Hanging out by the Nyger Feeders

The other day I was filling the bird feeders and grabbed my camera to get some pictures of some Lesser Gold Finches.

At first the feeders were empty.  I'm sitting about six feet away.  I played some bird calls of Lesser Goldfinches on my iPhone using the iBird app.  That got a lot of birds chirping in the trees and bushes.

Eventually a few brave birds landed on the feeder.

Red-tailed Hawk

There have been a pair of Red-tailed hawks circling overhead lately.

Hummer watching me

Here's a Hummingbird that was watching me photograph the Bushtits in the rosemary.

He would go back and forth fromt he feeder to this branch.

Bushtits in the Rosemary

The rosemary is full of blooms and about a half dozen Bushtit's.  They were jumping about eating tiny bugs.  It looks like they are just sitting there, but they never stayed on one place for more than a few seconds.  Then with a fluttering flight pattern they would fly deeper into the bushes.

Hummingbird Rescue

Saturday night we were on our way out the door to pickup Julie for dinner, when I noticed a hummingbird in the living room.   It was high up on the window covering and I wasn't able to get it down and outside.  So I turned on the balcony light, opened the sliding glass door all the way, covered up the stationary side of the door, turned off the lights in the living room and left a few dim accent lights on.  I thought that would be enough light for the hummer to see while it was in the house and it could make its way outside.  In fact I thought it was probably outside by the time we got into the car to drive away.  When we came home from dinner I turned off the balcony light and closed the sliding glass door, after all it is winter.  Then early Sunday morning I found a tired humming bird in one of the panes of the french doors.  It had flown around our windows and now had cobwebs on its feet and beak.  Picking up the newspaper from the table I was able to scoop up the hummingbird and take it outside.  It didn't fly away; it just sat on the end of the paper looking up at me.  It was very pathetic with the cobwebs on its beak and feet.   Thinking it must be hungry and low on energy, I placed it on the feeder.  It stepped up to the hole and started drinking some nectar.

Notice the cobwebs on the Hummingbirds feet.  It sat there drinking nectar for about five minutes, long enough for me to get my camera, change lens, grab the right pair of glasses and take a few pictures.  This was before I had that very important first cup of coffee! 
It started revving up its wings, drinking some nectar and then revving up its wings again before flying off to the pepper trees with a trail of cobwebs streaming from its feet.

Dove's and their magic tricks!

Here's an interesting picture of a dove flying away from the birdbath.  Notice that it's wings are up but the shadow of the wings are out!  No Photoshop or trick photography here.

So why does this happen?  It's all timing.  The shutter doesn't expose the entire picture at once, but actually passes over the image area.  When the camera was exposing the top of the picture, the wings were up but by the time the bottom of the picture was exposed the bird's wings were out.  This all happened very quickly and its rare to capture a picture like this.

A day at the platform feeder

The platform feeder attracts a variety of birds that don't always come to a tube feeder, as well as some birds who are too big to eat out of a tube feeder.  One day in August I aimed the BirdCam towards the platform feeder and here is the activity it photographed.

The day starts with a House Finch and Oak Titmouse front and center.  I've watched an Oak Titmouse fly in pick out a safflower seed then fly away into the bushes only to come back and do the same thing over and over again  .

Next up is a juvenile Spotted Towhee, it's adult feathers are coming in. 

A couple of Juvenile Grosbeaks with three female House Finches.

 This must be kids day as here is a juvenile California Thrasher.

 Now a Crow and he does a nice job of smiling for the camera.

 Now another big bird, a Band-tailed Pigeon.

Now a friend is flying in.

And a third Band-tailed Pigeon joins the group.

So how many more do you think we can get on here?

Hey we might be getting close to a record.

Oh but wait, a party crasher is climbing in.

The squirrels enjoy the seed and view too!