birding adventures

[LimeNine]

I've become obsessed with birding, wanna see some of my photos from the past few weeks?

March 7, 2014 ; I filled the Z28 with premium and grabbed the spare camera battery in search of migrating Sandhill Cranes



3 hour drive to south central Indiana to a marshy flood plane of the East Fork White River called Ewing Bottoms, near Ewing Indiana



Literally Thousands of these large Sandhill Cranes mucking around in corn stubble



Amazing to watch their antics, or mating rituals or whatever it is they're doing



One of them would toss a corn stalk into the air and they'd all start hopping around flapping wings



It looked like this everywhere you'd look, I stumbled into the center of maybe a mile radius of thousands and thousands of Sandhill Cranes on their way to Canada

[LimeNine]

March 14, 2014
I photographed a Bald Eagle hunting for breakfast at Eastwood Lake in Dayton Ohio



Saturday March 15, 2014
I was photographing the 17" tall Pileated Woodpecker near Dayton



I've seen this woodpecker many times and this past Saturday March 22, 2014 was no different
I like this in flight photo because it's wings look like the keys of a piano



I'm hoping to see baby Pileated Woodpeckers emerge from this nest he's building, I check this tree every otherday or third day, you can see the two distinctive red facial stripes on this male, whom I've read spends most of the time burrowing the nest, female will arrive to do "final decorations" before laying eggs
You can see the "mulch" Mr. Woodpecker is removing.

[0rion]

there are tons of those pileated woodpeckers where I bow hunt at....when they get fired up they're some of the most annoying sum bitches in the woods. They either sound like someone beating a tree with a pick axe or making one of the loudest calls of any bird in the woods.

[wileyCoyote]

awesome eagle pic!

[KahanaReef]

Looks like those Sandhill Cranes were having quite the party

Always like seeing your pictures.

[5.0THIS]

I remember awhile back I got woken up several days in a row by a woodpecker. Just like limenine, I had the strong urge to shoot the woodpecker.

[KahanaReef]

I remember awhile back I got woken up several days in a row by a woodpecker. Just like limenine, I had the strong urge to shoot the woodpecker.

The first time I was awoken by one it freaked me out. I had just moved to the mountains and had never had a wood pecker knocking on the side of my second story bedroom wall before. I did not know what it was I got up and started trying to track down this obnoxious knocking sound. I went looking around the house and then outside and around to the back of the cabin where the bedroom wall was, and saw and heard nothing. This went on for a couple of days before I spotted the little bugger. I'm an animal lover. But, I can honestly say that I also had a strong urge to shoot the little SOB.

[LimeNine]

this ugly turkey vulture was standing in the road as I turned the corner this morning


So stopped to take it's photo, and I happened to look up and see three more of its buddies sitting here


And two more on this branch


I counted over 20 of these ugly birds this morning in three different trees in the same area, there was one small raccoon road kill, doubt there was enough to feed all 20 vultures

[LimeNine]

Yesterday I was scouting an open field for new Spring arrivals and sure enough I spied a colorful Meadowlark


Pretty Bird


Uht Oh, now it's seen me


No don't flex those Meadowlark legs - don't leave !!!


Soaring off into the sunset away from the guy with the camera

[LimeNine]

walking towards the Z28 I noticed this squadron of Pectoral Sandpipers in formation to land


A sure sign of Spring here in Ohio is the sighting of shore birds


Nice to have a variety of subjects to shoot


Cuz I've been wearing out some goldfinch feeder birds,