Sunday, June 28, 2009

Birds!

I finally bit the bullet and bought myself a new camera. Although I went online and checked out the Panasonic with the 18X zoom that the Retired One uses, I simply could not afford to spend that much. So after some agonizing, I bought a Canon PowerShot SX 110 IS (with a 10X optical zoom). It is perfectly adequate for me. The picture above was taken from my front window (through the window) of a hummingbird backlit by the morning sun, using the zoom. (Click on any of the pictures to enlarge. Hey! I just noticed that you can see his tongue in the larger shot!) Those flowers are in a box secured to my front porch railing, purchased expressly to capture the interest of hummers. Directly above the flowers is a hummingbird feeder, but they do seem to love the flowers.
My upside-down feeder here has two goldfinches on it, the Washington state bird. On the top is the brilliantly colored male, with a black patch on his head, and below the more sedately colored female, with no black on her head. There are currently as many as four males on the feeders at one time, and they fight with each other (but not with the ladies). Pine siskins and goldfinches are the only ones that feed upside down like that through the tiny little holes in the feeder, so it keeps the other birds off. I have a sock and this vertical feeder that have thistle and tiny pieces of sunflower seeds in them (finch blend).

Here's the transparent platform feeder with a black-capped grosbeak (corrected by a friend; I thought this was a spotted towhee, which we also have around here). He looks more fierce than usual because of the sunflower seed in his mouth. I keep shelled sunflower chips in this feeder so the sparrows and other birds can eat there. The cover keeps the jays out, and my beautiful northern flicker has learned to use it anyway, with his long beak and agility. He has knocked it down, though, since he's so big (no pictures yet).

And last, my favorite guy, the chickadee, at my feeder filled with black oil sunflower seeds. At least I think this is a chickadee, but I could be wrong, because he's got more brown than he should, although I'm looking at him from a different angle than I usually do. They are so curious, and I was sitting in a chair on the front porch with my new camera eager to capture the birds on film and he flew up, grabbed a seed and posed for me. I swear he did.

So that's it for my first batch of bird pictures. I have plenty of the pine siskins, if anybody wants to see one of them, and I also have a couple pictures of the flicker with his head buried in the feeder, not great shots. I'm still working on getting him to pose for me, but he's a lot more shy than the chickadees.

Well, the sun has unexpectedly come out here in Bellingham. Yesterday was gorgeous, but then the rain showed up late last night and I thought it would hang around all day. It's clearing up, so I'm heading down to Snohomish to hopefully get my knees in the breeze at the Drop Zone! Have a great day!
:-)

9 comments:

  1. Hi DJ, Your pictures are beautiful. I also have a Canon Power Shot, but not as fancy a model. I may have to upgrade at some point, because my pictures don't turn out at vivid as yours. I also love flowers and birds. Getting good pictures of birds is hard because it seems they sense when a camera gets focused on them and they fly off before I snap it. Again, could be the camera and the photographer.

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  2. What lovely pictures you have taken DJan. By the way, I like your new name on here.
    How exciting to get a new camera. I think blogging has created a whole new market for the camera sellers, if only they realised it!
    Blessings, Star

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  3. I envy you! I had my little cheapie for almost a year (replaced a nice one) when I sent it for warranty repair... I'm on my third 'refurbished' model and it is awful! I'm going to have to break down and spend. I'll check out the Canons. Nice shots!

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  4. Bob and I enjoy birdwatching too. We've noticed the populations change over the years... When I was skydiving I used to watch birds closely, especially as they flared for landing. But the hummingbirds are the true aerialists. How the heck do they fly straight up, and even backwards??!!

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  5. (not while I was skydiving, just during my years as a skydiver...) LOL!

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  6. Oh Linda, I understood your comment! Any skydiver would, of course. I made three jumps this afternoon, BTW, and had a wonderful time, although I could have used some tips from the birdies, as I flared too high with my new shortened brake lines and stalled out, causing my right knee some more trauma. It will be okay, I made another jump and it was fine.

    Lily, I just upgraded from a 4mpx Canon PowerShot, and because I loved it so much I was partial to the Canon. It's not too awfully expensive (I paid less than $250 for everything). The upgrade was totally worth it, especially since my husband has inherited my old camera.

    Star, I think you are right! We bloggers are just out there waiting to be teased by the camera manufacturers. I looked for more zoom for the birds, and this camera was only $229 at Target. I upgraded the memory card, of course.

    Nina, an upgrade is definitely worth it, and hopefully I will be looking at your blog one of these days and commenting on the pictures!

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  7. DJan,
    Good Morning, thanks for following. There is still time on this farmers' market, just post the photos here on your blog. Let me know when it's ready in case I miss it on my dashboard. I will then post a link to your blog on my post.
    Judy

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  8. Skydiving? Gulp! I'm finally comfortable on an eight foot ladder. I'm in awe. :D

    Love the photos. I started to do an upgrade recently but decided to wait for a time. But, I have to tell you the 10x zoom is very attractive. I think mine is a 5x zoom; I'll have to check the manual.

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  9. Back from Ohio yesterday and I see that you made the plunge and got a new camera. I don’t know the model you purchased but your pictures are very good. We have 4 bird feeders in the back yard but they are not too close to the window so it’s hard to catch the birds. The sliding door makes a big noise when you open it and the birds scatter away. I also like your new name very much – D-Jan-ity, it’s catchy.

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