Birds – Page 217 – Feathered Photography

Western Meadowlark Acting Silly

I took many, many shots of this crazy, mixed up Meadowlark this past spring and I posted a few of them previously. This is another one that I like.

Golden Eagle In Flight (no wires this time)

Some of my readers are aware of my continuing quest for quality images of Golden Eagles in flight. I’m not there yet but I think I’m making progress.

Why I’m Thankful On Thanksgiving (and always) For My Nomadic Dudley Ancestors

This is a very personal post and will be atypical of my usual blogging regimen but I decided to share with family and friends and anyone else who might have an interest. For some reason my thoughts often turn to this very subject on Thanksgiving holidays, both present and past. It’s near the top of my list of things to be thankful for and my list is a long one. I’ll be forever grateful for the nomadic tendencies of my Dudley ancestors and I’ll explain why at the conclusion of this post. First a little history, Image copyright Jim Dudley, used by permission The Dudley clan is English and several of my direct paternal ancestors were among the Baron’s Dudley of Dudley Castle in the town of Dudley, West Midlands, England. One of those Dudleys was John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who was beheaded for his attempt to set Lady Jane Grey on the throne of England. This image of part of the castle was taken by my cousin Jim Dudley several years ago. There’s not a lot left of the castle itself – some of it was destroyed by order of Parliament in 1646 and some destroyed by fire in 1750. But what is left provides some visible evidence of the historic roots of my family. My great (x8) grandfather was Governor Thomas Dudley (1576-1653). Thomas was a Puritan who because of religious persecution in England sailed with his family to the new world in 1630. He was second in command of 11 ships and about 700 puritans who…

White-crowned Sparrow On Wild Rose

There’s a wild rose near a canal at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area that makes a nice perch for songbirds when you can find them there.

Red-tailed Hawk Just Prior To Reaching Prey

This first photo isn’t a classic buteo flight shot but I believe it’s fairly unique for a non-baited image. I’ve occasionally been able to capture raptors as they’re about to land on a predictable perch but this is the first and only time I’ve been able to get a shot I like pretty well of a raptor as it’s about to (or attempt to) “land” on prey it’s seen from a far-away perch.

Kingfisher Casting A Pellet (Canon 7D vs 7D Mark 2)

I’ve been watching this female Belted Kingfisher from afar for several weeks now but in typical kingfisher fashion she has been unapproachable. But yesterday morning she partially atoned for her bashful ways and performed some interesting behavior for my camera.

Brewer’s Blackbird At Pre-launch

Sometimes a pose just grabs me and this image is one of those.

Black-billed Magpie With An Apparent Kill

Black-billed Magpies feed primarily on carrion, ground-dwelling arthropods and seeds. But yesterday morning I photographed a magpie with an apparent kill, a vole.

Short-eared Owl In Flight (with prey in silhouette)

Photographing Short-eared Owls in flight with naturally obtained (not baited) prey in a wild setting is near the pinnacle of my bird photography aspirations. Thankfully I’ve had that opportunity several times and I’ll be forever grateful.

Green-winged Teal (and one reason I err on the side of high shutter speeds)

The Green-winged Teal is our smallest duck and to my eye the male is strikingly handsome and colorful, especially when you can catch the light just right on the iridescent greens of the crescent above and behind the eye. It’s amazing how that crescent turns black in an instant at differing light angles.