Just one bird this time—I promise

I woke up to rain this morning that continued on well past noon. So for a while I honestly believed that I'd be picking today's images from among a small selection of Chickadee photos I'd taken after I ate breakfast—because it was so overcast outside, by the time I had to leave for work I'd only gotten a few that weren't at least somewhat blurry.

Then around 3:30 this afternoon, Yoshi came back from a trip over to the museum and told us there was a Blue Heron standing out next to the pond. Naturally I grabbed my camera and started clicking away. Although it was no longer raining it was still pretty gray outside, so that combined with the distance made for photos that were decent but nothing to write home about. After about 15 minutes, though, Yoshi started worrying that the bird was injured in some way, as it hadn't moved the entire time I'd been outside, so I said I'd walk toward it to see how it'd react. I got fairly close to the pond—certainly closer than I'd ever been to a heron that could see me as well as I could see it—before it finally did react and start walking along the opposite shore. Satisfied, Yoshi went back inside. However, by that point I'd become kind of curious as to how near I could get before it bolted.

Eventually, I made it to within about 25 feet of the bird and it still wasn't looking even remotely concerned. But I decided not to push my luck any further, and instead focused on getting some good shots:







At this point, my hands felt like they were nearly frozen and the bird was making its way back toward its original starting point, so I headed back inside. How was I supposed to resist, though, when a few minutes later Yoshi told me it was standing out there preening?



Once it was done with that, the heron then appeared to see something on the ground that it could make a meal of and started stalking it. When it had gotten within range of whatever it was, it stabbed down with its beak and then started flapping its wings (I presume for balance):















The embarrassment of riches continued when the heron then headed for the water's edge to take a drink. I wish I'd been aware enough to make sure the entire reflection was in the frame, but at least I got some of it:



Loved the string of water drops under the bird's beak:



In this one you can see the splash it made when it went back for another drink:



And again I loved how you can see the drops of water coming off the beak, even in the reflection:



I liked how well you can see the heron's foot in this shot:



And finally, I just thought this image came out rather nicely, so it seemed like a good one to end on:

And now for something completely different

That's right—today's post does not involve birds of any sort. Instead, I thought I'd share some photos I took at the office for one of my coworkers. At our boss' request, he painted some vignettes on a few items that were purchased at an antique show a while back, as having original artwork on them elevates the pieces (which are by no means either rare or extremely old) from nice to truly special. Even though he's appeared in photos I've posted on this blog in the past, the painter asked me not to mention his name. So that's why I'm being all vague about it.

On a completely unrelated note, did I ever mention that I only have one male coworker?

Anyway, on with the good stuff. He painted these first vignettes on the three blank sides of an old grain bucket (the fourth side already featured a company logo, which he left as it was):







These next two were painted on a child-sized wooden chair. First, the image on the seat:



And a fly he painted on the rung that spans across the top of the chair:



Finally, a library/reading chair now sports these last three vignettes. First, the image that's on the front of the chair's back (ie the side you see before you sit down):



A fly he put on the narrow rung just under the chair's back:



And finally, the image that's on the back of the back, as it were:



By the way, he knocked all of these off over the course of the last week to ten days. Amazing, huh?

Yup, more birds

I'm sure that one day soon I'll be sick of taking bird photos. However, today was not that day.

A Titmouse posing for me:



I didn't realize it until I'd zoomed in fairly close to check the image quality, but in this shot you can see the bird's tongue poking out to taste the seed:



Coming in for a landing:



A White-breasted Nuthatch working on its hummingbird impersonation:



I'm not quite sure how it managed it, but this Chickadee is holding a seed stacked on another seed in its beak:



I'm pretty sure I caught the one on the right as it was about to take off:



Shifting from the top right rung to the middle left:



I just liked the way this one turned out:



Over at Mom and Dad's, this Titmouse reminded me more of a penguin than a songbird when it was all puffed up like this:



I thought this came out rather cool, although it would have been even better if I'd gotten the entire reflection in the frame—I'd just shifted my focus over from the feeders to the bird bath when I shot this, and thus didn't quite have everything lined up yet:



A White-throated Sparrow:



This Chickadee was checking out its surroundings before taking the plunge:



And finally, a couple of photos of a different Chickadee as it took its own bath a while later:

Feed the birds

Given that over the course of the day today my next-door neighbor put up four bird feeders and a suet cage about 15 feet from where my feeder sits, it'll be interesting to see how much traffic I get at mine moving forward. Here's hoping these aren't some of the last good close-up photos I get to take from the comfort of my living room...

Love the little feather tuft sticking out of this White-breasted Nuthatch's chest:



A couple of Chickadee action shots:





The male Purple Finch was flying solo when he visited my feeder today. Happily for me, he hung around long enough for me to get a few quality images:



A lucky shot that includes the debris spray created when the bird crunched down on the seed:



You've got a little something stuck to your face there, dude:



A look at some of the trees across from my apartment in the afternoon light:



Finally, I'm incredibly grateful that I just happened to get up and head for my kitchen when the sunlight was created this cool shadow/light effect:

Mellow Monday

A few more bird photos for you today, starting with a flock of turkeys I spotted on my way to work this morning:



And some pictures I took at Mom and Dad's when I joined them for dinner this evening. They told me they've been seeing two Red-breasted Nuthatches around, but I only saw this one while I was there:



Since it was fairly dark out when I was taking the photos at my folks' place and there was a bit of distance between me and the feeders, I wasn't entirely sure how the images would turn out. So I was glad to see some Chickadees come in to use the bird bath and improve my chances of leaving Mom and Dad's with some pictures that were actually in focus:

Finch photos

I was fighting a headache on and off for most of the day today, so I wasn't feeling all that ambitious when it came to photography. Fortunately for me, a couple of Purple Finches visited my feeder long enough for me to take a few pictures of them:

The female Purple Finch enjoying some seed:





The two birds together; I liked the symmetry of their poses in this shot:



The male Purple Finch:



And because this particular image came out so nice and sharp, you get an extra close-up look at the male: