Tuesday, May 26, 2009

I need a bird blind...and a clue

So, you guys know I'm fascinated with birds. My apartment property has a wealth of trees so it has a plethora of birds, so many congregated in one place I've never seen before. Wild birds that hoot, sing, chirp, soar, coo, fly, squabble, and charm.

I am challenging myself to take good nature photos, and specifically ones of birds in natural habitat. Not just the snaps I get when they congregate around the feeder, that's too easy. But photos where they are doing real daily bird life.

I recently discovered that all the birdhouses on the property are working birdhouses, there are peeps emanating from each and every one. I've begun to notice a routine with some of the birds, particularly the mourning doves: they coo in the early morning and late afternoon, and call to each other from atop the phone poles. Only the biggest doves get to perch on top of the pole.

So last night I went to the granite bench and table under the Magnolia tree. I sat still and waited. Soon some of the braver birds flocked back to the densely covered branches, and I heard the usual squawks.

I noticed one bird (which I have not identified yet) had a large insect in its mouth, mangled worm or dessicated spider, I could not tell which. I walked around the tree to where there was a slight opening in the leaves and saw it more clearly. I raised my camera and snapped away, settling on one good, non-blurry photo. Yet this bird squawked, and hopped and yelled the entire time. "Boy, this bird is mad," I thought to myself. I waited to see what else it would do.

It stalked and hopped up and down the branch, yelling the whole time. "Gee, why doesn't it just eat the spider?" I wondered.

Then it hopped from the branch to the hanging bird house roof for a moment and then hopped back to the branch. As it landed on the roof, in that brief second, I heard a chorus of peeps, which immediately silenced when the momma bird went back to the higher branch.

"Ohhhh..." It dawned on me, "She wants to get to her babies but won't as long as I'm standing here." Duh.

I moved away to the corner of the shed and she immediately went to the house again. Again the chorus of peeps welled up from inside. I snapped, using the zoom, but the day had slipped into dusk and the photo came out grainier than I wanted. Boy I wish I had a 12X zoom. Oh, well, back to the bird. I guess she told me, and next time I'll focus on the nature as much as I'm focusing on the photograph!

Here are the scenes:






















1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great shots and great story.

Chuck