Share Your Photos Night 2015

Bob Horn

Warblers taken at Magee Marsh.

Bob McGuire

1) Barred Owl: Caught on Hammond Hill while netting and banding Saw-whet Owls

2) Hand feeding Gray Jay in Algonquin Park

3) Goldfinch on sunflower - chosen for the lush green in the (now) depths of winter

4) Green Heron feeding on frog

5) How do you weigh a Gray Jay?

André LaClair

The eagle's nest is less than 2 miles from my home as the crow flies, and is about 400 yards from the best viewing location from where the photos were taken with my old manual 600mm Nikon lens. Even with the 1.5X effect of the digital SLR (Nikon D7100), the first 2 photos represent only 25% of the captured image.

The last two were taken a few weeks later after purchasing a 95mm Swarovski scoping scope, and represent my 1st attempts at digi-scoping. Although I could nearly fill the frame with the nest, the scope is much slower and I had to try to get past camera vibration by cranking up the ISO to 3200 and used the highest filtering setting on the camera so the detail is quite poor. This drove me (birds do make you crazy or impulsive, don't they?) to by a super-heavy duty Jobu Pro 2 tripod head to replace my Wimberly head, and I also bought a top-of-the-line heavy-duty Gitzo carbon tripod! After this investment, I hope they successfully nest again this year! It was fascinating to watch the parents fish in the river, and even occasionally row back to shore with their wings when they dove too deep or caught a fish too large, and could not takeoff from the water.  They would simply shake off on the shore, pick up the fish and then fly on up to the nest.

Donna Scott

My “theme” is “I’ve Got My Eye On You!”

Photo 1: #118, female Spruce Grouse in Spruce tree between Kilometer 3 & 4, Arowhon Road, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada.

This was spring, courtship time. Note red wattle over her eye.

Photo 2: #111, male Spruce Grouse, near female Spruce Grouse, on Arowhon Road. Note how pretty his wattle is!

Photo 3: #120, He’s got his eye on her, alright!

Photo 4, # 750, Here is our friend from last fall, the Purple Sandpiper at Myers Park, Lansing. I have another photo showing a piece of food in the bird’s bill.

Photo 5, #070, Snowy Owl found originally by Bob McGuire on Salt Road in Groton, Dec. 2014. At first the owl was sitting on the snowy ground in the field.  Both Gary K. and I watched it from our respective cars. Just after Gary left, I heard two Ravens croaking in the distance behind (to the east of) the Snowy Owl.  They rapidly flew into the field, croaking all the while, and proceeded to take turns swooping down near the owl.  The owl just kept turning his head around and up, watching the Ravens, but did not seem upset.  Soon, the Ravens left. A short time later the owl flew over to the post on which it is sitting in the photo. A couple times it stretched its neck like this!

Chris Pelkie

Diane Morton and Ken Kemphues

Some birds seen on CBC field trips in winter:

Snowy Owl, Genoa NY 

Snow Buntings in a tree, King Ferry NY

Snow Buntings and one hiding Lapland Longspur, King Ferry NY

Long-tailed Ducks, Fair Haven State Park

Merlin, Myers Point

Carl Steckler and Meg Richardson

Suan Yong

Quick descriptions:

1. Chinstrap penguin porpoising in Antarctica.

2. Hooded Merganser at Myers Park.

3. Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo in the Dominican Republic.

4. Austral Pygmy Owl at Torres del Paine, Chile.

5. Patagonian scanvengers in Argentina, including Andean Condors (adults and juveniles), Southern Caracaras, and a White-Throated Caracara. The carcass is of a guanaco.

Larry and Sara Jane Hymes

2 "iphone" photos of a 'true' feeding, or looking to feed, yard bird--which was new to us at our feeder taken Jan. 2. Red tail was not really interested in the squirrel seen in 2nd photo. (But squirrel stayed hidden in baffle for 5 min. before venturing out!!)

Paul Anderson

Last year I went on a family vacation to Hawaii.On several of the islands there are lots of feral chickens. I didn't think much of them until I read that they are not western-introduced, but are descendants of the birds that were brought to the islands by the original Polynesian settlers about a thousand years ago. As such they are much more closely related to the Red Jungle Fowl. This is the closest I am ever likely to get to a real native chicken. Now imagine you had never seen a chicken before. Wouldn't you agree that this is a stunningly beautiful bird?

The second bird is a Red-billed Tropicbird seen off Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge on Kauai, one of the best spots for birdwatching in Hawaii.

Also in that same spot were Laysan Albatrosses, and the Nene - the native Hawaii'an Goose. Both were severely endangered but have so-far been lucky to escape the fate of so many other native Hawaiian birds.

Finally, this Scarlet Tanager was my favorite photograph from the basin this season. These birds always make my jaw drop.