Monday, April 12, 2010

04_12_2010 Birds in flight!

One of the most challenging things to do with photography - as we've quickly learned - is to get photos of birds in flight. Now, getting a photo of say a Red-Tailed Hawk soaring may not be so difficult, but what about a song bird? Or a hummingbird? Wow, are they difficult to catch!

That has been a challenge that has taken hold of Dave. And he taken some really nice photos.

I thought that this blog would be dedicated so some of those shots.

You'll see several beauties here. First up is the Red-Shafted Northern Flicker. We see tons of these around here. They are a type of woodpecker. Those of you out east may see his cousin the Yellow-Shafted Northern Flicker. The photo here is of a female. The male has a red malar strip (moustache) while the female's is mocha colored.

The next bird shown is a male Mountain Bluebird. This bird was photographed at the Great Sand Dunes of southern Colorado. I love this photo - see the shadow of the bird's foot on his wing? Very cool!

The third bird shown (another favorite - I admit, they are all favorites) is a Black-Billed Magpie. These comical birds are such fun! When they fly, they remind me of Macaws with their streaming tail feathers. This bird was also at the Great Sand Dunes. I love how he/she is carrying nesting material in his/her mouth.

The fourth bird is a Red-Winged Blackbird. This photo was taken at the Wildlife Refuge just east of Alamosa, Colorado. The photo really captured the bird's beautiful epaulet (shoulder patch).

And finally, the hardest of the hard - a hummingbird! This is a Costa's Hummingbird that Dave photographed in Southern Arizona on a recent trip. Have you ever seen a photo of one in which the wings weren't blurry? There's a reason for that! They flap their wings 40-80 times PER SECOND depending on the particular species.

Enjoy!



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1 comment:

nancy said...

wow! Super photos! Most excellent!