Bird Report

I got a new hummingbird feeder last Christmas. It is really cool - it has suction cups and adheres to windows.

This is cool because the birds look right at you through the window. This is also a very easy-to-clean feeder. It is basically just a bowl with a hinged lid.

You can set up a tripod right inside the window in hopes of getting a really nice close up of a bird. However, if your window happens to be shaded by a balcony, as mine is, you might not get that great play of colors that is so desired.

But I happened to get this one pretty good shot (out of about 30 - I was using a remote so that I could stand far away, and I didn't realize that the focus point was set too low). I am now feeling inspired to attempt more hummingbird photography.

This is the same picture, just cropped in and saturation bumped - I couldn't help myself.

I was wondering if the hummingbirds would stay resident all winter, or if they would migrate. They stayed, but they did not seem as interested in my feeder. I think they kept to more natural food sources. Maybe their diet varies over the year.

So, stay tuned for future bird photography, and thanks for stopping by.

Displaying My Own Photography

Every once in a while I take a photograph that I really love. Eventually I had enough of these "great" photos that I thought I should display them on my walls. I had a couple of large frames that were not being used, so I threw out the old prints in them, and designed some displays of my photos.

I used Photoshop to set up simple templates with several photo spots on large canvases (I believe they are 16x20 and 16x16 inches). I had them printed and slipped them into my frames. And here they are on my entry wall.

The frame on the left has several different nature photographs: mushrooms, a western fence lizard, a cuttle fish, and a hummingbird.

 

And here is a funny, or maybe not so funny, story about that. I was so pleased with my photo gallery and was anxious to show it off to the scientist. I think he was out of town when they arrived. Anyway, I cornered him in front of the pictures and said, "I love how my pictures turned out." He said he loved them too, and it was ironic that most of the pictures were actually taken by him. Oh, really?! Exactly one of the four pictures was taken by him - the mushrooms. The other three were all mine! Now, I guess I can kind of understand how he might think the cuttle fish picture was his because he took similar pictures of cuttle fish when we were at the aquarium. I could even understand how he might think the lizard picture was his because he often caught lizards with our son and he sometimes took pictures of them, although they were all out of focus. The scientist specifically said the hummingbird picture was his, which I cannot understand at all because I have never known him to take a single picture of a hummingbird. So that's the story: how a scientist who took 25% of the pictures quickly came to the conclusion that "most" of the pictures were his. Is that funny or disturbing?

The other collection of three photos was a series that I had been wanting to do for quite a while. It is three pictures of a weed that I remember fondly from my childhood. They start as little pink flowers. Each flower grows into a long, multi-segmented spear.

Then as the spears dry out, the segments separate into several seeds with long tails. The tails twist into a really tight spiral with very fine hairs sticking out. They stick to you when you walk through them. These were the least painful of stickers you could get stuck to your shoe laces when I was a kid (the painful part is removing them). I guess that is why I remember them so fondly: stickers that were easy to remove. Or maybe it is because that spiral is so cool.

Thanks for stopping by!

Better Bird Photography Part 2

A while back I wrote that I might get better pictures of the hummingbirds if I took down that hanging planter that was fooling my camera into focusing on IT instead of the birds. Here is that planter in the background.

And here are some pictures I got after I took down the planter. I definitely was able to get better pictures with less trouble. I'd never been able to get pictures with those tail feathers spread out before.

Now, I have to admit, I think part of the reason the birds were flashing those tail feathers was because they were a little distressed by what was happening on my side of the sliding glass door, which was this:

But I'm learning that a photographer has lots of tricks like that. Thanks for stopping by.

A Better Bird Photograph

I gave up on photographing hummingbirds for a little while. My pictures were all looking the same, and I wasn't getting that bright iridescence in the feathers that I wanted.

Here is a cute one of a bird trying to get the nectar from the side of the feeder.

 

The other day, I thought: I should search on the internet for tips about photographing hummingbirds. It turns out you can find lots of articles about it. Some of the tips were surprising: like using flash (as many as 5 flashes at the same time) in the bright daylight to either freeze the wing motion or help bring out the colors.

There were other tips regarding props - like using a feeder, but closing off all but one of the holes so that you forced the birds to a known spot. Or strategically placing potted plants in the background to achieve a more natural looking environment.

And there were other tips like setting your camera to continuously focus while you have the shutter button depressed, or limiting your camera to focus just in the center of the field of view.

The thing that impressed me the most was the concept of the photographer setting up this deliberate environment, tweaking everything so it is just so ... but the photograph itself doesn't reveal any of that! I had mixed feelings about it - on the one hand it seemed very clever, and on the other it seemed like a dirty trick.

Anyway, I did try to play with my focus settings, and I did try to change things up a bit to better compose some of my pictures. Even if I didn't use a lot of the tips, at least I was out there trying again. The following pictures might not have the best exposure and focus, but I think better composure than some of my old ones.

