Tag Archives: wildlife photography

Birds and More Birds

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I was excited to see these “exotic” birds. The color was so beautiful. I called my husband in to look at them. He told me they were pigeons. Oh well. It’s my first pigeon in my backyard.

Off he goes. I didn’t see them again.

Isn’t the color striking?

I spotted a sparrow enjoying the bird bath.

Then he was joined by friends.

The water was flying. Now they must feel nice and clean.

A mourning dove waited for the waves to chill before taking a turn at the bird bath.

A quail walks by the other side of the bird bath. He was not interested in it.

It looks like Mrs. is having a conversation with her reflection in the camera.

Red keeps an eye out for any intruder at the Bird Buddy feeder.

I’m excited for my daughter to arrive soon! She should be here by 10 a.m. today. We’re going to the farmer’s market in Carefree and cooking dinner together. It will be a short visit because she’s flying this morning then driving our second car back to the Bay Area. She’s gone two years carless and has decided to join the world of driving again.

We recommended she buy our car rather than a used car from a stranger. Our car is in excellent shape and has low mileage. She did ask us for the CARFAX history! There are winter storm warnings through the mountain passes for her to get home. I’m worried about that, but she said she’d stay extra days in So Cal if the storm is still a factor.

What are your plans for the weekend? Can you believe we’re almost through the month of February?

Red Returns

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Finally Red was hanging out long enough for me to get some photos of him. While I’m healing and recovering from surgery, Red was the sight I needed to make my day!

More photos of Red:

We put together the shepherd’s hook to hang the new Bird Buddy feeder. But it wasn’t working right. There was something definitely wrong.

Mrs. waiting for her turn in the new Bird Buddy.

I don’t know why the shepherd’s hook placed the feeder mere inches from the ground. It was low enough for a squirrel to jump on the roof. I was afraid he was going to get stuck inside with the camera. He’s definitely not very bright. All he needed to do was turn around and jump into the tray of seeds.

I hung the feeder on this massage tool which securely hooked around a branch of the tree. But before I could hang the feeder, Mrs. hopped on it to try it out. It worked out well to have the feeder there, but we may want to use the massage tool to get the knots out of our backs!

Voilà! I looked at the instructions for the shepherd’s hook and realized my helpful husband installed the hardware that attaches to the fence upside down.

Mrs. finally got her turn in the Bird Buddy. This movie was taken when the bird feeder was low to the ground.

I didn’t like this placement of the camera because the sun causes too much glare.

Do you have a favorite Red photo?

Do you think there’s any upside to letting my husband know he messed up on the shepherd’s hook? Or do I let him notice on his own that it’s in a new position?

More Birding

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The backyard was strangely quiet. Normally it’s a busy beehive of birds. Especially after I fill the Bird Buddy feeder. But no. Not a bird in sight. Then I spotted this young Cooper’s Hawk on the fence. No wonder the smaller birds were staying away. He’s smaller than my Harris’s hawks. He was far enough away that I wasn’t sure what it was. It looked to me like an overlarge Mourning Dove who looked whitish in the morning sun.

Then I got the telephoto out and had some nice surprises.

Speaking of Bird Buddy AI bird feeders, I splurged and ordered a second one. I ordered my first one when my son had their account and was working on raising money to make the bird feeder a reality. I was an early contributor to the Bird Buddy campaign and I got my feeder at a huge discount. I did have to wait more than a year and a half for it, though.

Once the big birds like Quail and Mourning Doves attacked the bird feeder. The cord that connects the solar panel to the camera was destroyed. It ended up in the wash behind our house. The Bird Buddy people were nice enough to replace it and the bird feeder is still functional — with tape holding it together. It doesn’t like Arizona’s summers that well.

The new one arrived yesterday. It was so much easier than the original one to pair with my phone and set up. It was a breeze. I can also tell it’s a more solid unit. I remember having to work with tiny screws that kept falling into the feeder on the first go around. I almost gave up on putting it together. The new one had no screws to deal with. The camera fit snugly into the bird feeder with a magnet holding it in place.

I don’t have it in the yard yet. I’m waiting for Amazon to deliver a “Shepherd’s Hook” to hang it on. If that doesn’t work, I may try twine to hang it from the fence. I think the birds will be thrilled to have a new feeder and maybe they will fight less over birdseed.

Speaking of fighting over birdseed, watch this video of Mourning Doves in the Bird Buddy Feeder.

Bully Mourning Doves. I enjoy watching the birds in flight in the background.

Any bets if the new camera with be sharper and better than the old one? At least it will start of cleaner and look more in focus!

What are the most exotic birds you have at your home?

Is bird watching something you like to do?

Do you know who is an avid bird watcher? Sam Darnold QB1 for the Seahawks on his way to the Super Bowl.

Finally! The Day has Arrived!

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I took photos over the weekend, sitting at the pool bar hidden from view of my bird buddies. This is a mourning dove. Good news! I had two Red and Mrs. sightings over the weekend. They are back, but I wasn’t quick enough for photos.

