Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Now if we only had a Really High End Camera

You would also know what kind of bird this is, if you had a closer view.
You are looking at the underside of a Male Oriole.
You know that these are one of my favourite birds.

But actually the camera gets pretty close for a cheapish kind of digital.
This Guy was pretty high up and it was near dusk.
You know what he is now.
This is the colourful male red-breasted Grosbeak.

We could dream on about the perfect camera
 for taking amazing shots of birds like discussed here.
but you know what, I am very happy with seeing them through our binoculars.
(That is a real treat except for the leaning back part on my neck, which makes me feel sick, so if I can I actually lie down on the ground and point them up, that works too.-however not always possible)

This Colourful Bird Crossed our Path

 In our Secret Place, this bird just crossed our path and I was lucky enough to snap a shot of it soon enough for you to get an idea of what kind of bird he is.
But aren't photos wonderful!!!!When I downloaded in onto the computer and I could look more closely at it and cropped him out for you, you get such a better look than you would with the human eye.

Now he stayed in one place long enough that one of us got this photo of him in the tree so you get an even better idea of what this bird is. We also did see his female mate, but we were not quick enough to catch her with our camera to make her out. They sing like robins.
This is the red-breasted Grosbeak. We have seen them a # of times since this first photo
which was taken the beginning of May 2012.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Now this is Flirting!


The Man in Red gets Up Close and Personal with the Hummingbird(s)
She stares him in the eyes as she flutters her wings (up to 70 to 200 times a second)
He wears red to attract them.
Now this is Flirting!

Friday, May 18, 2012

A Rare Sighting For This Neck of The Woods

Way up high in a dead tree in our special Bird Spot we saw this. This is not our photo, but through our binoculars we are pretty certain this is it! -I would say 100% certain.
This photo was borrowed from this sight.

Do you know what kind of bird this is?

First we saw it sitting in the tree just like this.
It eventually flew around like a hummingbird does!

Yes, we saw a Black-Chinned Hummingbird in
Toronto.

Monday, May 7, 2012

This is Not a Robin. Look really closely




I first saw it on the wire and screamed out to The Terminator,
"Oh my God, it is an oriole". Of course a camera was not near by.
I had to run softly to retrieve one. I managed to grab it quickly enough.
It went from the wire to to our humming bird feeders,
then stood on the bird feeder stand for a moment,
and then went to the bird bath to drink.
I snapped my camera quickly, and was lucky to get any decent shot,
but you can recognize it is NOT a ROBIN but an ORIOLE.
Such excitement. This is the first we both have seen in our own backyard!
Time for the Man from the Office to buy a genuine Oriole Feeder. YES!

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Humming Bird Makes Its Spring Debut

The first humming bird we saw at the feeders was yesterday May 4th.
It was a skinny skinny female.
Today we saw both a male and a female at the feeders.