Spring birds

We interrupt the Norwegian theme to bring you breaking news. Birds are really active and visible at this time of year.

So ok. It’s not breaking news, but I have been taking the time to hang around the yard and observe the goings on. Mostly I hear the birds around me more than see them, but sometimes I get lucky. Like with this pair of Northern Flickers who have decided that this new giant stump makes for a great nesting site. The tree came down in a thunderstorm in early spring and it didn’t take long for them to notice. Here is mister early on in the excavating –

It seems they take turns doing the heavy lifting, but sometimes I see them just sit on the entrance or on the top and rest. This is the missus –

The first was taken through an open window in the house and the second from the steps on the side of the garage which is a bit lower. From higher up you get the river as background, from lower the trees behind. Here he is again just after it rained –

I really hope they have a successful breeding season. Not sure if they will be able to claim the nest again in the future, but surely the ducks could use another nest if they can fit!

Here’s one of the many pairs of robins around the yard –

Mostly I catch them on the ground, but I especially love it when they sit in the lower branches –

And here’s a Purple finch from earlier in the spring before there were any leaves –

Isn’t he gorgeous? My very first photo of one and I’m so pleased with the results. I sat on the ground near the feeder and just waited. He took a long time to get this close and eventually got onto the feeder itself. Luckily there are a few branches without anything around them and he chose one and then this little lick of sun lit him up so nicely to show off his colors and the textures in his plumage. I’m pretty impressed with the overall sharpness and definition in G9 M2 RAW files, especially when I have to recover shadow detail like in this next shot of a baby Barred owl that had just fledged –

Isn’t s/he wonderful and floofy? Sleepy, too. It kept doing slow blinks and winks as I stood there oohing and ahhing with a few other folks on the nature walk with me. It was right on the edge of the trail at about head height. I imagine it flutter-flapped down to the ground and then walked up to this perch. One of its parents was in the top of a nearby tree keeping watch. I’d hoped to get a front view, but it never turned to face me from that side, only this one. In hindsight I should have over exposed more than the 1/3 of a stop I dialed in, but the shadows had a lot of detail that I could recover, so I made it work. Plus, baby owl!! This is barely cropped and I was very glad my medium telephoto lens is so compact that I can take it even when I don’t expect to use it. When a surprise like this comes along, I’m happy it’s so easy to bring.

No migrants so far in the yard this year, although I did see some Ruby-crowned Kinglets on a trail nearby. Of course I didn’t have my long telephoto with me and when I went back a few days later there wasn’t a single bird to be found. But I did get a couple of photos of a Least Flycatcher while standing on the deck. Normally I hear them all around, and can see them way up in the canopy with the binoculars. They don’t come down to the lower trees as often as Phoebes do so I was really happy to get a couple shots about a day apart –

And in more direct sun, but without even that subtle catchlight in the first photo. Darn.

They are tiny – about Chickadee size. I wish some of their brethren in the yard would come down into range. I hear Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Red-eyed Vireos, American Redstarts, Yellow and Yellow-rumped warblers and Warbling Vireos all around, but they hardly ever come down to the lower canopy. Neither do Baltimore Orioles, but this female kind of did and I love that I caught the worm she gobbled up before it was gone –

All the while she’s up there feeding she trills the most lovely song. I think it’s a communication call to her mate who was nearby, but never came into range. There are a few pairs around and I hope one decides to nest nearby.

So that’s it for the moment. More Norway soon. The hummingbirds are back so I need to get out and buy some flowers for them in the next few days. Am excited to try 120 frames-per-second slow motion video with the new camera. Unlike the original G9, the M2 does autofocus with this frame rate. Any faster and it’s back to manual focus, which I’ve done with the M1 and hummies, but for 300 fps, I might give it a go!