Wildlife Photography

I’ve never taken a class.  I use auto-focus more than any other setting.  I use a Canon SX40 HS with a 35x optical zoom.  I’m not here to teach you anything about photography.

Hummingbird fishing lure?

I just enjoy wildlife so I want to preserve the moment.  And I love the attention to detail that God has in His creations!

Female or youth Rufous Hummingbird

I have to admit, though, some kinds of wildlife almost seem like more work than they are worth.  I like to catch the unique markings so I can make a good identification.  But hummingbirds don’t usually sit still for very long.

Rufous in flight

If I have enough light and patience, and if luck is on my side, I might capture the little hummer in flight AND in focus!  They are SO fast!  There were 4 of them fighting over the feeders and flowers this evening.

Action shots are my favorites

These are the treasure shots though.  The captures I never expect.  I’d been intentionally trying to catch the hummer with his tail spread but he just wasn’t cooperating.  The spread tail is a threatening or warning position so they are ready to chase when it’s spread.  I focused on him as he was sitting on the flower and decided to snap at the next movement I saw.  After I took it I thought I’d missed him completely.  I love finding these treasures on my laptop after I download photos from my camera.

Happy snapping!  🙂

Orange Critters of Oregon

OSU picked an appropriate color for their school.  These are by no means the only orange critters of Oregon but I’m surprised at how many there are.

Females are mostly green but have rust on their sides

The Black-headed Grosbeaks have just started showing up.

Male Black-headed Grosbeak

He even has a tiny bit of yellow on him.  The female has a little more yellow and the orange is subdued.

Female Black-headed Grosbeak

The Orange-bellied Newt is the brightest orange of all these though.

Orange-bellied Newt

These newts are VERY poinsonous…so don’t lick them.

 

 

This is for the birds!

The duck-alert yesterday morning had me looking for baby birds all day long.  I warned Don that we’d have to check the Newport South Jetty before we left.  But we only saw a few loons and cormorants; no babies.

Peek-a-boo

On our way to Newport I swear I saw, not a puddy-tat, but some baby geese.  They were standing next to their parents on the sand at low tide at Eckman Lake (on the bay side).  We didn’t have time to stop at that time so we stopped on our way back up the Alsea River.  There were only a few geese and they were all in the tall grass.  Chicks could hide in here very easily.

Great Blue Heron and Mallard Drake

I’d love to see a baby heron.  Don’t they nest way up high though?  I wish I knew where they nested around Waldport.

Rufous Hummingbird

I bet the hummers have a nest close by.  They were chasing each other like crazy yesterday.  I was afraid I’d get poked as they zoomed their way through our observation deck.

At one point, I’m sure, they went in one ear and out the other!

Now he’s just showing off

It’s pretty hard to keep track of who’s who but I know their colors change depending on the your perspective of their chin.  This may be the same one as in the previous photo.

Osprey Fishing

Then this osprey landed in the tree in front of me!  Panic ensued as the red low-battery warning light on my camera began to flash.  He flew to another tree before he saw something worth diving for; giving me a chance to grab a fresh battery (which didn’t turn out to be fresh – argh!).  But I did get a couple shots.

Flying with his catch

Eventually, I will catch him in the act.  He makes such a big splash when he hits that I am just watching in amazement and can’t seem to focus (literally) on taking a photo.

Dinnertime

And I’ll figure out how to focus on him when he’s hiding behind branches as he picks apart his fish.

Rufous Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are always fun to watch.  I didn’t know that the female Rufous was green.  I thought male and female were both brown.  Shows how much I knew.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/rufous_hummingbird/id

Female Rufous

This little female Rufous sat still on the branch and chirped at the males.  They buzzed her and chased each other.  It was like watching an air combat dog fight!

Hey! What are you doin’ over there?

It’s important to stay hydrated when fighting.

Notice the chin color

This is the same hummer.

Same hummer – Can he change the color display at will?

Did you know the male hummingbirds have a flight pattern when courting a female?  The Rufous pattern is a J-shape.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/humm/RufousOval.html

Bright colors displayed

I was, obviously, standing near the feeder when one was at the feeder and the other had flown away.

All of a sudden I saw him flying straight toward us (me and the other hummer) from across the way.

It was kind of intimidating – that bright red chin, pointy beak and low hum getting louder quickly!  And they are so tiny – it’s like they are in stealth mode!

I was always told that you should never run with a pointy object.  Someone could get their eye poked out!