Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Missed by THAT much...again!

A Black-throated Green Warbler taking a nose dive to avoid me...as usual.
I'm sorry about this...I'm having too much fun going through my old Magee Marsh photos and dreaming about spring! Pretty soon, the BIG Day and the BIGGEST Week will be here!
My goal this year will be to shoot birds while they are sitting still...from the front. Oh yeah, and in focus too! Maybe.
In the meantime...

Look closely! Can you figure it out?
Yep, American Redstart leaving the scene...

This is one of the birds that makes me crazy!
I just can't get a good shot of a Cape May Warbler.
Another goal for May Madness at Magee!

The fun of shooting warbly things is that they are so unpredictable.
If they spot a bug, they're off and you're never sure what direction they will take!

Yeah...we all know what this is. Don't we?
Ah...help...I don't know either...

An Orange-crowned Warbler doing the flappy thing.

Warbling Vireos crack themselves up when they wreck your stick portraits!
I can still hear him laughing "Zooooom hahahahaha!"...moron.

This is a fledgling Yellow-billed Cuckoo. He wasn't going anywhere, and he was going there fast!
flapflapflapflapflapflapflap...pantpantpant...flapflapflapflap...shooo...

Monday, February 1, 2010

...Missed it by that much!

I think this is my favorite Warbler...it's a Chestnut-sided if you couldn't tell...
It was one of the first warblers we spotted on our first visit to Magee and it left a definite impression on me.
I was stumped this weekend. I couldn't think of anything to post...we hadn't been birding...nothing in the gardens...no clever thoughts in my tiny bean...UNTIL TODAY!
I was thinking about International Crappy Photo Day and the sheer volume of crappy photos I have. Then I went into a deep funk about all of the great birds me and the Doodles have seen and that I screwed up getting clear photos of. All of the "Just Missed" pics...so here you go...a few of the many thousands of photos I should delete, but can't...because they might come in handy on a bad blog day!
This Canada Warbler just wouldn't sit still that day. It must be a Canadian thing...

I should have made this a guessing game for you!
You're right! A Downy Woodpecker being a rocket.

This is an easy one. Please note how focused the stick is.
That House Sparrow got in the way of my 'stick portrait', very artsy, eh?

This would be a hard one, so I'll tell you that it's a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Spotted Sandpipers DO NOT like being photographed!

Last, but not least (nuts, I should have put a Least Sandpiper here!) a Common Moorhen.
Actually, I'm not sure if he's flying away or running away...either way...he didn't like me.