Tag: birding

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

On the wing

Ruby throated hummingbirds are one of the more common ones in the eastern united states. We decided to put up a feeder and after a week or so this pretty little female decided to visit. She moves quickly enough that the “on the wing” photographs are just slightly blurred. But when she stopped to feed, it was another story.

I took these images with my Sony A7III using the 600mm lens at f6.3, 1/800s, and 2000 asa (equivalent speed). The trick is to sit in a chair and wait. If they’re spooked move further away, and then after a while move closer. These birds, once they realize that you’re not a threat, become bold. They’ll buzz you to remind you to fill up the feeder, which is an interesting experience. The feed is one part sugar to four parts water by volume without added food color.

Turkeys

The wild turkeys have been visiting of late. They’re a bit hard to photograph because as a “tasty bird” they are also extremely shy. Getting these images, at dusk, took pushing my camera’s limits.

This group is all toms (male). You can see that by their beards and brightly coloured heads. Later in the year they will break up and recruit individual harems. But for now, being in a flock with many eyes to look out for danger outweighs any romantic rivalry.

Bon Secour NWR

A follow up to my post on RVs. 

One of the highlights of our trip was exploring the nearby National Wildlife Refuge. We were about a mile down the road from it, and while route 180 is fast, there are wide margins so that it is eminantly walkable.

X marks the approximate location of Fort Morgan RV park.

I have a birding life list into the hundreds and was still able to identify five new species without serious birding. (Just walking with binocculars in hand.)  We walked there three times: first, late in the afternoon to the junction of the Gator Lake trail and the Pine Branch trail (4 miles round trip),  second, to the shore on the Pine Branch trail (6 miles round trip), and lastly to the Gator Lake trail returning via Mobile street, the shore, and the Pine Branch trail (8 miles round trip).


 A Sandriling

Since pets (dogs) are not allowed in the refuge and there are not that many people who visit, the birds are quite tame. The Sandriling walked within two feet of me.

Fifteen inches (1/3 meter) of rain will flood the trails.

There were mosquitos, even at the winter solstice, so a summer visit should include insect repellent and quite possibly a face net.

Without trying, we saw:

  • Osprey
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Brown Pelican
  • Sandriling
  • Snowy Plover
  • Willet
  • Common Loon
  • Horned Grebe
  • Double Crested Cormorant
  • Lesser Scaup
  • Common Goldeneye
  • Bufflehead
  • White-eyed Vireo

There were gulls (of course) and crows, as well as several varieties of sparrow, that we didn’t identify.  Not to mention these guys, who scared off the plover.

The Blue Angels.

Sandhill Cranes 2017.

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The sandhill cranes have returned. We saw the first few birds a couple of weeks ago, but now they are there in flocks. When we drove through today, they were a tad more spread out than usual. These ones (above) were hunting the early wood frogs. I could hear the frogs while I took the pictures.
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These were across the street from the others. During the summer this hill is a cotton field, so I’m not sure what critters there are now.
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However, there must be something because the flocks were spread out over several fields. These were the closest to the road where there was a convenient place to pull over and take pictures. I used a 600mm sigma lens. I’m not thoroughly happy about the sharpness.

crane_map This map shows where to look if you’re interested in seeing them yourselves. Remember they are protected birds. If you continue to Centre there are some half-decent places to eat and the petrol is about 30 cents cheaper than in Atlanta.

Curious Wild Turkeys (video)

A flock walked by recently. Not quite as cuddly as cats, but neat nonetheless.

(sorry about the repost, but wordpress would not let me fix the image. ****** ***** **** ****).

The Cranes are Back.

I was worried with the drought that the birds would skip us by. It seems they haven’t.

They were flocking over Lake Weiss this morning. Several small flocks of cranes and a huge flock of pelicans.

The featured image is from last year. More, I hope, this year to come.

Sandhill Cranes #birding

The Sandhill Cranes overwinter in northern Alabama near Weiss Lake. The flocks have been getting bigger as the word seems to be spreading among them. They concentrate on damp/flooded cotton and soybean fields where they can find various small creatures to eat.

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While we were parked and taking photographs several flocks flew in to join the main one. They spread out in the morning and then gather together. The next few shots show the process.

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They aren’t spooked by cars, so you can quietly pull off the road, turn off your engine and take pictures. These were with a relatively inexpensive 500mm mirror lens.

Wild Turkeys #birding

They’re back, they’re bold, and they’re native.DSC_0259
The turkeys are forming up into mixed flocks with several toms and a larger number of hens. In the next month they’ll partition into individual flocks with just one tom each. After the eggs hatch, we’ll see flocks of the chicks accompanying their father.
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More Birds.

Playing with my long (500mm) cheap mirror lens again. I set the shutter speed to 1/4000 (as fast as the Nikon will go) and let the auto-ISO handle the rest. It has a relatively fast f5.6 that cannot be changed.  The other caution to watch for is the T-mount. It can unscrew a little and loosen while the lens is on the camera if it isn’t in tight.  That will cause difficulty with focusing.

We have resident pelicans. They are supposed to be rare. Ours aren’t.

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The herons perch on stumps out in our little branch of Lake Weiss.

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The image quality isn’t perfect, but it could be a lot worse. Not sure how much is the lens and how much is the ISO/low light.