A mixed bag of birds I’ve photographed over the past month.
Blog followers have seen a few of these birds in different poses recently but each of the following photos is new to Feathered Photography. All were taken at either Bear River MBR or one of the local ponds I visit regularly.
The ghostly apparition of a Great Blue Heron on the ice in dense fog.
Much better light on the same species in flight. A chunk of ice is hanging down from some of the pectoral plumes.
Redheads in a “‘courting party” during early spring migration characterized by tight grouping, alert postures, high levels of aggressiveness and frequent kinked-neck calls and head-throws.
Groupings of migrating adult Redheads consistently exhibit male-biased sex ratios and I was interested to see that this courting party, although a small sampling of only 4 males and 3 females, reflected that bias. Christmas Bird Counts of Redheads in winter consistently average about 79% males.
One of the males in the previous photo performing an aggressive head-throw while guarding his mate from other nearby males.
These two Redhead photos are for you Lyle Anderson, in response to your request yesterday for “more duck photos, please.”
A Rough-legged Hawk with the snow-covered Promontory Mountains in the background.
This was one of those times when I had trouble getting sharp photos because of the cold. It was warm inside my pickup but a little earlier that morning I’d seen 10° F outside and that temperature disparity consistently resulted in soft shots for a while. Out of the 76 photos I took of this hawk this is the sharpest one I managed to get. Many were much softer. Maddening!
I’ve posted a series of other photos of this Pied-billed Grebe performing a wing flap after bathing but yesterday I noticed that this one shows a curled foot sticking up out of the water. I thought that foot added just a little extra pizzazz. Churning his webbed (actually lobed) feet is part of what’s keeping him that far out of the water.
An adult Red-tailed Hawk on a very old and rusty piece of farm equipment. This plow has only two very large ploughshares or shovels (in the raised position for transport in this photo) so it would have been used to break the land many years ago. There’s’ a lot of history and extremely difficult labor represented here.
A raptor on antique farm equipment – for this old Montana farm boy and bird photographer it doesn’t get much better than that.
Ron
I apologize for commenting so late, especially after being given special recognition (As Judy often exclaims: “WOW!”)
1st photo: The fog reduces this to the essence of Great Blue Heron. I tend to get lost in the details of Heron plumage, so this soft image makes me appreciate what makes a Heron a Heron; shape, size, habitat, elegance…
2nd photo: Now you’ve got me back looking at the particulars: facial feather pattern, those alular brownish areas (is that bare skin or…?), long legs and “toes”, the pectoral plume (I’ll be using that term to impress fellow birders), and those so serious eyes.
3rd photo: I’m burning this image into my brain. I go out with a group every year and I look through my scope and say “what are those birds way out there?”. And someone immediately says Redheads.
4th photo: So do all ducks do the head-throw?
5th photo: How can you look so regal and composed at 10 degrees?
6th photo: Still looks like a pudge, but surprisingly strong to get that foot out of the water.
7th photo: After reading the links I am humbled by the tenaciousness of Dudley ancestors, not to mention RTH’s.
Better late than never, Lyle (to coin a phrase). No need to apologize though.
2nd photo. Nope, not bare skin. It’s feathers.
4th photo. Nope, not all ducks but some other ducks do something very similar, Common Goldeneyes for example.
7th photo. I think tenaciousness comes with being a pioneer, literal or of sorts. You’re tenacious or you don’t survive. I knew both of my maternal grandparents, both maternal great-grandparents and my paternal grandfather. All were tough as nails, especially grandpa Dudley. My parent’s weren’t pushovers either. In comparison I’m a pansy-ass.
Like the series, never seen this pose by the Redhead or the Pied billed grebe. Quite the feat for both of them.
Thanks, Jane.
Love this series! M. I agree with Marty K…..that female redhead has no interest in that displaying male!
Thank you, Lynnette. She’s an aloof lady that’s for sure.
The Redhead shots crack me up because the females don’t seem to be at all impressed by the “fuss ‘n’ feathers!” 😀
I especially like the eerie fog-bound GBH!
The females act like that most of the time, Marty. I think they know their odds are good in the romance department.
I learn so much from your comment and those of your audience, but above all, I admire your savvy about decisive moments in photography. Thanks for posting this selection that so illustrates that.
Much appreciated, Phoebe. Thank you.
Unlike many potpourri your selection doesn’t cause my eyes to water and my nose to run and is a delight from beginning to end.
Thank you so much.
Today we are expecting temperatures over 100 and high wind. It is not light here but I can already hear the water bombers going back and forth. Cross everything for us please. While ‘we’ lost no homes yesterday the same is not true of the wildlife. And my heart continues to ache.
That sounds simply dreadful, EC. I wish you and your neighbors, humans and otherwise, all the luck in the world.
