Birds and Sophie on Sunday

The most interesting bird I saw today was the Osprey, the second time that I’ve seen one now. This is probably the same one I saw the other day.  The bird was pretty far away so these are cropped in a lot, but considering that I was pleased with the photos. Settings for this one were f/10, 1/640, ISO 200.

And for this one the settings were f/9, 1/640, ISO 200. I really liked how the Osprey’s wings were frozen as they were raised in flight. I was working with shutter speed priority , setting it high enough to stop action, and it worked here. Yes, the bird was really too far away and it would have been much better to get a closer shot that didn’t need all the cropping and sharpening, but I still like the pictures.

Can you find the 6 House Sparrows in the top of the grapefruit tree? A group of them landed there and I took photos. Settings were f/7.1, 1/640, ISO 200.

Here’s a mockingbird sitting on the fence. It was hot today, and this bird looks like it’s feeling the heat. Settings were f/5.6, 1/640, ISO 640.

Another mockingbird perched up on a wire. Settings were f/8, 1/640, ISO 200.

I see a lot of Mourning Doves, but only occasionally spot the Eurasian Collared-dove.  This photo was taken in manual before I checked my settings, and it was over-exposed. I adjusted it in post-processing. Settings were f/7.1, 1/200, ISO 200.

Sophie under the palm tree–another one taken before I changed my settings. Settings were f/5, 1/160, ISO 200.

Oh, and here are the 6 House Sparrows:

Sophie on Saturday

Nothing very exciting today, after a week of unexpected photos. My favorites today were some I took of Sophie after supper. This one almost looks like a painting of her. Settings were f/4.5, 1/160, ISO 320.

And I like this one too. Settings were f/4.5, 1/160, ISO 400.

Here’s a turkey vulture watching what’s going on below while it soars along. The red head isn’t visible in this photo, but it was a turkey vulture with a red head. Settings were f/11, 1/640, ISO 200.

Palm frond hanging in front of the palm tree. Settings were f/4, 1/400, ISO 800.

This is a little dragonfly I saw perched on a spike of grass that didn’t get cut today. I was sitting a little distance away and took the photo with the 70-300mm zoom lens. Settings were f/7.1, 1/640, ISO 200.

Ethan and Faith Go Swimming, Plus a Few Birds

For all the people who’ve enjoyed looking at my posts about Ethan and Faith, my life-size Masterpiece dolls, I have some new photos for you today. I’ve had Ethan and Faith dressed up for summer in bathing suits for awhile, and today I hauled them outside and took pictures of them by the pool. I kept them both on their stands because I didn’t want to take any chances of either of them falling into the pool or off the pool steps and deck.

First, here’s Faith helping Ethan with his arm floats. Settings were f/8, 1/500, ISO 200.

Ethan’s ready to go swimming! Settings were f/8, 1/500, ISO 200.

Faith helps Ethan up the steps to the pool. Settings were f/16, 1/125, ISO 200.

The kids looking over the pool. Settings were f/16, 1/160, ISO 100.

Faith and Ethan by the pool. They are signed and numbered on their backs. I didn’t realize the writing showed until I looked at the photos afterward, but I still like the picture. Settings were f/16, 1/60, ISO 320.

Ethan sits down and looks at his reflection, but he isn’t ready to get his feet in the water. Settings were f/16, 1/200, ISO 200.

Faith and Ethan waving from the edge of the pool. Faith’s bathing suit was a gift from a doll collector friend. Settings were f/16, 1/125, ISO 200.

Did they get in the pool? Well, in post-processing Ethan and Faith did go swimming. I’m not totally happy with how this picture came out, but I don’t want to do it over now, and I did want to show them in the pool. Settings were f/16, 1/80, ISO 200.

Now for the birds! This morning I saw a large bird that had the general look and shape of a hawk flying over the yard. I thought it was probably the Cooper’s Hawk coming back, but when I looked at the photos I took I could see it was a different bird. I went to my bird books and identified it as an Osprey, which was confirmed on WhatBird. This was my first sighting of an Osprey. Settings were f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 400.

The three Swallow-tailed Kites were back today along with a fourth bird. I wondered if it was a juvenile Swallow-tailed Kite whose long forked tail hadn’t grown out yet, but the WhatBird people told me it was a Mississippi Kite–another new bird today. This photo shows the three Swallow-tailed Kites and the Mississippi Kite (on the right) soaring together. What strikes me as very funny is the pigeon sitting calmly on the wire in the middle of it all, oblivious to the kites overhead–or maybe it was just too stunned to move. Settings were f/6.3, 1/500, ISO 200.

