A series of birds

[pecunium]

I was going through the bird shots from Shoreline Park, and found these three.

Closing in



Lese Majeste


This one is larger than the others, because the details on the wings are nicely detailed.

Body Blow


This one is the raison d'être for this series. I've never been sure if mobbing birds actually hit the targets of their aggression, because it's alway so fast, but at least I can say this one does.

Comments

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Ohhh! That last one is truly marvelous. (I'd suggest offering it to National Geographic or Audubon Magazine.)

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

It's very challenging to get the moment of impact; I've done it with a 16mm cinecamera and a prairie falcoln hitting a lure, but not with mobbing birds, and especially not a songbird.

That's a Northern Mockingbird and an adult Redtail. The hawk must be perched really close to its nest for the mockingbird to be that aggressive towards it; usually songbirds ignore Reds exceptto use them as navigation targets in flight, and only crows harass them when their perched (well, or smaller hawks when defending their nests).

Julia, I really like the red of the leg in front of the wingspot in the second photo.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Yep (I've tagged them at the flickr page). The interesting thing, that is one half of a mated pair of Red Tails. I followed the first one to a tree, because he(?) was carrying a squirrel. She showed up, and they were sharing it.

Then the mocking birds, (and a few sparrows) decided they didn't like them in the area. So he moved along to a further tree, and the mockingbird followed him.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

I've been buzzed by a mockingbird when it thought I was too close to the nest, and felt the edge of the wing (I guess) brush across my back -- something touched me, anyhow, and it was a fairly solid contact. It used to be a regular springtime hazard when loading the van for cons, until we removed the bush they were nesting in, which was right next to the driveway.

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

("their perched:" forehead slap)

It's been a while since I've been around mockingbirds, but this picture sets me to remembering how aggressive they are towards everything, including humans who are sitting where the birds would prefer they'd not. On my bird-infested hillside, the small ones ignore humans, dogs, and big slow hawks except for airborne targets of play unless they're sitting within easy reach of an active nest; cats, Coopers, sharpshin, and harrier hawks and ravens get mobbed by everything from hummingbirds to crows, and Ospreys are ignored by everything (here; I've seen kingfishers take grave exception over fishing rights). Falcons in summer are chased from the vicinity of the nest, but in winter, all it takes is the shado of one and everything splits for the deepest branches.

I'm old and have been birdwatching too long, I guess; I can't remember if I saw a hummingbird harrassing a bald eagle in real life, up at LaConner, or on film, but if it was on film I want to have the skills of the person who noticed and photographed it!

Julia, and I wish for the sunglasses/telescope/microscope/camera device Larry Niven posits, because there's an annoying manipulation time-loss factor appending to cameras

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Re "their", etc. I am having a devil of a time of late with trying to type, "want's".

To cameras. I am lucky. I have a digital which was meant for sports. It's hella fast. There is no more shutter lag with it, than there is with a film camera (the mirror has to get out of the way). I've also practiced at rapid strokes of the shutter release.

I'm only a little fond of "motor drive". I taught myself to use it by shooting diving practice in college (there is a subject for B&W, I should look into it at my new school. I want to shoot more people than I have been), but unless the subject is repetitive, the mind's-eye says, "if you'd been timing it, rather than, 'spray and pray.' with the motor drive, you'd not have been just before, and just after," whatever the critical moment was.

Which is nonsense, I miss lots of those with my finger doing the work. My real dislike of digital motor drive is filling the buffer and being unable to get the next shot.