I'm excited because I found a brand new bird (for me as a photographer)


This morning was very exciting for me. Running this little guy through the bird app, I discovered a bird I've never seen before! The ruby-crowned kinglet was sitting on a branch on the forest floor. This little guy gives off an energetic vibe as it moves extremely quickly through leaves and scrub, flicking it wings. 

Confession: I'm not a professional birder by any means. Most of the time, I'm taking pictures of birds then coming home and running the pictures through the Cornell University Bird App 'Merlin.' This app is free and makes bird identification pretty easy. You select the photo and the date the picture was taken, then the magical app somehow scrolls through thousands of pictures and selects the best match. The app gives you information like where the bird is typically found, the calls or sounds the bird makes and defining characteristics. I also have a friend at the Rio Grande Nature Center who sometimes confirms the identification when I'm not quite sure the app got the ID correct. In all those cases, the bird app and my RGNC friend agree. This has helped educate me about the birds I'm seeing and is slowly turning me into a true birder. Enjoy!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Capturing birds in flight, a Cooper's hawk, and the process of working to get a 'tack' sharp photo

Image
  Capturing birds in flight like the Cooper's hawk above has been quite an adventure into photography for me. I'm not sure that the average person knows exactly how hard it is to capture a sharp image, but I can tell you it's more difficult than one would think. Initially starting out just shooting birds that were still, I always had the desire to capture birds in flight, the question is: how do you do it? Capturing flying birds has required me to watch quite a few youtube videos and read from a few birding books that I have, hoping that there would be an answer to this question. Having the right camera with the ability to shoot at unbelievably high shutter speeds is a start. My Sony Alpha 6400 seemingly has no end to how fast it can take pictures. However, shutter speed by itself is not the only factor. Something called the 'exposure triangle' is the key. I won't go too much further into this as it can take hours to explain, but these three components involve 1...
Read more

A Northern Goshawk

Image
Goshawks usually reside in the northern United States. When prey is scarce, though, they may be found well to the south of their normal range. A couple of days ago while walking through the open space, I passed by a tree where some birds were making a huge ruckus. I stopped, turned around, and tried to figure out what was causing the birds to be upset. I didn't see the goshawk right away; it was camouflaged almost perfectly against a thick tree branch. The goshawk didn't move, fly away, or alert me in anyway that it was there, but the birds sure knew. Finally I saw it, an eyas (juvenile hawk), which might explain why it didn't fly away, just not experienced yet. The goshawk was not huge by any standard and had beautiful feathers that it was seemingly shedding. Goshawks hunt their prey by putting on short bursts of amazingly fast flight, twisting among branches and crashing through thickets in the intensity of pursuit. They generally mate for life with females laying 2-4 egg...
Read more

A blue Grosbeak

Image
 I rarely see one of these beautiful birds. They are usually found in fields as was the case with this one. Males are blue with two brown wing bars. A mated pair of Grosbeaks usually raise two broods of nestings per year.They build their nests low in small trees, shrubs and tangles in vines. The oldest grosbeak on record was a male who was at least 7 years and two months old when he was captured and re released during banding operation in Virginia.  
Read more