Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Week 1

Today my good friend and fellow blogger started a new photo challenge.  Her blog is called Bacardi Mama and today's post can be accessed by clicking here.

The premise of her photo challenge is to post your best picture of the week and share it with other bloggers and Facebookers.

I had a hard time deciding on a very best photo so I'm actually posting three.  I just don't want to leave any of them out.

First of all cardinals are always fun to photograph but never more so than when the back ground is so white. This first one was shot on a blustery wintry day and I love that I caught one in flight and also how you can see the snow so clearly.

The second one was at a calmer time and this guy was wary of me but still couldn't stop eating.

And I've included the third one not only because it's so cute, but because it's so unusual to see a bird taking a bath when it's so cold out.  This one seems to be wondering what he just did.

So those are my shots for this week and I'm hoping the name gets changed soon to Hit Me With Your Best Shots, lol.  To see more best shots, visit Nancy at Bacardi Mama.

Stupid Bird Tricks

We've all heard of stupid pet tricks but I don't think many people have wild birds or animals as talented as ours.  It took a lot of practice but finally this dark eyed junco was able to balance on this female cardinal's head.

Note.  Don't let your wild birds try this.  It's dangerous and a lot harder than it looks.

Angry Birds

I've always thought of birds as such friendly, happy little creatures. Even though I've heard that their cheerful chirping isn't really a lovely tune whistled for our appreciation, but a warning to other birds to keep out of it's territory, my mind still persists in believing that they're singing and probably to me.

However, keen observation and my camera are about to prove otherwise.

Here a house finch and a female cardinal seem to be peaceably sharing a meal at the bird feeder.

Then the nasty little house finch started pecking at the cardinal.

And then, probably because he knew I was watching, he left the front perch but you can just make him out slipping around the back.

And sure enough, the aggressive house finch won the feeder.

And I'm pretty sure the cardinal was angry.

Another bird that got angry was this bluebird. He very obviously hated me photographing him while he bathed.




You can barely make him out, pouting high in this tree.

And I don't even KNOW what this bird was so mad about.

This Nuthatch tried to intimidate me by flying right at me.

The red-winged blackbird scolded me.

And even this robin took exception to my spying while he bathed.

So, yeah, I guess there are a lot of angry birds but that won't stop me from taking their pictures and enjoying their antics. In fact, I think I really like angry birds.

Birds and Thanksgiving Thoughts

I woke up at 5:45 this morning and couldn't sleep anymore. Paradoxically one of the reasons for my wakefulness was thinking about all the things I need to do to be ready for the holiday weekend. Unfortunately, not getting enough sleep will put a serious damper on the energy levels I'll need to accomplish everything.

And the other reason I couldn't sleep was that I'm so excited for this weekend. It seems like forever since we've really had a houseful and Thanksgiving weekend is filled with family and tradition. It doesn't get any better than that.

That's all I've got today so I'll post a few of my favorite bird pictures to fill the emptiness below.

This first picture was captured by Amber, my granddaughter. What a shot!

Then there are my ever popular (not) red-winged blackbird photos. Truly I've never been very impressed with this bird. I thought "Ehh, blackbirds". Then I heard their beautiful song and saw their feistiness and I have a whole new appreciation for them. I wrote about them last year in this post.

I planned on putting lots of pictures of these guys in but I see I already included them in the post that I referenced up there.

So onto the heron. I do love this pic.

But the heron pictures I'm especially proud of are the following. I'd always heard that heron are very territorial but some of the things I've seen at Striebel Pond belie that belief. Here are pictures of two herons in flight. The impressive thing about these pictures is that these two almost scared the living daylights out of me when they suddenly took flight and I STILL got pictures.

So onto my day and getting ready for the weekend and looking for blue for tomorrow's You Capture. Maybe I should head to Striebel and see if there are any great blue herons around anymore. Hmmmm.

You Capture - Vibrance

Beth's You Capture this week was Vibrance and I'm hoping the old adage, Better Late Than Never, is true because my You Capture submission is definitely late. Hopefully, it's also vibrant:


For more Vibrance, visit Beth at Ishouldbefoldinglaundry.

Tomorrow - back to normal - and, no, that's not an April's Fool joke.