In Focus Daily

A few years ago, the Audubon Society took up the challenge of defining the word “Birb,” a word used on-line as a generic reference to birds that are generally small, round, and cute. Their definition went on to clarify and to distinguish Birbs from “Borbs,” which are fatter cute birds, and then they tackled “Floofs,” which are Borbs with feathers fluffed. The more I looked at this Black-capped Chickadee, one of dozens that were feeding at the Winterberry Bog section of Sax-Zim Bog last week, my impression of it quickly went from Birb to Borb to Floof. The icy temperatures, hovering well below zero, is probably what tipped the scales from Borb to Floof.

I couldn’t get enough of Great Gray Owls at Sax-Zim Bog. We had marvelous encounters with them on three out of the four days we were in the Bog. On our last afternoon there, one very cooperative Great Gray posed for us. Part of the time he was taking his midday nap and his eyelids were heavy, often closed. For a while he spun his head what seems like 360° as he listened and looked for prey in the snow. He would fly to a new perch; I think there were six different perches that he visited. It was from this perch that he spotted a vole and he flew across the road, pounced, and swallowed it in three gulps. When it was prudent, we moved in his direction to improve our view. Other times we stayed put although some of the gaggle of photogs who always gather when a Great Gray is in view, spoke loudly, made wild gestures, and ran after him when he moved. It is amazing to see how foolish some photographers can be, thinking their photograph is more important than the well-being of the wild animal they’re photographing. It was even more amazing to me that this owl ignored their antics and spent his time napping or searching for prey. When all of the other photographers left in pursuit of another owl, we were alone with this magnificent bird for a couple of hours. Our time with him zipped by. After four hours, the light began to dim and we could no longer capture good images but we had spent lots of quality time with him so our day, and our entire trip, was a resounding success.

The Great Gray Owl is the largest owl in North America with a wingspan of almost 5 feet and head to tail length of two feet. It has an imposing look about it with an intimidating gaze. But, as large as it is, it can easily disappear into its surroundings, its natural camouflage blending into its surroundings. When we arrived back at the bog on Thursday afternoon, I didn’t see him right away because he perched in the crotch of a birch tree that matched the coloration and patterns of his feathers. He was, in fact, hiding in plain sight.

This year’s trip to Sax-Zim Bog (it’s my 6th year in a row) was definitely a success. Except for one day, our shooting has been mostly of Great Gray Owls. After a disappointing day on Wednesday, though, we decided to go to a place a couple hours away called Two Harbors where there is a lighthouse (it’s on Lake Superior) and where we were told there was an irruption of owls, both Great Gray and Boreal. While we were there, we got some great shots of the Two Harbors Lighthouse but we did not see a single owl. Returning to Sax-Zim Bog for the afternoon, we learned that a Great Gray had been hanging out since morning in an area where we’d photographed him a couple of days before. We also heard that someone had captured a shot of a Great Gray perched atop the Owl Road sign, the street the Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center is on. It didn’t take much prodding to get us to head over to where the owl was seen, and there he was, nestled in the crotch of a birch tree. When he flew off a short time later as he started to hunt, he landed on the top edge of a diamond shaped sign, perhaps to get a better lookout for his next meal. The concentration of his stare shows his determination and the feathers that formed his facial disk help him to direct and intensify sounds in his search for prey. The way he is barely clinging to the edge of the sign with his talons made me think his hold was a bit tenuous and he soon settled back onto a branch on the birch tree. What a rush it was to spend all afternoon with him yesterday, watching and shooting as he occasionally changed perches, catnapped, and even caught and gulped down a vole.

Our first two mornings here in Sax-Zim Bog had clear skies and sub-zero temperatures that started at -12 and got colder as those mornings wore on. The sunrises on those days were unremarkable. Yesterday’s, however, was simply gorgeous and I was not expecting such a display. It reminded me of the sunrises on Caddo Lake in Texas/Louisiana that started with intense color that got deeper and lasted longer than most sunrises. At the Bog yesterday, the skies were filled with clouds and the temperatures were slightly higher than the previous two days (but still sub-zero at 7 AM). We watched as the red color kept deepening and intensifying for about 45 minutes. And then, it faded quickly and was gone. It was a spectacular start to the day. As it turned out, it was the only photography we did yesterday. We saw no Great Gray Owls and no Barred Owls as we traversed the roads in Sax-Zim Bog for hours and only a few other birds. I’m looking forward to seeing what today has in store for us.

