Birds 2015

[aster]

With all due respect to your other work, Pitter, I think you deliver your best shots with the birds so far. : )

Always a pleasure to see one of your shots with a unique bird species...

Thanks for sharing,

Yildiz

[the_hefay]

Pitter, the slate throated redstart looks like he's doing his job controlling the pest population. Hopefully these baby owls will do there share of rodent control when they mature. In the second picture is a killdeer nest in the typical wide open ground. The last picture is a close up of the eggs. I wish I could get a shot of the killdeer next to her eggs to show you the size. Those eggs are huge compared to the bird. I'm really not sure how she survives when she lays them. But, I'll never get that picture, because a killdeer acts wounded and limps away dragging it's wing or chattering to draw predators away from the nest.

[sury]

Great captures Jeff. Looks like the owlet in the background is photo bombing the other sibling.
I did not know what a Killdeer is before today. Thanks to you, I learned something new.

Sury

[the_hefay]

Thanks Sury.

Looks like the owlet in the background is photo bombing the other sibling.

Sury

Even owls learn to photobomb at a young age.

I did not know what a Killdeer is before today. Thanks to you, I learned something new.

Sury

That's one of the side effects of this forum. You can try to resist, but if you visit often enough, you will learn about things other than photography.

[Birma]

I've heard many Canon users swear by that 400 lens - a great option to have in the line up.

[Birma]

I've heard many Canon users swear by that 400 lens - a great option to have in the line up.

[aster]

Love the owlets and the way they stare at the photographer eye-to-eye. They are absolutely fearless, fluffy and beautiful. : )

The Killdeer takes on a risky incubation period with the nest being on the paths of any passers by...the eggs are hardly identifiable against the fallen leaves and dirt. Risky life. You have a good eye.

Thanks for sharing,

Yildiz

[ValeryD]

Pitter, ..... draw predators away from the nest.

Very nice shot of the Owlets.
I got today some owl shots too. :

[the_hefay]

Thanks Yildiz. The owlets are pretty fun to watch. Especially when they don't know I'm around. They wobble around the nest stretching there wings. The Killdeer does seem to take a risk. I'm trying to get a good picture of pretending to be lame, but it hasn't worked out very well. Besides, I don't want to disturb the nesting too much. What's amazing is that with the number of skunks and raccoons we have running around this year, that the eggs are still there. I can't take the credit for finding the nest. The local farmer that does the weed spraying in this field, saw the nest and marked it with a survey flag so that he wouldn't spray the nest and so that we wouldn't drive over it when we were turning vehicles and trailers around out there. I give him two thumbs up.

Valery, those are excellent shots. What species of owl is it?

[sury]

Valery, those are excellent shots. In the last one, it seems the one in the back is "up to no good"
and has that mischievous "cat who are canary" expression.

[ValeryD]

Thank all for the comments. It's white polar Owl. First one - male Owl, being very aggressive to protect the female Owl with Owlet.

[aster]

Very nice, Valery. : )

If it weren't for the intimidating look in their eyes, who would of guessed these soft, white, fluffy orbs of feathers are actually ver capable of being predators?

Thanks for sharing,

Yildiz

[the_hefay]

By now I'm sure you all recognize the growing owls. Today they ventured out above the nest a little bit to another crotch in the tree. The other two of the Killdeer. The babies had just hatched that day. When we first noticed the little guys I counted and made sure all four were alive. I then grabbed my camera, and as you can see, one had already ran off. The parents would actually get above the babies and lift them up with their bodies. Sorry no pictures as we moved back away and just watched. Anyways, once they would get a baby to stand up, it would run a little ways and then sit back down. Eventually all the babies made it over to the weeds and tall grass for cover. The other picture is of one of the adults pretending to be injured and making quite a commotion in an attempt to lead us away from the babies. It's rather exciting around here this spring.

[sury]

Great shots and a matching narrative to go with it Jeff. It is as if I am watching the drama
unfold sitting in my home.

Sury

[aster]

Just amazing!

The owlets couldn't have been more in the sync. And the story of the Killdeer is a neat insight into their playful disguises.

Thank you for sharing and the efforts to capture these frames.


Yildiz