Category Archives: photography
Cold Bird
Friends, this winter bird is a Goldfinch wearing his winter coat. He is huddled on a small branch crouching over his feet on a day with -15 degrees Fahrenheit. Did you know that birds can shut down the blood flow to their legs and feet to prevent permanent damage due to cold weather. My feet are cold, til Tomorrow MJ
Red tail over the Ridge
Friends, went to my photo club meeting last night and each month we vote on our favorite photo for the month. The theme was wild outdoors, and my redtailed hawk won for the month of January. That means that it will be published in the local paper. This redtail was released from Hawk Ridge in October and she had lost two tail feathers that are regrowing. This image was captured as she rose and turned her back on me, then flew back across the ridge. Maybe I have used this image in a previous post, but it bears another look, til Tomorrow MJ
Nuthatch
Friends, been computer-fixing for two days, ugh. This white breasted nuthatch waited patiently til I finished my swearing cussing and kicking the tires. Finally I got this blog to work again, something about the Java program not being up to date. Don’t you just love computers??, But i remember well the darkroom days and this digital photos are cleaner and created in the light. til Tomorrow MJ
Blue Jay
Friends, this blue jay is a shy guy who visited the suet feeder briefly then flew away. I sat for 1 hour waiting for him to reappear, and he eventually came back. The cold weather has made the birds hungry and they are visiting the feeders. The cold weather has me shivering after an hour and my hands and camera refuse to work. til Tomorrow MJ
Brown Creeper II
Friends, again I am showing a Brown Creeper from the northern Minnesota bog.This is a very tiny bird and get most of his food by probing the bark of mature trees. He starts at the bottom of the tree and spirals around the trunk until he reaches the top, then he flies back to the bottom of the tree to start again. This bird is resting briefly before he starts another upward foray. I like his slightly curved beak and camo coloring that blends with the tree bark. Enjoy, til Tomorrow MJ
Osprey
Friends, this osprey was flying over Hawk Ridge this fall during the fall migration. Most of the birds were flying south along the ridge, but this wayward fellow was flying north. A puzzle? He flew very close to the birders on the ridge, and gave me an opportunity to get this flying shot. til Tomorrow MJ
Pink or Red
Friends, this pretty pink bird is a male Pine Grosbeak found in the winter bog. His beak is designed for seed eating and he loves sunflower seeds at the various feeders found in the Sax Zim bog . These birds are migrants from further north and there seems to be more of them in the bog this year than in previous years. Just my reflection not an actual fact. I don’ like the background so I have added an image with edited background, i think it is better for the bird colors. What do you think? til Tomorrow MJ
Peanut Butter Bird
Friends, this Gray Jay is popping pieces of frozen peanut butter like popcorn. I laughed out loud when I saw this image. This image was taken at a bird feeder station where all kinds of birdie treats were put out for the northern bog birds. The Sax Zim bog is famous for winter owls that migrate here from the northern regions and is located west of the mighty Lake Superior. The larger birds are attracted by the abundance of smaller game and the seed-eaters are attracted by the coniferous trees that produce cones filled with seed. til Tomorrow more bog birds, MJ
Brown Creeper
Friends, this tiny bird is a Brown Creeper, the first time I have seen one of these birds. He is foraging in the bark of this tree, but he was also sampling the suet feeders that were attached to this tree. I love his coloring and notched tail. His very quick movements made him a challenge to photograph. On our recent trip to the Sax-Zim bog bird sanctuary, our friend pointed out this bird to us, Thanks John. The quotation below was reprinted from the Cornell Birding site.
The naturalist W.M. Tyler, writing in 1948, captured this species’ energy and fragility in a memorable description, “The Brown Creeper, as he hitches along the bole of a tree, looks like a fragment of detached bark that is defying the law of gravitation by moving upward over the trunk, and as he flies off to another tree he resembles a little dry leaf blown about by the wind.” I could not say this better, til Tomorrow MJ
Snowflakes
Friends, these are the same image of a snowflake processed with different software. The image on the left was processed with filters from Photoshop and the one on the left was processed with Color Effex Pro4.
I like that CFP4 has much fewer steps to achieve a better result, at least for me, more shades of gray I think. What do you think? til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 