This thread is for the birds! (1 Viewer)

[JohnS]

Golden Gate Park, Botanical Gardens on a VERY rainy day.

Alcatraz Island. Family of birds.

 

[CraigF]

That's a cool pic of the two ospreys. We have quite a lot of them around here, they make places specifically for them to nest. Like they do for falcons, who probably make nests in even "weirder" (to us) places. I've noticed that over the years more and more types of birds are "coming back" to my area. Or moving here. Other animals too. It's like they've all adapted to the human incursion.


[No decent camera for bird shots, don't even take pics of my own...]

 

[Scott Merryfield]

A few shots from our visit to South Carolina last week:


Ibis

Wood Stork in flight:

Snowy egret

Roseate spoonbill -- was unlucky with this, as there were a couple right near the causeway when we drove into the park, but by the time we had parked and walked to the causeway they were roosting in the trees. This is the first time we've seen them, though.

Blue heron, keeping it's eye on me!

 

[Sam Posten]

Conowingo Bald Eagle day is this Saturday. East Coasters plan a day trip and cmon down!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Here are a few shots from Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina from last week:

Anyone for egrets over oysters?

This is by far the best look I've had at an osprey in all our visits to the park

This is not as good a shot of a painted bunting as I captured last year, but it is still such a cool bird to see

This was our first ever sighting of a green heron in the park

 

[JohnS]

 

[JohnS]

 

[Scott Merryfield]

From Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina last week. The park sustained some damage from Hurricane Matthew, and there was some flooding from the salt water side of the causeway to the fresh water side, which seemed to affect what we saw. There were no alligators in the fresh water area.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

We made another visit to Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina last week. This is by far the worst visit we've had for viewing birds. I'm not sure if this is still a leftover issue from Hurricane Matthew, which hit the park pretty hard last autumn and caused some damage. There were a couple of alligators back in the fresh water portion of the area, though -- we saw none last fall after the hurricane.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

A few shots from our autumn visit to Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Oh, c'mon Scott. How excited were you when you snapped that first picture in that last post?

I'd have been jumping up & down!

What kind of bird is that?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Oh, c'mon Scott. How excited were you when you snapped that first picture in that last post?

I'd have been jumping up & down!

What kind of bird is that?

Mike, I was really surprised when I looked through the viewfinder and saw the fish. BTW, that is a double-crested cormorant. Here is another shot of the same bird, plus a couple other shots of different cormorants from the same visit.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Well, it's a great shot.

Always nice when the subjects cooperate and do something a bit extra for the photographer!

 

[Sam Posten]

Mike, I was really surprised when I looked through the viewfinder and saw the fish. BTW, that is a double-crested cormorant. Here is another shot of the same bird, plus a couple other shots of different cormorants from the same visit.

I love me some cormorants! They are more fun to watch some days at Conowingo than the elusive Bald Eagles. I'm hesitant to post this link cause I don't want ya to think I'm trying to show you up, but this is one of my fave pics ever. I posted it in the Conowingo thread but not the birds one.

Spoiler

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kadath/30316190853/[/spoiler]

Is that a hook in the heron's mouth or just feathers?

Love the wide eyed osprey and the crow/raven too. I have no idea how to tell the difference between the too, I should look that up =)

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I love me some cormorants! They are more fun to watch some days at Conowingo than the elusive Bald Eagles. I'm hesitant to post this link cause I don't want ya to think I'm trying to show you up, but this is one of my fave pics ever. I posted it in the Conowingo thread but not the birds one.

Spoiler

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kadath/30316190853/[/spoiler]

Is that a hook in the heron's mouth or just feathers?

Love the wide eyed osprey and the crow/raven too. I have no idea how to tell the difference between the too, I should look that up =)

Sam,

No need for the spoiler -- that's a great shot of the cormorant with the fish that you captured! You do need to fix the link to the photo in your post, though -- you have an extra spoiler tag within the link. I had to copy the link and edit that portion out to get to your photo.

I am not sure which heron shot you are referring to with a hook or feathers.

If the crow/raven question was from my post from November 7, 2016, I am not sure if it was a crow, but it wasn't a raven. It was too small, and the head wasn't shaped right. It could have been a smaller crow, or some other type of black bird.

 

[Sam Posten]

Link was fixed I think!

Hook?
https://photos.smugmug.com/Myrtle-Beach-trips/April-20016/i-tLshT4t/0/X2/NC7A2094-X2.jpg

Crow/Raven:
https://photos.smugmug.com/Myrtle-B...h-October-2016/i-KBs6wZT/0/X2/NC7A3128-X2.jpg

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I think that was some feathers catching the light just right, and not a hook. And, FYI, that's an egret, not a heron.

I still do not think that's a raven. Here is a comparison with some ravens I shot in Yellowstone a few years ago. Notice the different shaped beak.

Yellowstone raven

Yellowstone raven

Unidentified black bird in South Carolina

Unidentified black bird in South Carolina

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Looking at Huntington Beach State Park's checklist of bird species in the park, I see no mention of ravens. They do list a fish crow, which looks similar to the bird in my photos. Here's a link to a fish crow for comparison:

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Some bird photos from Everglades National Park, from which we just returned.

This is a frigatebird, taken at Dry Tortugas National Park. I didn't take my telephoto lens on that boat ride, so had to make due with a 24-105mm lens on a full frame body.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Must've brought some of that FL warmth back with ya, Scott. Temps in upstate NY will hit 60 & 70 this week!

Photos are beautiful--as always! That pop of red in the first one really makes it stand out.