Top Of The Bird Chain

Its never easy taking an image of a bald eagle.  Generally, they do not circle.  Maybe once or twice but never like a vulture.  Normally, they fly in a straight line.

Its even more difficult getting an image standing on a snow-covered deck in 20 degree weather without a coat.  Add a failing camera in for good measure and its a matter of luck.

Today, I got lucky.  I walked out on the deck and noticed a bird with a white tail.  I ran into the house, grabbed the camera, and went back on the deck.

I managed to click 4 or 5 images off and got 2 that were worth publishing.  When the eagle flew straight overhead, I stumbled and ended with a blur.  At least, the 2 above were decent enough to publish.

When Is Spring Coming?

Today is one of those days.  We have somewhere around 20 inches of snow on the ground and it is coming down hard.  The wind seems to be below 25 mph.  It is much worse than the "official" 16 inches in the December storm.  So, maybe the electricity will not go out.  Even when you are worried, there are some interesting images in the snow.

Snow peaks on bird houses.

As you can see, peaks of snow are rising above the bird houses.

Closeup of bird house and its snow peak near butterfly bushes.

Look in the hole of the bird house above.  Is someone in there?  If I was a bird, that is where I would be.

Male and female cardinals hoping for Spring.

A little later today, I will put out feeders on the deck.  The birds are already looking.  For now, it is snowing too hard to put feed out.  Spring will come before we know it.

The Return Of The Cardinals

Yesterday, it was 14 degrees outside.  I was walking through the kitchen and noticed there were 5 cardinals on the deck railing--3 male and 2 female.  I knew why they were there.  They wanted food.

Two male Northern Cardinals waiting for food

I put on my coat and headed for the feeders.  The cardinals arrive in force by mid-January.  I don't know why they pick that time of year but they do.  Then they sit and wait in the woods.  Today, they had enough of the waiting and came up to get me to feed them.

This is how the woods look in January.

The woods fill up with the cardinals and you see specks of red throughout the woods.  You also see brown tinged with red too--the females.  I have three places to feed the cardinals.  One is under the abelias, another is under the butterfly bushes, and the third is the black oil sunflower seed (BOSS) feeder.  Under the abelias, they get sunflower hearts--shelled sunflower seeds.  That is to keep the gardens from filling up with BOSS shells.

A male and female cardinal wait their chance

under the butterfly bushes.  Their friends, the

white-throated sparrows, wait with them.

The cardinals get along with the other birds.  However, they do argue with each other.  The males will be chasing each other soon.  The females will hiss at each other, from time to time.

Northern Cardinal

Nothing Flies Like A Turkey Vulture

I've been taking images of turkey vultures in flight for about 4 or 5 years.  Its kind of like taking images in Yosemite.  You can take all the images you want but you cannot capture it in an image.  Turkey vultures have a wingspan of about 6 feet.  They're big!  They play, they test their flying skills, they dive, they chase each other, they do loops, etc.  They simply are the best flying machine here.

I had thought I had seen everything in the past 4 or 5 years.  However, this past week a turkey vulture left me shaking.

Turkey vultures flying inches apart.

I was standing on the deck watching the turkey vultures above the thermals in back of the house.  A turkey vulture snuck up from behind me barely clearning the house.  It gazed at me as it flew by.  A few minutes later, a turkey vulture--flying for speed--again flew from over the house and above my head.  There was this swoosh.  (Listen to the sound of the glider in the end of this clip from the original Thomas Crown Affair.)  So, there I was with this loud swoosh over my head.  The turkey vulture proceeded straight into the woods swooshing all the way from its speed.  Since the turkey vulture was flying between trees, it went perpendicular (or sideways) to the ground.  You could see it adjusting its wings as it flew between the trees.  I simply stood listening and watching as it happened.

Call it play, call it a test of its flying skills, call it whatever you want.  I never saw anything like it and it left me shaking for a few minutes.

Turkey vulture slowly turning to its right.