Morning happiness

It has been a while since I last blogged.  Between a busy work schedule and the oppressive summer heat, I haven't felt like blogging much.  Not many photos and my time outside has mainly been keeping up with yard work.

But this morning I woke up to find that the hibiscus plant in my whiskey barrel pond had bloomed.  I saw the bud over the weekend tempting me with its promise of beauty.  The humidity was reasonable this morning and with the gorgeous bloom calling out I ventured forth with my camera.  The sky was overcast giving me good light to work with. I even had a bee stop by for a visit.

I've had the pond for several years. It is a half of an old whiskey barrel (and no, I did not drink the WHOLE thing myself). It sits on the corner of the deck and grows a few things.  It has been a few years since I replaced anything so it has so sort of curvy, stiff grass and the hibiscus.  For several years it had this wonderful floating plant called snowflakes or floating hearts (Nymphoides sp.).  But it eventually died out and I haven't replaced it.  I also tried some type of elephant ears but it didn't last a winter in the pond.

So now the pond mainly provides some green texture, a drinking spot for birds and raccoons and the occasional glorious bloom.

Check out the other photographs at Macro Monday.

House Finch Invasion

While not as flashy as some of our visitors, House Finches are surely the most numerous visitor we have to the yard.  During the summer the Red-winged Blackbirds in the marsh might give them a run for their money but I would still put my bets on the finches.  This summer there must be at least three families living nearby.  A few months ago we would see several young birds sitting in the tree near the feeder begging for food.

This past weekend the summer temperatures really hit so I didn't get out to take any pictures.  But I did set up my BirdCam by the feeder.  I wanted to make sure it was the finches that were going through a feeder of food a day and not that a squirrel or raccoon as getting to it.  So today I present our abundance of House Finches for Tuesday's Tweets and Wild Bird Wednesday.

Here is a shot of the feeder with nearly every perch occupied.  Notice the gold finch on the thistle feeder in the background.

One of the fun things about the BirdCam is the "accidental" action shots that it gets.  Like this House Finch coming in for a landing.

Or this one with two birds heading to the same perch (middle one on the right).

House finches aren't the only visitors that I get to the feeder.  There were Carolina Chickadees, Carolina Wrens and Northern Cardinals like this one.

And there were some birds that I couldn't identify.  If you know what it is, please leave a comment.

 I hope you stay cool and if in the US, enjoy your Independence Day.

Icarus

Saturday morning I was playing the bachelor waiting for my wife to return from a trip, so I decided to get up early and try to do some bird photography.  I had not been out to our local nature park on the Chesapeake Bay this year so I decided to go out there in hopes of finding some Sanderlings or maybe even a few straggler plovers.  Low tide was just 30 minutes after sunrise so maybe I could get some good birds in good light.  Plus a storm had moved through Friday night and it was much cooler.  Sounded Great.  Unfortunately it was very hazy and humid, the biting flies were out in force and there were no sandpipers of any kind.  So I spent about an hour practicing getting terns and Ospreys in flight and diving while backlit.  Didn't make for great photos but it was useful practice.  I kept my camera in continuous focus, AI Servo on a Canon, while the birds flew by but once they started to hover in preparations to dive I would release the autofocus button (I use back button focus so I have control over it) and hope they stayed the same distance away as they dove.  That was a pretty good assumption and I didn't have to worry about the camera picking up something in the background to focus on or reacquiring focus if I lost the bird in the frame.
I did manage to get this series of an Osprey taking off after a dive that was decent. 

But the best was this "accident."  I was following the Osprey in the lens and didn't realize it was getting so close to the sun.  But I love the ephemeral feeling to it.

And it reminds me of the myth of Icarus who ignored his father's instructions not to fly too close to the sun.  When Icarus did, his wings, made of wax and feathers, melted and Icarus feel to his death.  But admit it, if you had wings wouldn't you fly too close to the sun?
Have a great day and enjoy some truly great bird photos at Tuesday's Tweets and Wild Bird Wednesday.