Red Sky Landing

 

I can't remember for sure, but I think this was coming in for a landing on a trip to Houston. The sky was on fire so got a cell phone shot out the winder. 

Two eclipses, 7 years apart

 

Two eclipses, two different cameras and two different styles, 7 years apart. Neither shot is better than the other in my opinion although I like the diffraction spikes in the earlier shot. The 2009 shot was stopped down to f14 on my Nikon D750 at 1/180 of a second with my ISO at 2000. I took that shot at 70mm on my 70-200. I took some close up shots as well. In any case, you get a lot of spikes with the shutter blades on the older cameras creating edges where light leaks to create the starburst. On the modern Z9, it is an electronic shutter so you don't get those spikes as much anymore as there are no elements between the lens and the chip. This is the case even though I am at a similar f -stop at f11 at 1/1000 of a second at ISO 8000. Even with the much faster ISO, the modern Z9 is a much cleaner file. This time out I shot some at 70mm but this one was with my 100-400mm with a 2x converter so at 800mm in this case. I ran both through a denoise filter to clean the file of some unwanted noise. 

So, there you have it. Two eclipses at the same location. Both successful and lots of fun with friends and family. 

Success!!!

 

Got it done. A plan that really started 8 years ago when I realized that my cousin's property near Goreville, Illinois was in the crossroads of the 2017 and 2024 eclipses. We were able to see both eclipses in full without getting clouded out. Luck broke our way, along with many, many locations in the United States. I can't believe that so many places got a clear eclipse. The shot down below is my last shot of the eclipse at around 99% eclipsed as the moon starts to move back out of the way. The last shot is our eclipse group enjoying the hospitality of Bob and Karen Sawyer. We got a last minute visit of James Viola and wife, who Stephanie and I met in our 2009 and two of their friends. Mike Haberer also joined at the last minute. What fun to see this event with friends and family. 

Black-bellied Whistling Duck....in a tree?

 

I am sure that hunters know this but until I started birding 4 years ago, I had no clue that ducks roosted, visited and flew up into trees. Just never occurred to me that they did that. So, I still think it is an incongruous sight to see a large duck, like this Black-bellied Whistling Duck to be up in a tree singing. Yet, here he is singing away. Whistling more like it as they have a strange song. 

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in Texas

 

Took the side roads heading to the Houston airport yesterday and was lucky to catch a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher sitting on the side of the road with its mate. Beautiful bird with an insanely long tail. From the range maps, this is a bird that doesn't get much north of Kansas or Oklahoma, although I bet there are some sightings as far north as southern Illinois on occasion. Anyway, it is a lifer for me, number 313 on the lifer scale. Beautiful bird. I guess the long tail helps catching insects in mid-air as the bird is able to make sharp twists and turns as it flys. 

Madison Square Park

 

I often find myself cutting through Madison Square Park when in New York City as it is on a convenient path to the Strand Bookstore, just a few blocks down from the park. Madison Square is a fun little New York Park that gets a lot of usage and many visitors. There are two dogs parks (one for small dogs and one for large) and food stands when the weather is nice. The buildings around it, including the Flatiron, (not shown in this shot), are given a bit of room to breathe and when the sun is low, as it was a few weeks ago on my last visit, the lighting is wonderful!!! 

What Pretty Red Eye-ring You Have

 

Mostly, all you see of Killdeer is them running away from you. Got this one from the car window with a long lens so the Killdeer didn't run away just yet. Interesting red ring around its eye. Killdeer, if they are protecting a ground nest, will put on a wounded bird show and lure you away from the nest as you try to catch it, before it flies away. Smart little bird. 

A Gaggle of Geese

 

Sometime in early March, the Snow Geese gather in central Illinois for a week or so feeding and resting before continuing their trip to their breeding grounds in Canada. I was able to find their feeding spot and enjoy the show. The adults are white and the juveniles with dark plumage in the shot. 

Uncountable

 

I got an email from the DuPage Birding Club that the Snow Geese were gathering for their annual flight to their breeding grounds in Canada from points south. The email gave an approximately location and by Sunday morning, I was there to see them in tremendous numbers and this is after the morning take-off where I saw thousands fly overhead from about 6:30 to about 7:30 am. Quite amazing. A picture doesn't do it justice. 

Florida foggy morning

 

Got up early last month to do some birding in central Florida and this was the scene before wandering around to find some local birds. 

Ready to Play

 

Beautiful weather in NYC last week and the crowds came out to enjoy the weather. Street performers also came out in droves to get their share of sunshine and potential dollars. This guy in Central Park had some character and style. Always a nice time walking NYC in great weather. 

Skating in NYC

 

With snow left over from last week's storm, NYC had a bit of snow still around to give the Central Park ice rink a nice winterly look. 

The Right Light

 

I always think New York City looks amazing in the right light. This is from Washington Square Park (I think) on the way to visit the Strand, an amazing book store and a must visit for me when I am in New York. Unfortunately, I also like to visit Central Park and those two locations are very, very far from each other. The rest of my visit, I pay the price with pain in my legs and hips. Oh well. It happens.  

