Peregrine Falcon

 

Got a great flyover of a beautiful Peregrine Falcon earlier this month in Florida. The Peregrine is the fastest bird on the planet, when it is in hunting mode. Here, it is just floating on by and I was able to get a great shot. 

January 1st Lifer!!!

Got notice of an Evening Grosbeak hanging out at a feeder in a public park just south of Milwaukee, just under 2 hours from home. Starting my normal work travel schedule on Monday, so January 1st is my one and only day to go after this bird, a lifer. Evening Grosbeaks very occasionally comes this far south, but this is the closest reliable visitor that I have heard of this year. So, it was go now or hope for another closer visitor on an off day later this winter. I rolled the dice and took a chance to get it. Lucky for me, the drive was worth it and after waiting patiently for over an hour, it showed up. Lucky, all around. Great start to the birding year. That makes 447 lifers!!!

Polar Express Christmas Feel

 

Stole this idea from Sam, who set up the shot on her iPhone and instantly turned it into a nice Polar Express shot with the filter on the phone. (See below.) The tech on the phones is just crazy good. I wanted to see what I could do in Photoshop and either my skills aren't there or the technology in Photoshop isn't there yet but this is my version. I like it, although Sam's iPhone image is still better. Graham wasn't over yet in the first shot so this is just Echo, Eli, Peregrine, Noah and Effie. Sam's shot below includes Graham. 

Oh, Hey, There!

 

Oh, hey, there! I rounded the corner and ran into this. I was as surprised as she was, as no one else was out walking on Christmas Eve morning on this path (I was the only car in the parking lot). So, I continued down the path and we both went on with our day. No birds, but a nice doe encounter. 

Close visit

 

Got a fairly close fly-by of a Bald Eagle at Whalon Lake, near my home today. I am used to seeing these eagles everywhere I go but this is the first one that I have seen close to my house (maybe 10 minutes away by car). Always a fine sight to see. 

Always a strange sight

 

It is always a strange sight to see a waterbird, like this Great Blue Heron, sitting up in a tree, but they do it all the time. Before I started birding, I would never have believed such a thing. It is still rather odd to see such a large bird and, one that is normally standing in shallow water looking for its next meal, up high in a tree, but that is where they nest. Hopefully, you will have a chance to get out and about and you will see a large shorebird up in a tree as well!!!

Sad, but beautiful

 

Hard to figure what happened here. At first, I saw this Mallard and took a quick picture as the colors were vivid, with a nice reflection, which you can see better in the tighter crop. We were participating in the Christmas Bird Count, the largest citizen scientist project in the US. On the Fox River in our count zone at this location, there were lots of Mallards and Common Goldeneyes around. A few minutes later, my vision comes back to this Mallard and it is in exactly the same position and pose. I realize it is dead, frozen to the river. I was with some experienced birders and they said that in 40 years of birding they have never seen anything like that. So, I wasn't the only one surprised to see such a thing. Beautiful bird. Sad ending.