Bird Photography Weekly #110: Unidentified

I'm a lurker. I follow this bird meme but have never posted. I have been very slow this summer in editing my photos and have only begun editing July photographs. In July I began walking the woods' edge of our land to learn how to photograph birds in the summer, outside, with my new 250mm lens. This was my 2nd bird that I photographed . . . and I don't know what it is! The photographs are lousy but I'm hoping one of you will be able to identifiy this little one. I have since improved and hope to be able to participate regularly.

Thank you for your help, and I look forward to viewing other bird photos that you have up!

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SkyWatch Friday: New Haven's Green Monk Parrots

We went to New Haven, Connecticut to visit my oldest daughter last weekend. She lives on Long Island Sound where long ago some green monk parrots got loose and settled in to live. They are beloved by most of the population and it is now illegal to harm the birds. Their nests cause fires because they like to nest on electrical transformers. They are, of course, messy and extremely raucus. And they are "invasive." But they are protected.

These are the best photographs I have ever been able to take of the birds. I stand on Anna's second story porch in the early morning. The birds sleep rather late, so the light was good. On this morning, one parrot flew in with a large stick and tried to enter a nest with it. The bird was beaten back rather violently by another. The arguement lasted about an hour.

Please forgive me posting so many photos of these birds. I am proud of the results and couldn't decide which of these photos to not post. I also wanted the photos as large as possible so I am sure that this page will take a long time to load.

Thank you for visiting.

Click the SkyWatch grahic above to see more images from around the world.

Technorati Tags: green monk parrots New Haven Connecticut Del.icio.us Tags: green monk parrots New Haven Connecticut Flickr Tags: green monk parrots New Haven Connecticut

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Pileated Woodpecker

A female (I think) pileated woodpecker. This was shot through my windshield and I am thrilled at how well it came out. This is only the third pileated woodpecker I have seen; the first I have photographed.

When clicked, this photo will open, full size, in a new window.

Technorati tags: pileated+woodpecker North+Troy Vermont
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Raven

This photo was done by Aaron Kotowski on Photoshop. You can see him working on it here. His professional site is here. This is my favorite treatment of my photo.

I treated the original photo in iPhoto.

This is the original photo that I took in the late summer. I saved it for my Halloween Wordless Wednesday post, using even another version. I noticed the hooked beak today and realize that I captured a photo of a raven and thought it a crow for two months!

Thank you all for your kind words this week. I am pretty much back: at 80% power now. I am even beginning to visit your blogs!

When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in new windows.

Technorati tags: Aaron+Kotowski crow Photoshop Elements
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Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea)

Until I saw this bird in the view finder, I didn't even know it was in the field of sunflowers. And at that moment, I saw my very first indigo bunting. After some research, I found that the vocalizations it was making were alarm calls. It was flitting just below the top of the sunflowers. I'm sorry that I alarmed it but glad that I caught it on my camera.

When clicked, this photo will open, full size, in a new window.

Technorati tags: indigo+bunting Vermont sunflowers Passerina+cyanea
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Loon on Long Pond, Westmore. My favorite photo of the more than fifty that I took.

When clicked, this photo will open, full size, in a new window.

Technorati tags: loons Gavia+immer peregrine+falcons Falco+peregrinus Long+Pond Westmore Vermont

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I was photographing Haystack Mountain over Long Pond in Westmore when this sandpiper-type bird lit behind me. I managed to get off this one shot before it flew away. We cannot decide which species this is.

When clicked, this photo will open, full size, in a new window.

Technorati tags: Haystack+Mountain Long+Pond Westmore Vermont sandpiper

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