Painted Bunting

 

There have been a couple of birds that have taken my breath away as they standout in the crowd of colorful birds. This one, the Painted Bunting, has to top them all. The blues, reds and yellows, oh my! This bird has it all. You would think it was a tropical bird and maybe it is, living in a swath of Texas/Oklahoma over to Florida and south into Mexico and Central America. Just a beautiful bird. This one was an easy find as it is a feeder bird and therefore hanging around the Merritt Island Visitor Center. That area is well worth a visit if you are anywhere near the Space Coast area of Florida. 

A New Bird

 

You never know what a random Saturday will bring to the feeder. Mostly, it is the same birds over and over. At the thistle feeder, you get mostly American Goldfinch's, House Finches and on the ground below, Dark-eyed Juncos. Today, out of nowhere, 12 Pine Sisken's show up. Never seen them in the backyard before and actually, they are a lifer for me, as I never got a chance to see one yet in the wild. So, a two-for. A new backyard bird and a new bird!!! Not bad for a Saturday morning. They are a pretty bird, heavily streaked with yellow across the wing bars, similar to an American Goldfinch. With the 14 new lifers that I got in January and February in two trips to Florida, the Pine Siskin makes 311 birds (I think) and 35 backyard birds. Not a bad start to the year!!! 

Florida Birding

 

Got to do a couple of days R&R in Florida and joined in the Space Coast Birding Festival. Lots of fun and new birds to add to the life list. Still working through about 4,000 shots!!! This is a boat trip I took to Pelican Island, a federally protected refuge for birds. This is just one portion of the island, which has weirdly sorted itself out into groups of roosting birds, each species pretty much staking out parts of the island and returning to that some locations, night after night, year after year. This pic has a couple of brown pelicans in front (along with a wood stork with its back to us) and a brown pelican flying over, white pelicans stacked in their typically location and more brown pelicans in the trees. So, just pelicans and the one stork in this shot but other parts of the island just to the left of this shot you have white ibis, egrets, many more storks and a variety of gulls. Interesting area and a wonderful trip. 

St. John's River Airboat ride

 

Took an airboat ride (my first!!!) with Captain Mike along the St. John's River to shoot some bird pictures and also got these wonderful views of the Cyprus trees along the river. Had a great time and I must say those boats can really move. Up to 70mph and feels faster as you are so close to the water in an open chair. Got lots of shots of egrets and herons, ospreys and kingfishers. Some alligators up close as well. Hope to share some of those shots soon but I have a few thousand to go through after a few days of birding so it will take a while! 

Birds of the Year: #5-1

 

My favorite shot of the year is by far the two Black-necked Stilts feeding in shallow water in the Salton Sea in California. The water gave a perfect mirror as the stilts went about their work. The Fulvous Whistling-ducks are a very recent shot from December in Florida. Loved how they were on the watch for predators and wondering which way to go as they knew I was there. The Dickcissel is a prairie bird for me. Sitting up high and signing for a mate.  The Crested Caracara are huge birds. Saw them in Texas as they are not local to the midwest. The Verdin is a beautiful little bird. Caught that one also near the Salton Sea. Love how it matches its Spring surroundings. So, those are my top 15 shots for the year. Hopefully, more species to capture this year as well as returning favorites. 

Birds of the Year #9 thru 5

 

I love when a new species sits right out front for you to get a shot. Mostly, it is shooting through tree limbs as the bird jumps around. And then it usually flies away right before you get the shot. Not with this Lark Sparrow in Texas. Was right there in front of me on the trail. Much appreciated and a beautiful sparrow. The Eastern Phoebe as also bouncing around all over the place eating small bugs on the wing. I saw this tree limb and said to myself, it would be amazing if the Phoebe would just sit right there. Within a few minutes, he did. Again, thanks for the pose. I saw my first California Thrasher after randomly pulling off the road to stretch my legs on the same day as I saw the Lark Sparrow (and saw the annual eclipse as well). In that random road stop, I got a California Quail and this Thrasher within moments of each other. You never know what you are going to see unless you look. The American Avocet and the Spotted Sandpiper are two birds that I saw on the same day at the Salton Sea in Southern California, although I first saw the Spotted Sandpiper in Naperville, so it is a bird that is very wide spread. Both of those birds are very distinctive and easy to identify. So, these are birds 9 through 5 in my favorite bird shots of the year.  

My Favorite Bird Shots of 2023

 

I was able to find 70 new species in 2023, pushing my photographic total to 287 species out of about 700 in the United States. From here, it is going to get harder as I have already been able to see many of the common species in the lower 48 states. Still, there are a lot of fairly common birds left to be seen and many more less common that I might get by accident. Travel through work helps and as the days get longer again, the opportunity to bird in different parts of the country after work meetings opens up. Plus there are a lot of local birds that I still have not been able to capture, especially in the owl and raptor species and the ducks as well. So, lots more to do. These are 5 of my top 15 shots for 2023. Only the Western Bluebird and the Phainopepla were new this year. I remember the Western as so amazingly blue. Beautiful bird. Saw that near Newport Beach in California. Saw the Phainopepla in the high desert inside Joshua Tree National Park. The other three, the Black Vulture, Yellow-rumpted Warbler and Pine Warbler are pretty common, seen in lots of parts of the US, although the Black Vulture is local to the south and southeast. The Turkey Vulture is very similar with a red/baldish head and that is the vulture you see over the rest of the country.