Stand-up Comedy

I have spent a fortune on bird seed...more than you  have spent this year on shoes or beer.  I am sure.  But I still get no respect around here.

"The sun has been up for 15 minutes and the feeders are still empty!!??  What in the heck are you doing in there?"

"I am still waiting!  Get off the couch you slug.  It is  NOT that cold out here, and I am not moving."

"What is this stuff?  You expect me to eat cheap cracked corn?  Do I look like a crow?"

"You do realize these are stale, right?"

Parsley (Holly), Sage(Birch), Rosemary and Thyme

Those of us who are photographers know that what is shown in a photograph is not always what was seen by the photographer.  Some purist photographers feel that any tweaking, other than the kind of light adjustment that was made in a darkroom many years ago, is invalid in the world of photography.  I tend to be liberal (as I am in everything else) regarding hard and fast rules in any kind of art, and digital photography opens up lots of opportunity for tweaking.  My rule is that you need to be honest in your work.  Therefore, I am going to give you a few clues that may help you if you are trying to get backyard bird photos or if you wonder about some of mine.

1.  You do need a good camera and a telephoto is almost a necessity unless your birds are very tame with your presence and not afraid of the clicking sound.

2.  You can shoot in automatic.  But if you have a nicer camera you should set your camera on aperture priority.  If it is too close to dusk you will need to up your ISO.

3.  If the auto mode is what you are most comfortable with, you can try to use the "sports" mode that many cameras have.

OK enough technical stuff for those of us who do not make our living at this.

The next thing to do is set up the scenery.  Use a stool or backyard table and get it as close to your blind (where you hide and shoot) as you can.  Decorate this table with natural stuff.  The photo below is where my blog post title came from:

We lost a lovely birch tree last winter and I love the bark texture on this tree.  I picked some rosemary and some thyme and cut a holly branch for a quick set-up.  We have not talked about light which is the MOST important aspect of photography for me, and as you can see, I try to set this so that light came across giving interesting shadows in the early morning.

You can select berries or parts of plants.  Whatever works.  Then you add some bird food.  In the photo above you can see the wren has found the sunflower seed and scattered it all over as he opened the shells.

Then the object becomes the need to hide all the unnatural stuff.  I will have to camouflage the deck fence in back and make sure the clip on the table cloth in the lower right hand corner of this photo above does not show.  Of course, it is not all that easy because you do not have control over the most important aspect...the moving animal.

I caught the bird, but her head is buried in the seeds that I tucked away.

Above I caught her head but the framing is way off.  Not sure what the subject of this photo above is supposed to be.

Getting the back of the bird is certainly not interesting but having him blurred as well means this photo is a delete.

Much of the time, no matter how much coffee you have, you will miss the bird entirely.  Chickadees are notorious for fleeing from the scene just as my shutter comes open.

But eventually you get a bird in the shot, in focus, and with reasonable light.  If you crop closely it looks as though he is in the woods.  None of this information is news to photographers and most of it can be found on the internet in far greater detail in photography blogs.  But I thought I would share my process for any reader who would be interested.  (Click on the photo for a close-up.)

No Pain No Gain

Once again it is proving to be a very mild winter.  The temperature broke 50F yesterday and that compelled us to talk a walk in the nearby park and stretch our lazy limbs.

We have not had significant moisture for a while so there were only three places that required some acrobatic balancing acts as we skirted large muddied areas of the path.  We hung on to tree limbs and ducked beneath thorny branches leaving the well worn trail and making sure that our hiking boots did not get too caked with the muddy clay.

The local beaver plays havoc with the part of the hiking trail that skirts the marsh.  The maintenance folks dumped a dozen boards across the path, but eventually they will have to build another boardwalk for the area.  There was a delicate screen of ice on the top of the water in the more open areas giving witness to the colder night before.  Local titmice, chickadees, woodpeckers and white-throated sparrows showed no fear in scolding us as we made our way.  They also were enjoying the warm sun on their backs as they flew from tree-top to scrub brush.

It was nice to see that the park staff have a good sense of humor after all the downed trees the past two years.  I do not know if it is global warming or just the age of the forest, but we are losing that climax forest look.  We have none of the rare century trees that make one's mouth fall open.  I regret that.