I love the first Heron picture! The foggyness really adds to it. I really like the Pied-billed Grebe one also. It looks like it is smiling with the markings on its bill and the eye contact.
Thanks, Susan. And to think I almost didn’t post that heron because of the fog.
A thumbs up for your series. A little bit of something for everybody. It’s hard to pick a favorite❗️
Enjoy your day.
Thank you, Diana. You do the same.
I love potpourri days around here. What a glorious wander through The Great Out There where you capture glimpses into the lives of these fascinating critters–all of them!
Of course, my favorites are the redtail on the old plow and the rough-legged with the frost on her/his feathers. WOW!! The redtail shot brings back splendid memories of hunting with Mariah (female redtail) in an old field in Colorado where one of her favorite perches was an old plow. Images burned into my brain of her LOVELY red feathers popping in the setting sunlight will remain with me forever. It’s a beauty I don’t think we humans can ever fully comprehend.
But the others are spectacular, too. I love seeing the antics of males courting females across the species board! Y’all are often too funny for words 😉 And on top of that, you’re upping my ability to ID ducks!
Your photography rocks and it’s such a delight every morning. Thank you!
I appreciate your detailed and thoughtful comment, Laura. I often think about you and your challenges with your hand. You’re a trooper!
Laura — good to “see” you on the blog today! 🙂
Thanks for this great collection of extras. Love them!
Pat, you’ve been on my mind a lot recently. I haven’t been typing much since I’m reduced to one-finger typing–just FYI. I need thought to text 😉
Thank you, Pat.
Great smorgasbord for the eyes! Of course if I had to choose…it would be the Rough-Legged Hawk. I like the nictitating membrane over the eye here…I save all of my photos with that. Here it just adds something special for this bird…to me this species just seems ‘warm and fuzzy’ though I’ve seen them in action ripping apart their dinner. I’ve noticed if I get out of my vehicle to shoot and lean over the hood to steady my lens I get the softness if there is heat coming from the motor…must be the same phenomenon.
I think it is the same phenomenon, Kathy. That’s why on cold days if I have to shoot from outside my pickup I try to rest my lens on the truck bed instead of the hood.
Which reminds me, one time when I did that nature called before I got back in so stupidly I left my lens resting on the bed while I tended to business. Then I forgot where I’d put it and started my engine to take off when Mia hollered (and I do mean “hollered”) “STOP!” from the back seat.
She saved my lens, my camera and my ass – not necessarily in that order.
Thank goodness for ‘backseat drivers! 🙂
Exactly, at least in that case.
Nice! Love the “ghost” Great Blue……..and the Red-Tailed Hawk on the old plow is a heart warmer…. 🙂 We have some old, rusty equipment around tho not quite that old….. 😉 Hope EC and partner are still in their home and well!
Judy, we have a lot of antique farm equipment on the MT farm and some if it is older than this. Occasionally I’ve been able to photograph one of the farm owls perched in one of those old rusty “hunks of junk” (junk that all of us love). Here’s an example:
https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2018/10/27/great-horned-owl-fledgling-old-wood-and-rusty-metal-in-warm-light/
Joe opines it’s a “roll over plow” tho he’s never seen one in that particular position….. Figures the wheel in the other photo is by McCormick-Deering or…. can’t remember. Joe is a 1929 “model”…. 😉 Always fascinating and loved even if “a hunk of junk”…. 🙂
I think Joe’s probably right. Here’s a somewhat newer roll over plow in action (click on the 4th thumbnail photo).
https://www.farmcollector.com/farm-life/tractor-plowing-zm0z17marzhur
Off he goes down memory lane! 😉
That made me LOL, Judy. Good for Joe!
Fun series. Last is my favorite. Rust on rust and the white? Gorgeous!
Arwen, your “rust on rust” reminded me of Neil Young’s “Rust Never Sleeps”. Certainly applicable here.
“Rust Never Sleeps” is certainly true tho the shovels seem to have fared better than the rest of the plow! Steel vs. iron perhaps? 😉
Yup, shovels always seem to fare better because they have to be made of harder (and more rust resistant) steel. Unplowed ground is HARD!
Thanks! It is so maddening sometimes… I can imagine how you felt to have such a clear view of that beautiful Rough-Legged Hawk and then see that the images are soft. I do notice it most on hot hazy days.
Yup, it was extremely frustrating.
Wonderful Potpourri! Love those Redheads! Just wondering… Do you know why the disparity of temperature in your truck and that of the outside causes softness in the photos? Sometimes my photos are soft for no reason I can figure out, but I don’t shoot from inside of a truck.
Joanne, it’s a problem shared by many photographers in the field. Depending on the situation there are multiple theories to try to explain it. They involve atmospheric conditions involving heat waves in the air, temp differences between warm glass and freezing air causing expansion and contraction, heat waves rising up from hot vehicle exhaust systems – things like that.