"birding" fun

[Swampfox]

Originally Posted by Don Boose

wonderful images!

Indigo bunting?

Don

OPPS!! Sorry Don, I didn't ID this for everyone.

We are pretty sure this is a Male-Mountain Bluebird.

SFX

[Don Boose]

Thanks, Francis Marion.

I've never seen a mountain bluebird before and am unfamiliar with the species. Every few years an indigo bunting shows up in our back garden. There is a superficial similarity to my untrained eye.

In any event, it is a beautiful set of images.

Don

[Kevin WS]

Here's one of an owl (actually two!) for you

[JohnM]

I think they've escaped Kev.

Johnny

OK ... Cross posing, or slow loading, but they are there now. ;-)

[Ashrunner]

Those are good shots of the Mountain Bluebird. Outside of town here, there are a lot of the birds. They are gorgeous when in breeding plumage. I have yet to get a photo of one I really like.

However, I did get a good shot of a Townsend's Solitaire the other day. He was at the top of the tree, twenty feet away and oblivious to our presence.

[nando]

I enjoyed reading this thread, and although I'm not a bird-watcher I want to give my little contribution.
First of all I apologize for the poor quality of the photos below, I took them with my phone.
The first two depict two specimens of the Eurasian Eagle-Owl (Bubo Bubo), convalescing in a facility of the National Park of Gran Paradiso.

Then I took on the banks of the Po (a river in my town) a pair of ducks, too intent on their idyll of love to care for my presence.

Finally, the snowy owl from Canon, that I realized, reduced by 50% (four pages on one sheet of A4 paper).


Best, Nando

[Kevin WS]

Very nice Nando.

I like the Snowy Owl you made - it has a real "Owl" expression on it s face!

[Kevin WS]

And here is another owl!

Shot by the side of the road. I had stopped and got the impression I was being watched. Turned around and there he/she was!

[Don Boose]

Kevin - You are a man of many owls! I often hear owls in the woods behind our house, but I never see them, alas.

Ash - Magnificent image!

Nando - I enjoyed all of your images. By coincidence, a pair of mallards were standing on the terrace at the entrance to Elihu Root Hall (the main academic building of the Army War College) when I came in this morning. They looked just like yours. And as I type just now, several mallards are splashing around in the Letort Creek that runs through the little glen three stories below my office window. Soon the redbuds, cherries, and dogwoods will be in blossom. I will bring in my camera one day to share the view with you all.

Don

[Ashrunner]

Ten years or so ago, I was shopping at a nearby mall area. As I was leaving, I noticed a dark shape in trees lining the edge of the parking lot...so I stopped to check it give the shape a closer look.

It didn't take me long to figure out what I was seeing and I immediately got back in the car and headed home to retrieve my camera.

Upon returning I began shooting. I didn't have my good lens at the time, but I still liked what I was able to get.

In the trees I found five owlets and two adult birds. The day before I was out and about with camera in hand with a friend. She and I often went on photo safaris together and upon the conclusion of the day's photography, she mentioned that someday she would like to find an owl to shoot.

I called her before I grabbed my camera and she met me at the parking lot, and began clicking away also.

Here's a couple of my shots from that day.