While you’re reading this, most likely I’m in a surgery center finally having a procedure done on my left foot. I say finally because I originally scheduled it for May 2025. But when I went in for my pre op appointment, I had an ACE bandage on my right ankle. The surgeon said she’d like to x-ray it — because many times women my age have breaks rather than sprains. Yes, wouldn’t you know it, she was correct. She had me in for surgery two days later because the fibula had a break and was bowed.

So much for my little bunion procedure. After months of recovering from ankle surgery, I finally wanted to move forward with surgery on my left foot. I scheduled it between taking care of my daughter’s shoulder surgery, her pug Waffles and our Hawaii trip. However, the first night I was taking care of my daughter, my son ended up in ER. I waited patiently to find out if he needed surgery. His was scheduled the same week as mine!

So, more delays for me. Then I rescheduled for today. Last Wednesday I had my pre-op appointment and my surgeon told me insurance denied the procedure. They said it wasn’t medically necessary. I said sure, I can no longer take my daily walks and can’t wear shoes. But hey, it’s not necessary!

The good doctor got me approved after a peer-to-peer meeting with the insurance company and right now I’m “under the knife!”

Here are more photos I took over the weekend:

The bully of the birdseed block: Curve-Billed Thrasher.

Another Mourning Dove.

House Sparrow at the birdbath.

Quail!

Have you had any issues with medical insurance?

Which photos do you like best?

Flyers

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A dove took off, being forced from the birdseed by a covey of quail.

When I looked through my old photos from last January’s intro to photography class, I found quite a few of birds in flight. I remember trying and trying to catch them flying and found it was almost impossible. So, it was surprising to see a few that were okay. If you missed my post Wednesday, I posted old photos of Red HERE.

I found this view of a stately predator to be fascinating.

Doves in flight.

Quail sound like jets planes taking off.

Harris’s Hawk landing on a mesquite tree.

A Harris’s Hawk flying from a Century Plant.

A hawk I caught right before he flew off the neighbor’s roof.

This is a framed photo of birds in flight that is hanging in our living room. Gary Gruber has a lengthy career as a photographer that includes street photography, public relations, landscapes and more. We worked together back in my PR days and I remember helping him in his booth at a juried art show in La Quinta. Now he has photography in a gallery in Palm Desert. You should spend some time looking through his photography on his website HERE. His work is stunning and will brighten your day! Here’s a photo from his Birds on a wire tab.

Happy Friday! Any exciting plans for the weekend?

Old photos of Red

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I’m sad to say I haven’t had a Red or Mrs. sighting in a few weeks! Where did they go? Maybe they aren’t enjoying the cold weather with lows at night down to 30 degrees and highs in the low 50s during the day? Just like me. I’m not liking it either. This Red photo is from last March.

I took a few photos of squirrels and quail over the weekend. I was looking at them in Adobe Bridge. Then I thought, I wonder what else is on this card? I discovered it was from my intro to photography class I took January through May last year. In that class we weren’t allowed to crop or make changes. The professor’s point was for us to learn composition and our camera’s settings. I spent a few hours opening last year’s photos in Adobe Camera Raw and improving what I had originally captured. I discovered some photos of Red and friends that needed little touching up.

A new photo of a quail and squirrel I took over the weekend.

Here is one I took a year ago of birds in flight at my Bird Buddy feeder.

Old photos of Red and his House Finch friend. Here’s a series of them looking this way and that.

I had fun looking through old photos, cropping and brightening them up. I have a few more to share in upcoming posts.

Hopefully it will warm up and Red and Mrs. will return. Red was a bachelor when I took these photos last January.

Do you have a favorite photo out of these?

What are you working on as a new project for the New Year?

Odds, Ends and Quail

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I have only seen Red and Mrs. a few times since we got back home from Hawaii for the New Year. I was disappointed with the photos I took. They were blurry, fuzzy and altogether not good. While I was taking photos of my quail, Red showed up and posed for me on the pink flamingo. I kept trying to snap photos, but my camera wasn’t cooperating. There was a large “E” on the screen.

Then I exchanged the camera battery, thinking that might be the issue. It wasn’t. I glanced back at my laptop to see the dongle plugged in with a card reader. The SD card wasn’t in my camera. No wonder the photos of Red weren’t going to happen.

Red flew away. I had to be content with quail photos.

A female quail acting as “look out” in the tree. This is normally a man’s job.

A male doing his job.

Then he flew up into the tree from the rock.

While in Hawaii, I received an email from my photography professor. He said the class is no more. I had registered for Spring semester which was to begin this month and run until May. There were five others in the class along with me. The class is by invitation only, so there’s no signing up if the professor didn’t think you’d be a good fit for the class. He told me before I joined that everyone is dedicated to learning and improving in photography. That everyone is on the same learning curve, just at different points along the way.

I’m sad the class won’t continue. But in the meantime, I’ll continue working on my learning curve, wanting to improve my photography. What’s really sad is that professor said after 26 years of working at the college, he was sent an email coldly telling him he was no longer employed.

I’m starting off the New Year with a very light calendar. No more ladies’ group, newsletter, photography class. Even the neighborhood coffee has ended. With all this free time, I’m going to get back to my focus on writing. I have several projects and manuscripts that need my attention.

What would you do with a cleared calendar?

Is there a project you’d like to start on or continue?