Wings on Wednesday

This would normally be a Wordless Wednesday post. However, several weeks ago Roberta Beyer, owner of The Fat Finch, asked me to lead a photo workshop as an event for her wonderful birding store. I happily agreed, and I wondered if anyone would attend. The event proved popular far beyond our expectations. I recruited favorite birding friend Bosque Bill to assist me, and Roberta recruited two more photographers. Our little group met at The Fat Finch early this past Saturday morning. After a basic “How to operate your camera” talk by Bosque Bill we set off to photograph birds. Everyone had a wonderful time, and most participants learned how to move their cameras off of the automatic settings.

Here are some photos of birds that I took during the workshop:

Sandhill Crane portrait

Sandhill Crane portrait, another view.

Sandhill Cranes fly into the Rio Grande Nature Center.

Sandhill Crane

Sandhill Crane

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Crane coming in for a landing.

Spotted Towhee

Canada Goose portrait

Canada Goose enjoying the sun

It was a fine workshop put on by New Mexico’s best birding store. Be sure to visit The Fat Finch when you’re in the Albuquerque area!

Wordless Wednesday-Wings on Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday-Wings on Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday-Wings on Wednesday

A Popular Place for Finches

I have a finch feeder hanging outside of my living room windows. It is not an expensive feeder, and I have to replace it fairly often. The finches love it, especially in snowy weather.

You will note that I have taken these photos through a somewhat dirty window. It’s too cold to go outside and set up the blind. The weather station says 20 degrees F. outside.

Wordless Wednesday-Wings on Wednesday

Bosque Bill is a Media Star!

This past weekend Bosque Bill and I decided to go to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. We had heard that the fall colors were beautiful and that winter migrants were beginning to arrive. We left town early and arrived at Bosque del Apache happily anticipating seeing gorgeous fall color and lovely birds.

When we arrived at the entrance, the attendant asked if we would like to have a copy of the new Habitat publication, which is the official yearly publication of Bosque del Apache that has maps and information about the wildlife refuge. I was trying to affix the pass to the windshield and handed the magazine to Bill without looking at it. Bill looked at the magazine and said, “That’s me!” And surely enough it was.

Earlier in the year Bill and I had taken a photo workshop at the wildlife refuge, and I had sent the some photos to the Executive Director of the Friends of the Bosque del Apache NWR. Imagine our surprise when we saw my photo of Bill right in the center of the cover.

We were pleased to discover that this publication would be used at Bosque del Apache during all of 2012.

This is the original of the photo:

Bosque Bill and the Harris Hawk.

You might also enjoy reading the blog post about our day with the Harris Hawks, Bosque Bill and the Bird.

We had a lovely day at the wildlife refuge, enjoying the spectacular scenery and photographing birds.

Beautiful scenery at Bosque del Apache.

Snow Geese and Northern Pintails.

Later in the day, I was able to persuade Bill to pose with a copy of the magazine. You can see the man behind the camera!

Bosque Bill, media star

We saw some lovely birds that day as well, which I will write about in a blog post later this week.

Wordless Wednesday-Wings on Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday-Wings on Wednesday

Watch This Space, an Update

A short ten days ago I posted a piece called Watch This Space. If you follow the link, you will find tiny, newly hatched hummingbirds in the nest. I admit that I was negligent in following up on the chicks’ progress. Eleven days after I took those photos I had lunch with Jill, who mentioned that I should come by her house because the tiny birds were now about to fledge. I went to her house yesterday evening, and one of the chicks had already fledged, leaving one still in the nest. I was fortunate to get photos of the remaining chick.

Black-chinned Hummingbird chick

Black-chinned Hummingbird chick, a closer view.

Black-chinned Hummingbird chick, even closer.

Update: Jill called me today, August 18th, and said that she watched the chick fledge at about 10:00 a.m. today.