Blog Profile / Craig's Birds

Killdeer at Sherburne NWR

Last week, my father and I took a drive up to Sherburne NWR and had a pretty successful day. At one point as we were driving around the auto tour we pulled off into a viewing area that had a small platform overlooking a pool. As we got...Show More Summary

Dickcissel

The first bird we saw at Randolph was the Dickcissel, yet another life bird for all three of us. They were all over and are very chatty birds. They pretty much sang the entire time we were there. I think I was most pleased with these shots from the day.

Bobolink

We had never seen a Bobolink before and although we had heard they were there, we didn't spot this one until right before we left. We were just saying that it was time to go and my Father spotted a bird farther out in the field so he went to check it out and low and behold it was a Bobolink.

Grasshopper Sparrow

Here's the Grasshopper Sparrow from the other day. There call is actually quite distinctive. My mother compared it to a locust which I had to agree with.Again, if this looks like the wrong ID please let me know! :)...

Savannah Sparrow

Hello All,Last weekend I went down to the Randolph Industrial Park with my mother and father we saw quite a few new birds for all of us. My expectation was that this was going to be a park in the sense that it would have trails, or a playground, or something generally associated with a park. Show More Summary

Carlos Avery Continued

I did find a life bird while I was at Carlos Avery on Friday. When I saw it, I knew that it was not a bird I had seen before. I didn't have my field guide but I made a good guess at what it was and was able to confirm it when I got home and looked it up. Show More Summary

Carlos Avery

Hey All,I was able to get out for a short evening at Carlos Avery last Friday night and I had a really nice time. I saw quite a few birds and did a bit of shooting as well. This Green Heron was a really cooperative bird so I took quite a few shots and here are the ones I liked best.Green Heron:

Chestnut-sided Warbler

As promised here are the shots of the Chestnut-sided Warbler!...

Blue-headed Vireo

Hey All,I know that you thought I had forgotten about you, and honestly there is a bit a of truth to that. Life brings its ups and downs and I have had my fair share of both over the last months which has been quite distracting. I haven't...Show More Summary

Macro Monday

Can you guess what this one is?...

..and More Back Yard Birds

We've been fortunate to have a good supply of woodpeckers in our yard over the last few years including regular visits from Pileated and even a visit from the Red-headed Woodpecker. The Downy Woodpecker is also a regular at our suet feeder and deserves some recognition for being a part of our birding lives.Downy Woodpecker:

More Back Yard Birds

Interestingly enough, I realized the other day that I really didn't have a decent shot of a Black-capped Chickadee. These birds are always in our yard and at the feeders. They are dependable that way and I appreciate that. :)Black-capped Chickadee:

Back Yard Birds

It was such a nice day out today compared to the recent weather we have had I decided to just sit in the backyard and take a few shots of the birds in my yard and on my feeders. I had the "usuals" that visit my feeders which are Downy's, Chickadees, and Nuthatches. Show More Summary

Macro Monday

Sitting and Landing Swans

I still find it hard to believe that the cold water and ice doesn't bother the birds. They seemed quite content even though we were all freezing!...

Macro Monday

I've working more on my macro photography so I thought I would start doing a Macro Monday shot. Here's the first one! :)White Sea Shell:...

Flight of the Swans

Here's one more flight shot:...

Swans in Flight

There were a lot of opportunities to shoot pictures of the swans in flight, and I was somewhat successful. Swans make for good practice on shooting birds in flight mainly because they are big enough to make focusing on them easy and are slow enough that you can keep up with them as the pass in front of you. Show More Summary

Swans in the Mist

Due to the cold, there was a bit of mist/steam coming off of the water which made for a very pretty seen, but it also made for a bit of trouble when taking shots. Sometimes the mist was thick enough where it somewhat obscured the birds. Either way it was still pretty cool to see.

Sleepy Swan

Did I mention that it was about 0 degrees when we went and that there was a pretty good breeze which made it quite chilly to be holding my camera? My first battery didn't last very long, so it was nice to have a second battery which was a gift from my wife for Christmas.