Saturday, November 27, 2010

Camera Critters #138

One of my favorite things to do during the winter is travel the ranch lands east of town in search of raptors.

It is this time of year that the Rough-legged Hawk moves down here to escape the cold of the bird’s summer Arctic retreat. 

So Thursday, while heading to a friend’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, I checked out Raptor Land.

I saw a lot of Rough-legged Hawks way out in the middle of pastures, but only one up close, who just happened to get nervous about my presence as I lifted my camera.

But it was two Red-tailed Hawks who graced the view in my camera.  Both birds seemed, either a little upset at my presence, or were thinking, “Hummm…Turkey dinner?”

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The following juvenile hawk really decided to look things over.

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Misty Dawn’s Camera Critter Meme is a great way see critters the world over.  Go to the homepage here to see more.  Then join the fun and add your own.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Camera Critters #137

Not long ago, I presented an image of an American Dipper which I took in October.  In the post, I mentioned it was the first Dipper I had imaged.

Well, I was wrong.

In July of 2008, while photographing some of the waterfalls in the Cascades with a friend, I came across a small fledgling bird in a tree, begging for food.  Although the light wasn’t great and the bird was moving around a lot, I managed to get two good images of the critter.

When I returned home, I didn’t think much of the photos and put them in the ‘So-so’ folder.

The other day I was going over the images in the folder and came across the two fledgling photos.  To my surprise, I recognized the little fellow I had imaged.

Meet the fledging American Dipper.  If you look close, you’ll see it still has some of its youthful feathering around the head.

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Misty Dawn’s Camera Critter Meme is a great way see critters the world over.  Go to the homepage here to see more.  Then join the fun and add your own.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Camera Critters #136

I was all set to post this last week for my Camera Critter, but a sudden onset of computer problems prevented it from happening.  So, it’s a week late, but still good  8v)

Lesser Goldfinch are a common bird here in the summer months.  Recently, the bird has become a year-round visitor to feeders throughout central Oregon.

On Halloween, I was surprised to see one at one of the seed socks in the backyard.  I was surprised not because he was there, though in previous years the bird normally leaves by this time, but by how he looked.

This bird still had its summer breeding plumage, although not as brightly colored as the bird looked during the breeding season.

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By the way, the brown streaked bird is a Pine Siskin and the one on the back side of the sock is another Lesser Goldfinch.

Misty Dawn’s Camera Critter Meme is a great way see critters the world over.  Go to the homepage here to see more.  Then join the fun and add your own.