My Song Sparrow Series

I haven't blogged in so long! I can't list all the things that I've been occupied with, but there hardly seems to be enough hours in the day or enough energy to do all that could be done.

I haven't lost my love for birds, or photography, for that matter. I've been quite busy with both and want to post a bit of a series over the next few days about something that I've been following this summer.
I've been acquainted with the House Sparrow for a long time, and met the Chipping Sparrow in my journeys this year, but this spring, I've discovered a few more sparrow species that live here. The White Crowned Sparrow and the Savannah Sparrow are plentiful in this area. Maybe I just never noticed them before, but I've enjoyed taking many photos of both species this year.

On May 12th, I posted the following photo. I wrote that I had a difficult time identifying the bird. I thought it may have been a sparrow, but was so confused, I even thought it could have been a female blackbird for a while! After quite a few more photos and reading, I learned that it is a female Song Sparrow - very common in this area, from what I hear, though I had never noticed one in my yard before.

The little bird has enchanted me from the beginning. For quite a while, she was the only one, like herself, visiting the feeders. She is almost chocolate brown on her back, speckled down the front, a gray eyebrow and her tail often sticks up making her look alert and industrious. She minds her own business; eats from the feeders or the ground, and is very regular at the feeders. For some reason, she reminds me of old fashioned times and always makes me smile when I see her fly in.

(Tomorrow's post - What happened on July 3rd?

oops! I meant July 4th!)

House Finch Overcoming Handicap?

I do not know how this little finch has made it thus far. He wasn't able to crack any of the sunflower seeds, that I could see. I am very sad for the difficulties that a little creature of this nature has to deal with. At the same time I am inspired. If a little bird can overcome such a major handicap, what do I have to complain about?

(Canon Rebel Xsi, 250mm lens 06-30-2010)

  ~click for enlarged view~

New Bird ;)

No - it's not a photoshop job...

And, no - it's not a gold finch with a sunburn ;) 

My daughter is convinced that there are hybrid birds,

but, it's not a hybrid.

It is a Western Tanager - I had never seen one before -

and, JOY

It was in my neighborhood ;)

The Savannah Sparrow

I had never noticed this little bird prior to my walk the other day.

It is the Savannah Sparrow

and there seems to be quite a few around my neighborhood.

They are quite friendly,

as I could get quite close to take their pictures.

As I walked,

different ones of them would fly along the fence line -

sort of following me?

But the young sparrow in the next two photos was so cute!

It was very curious and made all kinds of funny poses.

As you can see,

it is much fluffier than the adult in the photos above.

Last winter, I was getting discouraged.

It seemed there weren't very many different species of birds

right around here.

But, this year I'm discovering there are many more kinds of birds!

Part of it is having a camera that brings the birds closer

so I can see the differences.

A sparrow isn't necessarily just a sparrow ;)

Now I can recognize about six different sparrows alone! 

Next post

I'll show you another new bird I discovered on this same day ;)  

(Canon Rebel Xsi, 250mm lens, cropped - 06-05-2010)

The Bee

I was in the park on Thursday taking  pictures of flowers and raindrops. When I was about as close as I could get to the center of a rhododendren blossom, this bee flew in and "joined me."  I stayed right where I had been and began shooting him :-o (with my Canon, so, no harm done...)

He took a lick of something - you can see his probiscus...

...and then he lay back and was having a grand time!

I could almost hear him humming! ;)

He made me happy just watching him ;)

Chickadees in the Cedars

Friday evening, after seeing the Red-breasted Grosbeak and the Spotted Towhee, my attention was taken to the cedars alongside the garage. The whispy squeek of chickadees was constant - it sounded like the cedars were full of them!

I stood and watched for a few moments and sure enough, there was a lot of activity on the underside of the branches. It could have easily been missed, but especially because of the wind that engaged the branches in a wild evening dance.

From my vantage point, standing on the other side of my van, I shot as much as I could, hoping to get at least a couple of shots. I have enjoyed watching chickadees foraging in tree branches - they are so fast - and so I was challenged to try and catch them in a photo.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised :)  

I was absolutely thrilled to get another "parent-feeding-fledgling" photo! It's the second one this week!

And then, they posed so nicely in the evening sun ;)

It was a pretty awesome evening -

Totally unexpected

but,

thoroughly enjoyed!

(Canon Rebel Xsi, 250mm lens, f 8.0, ISO 1600 - cropped and sharpened slightly

Two Birds on the Same Page!

This photo is really poor and probably shouldn't be posted at all. When I ran to get my camera, I found the short lens was mounted on it. So, it was either change the lens and lose the shot ,or take the shot and hope to get something. Well, I got it ;)  

I didn't know what this bird was until I looked it up - female Red-breasted Grosbeak. I was so excited!

Later in the evening, I was out in my yard and saw another bird of which I wasn't sure. 

It was a Spotted Towhee - I haven't seen one in a long time. He was sitting in the branches of the rhododendren bush - very shaded. 

But, then, he got brave and jumped out right on to the driveway in front of me! His red eyes really sparkle in the evening sun!

When I looked in my Kaufman Field Guide, to check the identification of the Towhee, (because I get his name mixed up with the Varied Thrush), it wasn't hard to find him because, interestingly, he was on the same page as the Red-breasted Grosbeak! Funny how things happen sometimes ;)