Bird Photos

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Friday, March 3, 2006

Crazy Finch

Ahh he's a great bird!

This is his scratchin' perch. He comes over there when he wants a good bird scratchin'. Not something your average Finch would do. They are usually quite a bit more high strung.

But, hey bird, you are almost 7 months past your "best by" date!

This is not his first appearance here.

Friday, January 27, 2006

Relaxing Hummer

This is a little guy who had a little too much to eat. He had just finished eating at a feeder and he flew over to the Bougainvillea and fluffed out to rest.

bird ₅₁ | Calypte costae ₅ | feather ₂₂ | green ₃₅ | hummingbird ₃₃

Monday, January 23, 2006

Peacock, Hammin' It Up

Sometimes you have to coax your subjects to do something interesting. This guy was more than happy to show off for me. They were actually quite friendly (and loud!)

bird ₅₁ | blue ₁₂ | feather ₂₂ | green ₃₅ | peacock ₁

Friday, December 30, 2005

More Pictures of the Kids

Yes as a matter of fact I am one of those crazy people who thinks of their animals as their kids! :-D

If you had animals like mine you would too.

'Course, if you had animals as smart as mine and you treated them like most people treat their pets you'd probably get an unpleasant present in your favorite shoes.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Tweetums

I have had the good fortune to be surrounded by some amazing creatures. This is one of them, a good friend of mine, "Tweetums". Tweetums is a Zebra Finch. He is not the first bird I have shared my home with, but he is by far one of the smallest. (When I lived in Hawaii I lived with an Umbrella Cockatoo named Baby.)

Until I met Tweetums, I lived under the misguided impression that bigger birds had more personality, and possibly even more intelligence, but he's set me straight. Tweetums was pushed out of his nest at a young age. Because of this, he has imprinted more on humans like a hand-fed baby bird. Early on we noticed he was very friendly and mellow compared to most finches. It was not long before we were able to get close enough to him to scratch him on the chin.

Now, we have been friends for many years. He always finds new and interesting ways to communicate with us and he tries to understand our crazy habits. I was tinkering with the rental digital camera from last evening's Pascucci's adventure, I wanted to see what it was really capable of. I took a bunch of low light photos of Tweetums while he was hopping around (this one is my favorite). I was not totally sure how he felt about it at first, but later when I went to cover him for the night, he hopped out of his nest again and started dancing around (not his usual evening behavior). So I grabbed the camera again! Well to make a long story a little shorter, we repeated that several times before I just had to slowly lower the lights to try to lull him to sleep. He is quite the ham, and really likes any interaction with other creatures.

So I have to wonder, are the creatures around me particularly amazing and I am just blessed to be around them. Or, is the potential there in most animals for this type of connection if you look for it. If I had to guess I'd say it's both. Regardless, Tweetums is a credit to his species and I will never look at another bird the same way after knowing him. There is much more going on there than you might think.

Saturday, October 8, 2005

Costa's Lunchtime

This is one of the higher speed shots I have taken of the hummers in the Palm Springs area. I usually take a slower shot that shows more motion in the wings, but it is nice to try a variety of things. The shutter speed was actually not that fast, it was helped out buy the fact that I just happened to hit the shutter at the top of his wing sweep.

This guy has some amazing throat feathers that stick out on the sides.

I get a lot of questions about my hummingbird shots...

How fast was the shutter speed?
Actually, relatively slow. 60th to 250th of a second. And, it is not usually the shutter that freezes the motion of their wings. Normally a high speed strobe is used which can go down to as little as a millionth of a second because it does not depend upon the mechanics of moving a shutter.

Some commercial shots are even staged with a high speed strobe and camera outfitted with an infrared trigger. The trigger fires the shutter (and the camera fires the strobe) when something breaks the beam in front of the camera. Cool use of technology, but if you depend upon the technology completely you will get a very clinical image that does not look at all life-like.

I don't use a strobe for two reasons. I think the resulting photos look too clinical and just like any other bird and, I don't have one. :-D
You must have an impressive lens, what kind is it?
Most of my hummers are shot with an average Canon 70-200mm zoom lens. I am just very patient when it comes to watching these guys, I have spent over an hour at times to let them get comfortable with me.
Did you use a tripod? Did you set up the shot in advance?
Nope, with very few exceptions these are handheld shots taken while wandering around where the hummers frequent. I like the freedom to move around and get exactly what I want.