After thinking we couldn’t top Day 1, on Day 2 we did! Day 2 turned out to be a really great “Great” day. We had four successful photography encounters with Great Gray Owls starting before 9 AM and finishing late in the afternoon with this one that we followed down the road and around the corner as he hunted for voles. He changed perches about six times, and he finally did catch a vole and swallowed it whole in three gulps. Then, after spending more than an hour and a half with us while he let us photograph him, he flew into the dense forest and disappeared from our view. We’ve had tremendous fortune finding Great Grays this trip. The cold temperatures have been daunting but when you’ve got a Great Gray in your viewfinder, you forget the cold and focus on the subject so minus 21 degrees doesn’t seem so cold. It was -21 when we stopped before 9 AM to photograph the first Great Gray of the day. Because of the nature of their habitat, the backgrounds are often busy, unattractive, and distracting. Sometimes the owls choose perches in deep shade or in contrasty light and with shadow on their bodies. But we can’t choose where they perch so we have to figure out what works to get a good shot. This was the best background we had, a kind of mottled gray and orange from the birch trees that were a far enough in the distance that they dissolved into abstract colors and shapes. Unfortunately, the deciduous shrub on which he perched had small twigs that obscured his face much of the time. One specific twig was of great concern to several of the photographers around me who grumbled that they couldn’t get a shot from any angle and kept moving to find a place where they could eliminate the twig. Unfortunately, there was no place that was possible. I just waited until he turned his head enough that both eyes were between the v formed by the twigs. And, lucky for me, that happened at the same time he decided to look straight at me.

Our first day in Sax-Zim Bog in Minnesota set a pretty high bar for the rest of the trip. We started the day taking images of the Wolf Moon setting over the Bog. Then, despite bone-chilling temperatures, we photographed a cooperative Great Gray Owl within the first hour of our arrival when the temperature had dropped to -21°. Temperatures hovered in the negative mid-teens for most of the morning but by early afternoon had started to drop a little when we encountered a perched Bald Eagle surveying the area. By the time we found the cooperative Barred Owl, above, in late afternoon, -4° didn’t seem too bad. And, we ended the day with a colorful sunset, something I don’t recall seeing here on any previous visit. Encountering and photographing two owls on our first day and doing a little bit of landscape photography too was a great start. Day 1 has set a high bar but I can’t wait to see what Day 2 brings.

Today I’m heading back to Sax-Zim Bog in Minnesota where the temperatures are expected to be, well, cold, negative to low teens. I don’t remember what the temperature was last January when I photographed this Great Gray Owl there (it is our primary target species) but it was cold, windy, and snowing in the early morning. The snow and the cold temperatures do not keep us from venturing out to photograph birds there. Somehow, the excitement of seeing a creature as magnificent as a Great Gray Owl perched on a branch in the midst of a snow flurry as it looks for its next meal mitigates any discomfort due to the weather conditions and it’s all about the photography. Of course my many layers of clothes, heavy duty jacket, hand warmers, and glove options that include heated gloves and a pair of Beaver mittens that have saved me more than once, all contribute to my comfort and allow me to focus on my photography. So, I’m going prepared for the cold as well as the photography.

