• Avian,  Travel

    Mallard

    March 19, 2009

     

    Mallard
    Mallard

    A friend of mine travels with his work and was venting some frustration due to mechanical and weather related delays on his trip home.  I can relate to his feelings of frustration as I work as a flight attendant and face those situations on a regular basis. Wouldn’t it be nice to conduct our business on a local scale and not have to commute great distances. Think about this: Get up in the morning, take camera out and shoot a few frames, come back to the house, download the images while I take a shower. After shower make a latte then sip on my latte while I sort through my morning shoot. Do it again the next day.

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  • Avian,  Metro Parks

    The Turkey Stare

    March 13, 2009

     

    The Turkey Stare
    The Turkey Stare

    Wild turkeys inside the city is one of the pluses the Metro Parks provide in the Columbus area. I have seen several of them while walking the trails in one of my favorite parks in the system called Blendon Woods Park. I’m not sure my intentions for being in the park that day but came across 23 of them and took a few images. The wild turkeys of North America have a long, dark, fan-shaped tail and glossy bronze wings. The male is substantially larger than the female, and his feathers have areas of red, purple, green, copper, bronze, and gold iridescence. Female feathers are duller overall, in shades of brown and gray. It is an interesting bird and leery of people as evidenced in this stare.

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  • Avian

    Mine! Mine!

    March 4, 2009

     

    MIne! Mine!
    MIne! Mine!

     A few years ago I saw the movie “Finding Nemo” with my grandchildren. One of the scenes in the movie my mind has kept stored is the reaction of the seagulls as they hoover over something edible and start calling out the word “Mine! Mine!”. It is so real as you walk along some pier and see them following people looking for handouts and calling out “Mine!”. It has ben one of the few movies I’ve enjoyed.

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  • Avian

    Perched

    March 1, 2009
    Yellow Breasted Blackbird
    Yellow Breasted Blackbird

    The chirping sounds of these birds and their cousins the Red-winged Blackbird lets you know you have discovered one their favorite breeding habitat’s; cattail marshes. I enjoy finding these marshy areas with cattails where I can setup a tripod and long lens and shoot away. They forage in the marshes, in fields or on the ground and will sometimes catch insects in flight. They mainly eat seeds and insects.

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  • Avian

    Puffed Up

    February 28, 2009

     

    Puffed Up
    Puffed Up

     Birds will puff up when they feel threatened and to keep warm. This is one robin of about 5 all sitting in a tree when the temperatures were close to zero degrees (F).

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  • Avian,  Metro Parks

    Feeding Time

    February 18, 2009

     

    Feeding Time
    Feeding Time

    I was surprised at the changes I saw in Blendon Woods after returning from 5 days of traveling. Most of the ice was gone on the lake and very few geese and ducks were around.  I watched as the ducks were feeding on the bottom. It’s comical to see them stick their tail feathers up in the air and paddle their feed to keep their head down. Yes, spring is getting closer.

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  • Avian

    Staying in Balance

    January 31, 2009

     

    Staying in Balance
    Staying in Balance

    The reason Canadian geese, and many other birds, will balance on one leg is not because of boredom. It seems the birds’ legs have an adaptation called “rete mirabile” that minimizes heat loss. The arteries that transport warm blood into the legs lie in contact with the veins that return colder blood to the bird’s heart. The arteries warm the veins. By standing on one leg, a bird reduces by half the amount of heat lost through unfeathered limbs. So when temperatures drop birds will stand on one leg to stay in balance with the natural world around them.

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