It is 1.8 miles and ends at the beach.  But we decided to rest just a short bit shy of that and enjoy the swamp instead, while families with dogs and children headed toward the more popular destination.

They All Came from Long Island

I find it hard to capture these little finch with their lovely color unless the light is early morning or late evening. They eat at my feeders but do not come close to the house unless it is very, very cold and I have sprinkled seeds near the water bowl. They do come more often for water.  Having a water heater for birds is not very expensive and does bring the pleasure watching the birds more closely.  This finch did have a problem in the northern U.S. with an eye disease and so I watch closely to see if any of mine seem to have that.  I do wash my feeders in bleach in the fall before I put them up.

It is easy to confuse the house finch and the purple finch as their colors and size are almost identical  If you can see them side by side you will notice that the purple finch is not actually purple but really more purplish than red. Its color is closer to raspberry and its neck seems smoother to me.  These here are definitively the house finch with their bright red colors.  The female is a dull gray and not nearly so lovely.  Notice the shape of the bill which means they eat seeds rather than bugs.  They are very shy among the other birds and wait until most of the other species are finished eating.  They do rush at each other, though.  I did not do much to these photos as the lighting came out nicely, but they are not sharp because they were taken through a window.

This photo immediately above was photo-shopped and the two others were not.  I sharpened the bird, adjusted the lighting and I added the Pyracantha berry in his mouth.  He had a sunflower seed instead..so this is not a good scientific photo and could confuse bird watchers if I did not admit this.  (This does NOT mean that they do not eat berries, because some of them do.  I know that the cardinal eats these berries.)

Quick Shots

I spent the days immediately after Christmas babysitting three grandchildren, two, five and seven.  Hubby and I were in continuous checking mode although the children could pretty much entertain themselves with all the new gifts.  On the day we loaded the car to leave I noticed movement in the crepe myrtle tree in the front yard.  The birds did not seem to mind hubby carrying bags back and forth nearby, so I grabbed my camera and caught a few quick shots to enlarge and see exactly what birds they were.  There are two hidden in the seed heads above.

They were goldfinch with their subdued winter colors.

In the summer they are bright yellow with bold black bars.

Above at the top of the photo you can also see a house finch with a touch of red.

Yes, the shots are grainy and blurry.  It was hard to get a good shot while listening to the children in the room behind me.  I could use a better lens.  I can also blame the stiff breeze that would kick up now and again.

Beginnings

Every new year is a fresh start - a do-over; a chance to mend a fence, repair a wrong, fix a bad habit, renew a relationship, forget a pain.  May you not feel burdened by this new chance this year.  May you be gentle on yourself if you fail and may you not be afraid to try again in the months ahead.

Troglodytidae

Such an impressive scientific name for such a lovely little songbird.

Family Troglodytidae (from the Greek words for those who enter a cave or hole)
Genus Troglodytes (Troglodytes are reclusive mythical people who live in caves or holes.)

I do not think I have ever met anyone who would not find the song of the wren uplifting on the grayest spring day or the coldest winter day.  They sit on the end of a branch or the post of my deck and throw their little heads up to the sky and then sing silver notes.  This winter one has been sleeping in the wreathe over the front door and I have to remember about it or it will fly into the house in a panic and we will spend an hour trying to capture it.  They also have been caught in the garage several nights this month and refuse to leave seeming to enjoy the warmth of the newly parked car.

All of the above are a little blurry because they were shot through the deck window and not directly.  It is COLD outside.

Silver Light

I have a dozen in the yard this week, but this one seemed particularly red!

(My other blog no longer has a malware,  so I am guessing Blogger has run its scans and removed it after I sent the email to them.)

CAREFUL!

Please do not go to my other blog! It has contracted a malware...from another blog that I viewed. I will try to find a solution before I depart for the holidays and will come back here and explain...I HOPE!

Sharing

Do me a favor and share something today.

Wild and Crazy Guy

I have been waiting for this Court Jester guest to show up and decorate for winter's partying time.  Jack at long last stopped by last night and with his usual enthusiasm for finally being the primary decorator at the party and the center of attention he spilled his loot everywhere.  Fragile diamonds caught on the edges and in the hollows of plants and even on the dark brown leaf-covered forest floor, giving it a fancy costume.  He is such a show off...this wild and crazy guy.  

Too bad that he is so cold, but it gives me an excuse to finally wear a coat and scarf and keep up with him.

