The TJTwitter

[hazelrunpack]

And I've been neglectful of my birdly posting here, so here are some shots from this fall:

A fall chestnut-sided warbler:


We were flush with Common yellowthroats this year. Here's one from September, foraging for insects:


The cistern area was very popular for bathing this fall. Even the warblers were coming to it. This is a Nashville warbler:

[hazelrunpack]

For the very first time we hosted a nesting pair of house wrens. Dang, they're so much fun to watch!


Lots of vireos this year, including this yellow-throated vireo from September:


More golden-crowned kinglets than usual, too:

[hazelrunpack]

Also lots of Eastern towhees, white-throated sparrows and thrushes (the one in the shot is a Swainson's thrush).

[hazelrunpack]

And some of our more unusual (for us) visitors:

A Brown thrasher:


A Great crested flycatcher:


A fem Scarlet tanager:

[ownedbycats]

Hazel, I'm sorry taht with renos, vet visits and other stuff, this is the first chance I've had to check out your photos. The woodcock is neat. I've never seen one of those.
And I like the ones of the titmouse. He looks kind of like a small gray cardinal with the crest.

[hazelrunpack]

I hope nothing too serious with the vet visits!

I wish I could post a video a friend of mine put on FB. It's of a woodcock doing his bobbing walk, looking for food! It's a hoot!!

Are you gonna post before and after pics of your renos?

[hazelrunpack]

This is more a Canadian bird than a Wisconsin bird, but she came to visit me. She's about 250 - 300 miles out of normal range. Wish she'd brought the Mr. with her, but alas, she appears to be alone.

This is a female Pine grosbeak:



I hope she sticks around a while, but probably she'll only be here a few more days and then cut out for someplace else...

[ownedbycats]

Thankfully, the vet visits were just annual vaccines/checkups, but the first one caught an ear infection that needed treatment and a follow up to ensure the medication worked.
the renos...Um, it's my parents house, I'm not sure they want pictures on the internet, but I can probably get away with pics of the four-legs inspecting the new fixtures and clutter created by emptying an entire room.
I like your grosbeak. I'll have to look up that species to see what the male looks like. I'm familiar with the rosy breasted grosbeak, but not the pine grosbeak. There are so many species out there!

[hazelrunpack]

Oh, no prob about the pics. I understand not wanting too much info out there

I think I saw a thread about inspection crews, so I suspect I'll be seeing your guys in action when I get to it!

Glad the vet visits weren't too serious!

The male pine grosbeak looks like the fem, only he's a pinkish raspberry color. Very handsome!

[Dee-O-Gee]

TJTwitter has always been a favourite of mine and going to bump in back into today's posts.

While sitting in my make-shift Summer Phlox and Rose Bush Blind, I was able to capture the flight of these little ones coming in for a landing and an evening snack.

[hazelrunpack]

Awesome!

[hazelrunpack]

August 2013 hummers at Hazel Run-migration

[ownedbycats]

Been a while since I visited this thread but I got a couple of good shots.
One of a yellow warbler and one of a mourning dove.

[hazelrunpack]

I love those, obc!! Especially that warbler action shot!! Totally awesome!

[ownedbycats]

I have some more to share. The river is only a 10-15 minute walk away, and these are some of my favourite sightings. Starting off, the great blue heron.

[ownedbycats]

Next, his smaller relative, the Green Heron. (Thanks for the identification, Hazel!) I love how bright their eyes are.

[ownedbycats]

Another wading bird. I'm not sure of the exact species. A family of mallards in front, and a mother wood duck and her baby in the back.

[ownedbycats]

The swallows are too fast for me to catch in flight (so far anyway) but will occasionally oblige by perching and sitting still. The speckled bird is, if I'm identifying it right, a female red wing black bird.

[hazelrunpack]

Awesome pics, obc!!

Your second heron species is a Green heron. I've been trying to catch a photo op with one since we moved here, but they don't seem to be very common in this county. I've only seen one in 10 years and it was too far away to photograph. You got some great shots of yours!

I think your mystery wader is a Solitary sandpiper.

And it looks like your kingbird has been eating mulberries! Or committing serial murders!

I wish I had some pics for you, but my tendons are getting aggravated by the camera again and so far this summer I haven't gotten many shots. Got some hummingbird videos, though:

https://www.facebook.com/hazelrunpac...9051073&type=2 (click on the little HD in the lower right of the video player and the quality improves somewhat)

And this spring we had some cool visitors:

Scarlet tanagers were coming to the feeders for sunflower hearts (surprised the heck out of me since everyone always told me they were more interested in things like meal worms and grape jelly!):



We had a new warbler, one more common to the eastern side of the state--a Black-throated blue warbler:

[hazelrunpack]

Oh, and a couple Harris's sparrows!

