Species in Decline

I had a great time photographing Band-tailed Pigeons (P.f. monilis) in my backyard this morning. I have nowhere near the numbers of them that I used to have visiting my bird feeders. Five or six years ago I would have flocks of twenty or more. Now flocks are typically less than a dozen. In fact this morning there were only six or so. At present the population is still considered to be a species of "Least Concern" even though they have been steadily dropping in population since 1945. Recently a new pathogen (Trichomonas stableri) has been found by scientists from UC Davis looking into major die-offs of pigeons native to North America. The pathogen creates nasty lesions that can block the esophagus. This prevents the birds from eating or drinking often leading to suffocation. Hopefully a way can be found to stop this disease so that future generations of people can enjoy seeing this bird in the wild. God bless, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens. Camera settings used were. AV mode, ISO 800 at F 5.6. Shutter speeds varied. Camera and lens were supported with a Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead. If you are interested in learning how to photograph birds in your backyard please check out my book, "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography". It is available in both hardbound and as an Ebook on most online book sellers. Please copy the following link into your browser. http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559

My Aloe Vera Plant is Blooming

Yesterday I spent about half an hour photographing hummingbirds. I had the perfect spot for hummingbirds as my Aloe Vera plant was in bloom and the hummingbirds just love it. I placed it right next to the hummingbird feeder for the hummingbirds to find and it didn't take them very long to start using it. Here are two images of them. The first one is an Anna's Hummingbird with moulted wings. You can see the feathers starting to grow back in if you look closely. The second is and immature Rufous Hummingbird. The images are quite different in tone because I used a different setting and I moved my flashes. Both images were created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 mm lens at 250mm. Camera settings used were Manual mode, ISO 400, F 11. and F 9.0 at 1/160th of a sec. If you are interested in learning how to photograph hummingbirds please check out my book, "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography". It is available in both hardbound and as an Ebook on most online book sellers. Please copy the following link into your browser. http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559

Crushed

Yesterday I dropped off our recycling at the local recycling center. Every time I go there I am always intrigued by the bright colorful blocks of tin cans stacked up outside the building like giant Lego blocks of multi colors. They have a giant compacter that crushes and compacts all the tin cans into large rectangular blocks that are about five feet long and four feet tall. Here is a close up of one of the blocks. God's precious love and blessings to all, chris Image created with a handheld Canon 7D and a Canon 17-85mm lens at 85mm. camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 100, F 5.6 at 1/ 1,600th of a sec. #TeamCanon, #Bringit

How in the World Do They Fly?

I have always been fascinated by hummingbirds in flight. Watching them dive, roll, twist fly upside down and even fly backwards is just amazing. Right now many of them are moulting during which they lose quite a few flight feathers. Would you be willing to board an airplane in which they just hacked off close to half of each wing? This morning I photographed two images of a male Anna's Hummingbird in moult and it looked like he is using sticks to fly with. How do they do that? I also made one image of an immature Anna's with full wings. Check out the difference. May you have a blessed day, chris All images photographed with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens on a Manfrotto 055 XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead.. Camera setttings used were ISO 200, F16.0 at 1/160th of a sec. Four Canon 540 EZ flashes were used to light up the scene set to 1/16th power. #TeamCanon, #Bringit, #BringitCanon If you are interested in learning how to photograph hummingbirds please check out my book, "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography". It is available in both hardbound and as an Ebook on most online book sellers. Please copy the following link into your browser. http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559

Let it Rain!

Today I'm stuck inside and enjoying the rain. The rain gave me some more time on getting some of our window sills sanded and stained. It also gave me an opportunity to look back at images from last weekends metal mixer. The house doesn't smell that great from the wood stain though. I may have to open a few windows and let it air out. Here are a few images of car parts. It was pretty bright out so I stuck mostly to car interiors and car parts. God's love and blessings to all, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 17-85mm lens. #TeamCanon, #Bringit, #Canonbringit