Tweaking Reality

I find that photo-shopping or digitally editing photos is much like decorating a cake or buying something for someone you love or making soup. You can tweak and stretch and add and subtract, and eventually you can end up with an inedible or unappetizing mess or getting someone way too much stuff. For me it sometimes ends up meeting the vision that I was trying to achieve or at least getting close enough that I am too tired to delete all the work I put into it. One of the people making a comment asked if the prior post was created from a real photo. It was, and below is the original (reduced to 40%) for your edification.   (You can click on the photo for a close-up.)

Holiday Help

Someone was trying to get me in the holiday mood yesterday. She was a big help.

Shroooom!

It is cold and rainy and no frost, so we are getting a wonderful harvest of oyster mushrooms.  We are not experts on mushrooms and know these are safe to eat because we planted them this past year!

As you can see we harvested some already in the photo above.  I had once read that there was little nutritional value in mushrooms but according to one website their nutritional value is as follows: "The good: This food is low in Saturated Fat and Sodium, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of  Dietary Fiber, Protein, Vitamin C, Folate, Iron, Zinc and Manganese, and a very good source of Vitamin D, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Pantothenic Acid, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper and Selenium."  Since we cook ours with butter, garlic and salt and pepper, we probably negate a lot of the healthy significance of this fungus.  Another website claims that mushrooms have  complex carbohydrates that strengthen the immune system.  I can use more of that!

They have high water content and I think that is why I see squirrels eating them once in a while.  Our little harvest does get impacted by mice harvests.  The photo below is a wild mushroom, that looks like our cultivated, but could very well be inedible.  I ain't trying it.  You can see where squirrels have nibbled.

Other fungus in our woods is just pretty and exotic looking.  Some growths look like rubber ribboned ruffles (say that fast three times) and others like scallop shells that have fossilized.

There are so many different forms, colors and patterns that sometimes I return home all muddy kneed from trying to get a close-up shot of something I haven't seen.

Winter Surprise

 

What a surprise to find in my garden.  This summer annual marigold is still waiting for a frost.

Movie Title

Guess what movie I saw yesterday? Found this old zoo photo and had to give it some mood swings to go with the movie.

Morning Light

Thought I would share some morning light in a photographic painting.

Just had to add that this was taken from the side of my deck and cropped so that you could not see the roof of my neighbor's house. Then I photo-shopped with lighting and filters. I do like how it turned out!

Soft Beginnings

The sky is blushing with excitement to start the day, but the heavy fog pulls a veil over her excited face and leaves only the clawed outline of branches in silhouette against the rosey sky.  The air is heavy with water and warmer than usual.  I can hear the mist collecting on the few remaining leaves hundreds of feet over my head and then rolling to the leaves' edges and falling with abandoned effort to the forest floor giving in to gravity and creating a soft snapping sound.

Eventually the sun pierces through in places turning the straw, which covers newly seeded patches in the lawn, to gold.  Almost everything else is still hidden in the silk of fog.  It feels safe and comforting as if this misty blanket can protect me from anything harsh.  All the sharp edges of the end of fall have been smoothed to a soft sheen.  All is reverent and quiet.

I am compelled to take the path to the river to follow the early morning call of Canadian geese disturbed by the increasing light. Their chatter always sounds like the panic of old women at the empty bargain table going for the last treasure and is misplaced in this gray cathedral.  Their camouflage is being removed in subtle layers with each degree of the sun's climb over the southern horizon and they are wary.

The geese have heard me or seen my dangerous shadow before I am near for they are just distant fuzzy ghosts barely visible in the middle of the river heading rapidly and with magical grace to the opposite side.  For a short time it is very quiet.  I am alone.  But wait...I hear the tenuous songs of several birds in the trees.  There is the high cry of a jay above me and the song of white-throated sparrows calling from the shelter of the salt bush to my back.  Even the rhythmic tat-a-tat of the red bellied woodpecker tells me that the day is beginning with or without the sun.

Flyover

I was flying over the river...via the bridge...hubby was driving.  These are called drive-by shots and would not hold up to the scrutiny of a magnifying glass for sharpness since we were moving about 30 MPH.  But they were the last of the fall a few weeks ago that I could capture, and I thought I would share one of the neighborhoods I pass fairly regularly.