Over the years, I have come to appreciate various species of blackbirds, whether they’re singing in the dead of night (thank you, Paul) or baked in a pie (thank you whomever penned “Sing a Song of Sixpence”) or perched in a line on telephone wires (thank you, AT&T). But, until I started to photograph birds, I’d neaver thought much about common blackbirds and people often dismiss them as noisy pests. Blackbirds seem so common and uninteresting until you really look at them: like the Red-winged Blackbird’s red epaulets flared or a Bronzed Cowbird whirling like a Dervish. Like other black birds, Great-tailed Grackles are large blackbirds that are often considered pests but their black feathers have an iridescent glow and are really quite beautiful. Sometimes, a common bird like the Great-tailed Grackle shows up someplace that makes them stand out. That happened at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, AZ. A female Great-tailed Grackle, the females usually being the less attractive of a bird species, suddenly appeared in the midst of a large stand of Desert Broom that was going to seed. We had been photographing much smaller birds there including the adorable Verdin. But, I found her stance and her fixed gazed quite compelling and she looked quite beautiful in the midst of the fluffy broom flowers, so I guess it all depends whether a bird is appealing or a nuisance.

If you ever wondered how bees serve as pollinators, or if you slept through high school biology class, just sit by a Rosemary plant in full bloom and you will learn. Plus, the pungent aroma of the Rosemary will start you salivating and hungry for a savory Rosemary-forward dish for dinner. When I put the garbage can back after yesterday’s pick up, it was quite warm because the sun was out and the warmth brought out the aroma of the gigantic Rosemary shrub under the equally gigantic lemon tree on the side of my house by the gate. I walked over to admire the shrub which was covered in small lavender colored flowers. I heard buzzing and I knew the Honey Bees were hard at work extracting nectar from the tiny blossoms. I never pass up a photo op if I can help it so I went inside and returned with my Nikon Z8 with the 105mm Macro lens attached. I sat on my gardening bench and waited. At least half of the photos I took showed the stamen rubbing the top of the bee’s head as the bee extracted nectar from the flower. So that’s why every bee buzzing around had white pollen sprinkled on its head and thorax. Hmmm. And the next flower it visited would get some of that pollen. A biology lesson in my own backyard. Genius.

A Say’s Phoebe lifts its wings to take off from its perch. The Say’s Phoebe is a flycatcher and, like the Vermilion Flycatcher, lifts off from its perch to catch flies and other small insects. And, like the Vermilion Flycatcher, the Say’s Phoebe seemed to be as predictable in its habits. We could always find it near a particular perch that was in great light and had great backgrounds. It would lift up, catch a few flies or other insects then settle back down to the same perch. The Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, AZ is a great place to visit and photograph all kinds of birds.

It seems as if every trip I go on, one species, whether it is feathered or furred, seems to dominate my focus for an entire trip. This past December, at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, AZ, the Vermilion Flycatcher was the star of the trip for me. There were just a few individuals but their patterns were so predictable that we could count on where they’d be and when. That made it possible for us to photograph them both perched and in flight. The flight shots were especially fun to get. A very fast shutter speed to astop the action, in this case 1/8000 of a second, made it possible to freeze the feathers in position so you can count the feathers on the wings and tail.

Mourning Doves are ubiquitous birds in the US whose call is melancholy and mournful sounding, hence their common name. But, they are not mourning although according to the Audubon Society, the wistful call that evoked their name is most usually made by a male Mourning Dove searching for a mate so I guess you could say he is mourning being alone. Among the fun facts that the Audubon Society publishes about these birds is that it is one of North America’s most adaptable species that can live in harsh habitats like the Southwest desert, where I took this image. One of their adaptations is that they can drink brackish, salty water without getting dehydrated so the hot desert environment is one in which they can thrive.

On New Year’s Day, I had just stepped out onto my patio and set the Merlin App to record birds it heard. I saw that the app announced that “Your Bird of the Day” is an Anna’s Hummingbird. I don’t know if Merlin is affiliated with Google, that seems to know everything you’ve been thinking let alone searching for, but indeed I had already decided that my bird of the day was an Anna’s Hummingbird, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t say it out loud. I was on day 8 practicing with my new Nikon Z6III (a Christmas present to myself) and a feature called Pre-release Capture. This feature is not new and my Z8 and Z9 also have this ability. But because the feature records only JPEG images and not RAW images, I was reluctant to use it until now. My reluctance turned into “I must have this” after seeing the results Moose was getting. Capturing in-focus images that show the bird with various wing positions as it takes off can be a challenge. It requires a high shutter speed to freeze the action and in order to get the necessary high shutter speed, it also usually needs a high ISO. The Z6III handles high ISO on a jpeg image without the inherent noise that can be so objectionable. My other cameras don’t do it as well. The magic of this feature is that the camera records up to a full second of images BEFORE you press the shutter release. The delay between seeing the action and taking action to press the shutter release is enough to miss the action. That’s the beauty of Pre-release Capture… you have images you otherwise would have missed and hopefully, those are the images for which you pressed the shutter release. And, because it is a JPEG, the image is finished, straight out of the camera. No need for post processing.

