Tag Archives: bird photography

Gilded Flickers, Gila Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves and Red

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This video from my new Bird Buddy feeder begins with a female Gilded Flicker. Then a male, with the red markings on his face, takes over. I see Gila Woodpeckers more than these larger woodpeckers. The flickers have spots while the Gila Woodpeckers have similar colors but a black and white pattern on their backs.

The new Bird Buddy has a longer battery life than my old one. I do have them both up and running, but I have to charge the older one more often — which I did yesterday. The birds seem to prefer the new feeder or maybe it’s the placement? I turned the feeder around because I was getting photos of my neighbor’s house. I don’t know the neighbors to the left of us, but somehow I doubt they’d want me making videos of their yard and posting them on my blog!

This video captures a Gila Woodpecker so you can compare it with the Gilded Flickers above. There are also House Sparrows and Mourning Doves taking their turns. The first two videos are from the new feeder.

These battling Mourning Doves are from my first Bird Buddy feeder. You can notice a difference in the quality of the video. Or maybe the camera needs to be cleaned?

Since I’m in Arizona, I’m keeping track of the missing Nancy Guthrie story. I hope the family gets answers soon!

Red and Mrs.also paid a visit to the new feeder.

What are your plans for this weekend? Are you rooting for the Seahawks?

Missing Red

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Here are a few of the best photos I got of Red this week, plus two of Mrs. I’m going to miss my backyard birds, especially my cardinal couple and quail. I have hired my former cat sitter to watch over the house and most importantly feed the birds! Hopefully, Red and Mrs. won’t abandon me while we travel.

Here are my favorite photos of the week:

Red perching on our beavertail cactus art.

Mrs. enjoying some bird seed.

Red on the fence. I liked how the morning light was shining through his crest.

I don’t get that many photos of Red with a front on angle.

I liked the sharp focus on this one.

Mrs. enjoys the beavertail cactus statue, too.

Do you have a favorite photo this week?

What are your exciting plans for the weekend?

The Ordinary Guys

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While I’m resting and recovering from a bout of COVID-25, I discovered writing isn’t that easy. My head feels stuffy and thick. I’m doing better sitting inside the casita photographing my bird buddies. Instead of focusing on my cardinal couple Red and Mrs., I felt it was time for the ordinary guys to have their day in the sun.

The photo above is a House Finch munching on a sunflower seed. (Please feel free to correct my bird identification.) I like the wings of a dove behind him.

Papa quail and a teen in front of a Barrel Cactus.

The baby quails are growing into awkward looking teens.

A House Finch on top of a Barrel Cactus.

House Finch on Beavertail Cactus statue.

I liked the angle of the finch and a different cactus.

We have an abundance of White-Winged Doves. Here’s one in a tree.

One not so ordinary guy:

Last but not least, our resident Roadrunner, getting ready make his move.

Do you have a favorite bird photo? If so, which one?

What exciting plans do you have for the weekend?

Birds and More

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This chipmunk was part of last week’s photo assignment. The photo is an example of Point of View. It turns out my sunken pool bar is good for more than bird photography. I like the perspective of being eye to eye with the critters.

For the assignment, I had to pick three out of severn composition techniques or aesthetics. My three were Point of View, Depth of Field and this one is called Centering. It’s a Century Plant stalk. The professor said centering is one of the most dissed aesthetics, but can be effective.

The House Sparrow photo shows off Depth of Field. I like how the background is out of focus and looks like an impressionistic painting. I had rarely noticed the yellow planter barrel before, but it’s finding it’s place in my photos.

Mr. Curve Billed Thrasher was another example of Depth of Field. I like how he pops out of the photo from the blurry background. He also shows an extreme dislike of my taking his picture.

Photos I took for fun:

Red gets his time in the limelight. But he’s been pretty flighty, even though he yells at me to fill the feeder every morning and afternoon, he doesn’t stick around for a lengthy photo session. The photo below has wispy aloe blossoms in the foreground that look ghosts or accidental lights. The focus was on Red.

However, there are other birds in the yard to photograph:

Gilded Flicker.

House sparrow.

Mrs. Red on the yellow barrel.

This quail reminds me of myself, facing a steep walkway.

My newest objective is to catch birds in flight. With a fast enough shutter speed you can stop their action. But I wasn’t very good at getting the whole Mourning Dove in the picture.

Which photos do you like and what’s your favorite of my three composition techniques?