Waxwings Return

A group of Cedar Waxwings visited the backyard a few days ago. I was able to get nice shots that highlight the “red wax” tips on the wing feathers.

I’m always happy when I can get a view of the bird’s claws clutching the branches in the trees as he observes his surroundings.

The Cedar Waxwing is named for these red tip “wax-like” highlights seen in these photos.

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Credit:
Photos from the personal and copyrighted collection of Barbara Anne Helberg

Camouflaged

The male and female American Goldfinch usually wait until the trees have adequate foliage to camouflage in before they begin flirting about and nesting, respectively. The male, shown here front and back, is very bright yellow with black tail and wing features and a black crown.

The female (not shown) has no black on its head and has a brownish yellow underbelly and brown wing and tail feathers, but is also very camouflaged in bare branches and Spring leaves of the trees.

 

Honey Versus Plastic

In http://www.horsesandanimalsaretalkin.wordpress.com “Kissing Cardinals”, Honey told Lionel she wanted plastic to line her nest.

Here are some more shots of her struggle to accomplish that, particularly in a stiff wind:

 

 

Finished product !!

 

“WHAT…? It’s my nest!”

Honey and Lionel are now awaiting a family:

P.S. In last night’s storm, most of Honey’s hard-earned plastic blew out of the nest prior to her beginning her final egg-laying repose.

 

Our Cardinal Pair

Cardinals have been gloriously prevalent in our backyard this Spring!

Here is the female partner of our fabulous pair gathering nesting twigs for her work along the Maumee River bank. She takes on most of the nest-building duties. She is more careful to stay hidden, using her camouflaging feathers.

Although the beautifully red male does contribute a few items to the nest now and then and visit the female to check her progress and offer encouragement, his main objective is to guard the operations. And he makes no bones about his presence, standing tall and alert and visible. From his heights, he continuously watches over his female partner and whistles and signals to her whatever messages are necessary.

(See http://www.horsesandanimalsaretalkin.wordpress.com for more.)

 

Where’s Lunch?

From the size of this freezer bag, you can see that this little fellow is quite small. He’s an offspring of one of our resident squirrels. He’s probably wondering if his lunch is in the bag today!

A Very Large Water Bug??

Just one of those photographic results unintended. In trying to catch this Great Blue Heron in “lift-off” from the water in shadowy light, I apparently photographed a very large “water bug”!

Photography is an amazing experience, always.

Blossom Among Prickles

Lots of photo opportunities exist in one’s back yard, such as:

 

Even the Little Sparrows

I spent a large part of the Summer months chasing large birds (pictures of which I will share later), especially catching them in flight, but I also got hooked on photographing the sparrows of our riverbank trees. Since I live along the Maumee River, and close to the Henry County Fairgrounds, my opportunities to photograph animals and birds is quite satisfying.

Here are some results with the little sparrows whom I caught posing, preening, twisting, and greeting, as they entertained me:

Favorite Black and Whites

In talking with Leanne Cole today, I mentioned that black and white photography has always fascinated me, but I haven’t done any black and white work since my Brownie-with-built-in-flash days. Back then, black and white film was the most popular option a photographer had available to him. Of course, that soon changed in my lifetime, but by then, I was more interested in writing than photography, so I didn’t do much picture-taking again until I moved to Vermont, where I married and produced two children.

Then, there was an abundance of photo opportunities once again, but color was all the rage.

So, for this photo-posting of black and whites today, I’ve reached into the past, the 1960s, to be more precise. It’s wonderful how good black and whites from the “olden days” print today within the modern technology we have available on the Internet.

Even at full size, this old beauty looks great! It’s the farmhouse in which I grew up from the age of seven, or so…

The second picture is of the trees in the barnyard (the yard in front of the barn, which it was referred to then, for those youngsters of you not familiar with the farm), taken the same day. Next is the room in which I was a youngster; then the travel trailer we used when my farmer parents took Summer vacations. One of my two younger sisters is the following picture; then the family band. Lastly, are my pal, Mick, whom I adopted from a Columbus animal shelter, and a scene from The Ohio State University, where I worked in the sixties.

If I can learn how to e-mail Leanne some material, you may see one of these in the black and white picture challenge!