Tuesday, October 4, 2005

Pelicans

These guys are always hanging out on Stearns Wharf. They are hilarious. They waddle around behind the fishermen waiting patiently for scraps. And, all the grace they lack on the ground, they make up for in the air. They glide in perfect formations any fighter pilot would be proud of which, by the way, they do to conserve energy. The lead bird in the V formation takes the brunt of the wind resistance. The others can slip more easily through the air. On long migrations they take turns at the lead.

Brown Pelicans at USGS

bird ₅₁ | Brown Pelican ₃ | Pelecanus occidentalis ₃ | pelican ₃

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Summer Solstice

This is my photographic evidence that the summer was way too short. This image was on a roll of film that was still in one of my cameras this week.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Solstice Parade

I have never been crazy about parades. They have always been something to watch on TV while my dad and I make Macadamia Nut Stuffing from a Hawaiian cookbook. Our task on Thanksgiving while my Mom took care of everything else!

But I must say, since moving to Santa Barbara I have learned to enjoy one tradition... The "Summer Solstice Celebration." It is always a really creative parade held on the Saturday closest to the Summer solstice. It is, by far, the most enjoyable parade and celebration I have ever seen.

Oh, by the way, the person in the bird suit is our Mayor, Marty Blum.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Fly-thru

There have been some really important people interested in my hummingbirds at the shows lately. :) (see yesterday's post) So I decided to look through some of the images I still have tucked away. This was one of the first ones that jumped out at me.

The one in flight is exactly what I love to capture when I am chasing hummers. His face is sharp and his beak, but you can still see the movement of flight. And, the guy on the feeder looks like he is conducting an orchestra.

Many of the hummingbird shots you see are done with a strobe, a very fast flash. A strobe freezes the action and you do not have to depend upon the speed of the camera's shutter. The best cameras these days reach their limits at around 1/8000th of a second, my AE-1 goes down to 1/1000th. This image was taken between 1/100th and 1/250th of a second. Extremely high speed strobes can go down to a millionth of a second, because they do not depend upon mechanics like shutters.

Unfortunately strobe images come out looking a little clinical for my tastes. But then again, they are all just tools it really depends upon how you use them.

Tuesday, August 9, 2005

Checking the Nest

Saturday was the end of "Fiesta" here in Santa Barbara. In theory, Fiesta or Old Spanish Days is a celebration of the founding of the city. Ironically, most of the locals leave town for it. It has kind of devolved over time to just a generally wild party in the streets.

With everyone out of town I was not expecting a huge day at the show. Especially because my normal location was at the opposite end of La Cumbre Plaza under a stage with a bunch of dancers on it. But my first sale made the day worth it.

A little boy stopped with his mom, one of my cards seemed to really catch his eye. After talking to them for a bit, I found out that he liked hummingbirds. So I gave him some pictures to look at that were a little out of his reach. I had not intended to sell him anything, I just love to see kids' reactions to my images. But he fell in love with this image. And, after a small discussion with his mom, he decided to buy it with his allowance.

So in honor of my favorite customer of the week I thought I would find another picture of Mrs. "A" in case he stops by the site.

beak ₈ | bird ₅₁ | hummingbird ₃₃ | nest ₂

Monday, July 18, 2005

Hummers

The top hummingbird is actually the same bird as in this photo. She was hovering around the feeder for quite a while checking out the strange creature with the 200mm nose.

bird ₅₁ | feeder ₄ | flight ₁₅ | hummingbird ₃₃ | wing ₂₇

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Cross Bird

Well... maybe a little agitated anyway. (Cross Bird... Mad Bird... get it? oh never mind! it's not funny if I have to explain it!)

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Hummingbird Silhouette

If I really wanted to, I could tweak this and get some detail out of the Hummingbird. But I like him completely in silhouette. They seem so thoughtful when they are perched like this.

bird ₅₁ | hummingbird ₃₃ | perch ₁₂ | silhouette ₂₇

Saturday, May 7, 2005

Santa Barbara Sandpiper

These guys are fun to watch on the beach, sometimes they seem to forget they can fly as they run from the waves. I particularly like the perspecive of this shot. I got down more at his (her?) level and it made for a much more interesting photo.

