wild birds

I Walk On Water. What’s Your Superpower!

January 15, 2020 — 4 Comments

F/7.1, 1/200, ISO 320.

Green-Winged Teal

Why do writers always feel cold?

Because they have lots of drafts in their office.

Interesting Facts: Green-winged Teal are fast, agile, buoyant flyers. They can take off straight from the water without running across the surface. Though they are dabbling ducks that usually tip up to feed, they occasionally dive for food and to avoid predators. In winter Green-winged Teal gather in roosting flocks of up to 50,000 birds. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Green-winged_Teal/lifehistory )

 

 

It May Look Like I’m Doing Nothing. But In My Head, I’m Quite Busy.

January 10, 2020 — 8 Comments

F/9.0, 1/320, ISO 160.

Sandhill Cranes 

Why are baseball players so cool?

They always have their fans there!

Interesting Fact: During migration and winter the family units group together with other families and nonbreeders, forming loose roosting and feeding flocks—in some places numbering in the tens of thousands. Eggs, nestlings, and injured or sick adults may be hunted by foxes, raccoons, coyotes, wolves, bobcats, crows, ravens, eagles, and owls. Cranes attack aerial predators by leaping into the air and kicking their feet forward. They threaten terrestrial predators by spreading their wings and hissing, eventually resorting to kicking. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sandhill_Crane/lifehistory )

 

 

 

And Since I Have No Place To Go Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow.

January 4, 2020 — 17 Comments

F/7.1, 1/200, ISO 320.

Northern Cardinal Female

Why did the baseball coach throw Cinderella off the team?

Because she ran away from the ball.

Interesting Fact: A week or two before the female starts building, she starts to visit possible nest sites with the male following along. The pair call back and forth and hold nesting material in their bills as they assess each site. Nests tend to be wedged into a fork of small branches in a sapling, shrub, or vine tangle, 1-15 feet high and hidden in dense foliage. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/lifehistory )