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Tiredretiredlawyer
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#476

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

Coooooool!
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#477

Post by Annrc »

Nice.
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#478

Post by Foggy »

Bird with a 'tude. :smoking:
Out from under. :thumbsup:
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#479

Post by Chilidog »

One of my favorite birds.
EC419470-F1E7-4D76-92EA-9179D2D41B69.jpeg
EC419470-F1E7-4D76-92EA-9179D2D41B69.jpeg (102.08 KiB) Viewed 8488 times
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#480

Post by northland10 »

Love them as well. The way they use the feeder does make it harder for me to catch a photo. Unlike finches and sparrows who tend to loiter at the feeder, chickadees will fly in, grab a seed and fly off to the nearby tree limbs, where they will poke away at the seed to open it. They are take-out-only birds. They were really good with self-distancing during the lockdown.

The red-bellied woodpeckers also self-distance well but that is only because when they swoop in everybody jumps off the feeder. The woodpeckers used the seed feeder to grab and go, then hide them in a hole in the trees (nuthatches do the same). When the various woodpeckers want to eat and not just hide seeds, they loiter at the suet feeder.

On their chickadee-dee-dee call, if I hear them do 5 or more dee's, I start looking around for a hawk, though sometimes it is just the cat who comes by from time to time.
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#481

Post by Chilidog »

My son and I got that picture at Montrose Point. We went to test out the new camera set up I got him for Christmas. (A beginner DSLR consisting of a used, but in excellent condition Canon E EOS D7 mark I and a refurbished zoom lens.)

Montrose is great because you can get right up to a lot of the birds.
A1F2D026-AA17-4FBD-9041-B70977571859.jpeg
A1F2D026-AA17-4FBD-9041-B70977571859.jpeg (133.15 KiB) Viewed 8472 times
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#482

Post by AndyinPA »

Wow! Lovely.
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#483

Post by pipistrelle »

On a walk in a nature preserve, I caught a pair of chickadees In flagrante delicto. Yeah, they were cute.
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#484

Post by MsDaisy »

Chilidog wrote: Sun Jan 01, 2023 8:42 pm My son and I got that picture at Montrose Point. We went to test out the new camera set up I got him for Christmas. (A beginner DSLR consisting of a used, but in excellent condition Canon E EOS D7 mark I and a refurbished zoom lens.)

Montrose is great because you can get right up to a lot of the birds.

A1F2D026-AA17-4FBD-9041-B70977571859.jpeg
Awwww... A Hairy Woodpecker! :thumbsup: We use to have them turn up from time to time but I have seen one in a really long time.
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#485

Post by Azastan »

MsDaisy wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 10:06 am

Awwww... A Hairy Woodpecker! :thumbsup: We use to have them turn up from time to time but I have seen one in a really long time.
Close, but a Downy male, rather than a Hairy.
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#486

Post by MsDaisy »

Azastan wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 10:41 am
MsDaisy wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 10:06 am

Awwww... A Hairy Woodpecker! :thumbsup: We use to have them turn up from time to time but I have seen one in a really long time.
Close, but a Downy male, rather than a Hairy.
:oldlady: :oops: :lol:
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#487

Post by northland10 »

MsDaisy wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 4:27 pm
Azastan wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 10:41 am
MsDaisy wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 10:06 am

Awwww... A Hairy Woodpecker! :thumbsup: We use to have them turn up from time to time but I have seen one in a really long time.
Close, but a Downy male, rather than a Hairy.
:oldlady: :oops: :lol:
I was corrected by Chilidog for making that mistake once. I've learned (and did eventually see and hear a hairy woodpecker about a year ago, but did not have a camera capable for getting a usable picture).

As for the camera mention, I am loving my Powershot SX70 HS. While it is classified as a compact, it is a bit larger than most but the 65x zoom is amazing and better than using the 70-350mm lens on my DIgital Rebel.

With it, and a close feeder, I can do stuff like this (sorry for reposting, I think it is above but I wanted to use the same type of bird). He's a regular. He likes the suet feeder even better. Too, also, if the sparrows go to the suet feeders while he is there, he will take a poke at them.
Downy_sm.JPG
Downy_sm.JPG (159.51 KiB) Viewed 8389 times
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#488

Post by northland10 »

Chilidog wrote: Sun Jan 01, 2023 8:42 pm My son and I got that picture at Montrose Point. We went to test out the new camera set up I got him for Christmas. (A beginner DSLR consisting of a used, but in excellent condition Canon E EOS D7 mark I and a refurbished zoom lens.)

