A Bunch of Birds and Rambling

Today was a birding kind of day.  I had just made it over the first hill in the Back Forty when I heard the sound I’ve been waiting to hear for the last few weeks–the bobolinks are back!

bobolink

I love their song and their bright breeding colors.  They were putting on quite the show for me!

It makes me wish I hadn’t had my 300mm lens on my camera because, even though I can zoom in really close, I have horrible lens shake with it.

I need a monopod, and I do have one, but I haven’t figured out how to change it from a tripod to a monopod, and the directions are very unclear.  Almost as unclear as my pictures handheld with this lens.

Anyhow, I can live with a little shake in the bluebird.

I am seeing the northern flickers almost everyday because there’s a whole family of them living out here.  The robin on top was just a bonus.

I missed the nuthatch because they are such quick little things.  I also saw a ton of blackbirds and sparrows.  Here are more birds from pasture–

blue jay

red bellied woodpecker

eastern meadowlark

When I was hanging laundry out this morning, I got to see a Baltimore oriole, but I didn’t have my camera.  It sat there and watched me and let me tell him how beautiful he was, and he was gone by the time I got back with my camera.  That’s okay because I got to see the red-headed woodpeckers that live in the paddock north of my barn.

When I was in pasture, the orioles were still trolling me.  Nothing but a fly-bye shot.

Later when I was doing laundry, I saw the male cardinal.  I think there’s a pair that are living in the pine trees on the north edge of my yard.  Since I was again doing laundry and didn’t have my camera, this shot is from a couple of evenings ago.

Here’s the eastern kingbird.

Another wind/lens shake shot–this time the eastern goldfinch.

Luckily, by the time I got up from the pasture, they had figured out I put out the bird feeders in their summer location north of the house.

The red-breasted grosbeak found it too!

It was definitely a good birding day.  Now I just need the hummingbirds to find their feeder.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

The items for this week’s scavenger hunt are:  details, precious, hungry, water, and wide angle.

Details:  I believe this is a meadowlark.  It’s not the best photo to see the details, but I think it’s good enough.  (I hope.)

Precious:  After taking the picture of the chicks in the wine glass last week, I realized I don’t have an adorable teacup, but my mom and sister were kind enough to think of me when they found these at goodwill.

Hungry:  These little ones are really good at eating a lot of food.  I’m filling their feeders twice each day.  They’re good at wasting it too.  I should get a more efficient feeder for them.  It won’t be long until I have to separate them into a couple of pens to give them more room.  It won’t be long after that when I let them out.

Water:  There’s water in the ditch!  There’s enough water for the sun to reflect off of it.

Wide Angle:  I know this isn’t truly a wide angle shot, but it does give you an idea of how big my back hill is.  Marley is on the left and Millie on the right.

I’m sharing with Scavenger Hunt Sunday, Weekend Reflections, Bird d’Pot, I Heart Macro, and Weekly Top Shot.