A few bird photo's

[John H]

Some wild life down there. That looks like a lot of fun. If that was a fishing trip you did very well on sightings and photos. I usually find it hard to get photos when there is a fishing guide or another angler in the boat. They don't want to waste valuable fishiong time while I mess around with getting a bird picture. I like fishing by myself sometimes so I can spend time on photos if the opportunity comes along. Do the birds let you get closer there or are the about as spooky as up here?

[DLJeff]

Thanks John. It's a mixed bag. Sometimes the birds set and let you get pretty close, sometimes they're spooky as any. The kingfishers notoriously let you get just close enough to tempt you into taking a shot and then fly off to the next tree down river. I've been trying to get really nice kingfisher shots since my first time down there. We were beached under a tree for shade eating lunch and that little Amazon kingfisher flew in and perched, watching the baitfish that gathered next to the boat. Finally! Same for that sun bittern, he walked along the shore, we stayed quiet and he started feeding on minnows right next to the skiff. Normally they don't let you get anywhere near. Some of the shore bords set on the sand bars while we motor by and I grab shots. When we see animals, the guides will slow or even stop the boat. Same for birds if they see me getting ready to take a photo. My fishing partners are really easy going and I don't waste a lot of time grabbing the shots. I don't spend time specifically looking for birds, other than when it isn't my turn on casting deck, then I have my binoculars out scanning.

Question for you: how do you load your photos in full size rather than thumbnails? I can't find the way to do that.

[John H]

The kingfisher and the bittern did look like you were closer. Your kingfisher shot is a nice sharp one. I like that. The bittern is a beauty also. Just sitting down can make the birds more comfortable and get you closer. Standing seems to be much more threatening to them. Kingfishers here do the same thing when I am in a kayak or boat. 100’ is their limit and then they bump to the next perch and keep playing that game. Drives me nuts but I have given up so it kind of does not bother anymore. The kingfisher was my main reason for getting a photo blind. That is great that you are able to mix some photography into the fishing day there.

That crocodile looks pretty fierce. That is cool.

You have to put your photos on a hosting site and then copy the link to the hosting site into your post. I use Imgur. It is free and that is all I use it for. It is pretty easy once you get it going but it is desktop only. They don’t let you do a mobile upload of photos. They try to direct you to making a post on their site so you start a post, upload the photos for the post then delete the post before actually making it but keep the uploaded photos. A bit of work but they look really good full size in the post or at least I think. I used to use photobucket but they started charging a fee.

[DLJeff]

The kingfisher and the bittern did look like you were closer. Your kingfisher shot is a nice sharp one. I like that. The bittern is a beauty also. Just sitting down can make the birds more comfortable and get you closer. Standing seems to be much more threatening to them. Kingfishers here do the same thing when I am in a kayak or boat. 100’ is their limit and then they bump to the next perch and keep playing that game. Drives me nuts but I have given up so it kind of does not bother anymore. The kingfisher was my main reason for getting a photo blind. That is great that you are able to mix some photography into the fishing day there.

That crocodile looks pretty fierce. That is cool.

You have to put your photos on a hosting site and then copy the link to the hosting site into your post. I use Imgur. It is free and that is all I use it for. It is pretty easy once you get it going but it is desktop only. They don’t let you do a mobile upload of photos. They try to direct you to making a post on their site so you start a post, upload the photos for the post then delete the post before actually making it but keep the uploaded photos. A bit of work but they look really good full size in the post or at least I think. I used to use photobucket but they started charging a fee.

Ahhh, I forgot about Imgur. I used to use it alot and still have an account. Thanks, might have to resurrect it.

[DLJeff]

Was over on Acklin's Island last week. We would sit and have a cold one under this casuarina pine. We noticed this "bump" on the branch right above us and I thought it was a gall, no bigger than a walnut. But another guy called me over later and said there's a hummingbird sitting in her nest. She didn't seem to care we were there or not. She came and went to fast we hardly ever saw her actually move - she was there and then she wasn't. Tiny little thing.

[John H]

I like it.

I don’t like the term bucket list but finding a hummingbird nest was kind of on it for me. Last month I was in LA and at the botanical garden there was one right in front of me on a cactus. Super cool but I was not hauling my camera around so I just had to take a mental image. It was four feet off the ground so I walked up and took a look at the eggs. The bird was coming and going pretty quickly like you described. Sit for a couple minutes then leave for a couple minutes. I would see it flying around or perched nearby. Lots of people walked by but I seemed to be the only one who cared at all about it.

[DLJeff]

It's been awhile since I just went out into the back yard to get what I could get. But this great horned owl has been perching in the downed juniper log and the stump in my neighbor's yard the last week or so. Why he likes to set so low to the ground I don't know but he seems well fed so I guess it works for him. Anyway, put on the long lens and went out.

[John H]

That owl does not seemed to be the least bit worried about you. He looks like he is half asleep and feels safe where he is. The owls I see don’t get many visitors and are pretty worried and skittish when they see me. I am guessing that second photo is a baby scrub Jay. A baby dove fell out or was pushed out of a nest in my backyard and a scrub Jay came to get it pretty quickly. There was no chance of intervening. The nest was very small and there was not room for the two chicks in it so I guess that is how it had to go. The second one seems to be doing well hanging around on the ground in the yard. I put some water out for him.

[DLJeff]

That owl is immediately aware as soon as I go out there but he doesn't fly away instinctually. I was probably 25 - 30 yards away. As you've noticed, if I walk straight toward him looking right at him he gets nervous real quick. If I walk sideways, not looking directly at him, like I'm doing something else in the yard, he's pretty calm. The two scrub jay photos are the same bird. The one I just caught him as he fluffed up and shook out his feathers in the breeze that was blowing. They nested in our blue spruce tree this spring, I could hear the baby(s) whining to be fed. The nest was so deep in there I could never see it without pushing branches aside etc and I didn't want to disturb them that much so I never got a photo. I hollowed out two juniper trunks from trees they cut down for fire prevention and made nest boxes for the chickadees - both of those boxes got used this spring too. We had 4 baby spotted ground squirrels making a nuisance of themselves, eating fresh growth on the flowers and stuff, but they've suddenly disappeared. I'm hoping the owl took care of most of them.

Edit: I don't know why that pwl photo from 2022 is in there. Can't figure out how to get rid of it. Sorry.

[DLJeff]

Kind of a different view ...