 In the following two pictures I've stepped outside and am shooting back toward the window.


In these next two I've stepped to the side so that the trees are in the background as the birds approach the feeder. It's harder this way because sometimes the birds don't come if you are out there, especially, I've noticed, if you are wearing a black shirt. White clothing doesn't seem to bother them as much.

The following pictures I took from indoors, but I waited for a better time of the day - in the late afternoon when the sun provided a better light for catching those colors in the feathers.

This is the type of shot I've been wanting all along - with those bright colors showing up on the throat and the feathers clearly in focus. Still not the amazing picture that I really want, but getting there. I think one thing I could do to improve things is to remove that hanging plant. The camera likes to focus on those chains.

There has been a lot of action at the feeder lately, even multiple birds trying to feed at the same time. I've seen as many as four birds swooping and diving all around. Sometimes I think there might be two different birds who think they "own" the feeder.

I've noticed some patterns in the behavior of multiple birds at the feeder. If two birds approach the feeder at the same time, there is a good chance both will settle down and drink. Also, if one bird is already at the feeder and a second one approaches, there is a good chance that both will drink together. BUT if a bird is "guarding" the feeder from the tree about 30 feet away, he doesn't let anyone drink, so the feeder sits empty.

I'll end with this funny one. It's almost a throw-away shot, but this is what two swooping birds look like, if you are fast enough.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sometimes I Don't Like Nature

When we first moved into our new home, I didn't have a hummingbird feeder, but I did still have my old seed feeder and some birdseed. Here are some of the birds I saw. There were finches (just like at our old home), and a new-to-me bird I call "the black headed bird" (I think it might be a Dark-eyed Junco). There was one more dirty brown bird that was very shy and hopped along the ground. I never got a picture of that one.

 

After a few days I discovered (to my delight, initially) that squirrels like birdseed too. I even put out seed in a dish so the squirrels could easily get to it (as if they need any help!).

And then ... after a few days ... I discovered that squirrels poop everywhere, and apparently they poop constantly, because how else could you explain all the poops all over my porch?? Squirrels will also bite/tear holes into any closed bags of birdseed that you happen to leave outside, even if it is sealed and has never been opened and is on a high shelf. So, I no longer like squirrels. I am still debating if I want to put the bird seed out again.

Some of the squirrels here are black. I was quite taken aback the first time I saw one, but I guess they are a normal variant. They are mischievous looking things. And perhaps a little bit evil.

This is the tree squirrel that I'm used to seeing: the gray/brown ones. They are cuter, in my opinion, and they never pooped on my old porch and I had bird seed out there for months at a time.

Down with black squirrels!

Under Water

Earlier in the summer I made a spontaneous new camera purchase. I have been wanting a waterproof camera for the last couple years. When I saw Costco had one with a discount I went right out and got it. Actually, my local Costco was sold out (so bummed was I!), but it was still available online (Yay!). I got the Fujifilm FinePix XP70 in orange. Miller picked the color.

It is so fun! It was probably the most fun I had with a camera right out of the box. It has some fun photo effects filters, like fish eye and miniature (tilt-shift effect), but I've only played with those a little. Miller and I have had a blast taking under water pictures and pictures of splashing into the water. I even figured out how to upload the photos to my iPad over the camera's Wi-fi signal. Major technology leap for me there.

Here are some scrapbook pages I made with photos taken with this camera.

Long Blocks Templates by Scrapping with Liz; Summerific Papers and Elements,
Hei Hei Elements, Button It, Punchfetti No. 5, and Juan Carlos and Fifi by creashens

And a series of pages from one of our days at the lake.

Sweet Summer Basics by Laurie Ann; Sun Kissed by Stolen Moments; Sizzling Summer by Little Butterfly
Wings; Free to Be by Valorie Wibbens; Glitter Papers by Two Shutter Sisters; Season Templates
and Daily Life Templates 7 by Scrapping with Liz

Sweet Summer Basics by Laurie Ann; Sun Kissed by Stolen Moments; Belvedere by Pink Reptile Designs
July Template by Amy Martin; Glitter Papers by Two Shutter Sisters; Bare Necessities Frames 1 by creashens
Fun Fold Overlays by Scrapping with Liz

Sun Kissed by Stolen Moments; Free to Be by Valorie Wibbens; Seeing Clearly Alpha (brackets) by Etc. by
Danyale; Daily Life Templates 7 by Scrapping with Liz

Sun Kissed by Stolen Moments; Free to Be by Valorie Wibbens; Seeing Clearly Alpha (brackets) by Etc. by
Danyale; Daily Life Templates 7 by Scrapping with Liz

Sweet Summer Basics by Laurie Ann; Belvedere by Pink Reptile Designs; Free to Be by Valorie Wibbens;
One of a Kind by Little Butterfly Wings; Glitter Papers by Two Shutter Sisters; Daily Life Templates 3
by Scrapping with Liz

I love my little water proof camera! Thanks for stopping by.

