Bird Day

Yesterday was a bird day for me. During late morning I heard bird chatter outside and checked what the commotion was about. There was a female turkey under one of our bird feeders, gobbling up the seeds that fell on the ground. By the time I grabbed my camera and went out the front door to not disturb it, it was gone. But then I saw a turkey flying from one of the tall trees on our hillside down to the bottom of the hill where it joined another turkey. Wow, what a sight! I had never seen a turkey flying from a tall tree before. I didn't know they could fly this high.

After lunch I went to the Aviary to get some bird photography done. I had not taken my camera there for a while. The photo above of a Troupial is the best I got and it posed for me several times to make sure I got a good one. I had great fun "shooting" all the different birds but I can't wait to get out in nature again to add some more species to my stock photo list.

Published Again

The year 2008 is off to a good start. I just returned from the mailbox with my contributor copies of Pennsylvania Magazine of my article "Painting Noses." The big surprise was that the article was slated for publication in September 2008 so I didn't expect to see it yet. The editor ended up using six of my photos, a new record for me. I'm happy to say that the photos came out very nice. While my specialty is bird photography nowadays, the images show some pretty big birds, KC-135T tankers to be exact.
In November, Allegheny West magazine published a two-page story about my bird photography. I was recently asked by a garden club whether I would like to give a talk about how to attract birds to a garden. I gladly accepted the challenge because it gives me an opportunity to share my love of nature and wildlife with like-minded people. Our little butterfly garden attracts not only monarchs, tiger swallowtails and other butterflies, but also various insects, hummingbirds and goldfinches who eat the coneflower seeds in fall. My talk will take place in April so I'll plenty of time to prepare for it. Who knows what other opportunities it will lead to?
In our own backyard, the recent snowfall has brought many birds to our feeders, particularly juncos. Where do they all come from and what do they do when the weather is nice? We also noticed that our "resident" Cooper's Hawk (which I once photographed on our bird bath) is still in the area. I guess hawks have to eat too, but I hope it doesn't eat too many of the birds we feed.
I'm busy marketing my photos and look forward to the challenges and opportunities of the new year.