The leaves are down, the summer birds have left, and the winter birds are just starting to arrive. The sky is a drab gray. There is no new snow to attack with xc-skis or snowshoes. The perfect time to try to photograph birds flying around our yard. These are from the last two weeks.
Photography opens a new world of vision. It unveils a fresh perspective on birds. Birds are frozen in space with wings spread and translucent, especially when the light is from behind the bird. Familiar chickadees and titmice float angel-like before subdued backgrounds.
Chickadee and Titmouse
Two closely related species in the family Paridae. Historically we have had many more chickadee in our yard than titmouse, but this year the titmice seem to have caught up number-wise.
Black-capped Chickadee
A charming, bold, common, lovable little bird, the Black-capped Chickadee often flies like a rocket — fast and sleek with wings tucked in. But occasionally they spreads their wings wide.
Tufted Titmouse
One of our favorites, the Tufted Titmouse is somewhat larger than a chickadee.
American Goldfinch
Its bright yellow feathers are gone for the season, but the American Goldfinch still retains muted color and patterned wings. They arrive in small flocks, stay briefly, and then they are gone for many days. Unreliable birds in the hills of Etna.
Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
When flying and without a reference object in the photo to gage size, it is sometimes difficult to tell the downy from the larger hairy woodpecker. I believe these dozen are all Downy Woodpeckers.
Hairy Woodpecker
Here are eight photos of Hairy Woodpeckers, some while it was snowing.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
A very rare visitor to our yard, a gorgeous Red-bellied Woodpecker came at least once these two weeks. Here are four photos taken as it headed for the woods after grabbing some suet.
Mourning Dove
Some days we had a dozen Mourning Doves; others days none at all.
Blue Jay
A familiar bird, the Blue Jay often appeared in early morning these weeks and then was gone most of the day. I rarely saw a Blue Jay this summer. So this dreary November I got a bit carried away photographing them.
The main subject of these two photos was about to be joined by a friend.
Here is a collection of 22 photos of a Blue Jay in flight.
Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Faster than a flying chickadee, more powerful than a speeding dragonfly, the Red-breasted Nuthatch is a favorite bird that is hard to photograph in flight. I managed just two images.
White-breasted Nuthatch
One photo here plus an interesting series to conclude this post.
This White-breasted Nuthatch grabbed a small piece of suet, proceeded to drop it, then dove and caught it in mid-air.
