Rainy Day Birdies

When I arrived at my photoblind this morning I found that the rain had collapsed the roof poles of the blind. This allowed the sides to stay standing and let the water drip into the the interior of the blind all over my chair! Needless to say it was a bit of a wet mess. I shook the blind off and grabbed an old feed sack from the barn to put over my seat. I refilled the bird feeders an settled in for a dampish photo session. There were a lot of birds calling all around me today Juncos, Acorn Woodpeckers, House Finches and Red Shoulderd Hawks were a few I could identify. It was quite delightful when a pack of coyotes joined into the chorus from down the ridge. Not too many birds came to the feeders today but it was quite pleasant to sit in the blind and listen and watch all that was going on. In the lowest pasture all of the horses came thundering across the pasture to group up under the big Valley Oak next to the road. A few minutes later it poured for about twenty minutes. They sure knew what they were doing. Here are a few images from my rainy day. One Junco and some House Finches. God's love and healing touch to all, chris Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop F5.6,Shutter speed varied.

In Honor of the Fallen

A procession of law enforcement enforcement officers, firemen and other public safety officers came through Willits, CA this morning. They were on their way to a memorial in Fort Bragg to honor Officer Ricky Paul Del Fiorentino a Mendocino County Sheriffs officer that was killed last week in the line of duty protecting the public. Please take some time to pray for his family and all of those who serve.

Hummers PassingThrough

I have been seeing a lot of hummingbirds this last week. Mostly Rufous and Anna's Hummingbirds. They stop by the feeders for a quick drink. Some like this one set up shop and guard the feeder for awhile. Trying to make the decision to stay around or move on. God's love and blessings, chris

Things are Hopping!

The past few days in the early morning it has been pretty active around the bird feeders and bird boxes. The feeders have been active with House Finches, Jays (both Steller's and Scrub) and Juncos with a few stray California Brown Towhees, White Throated Sparrows and Oak Titmice thrown in. Around the nest boxes by my photoblind there has been a flurry of activity mixed in with a lot of sitting by the Western Bluebirds. They get chased off once in awhile by the Tree Swallows but they always come back. Their strategy seems to be more like squatters. They figure if they stay around long enough it becomes theirs. The nest boxes in the lower pasture have already been taken over by the swallows and the Titmice and nest building has been in progress. It's a lot of fun to observe spring in full swing even though we have a few days of upcoming rain in the forecast. We need the rain so let it pour! God's tender love and mercies to all, chris varied Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop F5.6,Shutter speed varied.

Holding Onto Some Prime Real Estate

Earlier this week I put up some new bird feeders out at the Burris Ranch in the Little Lake Valley. While I was out there I noticed that the Western Bluebirds were checking out the nesting boxes I’ve put up. Due to the lack of natural tree cavities for them to nest in these become prime real estate during nesting season for all cavity nesting birds. Tree Swallows, Bluebirds and a host of other birds start competing for them. I intended on using that to my advantage. This morning dawned with a cloudy but gorgeous sunrise over the Mendocino Mountain Range. There was quite a bit of moisture in the air that gave it that wonderful layered look. The Little Lake Valley was full of fog that really didn’t burn off until I made my way all the way out to the ranch. My photoblind there sits between the garden and the edge of the junk yard. There are two nesting boxes on fence posts really close to the blind. When I arrived I moved the blind so that it was about ten feet away from them. Within minutes after settling into the blind a male Western Bluebird came to stake his claim. He went in and out of the box several times and then perched right next to it. A Starling came by and chased him off but after several tries it realized the opening into it was too small and it left. The male returned and stayed around using perches all around the box and on top of it as well. At one point he went into the box and took out a feather. He held onto that feather for the longest time! I made quite a collection of images working until a little after ten when the light got way to bright to produce any nice images. Enjoy the images and God bless, chris

Withdrawals

I felt like I was going into withdrawals not having done much bird photography in the backyard lately. Yesterday morning I set about making a new set up in the backyard. I found a dead cone flower seed head that was a perfect perch for the Chestnut Backed Chickadees. It took them awhile to find it but once they did they started making regular trips to it. This gave me plenty of opportunities to photograph them between clean up chores around the house. I had a really nice time. This image was my favorite from the series. God's blessings to all of you, chris

Camera equipment used- Canon 7D and a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens at 390mm, Mounted on a ground pod on the window sill with a Manfrott/Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera settings used-AV mode,ISO 400,F5.6 at 1/1,000 th of a second.

Spring

All of the Daffodils are blooming in the yard and it's a beautiful day. Today is the first day of spring. This one daffodil caught my eye with the dark forest back behind it rendered black by the camera. Have a wonderful day and may God's blessings be upon you, chris