The ubiquitous Carolina Chickadee lets me take a few snaps in front of probably the best bokeh I've had in years.
Your hair is winter fire, January Embers. My heart burns there too. Forever Beverly Marsh
The brown thrasher is a rather shy bird, which keeps mostly to the thickets. This one gave me a good pose on an open perch, just long enough.
The Common Grackle looks rather dark- almost crow- like, in the first glance. Get the adult male out in the open and you will be amazed at the array of colors on his feathers.
The Matriarch : a female Northern Cardinal sits perched, with her head held high.
A northern cardinal in all its spring splendor
A chipping sparrow in a pensively curious mood, Cary NC
A juvenile red-shouldered hawk, perched on my neighbor's porch
Carolina Wren in the Fall
Carolina Wrens are ubiquitous in the North Carolina, but I haven't had much luck photographing them outside the regular undbrush clutter that they are often found. In fall'17 we drove to Morrow mountain, NC to see some fall colors, and this one accidentally popped up, seated in an open perch. Luckily I had the birding camera with me.
Beauty from the Tundras: The gorgeous tundra swan takes a leisurely swim in the waters of the Pea Island NWR, Outerbanks NC
Touchdown
A great black-backed gull touching down. This one was so huge that from a distance when it was sitting, we thought it was a bald eagle.
A female hooded merganser tears past us at Pea Island NWR, Outerbanks, NC
A yellow rumped warbler lands on my backyard during its winter migration. Raleigh, Winter '16
Even though the looks of the male cardinal are legendary, the female is no less a head turner, with her pink lips and dark, intelligent eyes.
A blue jay digs into the snow and finds a few morsels that have dropped from my feeder, in Raleigh NC
Whatcha' staring at?
A ruby throated hummingbird hovers in the Durant park, one afternoon. They disappear in the winter, migrating South of Mexico, and are fairly shy birds.
It is an evening after an exceptionally sapping day, and I am home sipping a cup of tea. Wifey stares out of the window and says "There's an eagle in the yard". I peep and find a hawk. Given that I have not been able to bird much of late, even a hawk would do. I rush to the bedroom to pick my camera and she keeps egging me on, "Y'know, if you keep taking this much time it's gonna take off. It is lifting its butt. Now it is on the transformer. Make it fast!" I come out and lie down on the floor near the back door and crawl out, so I don't scare it off. Shit, I am wearing the brand new polo tee she had bought for me last week. I wince, but all she says is "Hurry up! It will take off now." I lie there on the ground wearing my office clothes, and shoot the first raptor at eye level in a year and half. Mugshots, headshots, the lot. Once I get back in wiping the dust off my shirt, she says "I need the credit for this shot". I reply with a smirk, "It is a hawk. Much smaller than eagles."
I have followed this belted kingfisher for weeks and weeks, trying to create a frame with him, but he has always kept his distance. I was stalking a heron when he flew in without noticing me and sat on this perch, the sun setting his funky hairdo on fire. A few seconds later, a jogger came by and scared him off.
The gray catbird gets its name from the call that it makes, which sounds like a cat. It is an excellent mimic and can make a variety of calls. On a morning stroll near Mercer lake, Princeton NJ , I ran into plenty of these mimics.
A house wren takes a commanding position, watching the other birds and the photographer with a long lens.
A tufted titmouse looks up into my balcony as the snow starts to fall, in a winterstorm of 2015
The portrait of a mourning dove, from my balcony in Cary NC, Winter 2015
“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That is why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird!” – Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
An osprey soars with a sizeable catch, from Lake Crabtree, NCHeavy Catch
I will never tire of shooting these gorgeous birds, and when I get some lovely fall colors in the background, I could shoot them all day!
The singer and solitude
The song sparrow, sitting peacefully after a long winter migration.
The Anna's hummingbird in a pensive mood - near San Francisco, CA
The hardy red tailed hawk shows off its red tail as it soars against the hills along the California coast.
The female cardinal again, popping against the resplendent greens of the early summer in Cary, NC
A tiny downy's woodpecker sits contemplating the harsh winter, in Princeton, NC
A tufted titmouse perched outside my balcony in Cary, NC
He went that-a-way
A female rubythroated hummingbird takes a breather from hunting for honey.
A willet lifts off from a beach near San Francisco, CA
A juvenile American goldfinch sits perched on a branch outside my balcony, in Cary, NC.
A gorgeous black phoebe sits perched near Cupertino, California.
A black oystercatcher heads out, from near the 17 mile drive in California
Bleep off!
A barn swallow seems to be a in crabby mood as it yells at its partner in Gilroy, CA
