Today I’m including a little clue to what I was thinking when I spotted this boulder 🙂
Seen from trail 31 on State Trust Land.
Tag Archives: bird
curved bill thrasher
A Curve Bill Thrasher poses for me just outside my dining room window yesterday.
They make two sounds. One is a two note high pitched call while the other is a beautiful song.
Click here to hear them.
Canon 7D, Sigma 18-250 at 250mm, ISO 400, 1/250 sec at f5/6
(great all purpose lens)
verdin
Every morning this week (very early), I’ve noticed a pair of very tiny birds visiting the
Cordia in the back yard. I suspected they were Verdins and was happy to find they were!
My initial intent was to plant only native plants and shrubs in the yard but seeing how
much the Verdins and other birds love the Cordia, I’m thinking of planting another one!
Here’s a shot captured this morning with my Canon SX10. (too bad it’s in shade)
Click HERE for a better photo and more info.
Great Horned Owl
During the first MSC public hike of the season this morning, a hiker in our group spotted a Great Horned Owl. An expert in our group surmised that the owl had been startled out of his tree by a mountain biker earlier which caused him to leave the tree he uses for daytime sleep. He was now just waiting for all us annoying hikers to leave so he could return. Check out the photo below which shows how sharp-eyed the hiker was!
the whole picture
My primary goal for my Photo a Day is not to make prize winning photographs but to get to know my cameras. A bonus has been that I’m also learning a lot about composition. For instance, I was struck by how large this Red Tailed Hawk was but I now realize I could have made the point more clear if I had taken an even wider angle shot showing the entire cactus and surroundings.
Oystercatcher
This is an Oystercatcher hunting for dinner along the coastline just outside Cayucas.
Phainopepla
This photo shows why Painopepla are mistakenly called “black cardinals”. FYI:They love mistletoe berries and are responsible for spreading it to other trees. My goal is to catch one in the act but no luck so far. This is a grab shot of one resting in the Ocotillo outside our front door. (Captured with my Canon point and shoot at 200mm).
fledgling
A pair of Cardinals nest here every year. This year they produced a son.