By Morris Dean
The joy of the birds on our thistle feeder last Sunday compelled me to set up my digiscoping equipment for the first time in many weeks. These photos have not been cropped.
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Copyright © 2013 by Morris Dean
| Please comment |
What a nice, quiet way to start the day. Especially one that has me up and going even earlier than the birds. You have obviously mastered the digiscope, which is something I frankly doubted was possible, based on my own futile attempts with such equipment years ago.
ReplyDeletePaul, I really should put more time into finding new spots to set up and find different birds to photograph. I don't think I'm patient enough to sit around waiting....
DeleteNice shots. Good on you.
ReplyDeleteNice pictures. We have a Humming Bird feeder beside the porch. I thought they were nice carefree birds that just flew around the flowers, but they are mean, fighting, little creatures. As with your great shots, their heads and eyes never stop moving. It is with good reason. The other Humming birds dive out of the sky and slam into them. Only one can feed at a time and he better be fast. Two hit so hard the other day, they fell to the ground. The cat was half a second from having lunch
ReplyDeleteYes, Ed, quite right. It's seductive to focus on the birds' "joy" and ignore their fear and apprehension....
DeleteOur hummers here in NC, and some back home in VA, are likewise aggressive and territorial. Sometimes they will even go after other species. I can't tell if it is to drive them out of the hummingbirds' territory or they just like tormenting other birds, because I can't find any hummers' nests. The other day we had a chipping sparrow that tried to flee the area but finally just gave up and huddled on the ground, in the best corner it could find between some rocks, while two hummers dive bombed and jabbed at it. When they finally got bored, the sparrow walked a safe distance away before taking flight.
DeleteRemarkable episode. I'm glad you observed and reported it. My wife says that Blue Birds are pushily territorial. Cardinals, she reports, seem comparatively meek, or non-confrontational. "They always step aside for a Blue Bird. But so do all the others."
DeleteThat is interesting information about the Blue Bird. In all my years of observing them and helping maintain a "blue bird trail" of nest boxes, I never knew they behaved that way. Cardinals seem to fight only themselves, in whatever mirror they can find.
DeleteWonderful pictures ! Enjoyed them very much !
ReplyDeleteGiving others enjoyment is a motivation for me to do more digiscoping.
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