Category Archives: Birds
Weekly Photo Challenge: Wrong
Friends, I was photographing this young red tailed hawk when he rapidly left the scene. There is a recent trend to accept some bird photos as “pleasing blurs”, but i call this one the wrong shutter speed and poor panning technique, so in essence this is not a pleasing blur. I will share one of my better shots in the near future til Tomorrow MJ
Rusty Swan
Friends, this trumpeter swan is getting some good food off the bottom of this swamp, lots of wild rice blooming and arrowhead root that is a favorite food. He is very stained by the iron-rich water but after the molt he will again be pure white. He was not alone on this pond, a couple of swans were chasing him away but he was still getting plenty of food. Also wish to share a new book on Texas birds with you, Bob Zeller of Texas Tweeties has published a book on Texas birds, the link is http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3431406, check out his preview. til Tomorrow MJ
The Great Egret on the blue
Friends, this great white bird is a great egret, a few of these come this far north, very few, but there are three birds hanging around fish lake which is another wildlife refuge that is just a few mile down the road from Crex. They share the Glacial Grantsburg Lakes ecology. In a recent photo contest, one of the categories was pleasing blurs, do you think this image would qualify as pleasing, the wing tips are blurred. til Tomorrow MJ
Goldfinches
Friends, these are goldfinches male above and female below, they are raising their young and feasting on the tickseed sunflowers, they build their nests late in the summer so they can line the nest with thistle seed, fluffy seeds make a great pillow for little goldfinches, also thistle seeds are great food and they will come to them even in the winter months, a hardy little bird, most of them remain in the northland in the winter and keep us company on cold winter days, til Tomorrow MJ
Portrait at 8 weeks
Friends, this loon was hatched on June 6, 2012, so this week he is 8 weeks old. He and his sibling have grown very fast and on this morning he was still being fed by an adult bird. The other sibling is out on his own in an adjacent lake. This morning the water was like glass with the only ripples made by the bird, the early morning light peeked out from behind a dense cloud deck and illuminated the birds just briefly, I never get tired of seeing these wonderful birds or of photographing them. til Tomorrow MJ
Little Bird
Friends, this tiny bird is showing a bit of attitude, i think he is an Eastern Phoebe, but i am not an expert on the little birds, this was taken early this spring and i can now publish him cause i didn’t win the contest, Now really how could you resist this little guy??, oh well maybe next year. til Tomorrow MJ
Portrait
Friends, I took my husband to Crex to watch the loons feeding their babies, as we watched they swam very close to our vehicle. After one of the dives, this adult bird surfaced within ten feet of me and i was able to shoot this shot. The morning was cool and the water was like glass. i couldn’t resist showing you one more loon in a little different pose, but the eye is still there. Til Tomorrow MJ
King of the Fishers
Friends, this handsome bird is a female Kingfisher and is indeed king of the fishers. This is a portrait that was taken early in the spring, I apologize for not showing a current image, but i have been making an animated video and it was a real challenge. They changed Photoshop around so i had trouble finding all the tools that i needed, then i hit a glitch in the software, did you hear me where you are? i hollered loud enough to be heard around the world, total frustration. tomorrow back to my Crex images, til Tomorrow MJ
Another young hummer
Friends, this young hummingbird is a male the black whiskers under his chin, or his five o clock shadow, is the area that next year will be filled with irredescent red feathers, thus the name ruby-throated hummingbird. I had a great deal of fun trying to photograph these little guys, but it was a beautiful day and somewhat cooler than it has been. til Tomorrow MJ
Summer Hummer
Friends, this is a young hummingbird, probably a male, the black streaking under his chin is where the red gorget will become apparent after his winter molt. There were two siblings fighting over the feeder near the visitor’s center yesterday and i sat for an hour, shooting their antics. I like the tiny feet in this image and the tongue showing beyond his beak. The tongue is not a straw but two fibers that collect nectar by capillary action, he can “lick” the nectar from the source with a tongue that can move 13 times per second, wow fast, til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 