Things with wings

This was on my neighbour's roof just after the midday mealtime today; it appears someone threw a turkey bone from their Sunday dinner out to the crows. These two and a third crow were negotiating its disposition but this guy got the best of the deal. He'd had it between his feet a minute before, picking at it with his beak, and just after I took this he flew away with it. I hesitated posting this because I'm getting to be a one-trick pony with birds and my long lenses. I need to find time to take different pictures. :)

I've been testing a new lens. I don't like zooms -- they are generally slow and heavy. But this zoom lens is (stuck at) f/2.8 so it's not that slow. And it is very sharp; that fact can make up for the weight which is substantial. It's the heaviest lens I have ever used, I think. We'll see how much I use it or whether I keep it for that matter. The lens is clearly good for birds out my back window. This junco turned his back on me and I got a decent shot of his tail and back feathers.

I've been looking for opportunities to take pictures of crows for a couple of years. I still haven't taken the picture I've been imagining. But today I got this one when I aimed the camera at a perched crow who immediately took to flight.

We've been getting fair numbers of pine siskins at our feeder. This morning there were a dozen or so.

In the post-storm sun today these fellows dropped by for a couple of minutes and then went on. I've had some friends disagreeing on whether they are pine siskins vs song sparrows vs northern waterthrushes vs female purple finches. I'm arguing for the pine siskin. But what do I know?

I liked the look of this fellow who took up about a fifteenth of the whole image.

Another picture from today's blizzard

Today we all got a holiday because of blizzard conditions and it was a good excuse to sit around watching the birds outside the window.

A few afternoons ago outside my kitchen window. A tiny crop.

This fellow was back and forth to the feeder today.

I only guess that this is a *male* Amnerican goldfiinch; it has a lot more colour than the goldfinches often have this time of year. The males tend to be brighter than the females. This is another picture taken this afternoon with the 300mm "reflex" lens on the Olympus OM-D E-M1.

I'm still testing the 300 mm lens on the Olympus E-M1. It's not a very sharp lens at the best of times, but it does get me close when the sun is shining and I can use a fast shutter speed.

I was home this afternoon working, checking the birds from time to time. I saw a usual crowd of snowbirds (juncos), plus a half-dozen blue jays of which pack this guy was a part. There was one solitary yellow spotted white-throated sparrow. And a hawk. (I don't know my hawks at all well so I'm not sure what he was. When I raised my camera, even though he was back on to me, he decided to take off, so all I got was a blurry picture of him. When first I had glanced at him, though, I saw his speckled chest and my first thought was that he was a flicker; based on that I think he was probably sharp-shinned.)

Looking out my window at the juncos and chickadees today, I spot this chickadee doing chin-ups on an empty feeder. Well, you know: I had to take its picture.

I don't especially like pigeons, or rock doves, whatever you call them. They hang about on edges of roofs leaving their crap behind them, and they spill birdseed I leave out for tinier birds, so it goes all over the ground, no doubt attracting other pests. They sometime look very ominous, like so many crows, but crows strike me as much smarter animals.

A few days ago, this bald eagle perched on that tree and then, without waiting much, took off again. I didn't have much time to take his picture.

I don't trust the pigeons. They seem too smart. And deceptive.

Pretty tiny crop.