Great Blue

On a recent walk around the Ashland Reservoir, I came across a great blue heron standing tall on a rock. I've seen great blue heron's at the reservoir before, however past encounters were from large distances, and often only when the bird was in flight, and so the moments were short-lived.

On this occasion, the bird was still and quiet. As I walked closer to it along the shoreline, I was happy to see that my footsteps did not bother it. So much so, that I was able to sit down and change to my telephoto lens, and despite the delay, the bird hadn't moved at all. I was able to capture a few photos, and would have captured several more except that someone else came along the path with a dog that barked loudly and made some moves in the direction of the bird. Naturally, the great blue heron flew off, something it does majestically since it has a six foot wing span. I love dogs, but not that one:) The owner apologized to me; she'd not even seen the bird herself. I was upset with her dog, but I held my tongue, keeping my opinions to myself.

Because of my position behind some shore trees, the bird was completely hidden from my view when it flew off, so I was unable to get any photos of this dramatic bird in flight. I am comforted only by the fact that, even if I had a clear view, catching good photos of birds in flight is not something I've ever had much success with. Evidently, this was not to be my day to improve on my "in focus birds in flight" ratio.😞

Watchful Bird

Over the Shoulder Gaze

Portal to Great Blue

Here is the same photo cropped closer.

Great Blue in the Sun

All photos © 2020, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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Mourning Doves

While looking out our kitchen window, I noticed a Mourning Dove decided to visit us. It was sitting on our deck railing, and appeared to be in no hurry to leave. I grabbed my camera and started taking photos through the window glass. Since the window was closed, the bird didn't hear or notice my presence at all, and continued contentedly on the railing for a while, long enough so that his/her mate(?) came to visit as well, and from all appearances, they had a conversation.

All photos are taken with my 60mm (macro) lens through window glass, so while they are not as sharp as my usual standards, the effect of the glass wasn't too detrimental, and I was still able to take some shots worth keeping.

I don't normally think of Mourning Doves as being particularly colorful birds, but this pair let me see their true colors. For that I am grateful.

Enjoy!

Preening Prep

Self Check

Batman Simulation

Slightly Shy

Hello? I'm Talking to You

Fluffy

Mid-conversation

Check Out My Backside

All photos © 2020, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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Visiting Finch

Our friend, Lisa, gave us a "thistle sock" bird feeder. We never had one before. We filled it with thistle seed and hung it on a tree in our back yard and waited and waited. It is supposed to attract finches but none ever came. In fact, it just hung there idly for weeks and weeks. Finally, we decided, after a squirrel or the wind knocked it to the ground, it was time to either give up or try another location. Deb moved it to our cherry tree in the front yard. There was still no activity for the longest time, then one day, amazingly, finches showed up. I tried to take some photos of them through the window, but the results were not satisfactory. Then the finches disappeared for several more days. Finally, they returned. This time I was able to capture a few photos with my telephoto lens from just outside the front door, after tiptoeing outside as quietly as possible.

Finches are quite small birds, and ours seem very timid; at least from my experience they disappear quickly the moment they detect a human even some twenty feet away.

You can see the growing cherries, orange (not yet red), in the background of both of these photos. Though cherries are popular among many other larger bird visitors such as blue jays and robins, these small finches prefer thistle seed.

Bashful Goldfinch

Food Inspection

All photos © 2019, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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Early Spring at the Res, plus Backyard Life

My walk around the res today was my third res walk this week. Spring has arrived! It is still early, but the signs of Spring are all around; the buds are opening on all the deciduous trees and shrubs. A very busy time of year for living things.

All of the photos in this post are taken, hand-held, with my Olympus 75-300mm lens. In addition, many of these have been cropped in post processing. I was quite far away from many of the subjects. Much of these details were not revealed to me until I viewed the photos on my computer screen.

Tips

Tips 2

Reflections

The Cormorant is Often on the Rock

Green Needles

Res Blue

Homage to Monet

The large field next to the Res was hosting several sporting events including a Cricket match.

Cricket Grounder

Caught just before the release:

Putting a Spin On It

After returning home, I took a few pictures in our back yard. Who doesn't love a Red Bud tree?

Red Bud

Just after photographing the Red Bud's buds (sorry, couldn't help saying that :), this next little guy decided to fly by and set for two seconds on a far away branch. He's a very small bird. But there is something very cute about the look of a Tufted Titmouse; do you agree?

Tufted Titmouse Among New Buds

All photos © 2017, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

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Backyard Raptor

On a recent morning, staring out a back window, Deb discovered a raptor perched on a nearby tree consuming "breakfast", consisting of a small bird. While I didn't take any photos of the "eating" event itself, the raptor did decide to perch for a while afterwards. During this time, I snapped some photos through the glass of a closed window. Through-the-window pictures are often a bit hazy, but I tried to salvage them as best I could with a bit of post-processing. We didn't want to open the window, because we were sure that would scare the bird away. To make matters more challenging, at least from a photographer's perspective, the bird was essentially in deep shade except for some mild sunlight that finally decided to present itself for a few of the photos. We've since identified the subject as a Cooper's Hawk. (Please comment if you feel that identification is incorrect.) While one photo is probably all that is needed here, I thought I'd present a few different shots, with different compositions and camera settings.

All photos are taken handheld, with the Olympus 75-300mm telephoto lens.

Cooper's Hawk
1/800 at f10, ISO 1600, 300 mm (600 mm equiv.)

On Heightened Alert
1/60 at f10, ISO 200, 228 mm

Tail Feathers
1/2500 at f10, ISO 4000, 258 mm

Looking Left
1/800 at f11, ISO 1600, 300 mm

Landscape View
1/800 at f11, ISO 1600, 300 mm

All photos © 2017, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

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Winter in Tucson

Here are some photos of Tucson, Arizona, taken near the end of December.

Flowers Gone By in a Colorful Planter

Prickly Pear tea is made from Purple Prickly Pear cactus, shown below.

Purple Prickly Pear Cactus

Towering Saguaro

Many of the following photos are taken in Agua Caliente Park.

Oasis in the Desert 1

Oasis in the Desert 2

Palm Shade

Oasis in the Desert 3

At a Small Horse Farm Near the Park

This Roadrunner was literally running in the road at Sabino Canyon.

Roadrunner Doing the Proper Thing 

The Three Amigos

Classic AZ

Saguaro Missile Ready for Takeoff

Through the Trees

Spiky Color

Duck Face

Fast Wings

Female American Wigeon

You've heard the expression: "If it looks like a duck, acts like a duck, ..."? Well an American Coot looks and acts like a duck, but this bird is not a duck.

American Coot 1

American Coot 2

All photos © 2015, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

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