The right light, part 2

The anhinga is not a particularly pretty bird. Still, this is one of my favorite photos, because the light is just right. If memory serves, I took this picture a few minutes and a few hundred yards away from where I took the picture of the pelicans I posted yesterday. The sun wasn’t yet very high in the sky, and it was directly behind me (pro tip: never shoot into the sun, unless you’re trying to create a silhouette). The light makes the bird’s feathers and beak stand out beautifully against the blue water.

If you’ve ever visited the coastal areas of the South, you’ve likely seen an anhinga. And you’ve likely seen one perched just like this. Anhingas do not have the natural oil that makes their feathers waterproof. So unlike herons, ducks and all those other water birds, anhingas have to air-dry their wings after they come out of the water. On the plus side, having non-waterproof feathers helps them submerge deeper in the water to stalk fish. Their name comes from the Brazilian Tupi language, meaning devil bird.

The right light

This is one of my favorite pictures. I took it about five years ago at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, FL. My wife and I, along with our friends Debbie and Eugene, had gone there in search of roseate spoonbills. We had arrived there just after 7:00 on a morning in late January. We were standing just off the road that goes through the refuge, looking out over a lake and trying to communicate telepathically with some spoonbills hundreds of yards out in the water. We thought maybe we could coax them to come closer to us. Apparently, none of us possessed the super-powers necessary for such a task.

But then I turned around and looked at the lake on the other side of the road and saw what you see in this picture. The water was calm and the early morning sunlight was perfect. It is gospel in the photography world that the best times for taking pictures outside is the first few hours after sunrise, and last few before sunset. The light is soft and diffuse. No harsh glares or shadows. Those are also the times when birds are most active; breakfast and supper are their favorite meals.

I guess these white pelicans where still trying to figure out what to do with their day. White pelicans are larger and less common in the U.S. than their brown cousins. The best places to find them in the winter is south Florida and along the Gulf Coast. They breed much further north, up into Canada.

Peyto Lake

Banff National Park in Canada is as spectacularly beautiful as any in the U.S. Everyone who goes there or who talks with someone who’s been there knows about Lake Louise. But the lake we hadn’t heard about, the one we thought most stunning, was Peyto Lake. It’s easy to miss, and it doesn’t get a lot of ink in the guide books. But if you go to Banff NP, don’t pass it by.

The water really, truly is that turquoise. Many of the lakes in Banff and its adjacent parks are these almost surreal shades of blue and green. The reason is silt. The lakes were created by glaciers receding over rock formations. As the glaciers moved, they ground the rock into a fine powder, which settled into the lakes that formed. That powder absorbs the red, orange and yellow colors of the spectrum, and reflects the blues and greens.

We learned this from a phone app called GyPSy Guide (gypsyguide.com). The tours are inexpensive to download, usually about $5 each. It syncs up with the GPS in your phone so that when you play it back, it’s describing what you’re seeing out your window, and what’s coming up. We used it throughout our Banff trip, and again in the Glacier and Yellowstone NPs. It was always spot on, accurate and interesting.

Without it, we might have missed the turn off the highway to the tiny parking lot for Peyto Lake. Then it’s about a quarter-mile dirt path to a wooden deck overlooking the lake. Unlike Lake Louise, Morraine Lake, and some of the other better-know spots in Banff NP, there was no crowd at Peyto Lake. Except for a Japanese couple and their baby son, we had it to ourselves. And that alone makes it one of the rarest and most precious summertime sites in the area. I’d love to go back to Banff. And if I do, I hope to go right after Labor Day, when all the other tourists have gone back home.

This land is your land

My first love in photography is birds, but I’ve developed a strong interest in landscape photography. As a retirement gift to myself, I bought a wide-angle lens just for shots like this. Our first trip post-retirement was to three of our glorious National Parks, Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. This is in Glacier.

In the center of the frame is Grinnell Peak, and that’s Swiftcurrent lake in the foreground. They’re on the East side of the park, which is also the less crowded side. There’s only one hotel on that side of the park, and it’s a beauty. It’s built in the style of a Swiss chalet. I’m sure it’s not an inexpensive place to stay, and I’m also sure it books up quickly for the summer months. But if I were going back to Glacier, I’d want to stay here. This shot was taken from near the dock immediately behind the hotel.

I will say again here I think Ken Burns was exactly right when he subtitled his documentary on our National Parks “America’s Best Idea.” I am humbled, amazed and so thankful that a century ago there were wealthy and powerful Americans who worked to protect and preserve huge tracts of lands, so that you and I could enjoy sights like this.

2019 Calendar

My 2019 calendar arrived in the mail yesterday. The adjective doesn’t merely indicate possession; it’s my calendar because I created it. I started making a calendar five or six years ago to share the fruits my burgeoning photography hobby with friends. I also use it as a way to challenge myself to keep finding new birds and keep improving my photography skills them.