Saturday, March 5, 2005

Mrs. "A"

Looking back I realized it has been almost three weeks since I put a hummingbird online. This is Mrs. "A". She was kind enough to build her nest in my potted Bougainvillea right outside my glass patio door.

The first sign something interesting was happening was the male hummer. He came one evening and sat near this same spot in the Bougainvillea. He would come at dusk and leave at dawn. He did this for about a week. Then just as I was starting to think I could get him used to my presence with my camera, he disappeared. The next day she showed up with a few twigs. Two days later, the nest was done. She sat on two eggs for a couple of weeks and they hatched on my birthday. Until I got my Hound Dog, I couldn't have imagined a better birthday present!

bird ₅₁ | Bougainvillea ₈ | hummingbird ₃₃ | nest ₂

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Hold the Crackers

I have always loved big birds, they are unbelievably intelligent creatures. Once upon a time, when I lived in Hawaii, I had an Umbrella Cockatoo named "Baby". Sadly, when I left Hawaii I thought it would be best for her to stay there. Luckily I was able to find her a good family. I still think about her a lot though, and hope she is doing good in her new home. And I hope they remember to give her lots of canned pears and butter (not necessarily at the same time) of all of the crazy things we tried to give her as treats, those were the only two things she really loved. Well, those and millet spray, which she held in one foot and ate like corn on the cob!

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Snowy Egret

Subjects like this really reward you for being patient. This Egret was slowly wandering around the edge of the water looking for a snack. We must have looked like quite a site, him stalking lunch, me stalking him. Over about 20 minutes I was able to get really close.

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Isla Vista Hummer

The day I took this I was supposed to be practicing pastels in a class at Island View Nursery in Carpinteria. But once there is a hummingbird around I can't think of doing anything but taking pictures.

Friday, February 4, 2005

Pelican Peak

"You ate my fish!! I can smell it on your breath!!"

Pelicans are pretty comical, they are as fun to watch as they are to photograph.

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Sunset Gull

Here are two different croppings of the same image.

I love trying to catch birds in flight and this one was very cooperative! This was during a walk on Leadbetter Beach (one of the main tourist beaches in Santa Barbara, by the Harbor) at sunset right after feeding the seagulls a little bread. (Hey, I have to pay my models! And these guys are smart enough to get payment up front)

The poles sticking up in the air are the masts of small rental catamarans on the beach. And, if your monitor is bright enough to see it, the rectangle on the pole at the right of the smaller image is an array of lights over the sports field at Santa Barbara City College.

Monday, January 24, 2005

Cattle Egret

I found this guy poking around the stream along the path to Nojoqui Falls near Santa Barbara. I knew he was an Egret, but I was not sure what kind.

Once I identified it, I found out some interesting facts about this bird. Although it is now distributed over the entire world as recently as 1910 there were no records of it in America. Apparently, in the early 1900s this bird migrated across the Atlantic ocean from Africa then spread quickly across South and North America.

USGS Patuxent Bird ID InfoCenter

South American Birds Site, with some interesting information.

Friday, January 14, 2005

Droppin' in for Lunch

I like to feed the Sea Gulls at the beach. This guy was doing his Humming Bird impression.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Hazy Day at the Beach

Well the rain has been crazy, and as I am writing this I have the news on to hear if we have to evacuate. Strange since we do not live very close to anything that you would think would be a problem. But, it seems there is a culvert in the mountains above here (by State Route 154). Well there was a mud/rock slide into the culvert that blocked it. Now there is a lake building up behind the man made berms on the side of what is left of the highway, and I would guess they are not really made to hold eight million gallons of water.

On the up side, the rainy days make for some interesting pictures. I have always loved taking pictures in odd lighting. Noon on a sunny day is the most boring time to take a picture.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Encina Finches

Our area had voluntary evacuations the night before last. So we stayed at our favorite place downtown, Encina Lodge. They have an aviary outside with a flock of Finches. This is a photo from an earlier trip.