Bird Chicks

A bevy of bird chicks.

A Canada goose family on a stroll in the park.

These chicks are... well... plain homely.

A Common Merganser mom watches the kids

while dad is away looking for the bacon.

You lookin' at US?  We didn't do nuthin'!

Son, it's time to talk about the birds and the bees.

I think this is a sandpiper chick.

I like the spacial orientation of the two 

Avocet chicks and their parents.

Mom and the kids watch as dad takes off.

This Pied-billed grebe carries the kids on its

back.  I think there are five of them hidden

in there somewhere.

One of them slid off?

These are teenaged Mallard chicks.

Who let these Mallard chicks in the pool!

Next post: Surprise!

Mallards Can Be Fun

Yes, mallards can be fun.  It is true that they are as ubiquitous as mosquitos, but they are much more amusing.  One constant issue is the propensity of mallards to mate with other varieties of ducks.  "Hybrid or not?" can often be the question.

Here is a small collection of mallard (and/or hybrid) shots for your enjoyment (click on image to enlarge):

A social gathering in the Los Angeles River.

A typical mom and pop.

I suspect this is a hybrid.  He looks a bit ruffled too.

Fun at bath time!

The chase is on!

Another hybrid?

Stretching is good.

This is a silly mallard!  He was fooling around with a
Canada goose under the cover of the foliage but he
did pop up so I could get this shot.

A female shows off her beautiful feathers.

Next post: Mallard chicks!

Black-Crowned Night-Heron

The black-crowned night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax, L 25"  WS 44") is one of my favorite birds.  There are several of them that fish at the small lake where I go for photography.  I was lucky to have one perch close enough for me to get some great shots.

 This is a fully mature specimen. 

 This is a juvenile who has caught two small 3"-4" long fish at once.

 This fellow was doing some serious fishing at this spot.  I saw him catch a couple of fish.  It was fun to watch him walk a few feet to his left and then accidentally drop one of the bigger fish.  I watched him jump into the air and squawk.  He was actually angry!

This bird caught the largest fish I've seen a bird catch at the lake.  It's  about 7"-8" long.  It is interesting to watch these birds fishing for their prey.  They stick their beaks in the water and then vibrate them rapidly to attract the fish.

Those beady eyes are very mesmerizing!

Next post?  How about some mallards?

A newly hatched blog

"Birds, fascinating creatures."  ~ Anonymous

Since I purchased my first digital camera in December 1999, I have been photographing something almost daily but, when it comes to animals, birds have been my primary interest.  

About three or four years ago I added a 70-300mm zoom lens to my Nikon D200 SLR. This addition significantly improved my ability to capture birds in their natural habitat and my interest in the photography of birds took a quantum leap.

In this blog I will present the best of my bird photography. I welcome comments and will, from time to time, solicit your help to identify an avian image. (Click on any image to zoom in to the photo.)

My first bird is without a doubt the rarest and most colorful bird I've photographed.  It's a male Mandarin duck (Aix galericulata) with a maximum length of about 18".  This specimen seemed no longer than about 12".   (This duck is often confused with a Wood Duck which is also very colorful.) You will have a hard time counting the number colors on this bird but I'm sure it's around ten.  This particular individual is banded on one of its legs.  I visited the park over a six month period and found this guy hobnobbing with the Canada geese most of the time.  He didn't take any guff from them either!  He knew how to puff up his chest to intimidate the much larger birds.  They seemed to give him plenty of room.  The sad thing was that he didn't have a mate, at least none that I could see.

I believe the second specimen to be a female American Black Duck (Anas rubripes) with an adult length of 23" and a wingspan of 35".  (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)  One nice thing about most ducks that I've photographed is that they will often allow you to get very close to them, especially if they suspect you have food.  This allows for extreme closeups.  Many other birds like egrets, bitterns and herons rarely permit one to get within 50 feet of them.

I don't know what the next post will bring so stay tuned and we'll all be surprised.