Downy Soft

Ever since I first started feeding my backyard birds a few years ago I’ve had Downy Woodpeckers at my feeders.  They normally head straight for the suet feeder because it has a “tail prop” that helps it balance while it eats as it is used to feeding on the side of a tree and not bent over some wood-lipped feeder. 

A few weeks ago I found a limb in my yard what was about the right size so I strung it between two of my shepherd’s hooks and now the birds land on the branch while they wait for their turn at the feeders and I get photos of the birds on a branch instead of some manmade contraption.  It’s a win-win kinda thing. 

Tonight, with the soft pattern of drying leaves and a spot of grass here and there in the background, I managed to catch the Downy before he lowered himself down to partake of the suet feeder.

Shhhh

Missouri isn’t chockfull of interesting birds to photograph (okay, there are SOME but not in my everyday neck of the woods) so I’m back to the white ducks again.  Something about this one caught my eye as he/she snuggled in for a quick snooze.

if you build it, they will come

This weekend my father and I spent some father-daughter time putting together a new bird house post.  We bought a couple of pieces of PVC, some connectors, a 90 degree angled rebar, some glue, and a few nuts and bolts and went to town building a three tiered/six house bird pole, complete with six roosting pockets that I found at my favorite bird store.  They told me that Carolina Wrens and Black Capped Chicadees love to winter over in the roosting pockets and I’ve always had spotted luck at best getting those two birds to come to my feeders and be photographed so I dug in and took the plunge. 

We finished getting the pole in the ground on Saturday and I went and bought a new hanging bird bath and dug out an old feeder especially for small birds so it would be close to the new Avian hotel.  This morning I was sitting on the deck, sipping on some tea, when a Carolina Wren came down, perched next to the new birdbath and looking right at the roosting pockets started to squawk up a storm.  I have a feeling they’ll be filled up in no time! 

Then she swung over and had a look at the other feeders near the deck, just to make sure she wasn’t missing out on anything.

the last hurrah

Fall is having its last hurrah this weekend.  We’ve had temperatures between 75-80 degrees all weekend long and it’s put me in the best possible mood.  Besides the beautiful weather and how it affects my attitude is the way it affects my photography – the lighting has been superb! 

Despite the still warmer temperatures the traffic at my feeders has really picked up in the last week.  Maybe the birds know something I can’t yet face – that the warm days of autumn are almost over and winter is getting ready to blow into town.  Oh well, if it must, it must.  At least I have the images from this weekend to keep me warm.

Fire Water

I love photographing leaves on the surface of the water this time of year.  This was taken on an overcast day, very late afternoon, and with a good brisk wind whipping over the lake.  The “fire water” is made up of the orange, brown and green foliage that was present along the lake’s edge.

park university

I was heading home from a 3 hour camera hike at a nearby nature sanctuary when I found myself turning off the main highway in order to stop and capture Park University’s main building.  I’ve driven by it a million times and never stopped but today, with this big old yellow tree out front, I had to give in and pop off a few images.  I was nicely surprised to see I got a few keepers!

incoming!!!

I found a new addition to the local duck crowd at Chaumiere Lake today…it was a lone female canvasback duck.  I got several nice images of her strutting her stuff around the pond but it was her attempt up to the grassy area that really made me giggle.

On The fence

Patience is a virtue.  I waited for over a year to get a copy of the most amazing photo enhancing software, Viveza, and it was worth every moment.  This is my first image with the new toy – I’m sure there will be many more to come as the controls and technology that this software uses is simply amazing.  It sits right in Photoshop or Lightroom like a plug-in and wow, is it the coolest thing ever. 

Why did I finally buy it?  Because the price dropped by $100 and the new version is due out in December -  buy it now and you get to upgrade to Viveza 2 for free (saving you ANOTHER $100.)

Going Camo

The robins were out in force this morning while I was shooting landscapes over at the Briarcliff Pond.  This one hopped up into one of the crabapple trees in an attempt to escape my camera’s lens – little did it know I had the 400mm on and managed to catch it in all it’s under cover beauty. 

color me happy

Four days ago there was barely anything but a hint of one tree changing color; yesterday the whole place was on fire.  It’s amazing to me how fast the Midwest becomes an explosion of color around here.  It’s always over way too fast but at least I have my photographs to remind me what it was like to stand before this lake on Monday night as the sun slipped behind me and the world was washed in a sea of orange, yellow and green. 

Good times…