Bird of the Week – Eastern Bluebird

December 16, 2010 by Bob Zeller

One of my favorite small birds is the Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis). Stokes Field guide to the Birds of North America describes it as small, broad-necked, short-legged thrush with a short tail and short bill. It resides here in Texas year around. Upperparts bright blue, underparts a rich reddish brown on throat, breast and flanks, contrasting with a white belly. It loves the open woods and woods edges and farmlands. Enjoy the photos. Click on either one for an enlargement.

Eastern Bluebird

Both photos were shot in Aperture Priority at f6.3. Top photo, ISO 400, 1/800 sec. Bottom photo ISO 800, 1/640 sec. Canon EOS 7D, 500mm f4 lens with 1.4 converter. Bogen-Manfrotto tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head.

Just Singin’ in the Rain

September 18, 2010 by Bob Zeller

A couple of photographs of a Black-chinned Hummingbird, singing (actually humming) happily in the rain. They were under a mister and getting pretty wet.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

These energetic birds were photographed at Dan and Cathy Brown’s ranch at Christoval, Texas. I used my Canon 7D with a 500mm lens and a 1.4 tele-converter. It was mounted on a Manfrotto tripod with a Wimberley gimbal head. Shooting distance was about 40 feet. Click on either image to see and enlargement.

Rufous Hummingbirds

September 7, 2010 by Bob Zeller

Starting a new week a day late, since Labor Day was a day for just doing nothing. Tried watching the Texas Rangers baseball game, but they didn’t do well, so I took a nap. That’s what us senior type people do on holidays. 🙂

I haven’t come up with anything new in my photographs in the last few days. I tried to take some images of the bird blind for a future blog post. I wasn’t too satisfied with my results so I will go back at another time. Does any one know of a good photographer. 🙂

But Tom Camfield who lives over near the O. C. Fisher Dam and Concho River, had a nice visitor for about three days. A Rufous Hummingbird. When he sent me the photos, I had to ask him to ID them for me. I’m afraid I need to get a little more educated about hummingbirds. With his permission, I am publishing them here. Click on any photo to see a nice enlargement. Enjoy.

Rufous Hummingbird

In other news, Ann and I looked for the Roseate Spoonbills this morning, but they were nowhere to be found. Maybe they decided to leave before the coming storm gets here. We did still see a couple of Great Blue Herons. Also, the lake level must have dropped another couple of inches, because we saw another islet being “born”.

So Happy Birding. Migration is coming soon!