I took the cover picture of the cedar waxwing while hiking in Glacier National Park this summer. It was our first trip after our retirements. I was thrilled to get this shot for a few reasons. I rarely see them around here, I think they’re gorgeous, and I missed a great chance summer before last to get a picture of two of them munching on berries in the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

In addition to the cedar waxing photo, which is also the bird for May, two other photos came from our trip out West. I saw the American dipper in Glacier NP, and the Western tanager outside Grand Tetons NP. Three more of the photos for this calendar came from my trip last May to the Biggest Week in American Birding, and another three from a trip to Florida back in February with our friend Debbie. The remaining three shots were from other trips before 2017.

This is the first time I’m offering the calendar for sale through my website. I was gratified by the response I got. I’m also very happy with the job my new vendor did. If you ordered a calendar, thank you! It’s on its way to you and I hope you enjoy it. If you didn’t order one, you’ll have another chance next year. Watch this space!

Man vs. Squirrel

What you see here represents the culmination of months of frustration and much trial-and-error. But now I can declare victory over an animal with a brain the size of a walnut. And although I sometimes have at least a dozen squirrels scavenging around the grounds under my bird feeders, there was only one who constantly defeated by baffles and found its way up on to the feeders. It didn’t matter where I put the baffle. If it was too close to the ground, this squirrel would simply leap completely over it, and then climb the pole to the promised land. If I put it too high, the squirrel could jump up to the bottom of the lowest-hanging tube feeder, and climb up from there. It was really quite impressive.

I bought some anti-bird spikes and super-glued them to the baffle, thinking that would do the trick. I was wrong. Like some featured performer from the Cirque du Soleil, it jumped in one continuous motion from the ground to a two-inch square space not covered by the spikes, and from that space on to the pole above the baffle. From there, the buffet was a sure thing.

Fortunately for my obsession, Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man. A few lengths of the right sized PVC, a connector and a clamp — and Voila!. The birds now feast away while even the super-squirrel must wait on the ground below, picking up the crumbs.

You’ll notice the big feeder at the top is listing a bit. It tilts 23 degrees, identical to the earth’s axial tilt. I’ll rotate it from season to season, to match the earth’s relationship to the sun. Please do not believe either of those last two sentences. I just completely made that stuff up. But it sounds good, doesn’t it?

Actually, the earth’s axial tilt really is about 23 degrees, which is why we have the changes of seasons. But that’s got nothing to do with my bird feeders, which are on duty winter, spring, summer and fall. Just like those damned squirrels.

Nonpareil

I don’t normally take pictures of birds at feeders, but I think this one is just too good to pass up!

Those colors aren’t Photoshopped or manipulated in any way. That’s just how a male painted bunting looks. There is not a more colorful bird in the United States. You’ll find them in the Southeast and South-central U.S. during the breeding season. They have the good sense to spend the winters from the southern tip of Florida down through Central America.

I remember the first time I ever saw a painted bunting. We were vacationing on Hilton Head in March with our friends Bob and Barbara. I was walking by the sliding glass door to the deck when a flash of color at a feeder caught my eye. I screamed, bringing my wife, Bob and Barbara hurrying to me to see how I might have injured myself. My wife gasped — the sight of the painted bunting had taken her breath away!

The French name for this member of the finch family is “nonpareil,” which means “unequaled.” No argument here.

I took this picture last February at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, about two weeks after the annual birding festival there. Although we got a few very nice shots, there were disappointingly few birds there that week. The week before, the Space X company had launched a rocket from the southern tip of Merritt Island, a spot named Cape Canaveral. Seems our fine feathered friends didn’t dig the noise and vibrations, and they decided to spend the rest of the winter in a quieter part of Florida.

The neighborhood gang

I have birds at my backyard feeders pretty much all day long. On any day, I’ll see up to two dozen different kinds of birds.

I’m lucky to have the kind of backyard birds love. It’s fairly large with lots of trees and shrubs in and around and open enough to make getting in and out very easy. The getting in and out easy is important, not only because cats sometimes wander through in search of a meal, but also because hawks are regular visitors. Several times over the years, I’ve watched from the bay window in our kitchen with equal parts horror and fascination as a predator like this Cooper’s Hawk swooped in and grabbed a mourning dove or robin. Nature can be as brutal as it is beautiful.

I was sitting at our kitchen table looking out that bay window one fall morning a few years ago when I saw this hawk perched in the dogwood tree next to our house. It was a cold and blustery day, which helps explain why the bird is puffed up (birds do that to insulate themselves), why its feathers are ruffled, and why I am inside my house. I got my camera, and shot this from the kitchen table through the bay window. I love how imperious raptors appear when they’re perching. I also marvel at how clean my bay window must have been to allow a shot like this.

If you’re interested in attracting birds to your yard, here are a few basics that might help. Keep feeders far enough from trees and roofs to prevent squirrels from jumping on them. Use baffles—I use witch’s hat baffles—on the polls supporting your feeders to discourage squirrels from climbing up from the ground. Or if you have the budget, buy a feeder like the Brome Squirrel-buster. They have an adjustable, weight-sensitive spring that prevents squirrels and heavier birds such as crows from eating any of the seed. Birds also need water, so they’ll love a bird bath.

My wife jokes that we have the best-fed birds in Atlanta, and that our children would go hungry before my birds did. For the record, both of our children have always maintained a healthy weight. But I do love feeding the birds so that I can sit at my bay window and watch the show.