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Posts from the ‘Birds’ Category

Harris Hawk Juvenile

This Harris’ Hawk was very noisy which probably means he is a juvenile. I learned that young ones will call and complain just like they used to do in the nest when they wanted to be fed. They hunt in family groups and we’re very lucky to see them regularly. In fact, when I first got the outside enclosures for the cats, we had a couple of Harris Hawks land close to check them out! I was afraid they might be able to lift the enclosure but they just looked and flew away.

I added some textures to this because the sky was boring.

Holiday Cardinal

I love birds and have several on my tree. This cute little cardinal was photographed with a Lensbabies lens. CLICK HERE for more of my photos my Google Plus page.

Anna’s Hummingbird

I assisted on a Bird Walk for the MSC yesterday and when I assist, I typically only carry a compact camera since an SLR with a long lens would be too distracting. Only two people showed up, though, so had I known, I would have brought my “big” camera. But we had a great time and I ended up with an in focus shot of an Anna’s Hummingbird so I was happy 🙂

Anna’s Hummingbird Textured

Great Horned Owl and Owlett

I’ve posted this image here before but this is a new version of it. It was taken several years ago very late in the day with an older SLR. Not only was the image very noisy thus not printable to much larger than an 8×10 but her wing tip was cut off as was the Saguaro arm on the top left. I loved it so much, though, that every year or so I go back and work on it. Last year, I added a wing tip and also the Saguaro arm which turned out well. This time, I went a little crazy with textures. The result is my favorite edit so far! I’m going to print a 48×36 canvas.

Can you spot the baby?

Harris’ Hawk

Bird photography is very challenging for me so when I get a bird in focus, I’m thrilled! This Harris’ Hawk was one of four flying all around us during a Free Flight presentation at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend going.

Free Flight

I spent today at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum with the goal of attending their Free Flight program. It was fantastic, as usual! I especially enjoyed the 2PM show featuring 4 Harris’ Hawks hunting together. Check tomorrow for a photo. This photo shows one of my friends (Tanju) photographing a Ferruginous Hawk. I wonder if he was successful?!

Black Tailed Gnatcatcher

I assisted on an MSC Birding hike in the Preserve yesterday (Sunday) with fellow steward Phil H. who knows most all of the birds in our area. Lucky us! The hike started out with NO birds which seemed strange because there was no wind and it wasn’t as cold as it had been. On the way back, though, Phil brought out his iPhone to let us hear what certain birds sound like and low and behold, we started seeing birds! This was my first sighting of a Black Tailed Gnatcatcher (must be a female or a juvenile). My lens only went to 100mm so this is a VERY tight crop and I was pleasantly surprised to see I caught the bird singing. He was more than likely responding to Phil’s iPhone app 🙂

Rainy Morning Quail

How can I resist feeding these guys on a cold/rainy morning 🙂