[ownedbycats]

Hazel - The tanager and the warbler are stunning. And that's a good close up of the sparrow.
Do you mostly hand hold your camera? Have you thought about something like a monopod? I'd been hand holding all my shots, until I got this new lens. I can't hand hold it and have to use a monopod. I thought it would be a real pain, and it was at first, but now that I'm getting used to it it's really helpful. The one I've got has tiny little feet at the bottom for extra stability. It folds up fairly short too.

[hazelrunpack]

Ooooo....how big is your new lens? I looove new lenses!

I do have a couple monopods--one actually detaches from my tripod, but is heavier; the other is just a simple rifle rest from WalMart (I think it was less than $10). I do use them if I intend to go out specifically to shoot video or if I sit in the blind, but most of the time I just bring the camera along when I'm filling and cleaning feeders. The camera sits in the sled that I use to drag out the seed for the day and both hands are busy with the feeders. I tried bringing the monopod along, but I kept losing it--it would roll off the sled or I'd prop it up on the fence and forget about it till I ran across it the next morning! Good thing it's plastic cuz it got left out in the rain a few times!

I do tend to use the monopods more when my wrists are bothering me and it does help. It's not just the weight of the camera, though--when the tendons are acting up, keyboarding only makes the problem worse. So editing is out. I do have a few shots in the camera from June and July, but since they're in RAW format, I have to edit before I can share...which means lots of computer time.

[Barkingdog]

They're all beautiful birds but I really love the Scarlet tanagers ,

[ownedbycats]

Hazel - I'm sorry to hear that a monopod/tripod isn't the solution. And to not even be able to play with them on the computer I admit, post-processing isn't my favorite part, I'd rather be out and about. But if it's raining, and the indoor fuzzies refuse to cooperate...
I just got this lens. I've been saving up for a true long lens for a looong time (or at least it feels like it). Tamron just came out, beginning of the year, with a new zoom lens, and then I had to wait for the Nikon version to ship. 150mm-600mm 4.3f-6.3f (first f-stop may be slightly off). It's about half the price of the cheapest Nikon prime, and when you add in extenders to get to 600mm, it's reasonable (If you can call any lens reasonable) It's not very fast, but the cheapest prime I could afford, with extenders to get it to 600mm would be just as slow. It IS heavy. I didn't realize just how much difference the extra weight would make. The autofocus chews up battery power, I think because of that extra weight, but Nikon batteries carry a pretty good charge. it's also quite long. It felt very clumsy at first, but not as much after a few days in a row of taking it out.
All this makes a great excuse to go out taking pictures as practice. Almost all those shots were taken at 600mm. I would never have gotten anywhere near close enough with my old lens.

[hazelrunpack]

Oh, boy! Definitely lens envy here! Would love to have the reach of a 500, and a 600. Well, that. Would. Be. Awesome! I've heard about the Tamron 600--there were a lot of people waiting impatiently for the shipments to catch up to the orders.

As an afterthought, I picked up an extra battery when I bought my camera. Best move I ever made. That way I always have a fresh battery available. Now if I just had a freshly charged memory at all times so I'd remember to bring that extra battery!

[hazelrunpack]

Originally Posted by Barkingdog

They're all beautiful birds but I really love the Scarlet tanagers ,

I have to admit that they're a favorite of mine, too, Barkingdog. We see them every year--they breed in the pines along the power line right-of-way--but only rarely do they come to the feeders. This year we hit the jackpot cuz it was so cold--they were coming in for the seed daily for quite a while.

[Barkingdog]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

I have to admit that they're a favorite of mine, too, Barkingdog. We see them every year--they breed in the pines along the power line right-of-way--but only rarely do they come to the feeders. This year we hit the jackpot cuz it was so cold--they were coming in for the seed daily for quite a while.

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I have never seen a Scarlet tanager before , we have redwing black birds out here but I do not seen a lot anymore. The animals and birds are losing their habitat out here at an alarming rate and some people do not seem to care.

[hazelrunpack]

There was a Northern hawk owl in Eau Claire through most of December and I kept hoping to see it when I'd visit town, but no luck. 16th time's the charm, though. A friend and I went over to the neighborhood the owl's been hanging around and, with a little help from some other birders, we managed to not only see, but also to photograph this little beauty. Definitely a life bird for me--I've been hoping to see one for, literally, decades.

[hazelrunpack]

Just a few summer hummers:

[Barkingdog]

They're jewels with wings !