Feathered Friends - Some Old Familiars and Blurry Rarities

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(Edited)

Here are some old familiar bird sightings and some rare sightings for this #featheredfriday by @melinda010100

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First we start out with an old familiar red-winged blackbird. I got just a few feet away from this guy, these guys are super tame and you can really get detailed shots of them easily.

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Another usual customer, but this one has made a nest on a little floating island in the middle of the lake. The park setup these islands in hopes of getting rare birds nesting there but the Canadian Geese are wasting no time using them lol.

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Now for a rare blurry sighting. This is a horned grebe on its way to Canada. A rare visitor to catch sight of around here.

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The mallard drake was wondering if he found a new girlfriend? Too bad this grebe decided to stay right in the middle of the lake pushing the limits of my zoom lens.

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Now for another familiar sight. A tree swallow.

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I can do a whole post about these guys. They are another good poser if you find where they are nesting and they are relatively tame so you can get closer shots than most birds.

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Now for a blurry motherload of Northern Shovelers. From a distance they kind of resemble mallards.

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Then when you see their huge beaks you realize why they are called shovelers. I was blocked by a river so I couldn't get any closer to these guys.

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Here's a standard lens and settings test robin.

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And a little spy. The garter snakes are starting to come out to warm up in the sun.

I spotted a belted kingfisher but as usual he was just in the air flying by with his chattering noise. One day I plan to sit next to the river and hope to get one that has landed on a branch for a clear shot. That's all for this #featheredfriday :-)



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27 comments
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Cool birds... and col snake :) ... I try get in this summer also some snakes more :)
They come all out what very hot sun :)

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Early spring and fall are the only times I see them. In summer there are too many plants for them to hide in.

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I see they come lot times on road when days get very hot here .

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Very good images, I like the iridescence of the feathers of the swallow, it is like a metallic green.

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Yeah they are really shiny. It's tough to get the shine of their eyes because of the dark feathers and eyebrow around the eye.

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Beautiful, clean images. Good luck with the contest!

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Thanks :-) I don't think featheredfriday is a contest just a routine for the featheredfriends community on fridays.

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Then I have to take out the good stuff soon and be active in the community I think. I have so many pictures with birds of all kind.

Hugs!

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The main contest is the #smap show me a photo contest with a different topic every week.

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I'll be around more, in more communities once my health improves and I have more strength.

Hugs and thank you for guiding me!

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What a variety! Cool photos and observations!

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I wish I had my waterproof pants to walk into the lake and get a closer shot of the grebe. Chances are he would have dove under and appeared at the opposite side of the lake.

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The blue on those swallows, oh my!

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And they are tame so you can get pretty close to them. The barn swallow have nice colors on them too, I just need to find the spot where they hang out around here.

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