Monday in Nature, 1st April 2019

Basic Guidelines: In the strictest sense, nature photography should not include "hand of man elements". Please refrain from images with buildings or human made structures like roads, fences, walls. Pets are not permitted. Captive subjects in zoos, arboretums, or aquariums are permitted, but must be declared, and must focus on the subject, not the captivity. Images with obvious human made elements will likely be deleted from the thread, with an explanation to the photographer. Guidelines are based on PSA rules governing Nature photography which also cover the Nature Forum. Keep your image at/under 1000 pixels on the long axis for in-line viewing. Note that this includes photos hosted off-site at Flicker, Photobucket, your own site, etc Are you new to this thread? We post one image per week.

 

Each member please post no more than just one image to this weekly thread per week.

Pied-billed grebe, captured yesterday, March 31, 2019 at the Ed Levin County Park in Milpitas, California

(San Francisco Bay Area)

 

Bleating Red-winged Blackbird by David Stephens, on Flickr

David, very nice red-winged blackbird. They are not difficult to find here in California, but they are difficult to photograph. They like to cling onto reeds and are frequently semi-obscured by the vegetation.

David, very nice red-winged blackbird. They are not difficult to find here in California, but they are difficult to photograph. They like to cling onto reeds and are frequently semi-obscured by the vegetation.

 

Thank you Shun.

 

Same here. That's why I shoot whenever I see one in the open. The light was hitting this guy obliquely, but really lighting one of his epaulets, so I shot and was pleasantly surprised with the result. To process, I raise Blacks and Shadows a bit. I was tempted, but didn't add light to the eyes.

Bleating Red-winged Blackbird by David Stephens, on Flickr

It's that time of year when these birds are out in force, and this picture is a great representation of their personality. I'm an avid bicyclist and I get buzzed by these kamikazes many times a year, and usually they actually make contact with the back of my helmet at least a couple times. Have to give them credit for excellent nest protection, but it is very unnerving when they actually touch you. :-)

Sandhill crane with a tasty morsel

Red Tailed Hawk from last year's North Dakota trip. (And thanks again, Sandy, for a most enjoyable visit en route!)

Texas Wildflowers

Pair of Sandhill Cranes at our local industrial park on Saturday. The largest crane (? male) kept exhibiting some behaviors I initially thought might be mating behavior - arched his neck back, opened his beak wide open and jumped a foot or two off the ground, often with a little squawk not at all similar to typical sandhill vocalizations. But then I noticed he would just do it when I was trying to creep closer, so I think it was an indication of him not liking my closer presence. Never tried to fly off. I didn't get a decent image of that behavior as I was using my "car camera" which doesn't do well with moving birds. Nevertheless, interesting.

Lonely Tree.

Olympus EM1 II camerw tih Olympus 12-100mm lens @44mm (88 mm in 35mm format).