The other day while out playing with the camera I had such a cool experience I have to share it with you. I was sitting on the sidewalk in front of my house taking pictures of the flowers. When I got up I wandered over to the tree and was taking pictures of leaves. I turned around and I was about 5 feet away from the bird feeder. The amazing thing was that there was a bird sitting on it. I raised the camera ever so slowly and snapped. The bird didn't budge. I must have taken a dozen pictures and he didn't move. I slowly walked around to the other side of the tree he was still there so I took some more pictures. I had my sony with me which only has the 18-55 lens on it. I took a chance and went in the house and grabbed my point and shoot that has 10x zoom. I slowly and quietly walked back out to the front yard. HOORAY! The bird is still there. I took another dozen or so pictures. Again I was only about 5 feet away from the feeder.
I couldn't wait to get back in the house and see what I got. Now I must confess here that I'm horrible at paying attention to critical things when I'm taking pictures. Needless to say in most of the photos the bird is in total shadows, BUT, all was not lost. I did get a few good ones.
This one didn't turn out too bad.
Another confession, I don't know a whole lot about birds yet. Some of you experts have more than likely figured that one out. I looked at this next picture and thought, wow, that bird has some strange looking eyes.
When I looked at this one I realized, that birds been sleeping.
That had to have been one worn out bird to be so tired that it didn't care one bit about how close I was or how many pictures I took. Maybe he can spread the word to all his birdie friends that I'm harmless and I only want their pictures.
In all three of these pictures I used textures that I got from
Shadowhouse Creations and
Kim Klassens Cafe
26 comments:
oh ann i love these! i just recently put up a few homeade bird feeders to attract the birds. i hope they will get used to me so i too can take photos!
I love the pics!!! What a sweet little birdie! Does Duke like watching animals? Ginger LOVES to watch squirrels and birds and runs from window to window chasing them lol
how lucky were you to be able to get those pics of the bird. those pics are great!
Extraordinary!
Wow, that is unusual!! But the bird appears to be a house finch. They are very friendly and like to nest near or on houses. Looks like it may be molting, they do that every so often and look sick when they do. Great captures!!
Hi Ann, I may be wrong but that finch looks like he has eye disease. It's common among finches. The sad thing is --he will probably die. A couple of years ago, eye disease went through Pine Siskins all over the country.. Many died. We were told to clean our feeders really well if we saw one. I did have a couple around---and I worked harder at keeping the feeders cleaned. It's sad---so I hope I'm wrong when it comes to your bird. IF you see him again, take down your feeder and clean it. Leave it down for a few days --and hopefully he will disappear...
Sorry to bring this news--and like I said, I may be wrong.
Hugs,
Betsy
That is amazing! I would have been excited too, but I have no idea what kind of bird it is and even with the eyes closed, the eye looks kind of strange (well, to me, but then, I'm not a bird LOL)
Hope you'll have a great long weekend with you little Duke!
It is unusual for birds to be so patient but he must have not minded having his picture taken. Great shots!
Great shots Ann! He IS unusual looking...a baby perhaps? Does look Pooped! I think he Also needed a three day weekend!
Enjoy your's! I know I will!
hughugs
That is such a cool birdhouse (and a rather odd looking but colorful bird).
He is a cutie. Don't you love being able to capture birds? They are more than often to fast for me so to get one to stay still while you photography is amazing. Very nice bird feeder as well. I should get one.
How cool! Maybe he will come back and take a nap again! He's real interesting looking.
These are the moments in life that I love the most...very sweet..tweet! ;D
Ann, I agree with Betsy. It is a male House Finch with the dreaded eye disease. There isn't a cure and he will likely die. Clean your feeder with a solution of oxy-clean and allow to dry. I would wait a few days before filling it again. Also, rake up under the feeder and dispose of the seed litter safely. Be sure wash your hands and avoid breathing seed dust. Just to be safe.If you have a bird bath. Scrub it also.
You got great educational pics of an infected bird.
I can never get close enough to the birds around here to capture them properly.
I just read the above comment :(
Eye disease? How sad is that.
Great pictures Ann. But I guess it is outside cleanup time. Any questions about birds, you can always ask Jean.I know I always do.
Alas, the infamous bird decoy that especially evil squirrels deploy to distract dogs and people claims another victim. It may take a while, but I am sure that you will eventually find what they made of with while all of your attention was focused on that bird.
That is so much fun seeing those pictures of that bird. Isn't that the same bird that was in some birdie pictures a couple or more days ago?? It looks like a baby losing its baby feathers. Great pictures Take care and have a super week end.
Well clearly this is a mamma bird and she was tuckered out from being up with the babies all night and just needed to catch a few winks before getting on with her day! ;)
Fun photos Ann ~ don't you love it when nature lets us get up close!! Hooray for zoom lenses!
xo Catherine
what a fun thing to happen, that is very unusual. he is a pretty little thing or she is, looks like a girl. maybe she was worn out and was in the dozing never never land that i get in when i read. i am assuming that Duke was not with you?
I love the photos your create with textures. You sure have perfected your technique ~ they are beautiful!
You got some great pictures and I love the way to added your Ann's artistic touch.
I guess they feel safe in your yard- to sleep on the feeder!
These are GREAT! I don't know what kind of bird that is, but he may have been sick or very tired to sit there like that for you. Don't you just love when magical times like this spontaneously happen?!
How amazing those pictures were using the different techniques. Beautiful bird pictures.
As always your pictures are awesome!
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