The Mississippi Kite never came close enough for a good photo. This was taken from a distance and cropped. The gray kite is carrying some prey in its talons. If you look carefully you can see a dark marking by its eye, a marking seen on the Mississippi Kite. Settings were f/7.1, 1/500, ISO 200.

One of my better attempts at photographing a Swallow-Tailed Kite. I would love to have a chance to take closer photos of a kite. Settings were f/7.1, 1/1000, ISO 200.

And one of our everyday ordinary birds to end with, a Mockingbird. Settings were f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 200.

Birds on Thursday

I was up early this morning and went outside with my camera. As usual for early morning, I saw lots of birds. Up in the big pine tree a mockingbird perched on a high branch. Settings were f/5.6, 1/640, ISO 250.

Some Mourning Doves flew up there too. Settings were f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 320.

A Carolina Chickadee came along. Settings were f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 200.

And so did a female Cardinal. Settings were f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 250.

There was a little Downy Woodpecker in the pine tree too. Settings were f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 400.

Down on the ground, I saw a hummingbird visiting my neighbor’s flowers. Settings were f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 640.

I didn’t see the Cooper’s Hawk today and didn’t hear any noisy, agitated birds, so that was a relief. I didn’t see the Swallow-tailed Kites either. Around sunset Sophie and I went out and walked around, but the only photos I took then were of happy Sophie. Settings were f/5.6, 1/13, ISO 200.

And settings for this one were f/5.6, 1/25, ISO 200.

A Gecko and a Hawk

Today was a cloudy day with occasional rain, and didn’t look promising for photography. But when I picked up the dogs’ water dish this morning I saw a tiny House Gecko underneath it. It was a young gecko and it was molting. I gently picked it up by slowly sliding a card under it while I lowered a glass over it. Then I put it into an open plastic container for a few photos before I released it behind the bushes by the front door, an area where I’ve often seen House Geckos. Here is the little gecko. Settings were f/6.3, 1/100, ISO 320.

House Geckos have eyes with a vertical pupil. The vertical slit can be seen in this close-up of the gecko’s face. Settings were f/6.3, 1/100, ISO 500.

I was pleased to have a couple of different and interesting photos for today, and I didn’t expect anything exciting to turn up–but something did. This afternoon I heard the birds squawking noisily in the big tree at the back corner of the yard, as they have been doing frequently lately. The tree is actually in the corner of my neighbor’s yard but close to my fence. I took my camera and walked back to see if I could get any bird photos. When I looked up into the big tree I saw this. Settings were f/6.3, 1/25, ISO 800.

I looked at this huge back end of a bird for a moment, not quite knowing what to think until a head popped up. Settings were f/6.3, 1/25, ISO 800.

It was a hawk–there was a hawk in the tree, almost in my yard! No wonder the birds were upset. I remembered the hawk I’d seen flying at the Swallow-tailed Kites, and I felt pretty sure this was the same hawk–mostly because I couldn’t believe there could be more than one hawk suddenly hanging around near my yard. The hawk kept ducking its head forward to feed, and then pulling its head up to look around. It obviously had some prey out of sight on the other side of the big branch. Settings were f/6.3, 1/15, ISO 800.

After it finished eating the hawk left, and Sophie and I went back in the house. I checked my bird books for Cooper’s Hawk, the bird that had chased the Kites, and this hawk in the tree looked to me like a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk. Juveniles have streaks like this bird. I asked about it on WhatBird and got a couple of confirmations of juvenile Cooper’s Hawk.

So this explains the agitated birds at the back of the yard lately. I was excited to see the Cooper’s Hawk and to get some photos, but I hope it doesn’t stay around and prey on the birds I’ve been watching in the yard.

Birds on Tuesday

The Swallow-tailed Kites were back this morning–I saw two of them soaring in the sky when I went outside. They weren’t directly overhead but quite a bit farther down the street, so taking photos wasn’t easy. As I watched them, a hawk suddenly flew at them–probably the same hawk I saw chasing them a few days ago. My hawk photo was not very good due to the distance and the gray cloudy weather, but it was good enough for someone on WhatBird to identify it as a Cooper’s Hawk. Settings were f/9, 1/800, ISO 200.

The hawk flew away and the Kites continued to soar. I got a couple of photos of the two Kites together when they circled near each other. The bird in the upper part of the picture had caught some prey and is carrying it in its talons. Settings were f/9, 1/800, ISO 200.

A little later I went outside again, and there were three Kites circling and soaring in the sky. I couldn’t get a photo of all three of them together, but one of them did come closer to our yard and I took some photos of that bird. Settings were f/11, 1/800, ISO 200.

At the back of the yard the noisy mockingbird was continuing to alertly monitor its surroundings. I was able to take several nice photos of the mockingbird, who didn’t seem to mind seeing me today. Settings for this one were f/9, 1/125, ISO 800.

