Flock this way

[wayfaringwordhack]

Though I'm no great or avid birder, one of my favorite things to do on my walks is look at and listen to the birds. I'd love to get photos of them, but I don't have a proper lens for that, nor do I seem to have the camera with me when a flighty feathered one deigns to hold still long & close enough for me to snap a picture.

But I enjoy them all, nonetheless: the crow splashing and bathing in a frost-rimed puddle; the grey heron huddled, solitary like a bitter, drab old man, in an overgrown field; the dainty ball of puff that is the European robin in winter; or the middle spotted woodpecker tapping out a beat in the towering pines. I'd dearly love to get a good photo of a blue tit, for I think they are the most darling little birdies.  

Alas, neither chance nor the avian critters themselves have favored me since we moved back to the Centre. However, I do have a few bird photos up my sleeve from our world trip and decided to share those instead:




(if you go here, you can click on the magnifying glass and get a better look at the birds...)
Bird ID and photo location, left to right:

Row 1:
1) Gray Jay; Yellowstone National Park, WY - This cheeky fellow actually flew down and ate out of my hand.
2) Common Sparrow; Boston, MA
3) Western Scrub-Jay; Coral Sands State Park, Utah
4) Red-whiskered Bulbul; Hanoi, Vietnam (such beautiful birds, so sad to see them in cages everywhere)

Row 2:
1) Canadian Geese; Yellowstone National Park, WY
2) Andean Gull; Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia
3) Red-billed Gull, juvenile; New Zealand (South Island)

Row 3:
1) Juvenile Gull; Boston, MA
2) James Flamingo; Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia
3) Blue Macaw; La Senda Verde Animal Refuge, Coroico, Bolivia

Row 4:
1) Red-billed Gull; New Zealand (South Island)
2) Grebe of some sort?; Custer State Park, SD
3) Crow; Canyonlands National Park; UT



Someday, mayhap I'll have a proper telescopic lens. Then watch out, birdies...

Comments

[frigg.livejournal.com]

Come visit now. We have blue tits outside our kitchen window every day. :)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

We would love to! Gotta get S's papers 1st. :(

[pjthompson]

Beautiful! Thank you for sharing. I love watching the birds, too.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

It's my pleasure. Glad you liked them, too.