We Love Nature

We love nature around here.  Besides the hummingbirds, lizards are the current obsession (not mine, just Miller's).  He loves to catch them. Fence lizards (aka blue belly lizards) are his favorite.

My Kind of Day by Little Butterfly Wings; My Mistake Alpha by Just Jaimee; About Us by Paislee Press
Well, Hello by Valorie Wibbens; Froggy's Cardstock by Gina Miller; Maching Stitching by Jullie Bullock
May Facebook Template by Scrapping with Liz; Reptilian by mle Card

What other nature do we love? Hummingbirds, of course. This one is a bit blurry, but I like how just a couple of the feathers are showing up red. The scientist said that it was because the lighting angles for those particular feathers were just right, but I also wonder if the feathers actually change form as the bird matures. Maybe this bird is in the process of getting his adult feathers.

Yesterday I got a few more pictures showing off a bit of that feather iridescence. The feathers around the throat almost look more like scales than feathers.

This last one isn't so great, but you get a flash of red over the whole throat.

I haven't taken many pictures of bugs lately, but I did get these of a bee on my cone flowers (my new favorite plant, by the way).

As I continue to take pictures, I have found that sometimes, amazingly, I choose my old Canon PowerShot SX20 camera. There was a time when I thought that camera was a total piece of junk. But now I find that there are certain situations when it works better for me than my nice Sony. And I can take better pictures now with my Canon than I used to, even though I mostly use my Sony. I guess I must be learning how to be a better photographer.

If you like insect photography, I recommend http://www.alexanderwild.com/ I somehow stumbled across his photography a while back. Here are some of his bee pictures (some with cone flowers too).

http://www.alexanderwild.com/

http://www.alexanderwild.com/

http://www.alexanderwild.com/

http://www.alexanderwild.com/

Maybe someday I'll take pictures as good as these. Thanks for stopping by!

Super Moon

Here is my picture of the super moon last night. I fiddled a little in Photoshop to bring out some of the details.

I'm excited to take Katrina Kennedy's Your Life Captured Through the Lens class again. Last summer I only got half way through the class, although I downloaded all of the materials. She has offered past students a chance to take it again for free, and it is the last time she is doing the course, so I figure I'll take advantage of the opportunity. Thanks, Katrina!

Still In Love with Hummingbirds

I haven't blogged in a while. Why? Because the scientist got a job. A real job. A really good real job. Because of the job, we've moved, so I have been busy with that instead of blogging.

And then before the scientist got his really good real job, he was searching for a job. And that was a long process, and it was discouraging for a while. So I got kinda depressed and didn't feel like blogging. Didn't feel like gardening. Let my plants all die.

But now I'm back. And I've got some new plants on our new porch. I actually even have some old plants on my new porch because that alyssum that I enjoyed planting last year was pretty hardy and even though it died, it dropped seeds that later started to grow when we had a little rain.

But this post is about hummingbirds. As soon as we moved into our new city I noticed hummingbirds flying everywhere. Something familiar! We got a new hummingbird feeder and hung it on the porch. With the feeder so high under the roof, it is fairly shaded, so at first I had trouble getting much of that feather iridescence in my pictures. You can see a little green in this picture.

Here are a couple where you can just barely see some color on their throats. You have to have the lighting just right to achieve this, and I've seldom been able to do it.

After a few days I noticed that one particular bird was standing watch over the feeder and chasing off all the other birds. He perches in a tree about 40 feet away and literally stands guard. It was pretty ridiculous for a couple of days as it seemed like the "owner" of the feeder wasn't even getting a chance to use it himself, and he must have been expending a lot of energy chasing off all the other birds. I couldn't even take pictures, except for a few chance shots like this.

 

In this picture it even looks like the "owner" bumped into the hanging alyssum planter as he chased off his competition. I really don't get it, there is more than enough nectar in there for them all to share.

I previously read that if you have a nasty bird who won't share, the solution is to simply put out another feeder. He won't be able to guard both, so he'll give up and share. We've had our second feeder out for 2 days, and today the birds started to notice it. I think it helped that the hanging feeder was getting dry, but I will refill it tomorrow. I've place the new feeder lower down and more in the sun, and I was able to get these pictures, where you can see the green in the feathers.

Miller and I have tried to sit out there to get really close views of the birds, but with inconsistent success. Most of the pictures above were taken through a window. But I'm hoping to get my stealth on and get some even better pictures soon.

I've been scrapbooking, too, and I've ordered some more little photo books, so I'll be back soon with more things to share. Thanks for stopping by!