The tiny Cordelia Lutheran Church on a small knoll in Genesee, Idaho has been serving the Swedish Lutheran community there since 1883. It is a well-known landmark in the Palouse. It apparently has attracted unwanted attention as it now has a surveillance camera that watched while we took photographs of it. Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm S.
Black Oyster Catchers live along the coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean from the Aleutians to Baja but until I saw my first one at a beach in Pacific Grove last September, I didn’t know about them. I’ve seen American Oyster Catchers on the Gulf in Texas. They have the same bright orange beak and orange eye ring but they are not solid black. This bird is quite distinctive as it searches the rocks for tidbits.
This past September, we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium. One of my favorite places in that wondrous celebration of the sea is the Jellyfish exhibit. The aquarium, closed for the time being, still operates its web cams from 7AM to 6PM PDT. Click here to enjoy the show and experience your own Zen moment. Nikon Z7, FTZ, Nikkor 105mm f/1.4
One of the most memorable performances in the bird world can be seen on a lek in the Midwest where male Greater Prairie-Chickens display and vie for females. Last April, these male Greater Prairie chickens faced off in the fresh snow in Nebraska. Their brief skirmish was in the hopes of impressing one of the females watching from the sidelines. Nikon D5, Nikkor 500mm PF, Nikon TC-14EIII
A couple of years ago we were in Nebraska in April when thousands of Sandhill Cranes flew in to roost on the Platte River one evening as the sun set. It was quite a spectacular scene as the sun, partially obscured by clouds, silhouetted thousands of cranes in the sky. Each spring, the majority of the world’s Sandhill Crane population rests and refuels on the Platte River as they migrate north. It is an awesome sight. If it weren’t for the current situation in the world, I would be leaving for Nebraska in a few days in the hopes of witnessing something similar. So, instead, I am making a virtual visit there and remembering and sharing some of the incredible sights I have seen there. Nikon D5, Nikkor 300mm PF, Nikon TC-14 Eii.
The Bushtits usually bathe en masse. I’ve counted as many as a dozen crowded onto my backyard fountain at one time, piling on next to each other. But in these days of social distancing, it would seem that even these tiny birds are taking the message to avoid close contact to heart. Friday about noon, I was outside when I noticed the azaleas behind the fountain starting to shake, the cue that the Bushtits are arriving. I had my camera in hand so I sat down several feet away and waited. Only two appeared, one male and one female. And for some reason, they came down to the fountain one at a time and bathed separately. As soon as the second flew down to the fountain, the first flew back into the azaleas. The first shot is the male, looking adorable. The second is the female. The eyes of the males are dark making them cute. The eyes of the female are yellow giving the females a perpetually annoyed look.
Nikon D500, Nikkor 300mm PF, Nikon TC-17E II
While watching for birds in my yard the other day, this Western Gray Squirrel, a California native, suddenly appeared in my yard. In the thirty years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen one in my yard. I’ve had other squirrels, the non-native Eastern Gray Squirrel and the non-native Red Fox Squirrel but they’re smaller and don’t have the elegant tail of the Western Gray Squirrel. I was using my Nikon Z6 with the FTZ and Nikkor 300mm PF and Nikon TC 14 Eiii attached as a temporary alternative to my 500mm PF which, along with my Nikon D5, is currently awaiting servicing at the Nikon service facility in Los Angeles. It arrived the day the state imposed shelter-in-place orders and the shuttering of non-essential businesses. I consider Nikon an essential business but their service facility has been temporarily closed so I had to figure out an alternative. My set-up got me close enough to completely fill the frame with this squirrel. And, fortunately, it decided to furl its elegant tail over its back so it all fit in the frame. It had hopped into a pot and was digging for whatever it, or perhaps a Scrub Jay, had buried in the soft soil.
Speaking of Birbs and Borbs, Black-capped Chickadees qualify without a doubt. The shot of this adorable fluff-ball was taken near one of Loretta’s Feeders at Sax-Zim Bog in Minnesota in February 2020. Sax-Zim Bog is quite an exceptional place to view and photograph birds. The locals take pride in this 300 square mile wildlife preserve near Lake Superior. Many put out bird feeders near their homes and farms but these feeders were placed along a wildlife trail near a forest. We met Loretta while we were there. She came to refill feeders despite the sub-zero temperatures.
A month or so ago I posted another floofy version of this Northern Mockingbird, photographed in South Texas last May. The bird is in the midst of “floofing” in this shot as its wings and tail are blurred and in motion as it shakes the water from its feathers after bathing. The floof is the third installment in my recent series , “Birbs, Borbs, and Floofs.” Nikon D5, Nikkor 500mm PF.