Montrose is great because you can get right up to a lot of the birds.

A1F2D026-AA17-4FBD-9041-B70977571859.jpeg
:like:
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#489

Post by RVInit »

Great photo, Northland10! I always love to see this thread come up in my notifications.
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#490

Post by humblescribe »

And a snowy owl was spotted in Southern California. Interested onlookers even snatched his/her regurgitation to see what his diet was:

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#491

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

HARRY POTTER!!!!!!! Someone is getting an invitation to Hogwarts!!!!!
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
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#492

Post by AndyinPA »

Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 7:46 pm HARRY POTTER!!!!!!! Someone is getting an invitation to Hogwarts!!!!!

:thumbsup: :lol:
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#493

Post by Azastan »

humblescribe wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 7:34 pm And a snowy owl was spotted in Southern California. Interested onlookers even snatched his/her regurgitation to see what his diet was:

Either an immature or a female, probably an immature.

Snowy Owls which are almost pure white are males. Females and immatures of both sexes are heavily marked with black. Females because they need to blend in with melting snow patches when they nest, and the immatures because they also need to blend in until their adult molt comes in.
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#494

Post by humblescribe »

Cool, Aza! Thanks!

I think our errant friend nibbled on a gopher, based upon the fangs that were discovered when analyzing the regurgitation. But I am no rodentologist.
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#495

Post by northland10 »

Chilidog wrote: Sun Jan 01, 2023 6:53 pm One of my favorite birds.

EC419470-F1E7-4D76-92EA-9179D2D41B69.jpeg
It is really hard for me to get a shot of them. Granted, I need to work on the camera settings for fast shots but even then, I still end up with lots of (his tail his in the upper left):
missed_sm.jpg
missed_sm.jpg (42.48 KiB) Viewed 8279 times
I finally got one but it was not the best shot. They move fast so I need to start playing with settings.
chick_sm.jpg
chick_sm.jpg (55.33 KiB) Viewed 8279 times
So I guess I have to stick with these 2
wood and cardinal sm.jpg
wood and cardinal sm.jpg (52.75 KiB) Viewed 8279 times
Or maybe another house finch
finch2sm.jpg
finch2sm.jpg (47.01 KiB) Viewed 8279 times
Note to self, clean window.
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Azastan
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#496

Post by Azastan »

Chickadees are one of the hardest birds to photograph because they are always on the move. All the little flitty birds are hard, though. Bushtits, kinglets, warblers.

But you did get a photo, and threw in some perfectly lovely photos of not-quite-so-flitty birds, and that makes us happy!
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#497

Post by northland10 »

We had a discussion earlier about the difference between a male and female downy woodpecker. I was "this" close to getting both in one shot but they can also be a bit flitty and with a zoom, getting them in the shot is tough to do quickly.

So, since Chilidog and I both had male ones above, here is the female.
female downy.jpg
female downy.jpg (35.89 KiB) Viewed 8258 times
The big difference, not seen well in the above, is the lack of the red at the back of the head, as you can see here.
female downy back.jpg
female downy back.jpg (32.85 KiB) Viewed 8258 times
For the photography types out there, sorry for the bird being rather far to the right (mainly on the second one). I had to get it quickly and did not take the time to crop.
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#498

Post by Azastan »

Downy woodpeckers are interesting in that they have regional plumage character differences.

In the PNW, our Downys are darker overall, with a dirty white breast and less white spotting on the wings than the eastern variety.

Rocky Mountain Downys have more overall contrast, with the wings being almost solid black, and a clean white breast.

Eastern Downys have more white spotting in the wings than the PNW Downys, and also are whiter on the breast, but they don't have the sharp black and white contrast of the Rocky Mountain Downy.
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#499

Post by northland10 »

This happened this morning.
Hawkpole230113sm.jpg
Hawkpole230113sm.jpg (72.72 KiB) Viewed 8220 times
Hawk_Takeoff2sm.jpg
Hawk_Takeoff2sm.jpg (53.78 KiB) Viewed 8220 times
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#500

Post by MsDaisy »

Beautiful bird & great takeoff! :thumbsup:
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