode.

Last night I saw 2 different coyotes on the highway. One is there pretty much all the time; I hope it’s not due to people feeding him.

Tags: , , ,
Post a comment (2 comments)

Hummingbird Rescue Operation This Morning

August 3, 2016 at 6:22 pm

We discovered a hummingbird this morning in the kitchen office, huddled up and catatonic. It probably got in there last night and was unable to get out. I just read that hummingbirds have to consume their body weight in food (nectar and insects) each day and they have to stock up before nightfall to survive until the next day. When facing starvation, they are able to lower their body temperature.

This one was close to expiring and when we picked it up, it didn’t move. We started feeding it sugar water and warmed it under a lightbulb. Pretty soon its tiny tongue flicked out and it started swallowing. Its eyes, which had been closed, opened. After maybe 5 minutes, it started moving its wings. Back from the dead. We took it outside and—zoom!—off it went into the highest birch tree—jubilation from the humanoids.

In these photos you can see it with its eye closed, and later, open.

Tags: ,
Post a comment (6 comments)

My scrub jay garden buddy. I’m getting him to come closer and closer…

June 17, 2016 at 5:46 pm

Well, he started it. He would hang around when I walked in the garden, follow me around. Perky, inquisitive.

Once in a great while a wild animal makes contact. Coyotes are renowned for their excursions into humanoid consciousness.

He’ll swoop down, fly, and hop around to different vantage points, hop toward the peanut, then decide he’d rather come at it from another direction. Cock his head back and forth for different vantage points. Today for the first time I got him to take a peanut off my hand. We’re getting to know each other, but he’s very wary. He doesn’t like it if anyone else is around.

Tags: ,
Post a comment (1 comment)