Category: Birds

Day 4 – Lesser Goldfinch

Lesser_Goldfinchw

Well, I don’t think we need to worry about the birds starving to death. At least this Lesser Goldfinch seems pretty well fed. There were plenty of Goldfinches out in the neighborhood this morning but the other birds seemed to have been driven off by the Starlings and Red Winged Blackbirds. This was a job for the big girl camera, Canon 7D Mark II with the Tamron 150-600 telephoto lens. Just a few minor adjustments in photoshop to bring out the colors and sharpen it up a tad.

Today’s quote is from photographer Freeman Patterson as published in The Tao of Photography by Phillipe L. Gross and S.I. Shapiro. 

Seeing, in the finest and broadest sense, means using your senses, your intellect, and your emotions. It means encountering your subject matter with your whole being. It means looking beyond the labels of things and discovering the remarkable world around you.

Day 27 – Geese

Geese

I took a field trip to North Mountain Park this morning to see what might be blooming. The answer is not much, just a few lingering daffodils and some red current and Oregon Grape. The bird feeders are also gone so no easy pickings there but I did find these Canada Geese standing watch on top of the gazebo.

And today from John O’Donohue:

There is a sublime coherence at the heart of beauty, an order which has a lyrical simplicity.

Day 14 – Stellar’s Jay

Jay

Today my search for beauty took me to Lithia Park where I found a lot but when I stumbled upon this Stellar’s Jay I knew I had my subject for the day. Though I could wish I had had a longer lens with me. Love the way he or she is checking me out.

Again from John O’Donohue

Beauty is mysterious, a slow presence who waits for the ready, expectant heart.

 

Acorn Woodpecker

AcornWoodpecker

I’m running way behind with last week’s image of the week. I didn’t have any new images in the first place so I had to go back to the previous week’s visit to the cemetery where the Acorn Woodpeckers were abundant. Then I had to find time to do the art piece which finally happened in fits and starts between all the other activities on my calendar. But here it is at last and now I can go out and do this week’s photography with a clear conscience.

Week4_Woodpeckerw

Varied Thrush

VariedThrush

I went to the Ashland Cemetery looking for Stellar’s Jays but they were not in residence. However there were lots of robins so I brought out the big lens to see what I could do with them and found this guy hanging out with them. On consulting my bird books I learned that the Varied Thrush is more likely to be found in the mountains. This one apparently came down to the valley to get warm or find food not covered with snow. For me a great subject and new one to check off my life list.  Here is what I did with him in the digital darkroom:

Week3_Thrushw

Day 87 – Acorn Woodpecker

Acorn_Woodpecker

Woodpecker

Rhythmic tympani of woodland symphony,
His search for lunch in Quercus branch
Ads music to a forest glade.
Dawn’s chorus would the poorer be
Without his insistent cacophony

-Colin Tuckett

I hope you won’t mind another bird picture so soon. They do seem to be the most beautiful things out there to photograph these days. And with the leaves gone they are much easier to photograph. Long on my list of places I have never been but should go has been Touvelle State Park, on the Rogue River just north of Medford. With the gorgeous weather holding I decided today that there was no time like the present. Well, if I’d know the place was crawling with Acorn Woodpeckers I would have gone much sooner. I have also long wanted to get a good picture of their little clown faces. This one was so close to me I almost had to zoom out  a little to get him all in the frame. I love how you can see his little toes digging in to hang on to the tree.

 

Day 86 – Oregon Junco

Junco

Juncos

They operate from elsewhere,
some hall in the mountains–
quick visit, gone.
Specialists on branch ends,
craft union. I like their
clean little coveralls.

-William Stafford

Well, after all my moaning about the weather I had to get out and shoot today, an almost perfect day for December. But it was also a busy day. So, I threw the cameras in the car and took a quick tour around North Mountain Park between errands. I was surprised to see the sun go behind the mountains at 3:30 in the afternoon and even more surprised to see that this seemed to inspire all the birds to settle in for the night. I was gunning for a chickadee but the little rascal kept moving every time I got the camera focused on him. This Junco was more sedate and I really like the color coordinated leaf in the background.  I just got a new book of Mary Oliver poems but I said to myself, “Well, I’ll look for Junco poems but I probably won’t find one, so then I can turn to Mary.”  But darned if Oregon’s own poet laureate hasn’t written about Juncos. But don’t worry, I’m sure we will hear from Mary again before it is all over.