This image is of one of the three male Anna’s Hummingbirds that have been squabbling over the feeders in my yard. It is the first successful take-off shot I captured yesterday. I’m thinking this feature will help me get those elusive hummingbird flight images with all sorts of interesting flight positions. Stay tuned. This is a work in progress.

This Anna’s Hummingbird and I wish you a happy new year!

Today’s post is the start of my fifteenth year publishing In Focus Daily. Through yesterday, since I started posting regularly on January 1, 2011, I have created 4,596 posts and shared 8,283 images or videos in those posts. When I started doing this, many of my posts included multiple photographs, something I do only occasionally now.

In Focus Daily has become an integral part of my life. I love writing it, I love taking photographs for it, and I love sharing my photographs. Almost every day that I shoot (and I try to shoot every day) I create images that I want to share. Over the past several years, my focus has been on wildlife and in particular birds, and although I do other kinds of photography, my passion is bird photography, all kinds of birds. So, watch this space. There will definitely be more birds but who knows what else might appear here? Stay tuned.

My Picture This App identified this tree as a Hackberry. I did not need my Merlin App to identify the bird, a Northern Mockingbird. The Mockingbird was enjoying a morning feast of hackberries which were abundant and very popular with the birds, especially the Mockingbirds, at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, AZ. I guess you could say the Mockingbird was the consummate consumer, having found the perfect feast requiring no effort to eat it.

This tiny, acrobatic Verdin is one of those small birds that seems never to sit still. In the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, Arizona a couple of weeks ago, we watched this Verdin plow its way under, over, and through this Desert Broom, a native plant that provides cover for birds and other wildlife. In the fall, its plume-like buds open into white-tasseled seed pods that are dispersed by the wind, or, in this case, by the head of a Verdin.

There are three male Anna’s Hummingbirds that compete for the feeders in my garden. Their behavior is interesting because sometimes they seem to get along and actually perch near one another. Other times, the dominant one is constantly on the lookout for the others and will chase them off when he sees them. I noticed that at least two of the Anna’s have new feathers under their beaks, something I’ve never noticed in an Anna’s before now. The feathers are still coming in with a few still pinfeathers but the color seems to be brownish tipped with white. When the rest of the gorget glows magenta, they remain brownish. The new feathers almost look like a beard. I’ll keep an eye on them to see when the color of the new feathers changes.

It’s been a while since I have thought about the Audubon Society’s taxonomy of birb. Audubon defines “Birbs” as small, round, and either cute or absurd; “borbs” are those birds that carry apparent roundness to an extreme; and most birds can “floof” when the mood suits them.  I would classify this male White-crowned Sparrow as a “birb” round but not round to the extreme. This little guy is puffed up to against the cool morning temperatures at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, AZ a couple of weeks ago. You can expect to see a borb and/or a floof in this space in the near future.

Yesterday, I participated in the Audubon Society’s 125th annual Christmas Bird Count. The morning started with drizzle, cool temperatures, and gusty winds. My team of 6 was charged with counting birds along the Ferrari Pond Trail in Lincoln Hills where I live. I’m told we had fewer birds than last year but we did see quite a few different species. Even the golf course Canada Geese got counted. I don’t have the final count from our efforts yesterday but along with finches and sparrows and water fowl, we saw several raptors including a Red Shouldered Hawk, an American Kestrel, a Turkey Vulture and this immature Cooper’s hawk perched on the railing of a residence that faces the marshy pond. Even though it was on a resident’s fence, it counts, too.