Settings for this one were f/9, 1/160, ISO 800.

Getting ready for take-off here. Settings were f/9, 1/160, ISO 800.

I also saw one of the cardinals today, and he was a sorry sight–he had lost a lot of the feathers on his head and was half bald. I looked up information about balding cardinals and was reassured to find that it’s relatively common. There are two main theories about why this happens: molting or mites; but the birds generally seem to get through it all right and grow new feathers on their heads. Settings were f/9, 1/200, ISO 800.

A Few for Monday

Lots of errands today, and I didn’t get outside with the camera until early evening today. Sophie came out with me of course, and spent some time checking the yard for interesting smells. Settings were f/5.6, 1/320, ISO 200.

But there were some dark clouds in the distance, and a faint rumble of thunder sent her trotting back to the house. Settings were f/5.6, 1/800, ISO 200.

The only bird photo I took today was this silhouette of a crow flying. Settings were f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO 200.

And here is the sunset this evening. Settings were f/16, 1/80, ISO 400.

Mockingbird and Tufted Titmouse

There’s been a noisy mockingbird in the back yard lately, squawking and fluttering around the back fence. It might be protecting a nest and/or young. When I walked near the fence today it squawked at me. Settings were f/7.1, 1/250, ISO 400.

When it stopped yelling at me, it sat there giving me suspicious looks. Settings were f/7.1, 1/400, ISO 400.

But then the mockingbird settled down and pretty much ignored me. Settings were f/7.1, 1/125, ISO 800.

A tiny bird flew onto a tree branch right in front of me, and I was surprised to see it was the Tufted Titmouse. The little bird stayed there for several minutes, looking at me curiously and not minding having its picture taken. Settings for this one were f/7.1, 1/125, ISO 800.

Another photo of the Tufted Titmouse. Settings were f/7.1, 1/200, ISO 800.

My favorite photo of the Tufted Titmouse. Settings were f/7.1, 1/160, ISO 800.

Swallow-tailed Kites and More for Saturday

After the surprise of seeing three Swallow-tailed Kites yesterday, I saw two of them soaring together today. I wish I’d had the camera–I was in the pool at the time and couldn’t get pictures. Another big bird that looked like a hawk flew toward them, but this didn’t seem to bother the Kites much–they just kept soaring. After I got out of the pool I went in and got the camera, and finally spotted a single Kite in the sky. Here is a full photo taken with my 70-300mm lens zoomed all the way. That Kite was way up there, but still so recognizable with its crisp black and white coloring and forked tail. Settings were f/11, 1/400, ISO 320.

Here’s a crop of that same photo.

The House Sparrows were hanging around the back yard this afternoon. Here are three of them on the back fence. Settings were f/14, 1/80, ISO 800.

This sparrow was up in the palm tree. Settings were f/14, 1/160, ISO 800.

And this sparrow was sitting in a tree at the back of the yard. Settings were f/14, 1/100, ISO 800.

Another one of my photos of a Mourning Dove up in the big pine tree. Settings were f/11, 1/400, ISO 500.

Later on I switched over to the 90mm f/2.8 lens and looked for some close-up shots. This last photo for today is a tiny moth sitting on a leaf–if you look at the upper left edge of the leaf, you can see that a small insect was on the underside of the leaf.  Settings were f/4, 1/40, ISO 800.

Birds on Friday

On my way home from the store today, driving down my street, I saw three Swallow-tailed Kites soaring overhead. I don’t see Swallow-tailed Kites often, and when I do, I see just one at a time, so this was pretty unusual. I parked in the driveway and quickly went inside for my camera, but by the time I came back out the Kites were gone. I scanned the sky for a few moments and finally spotted one soaring. It was not very close and I didn’t get great photos, but here’s one of the Swallow-tailed Kite.  Settings were f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 200.

Over in my neighbor’s yard some House Sparrows had gathered at the bird bath. Settings were f/13, 1/250, ISO 800.

Just then the Red-bellied Woodpecker landed up on one of the palm trees near where I was standing. He stayed there for several minutes, giving me time to take some photos of him.  I’ve missed getting good photos of this bird several times, so it was nice to finally get some pictures I liked. Settings for this one were f/13, 1/160, ISO 800. Afterwards I looked this woodpecker up in my bird books, and learned that he’s definitely male because of the red coloring over the entire top and back of his head–the female has red coloring just on the back of her head.

Another photo of the woodpecker. In this one you can see his back. Settings were f/7.1, 1/400, ISO 640.

The woodpecker was poking into hollows where fronds had been trimmed off. Settings were f/13, 1/160, ISO 800.