Although I don’t do it a lot, I really enjoy macro and close-up photography. Most of my subjects are flowers that I buy from the store, so it’s really nice when I have the real thing, live, right outside my door. Something about spring flowers in the garden just makes me feel good and I could spend hours out there making images. Of course if I spend too long then I start to feel guilty about how long the grass is, or how dirty the fence is, or that the garbage needs to go out, or…
I was visiting a friends house today and discovered that they have a pair of Bluejays nesting in their backyard. I immediately sat down to watch and take some pictures. It was very cool to watch! There was always one bird on the nest while the other was off hunting. Every so often the hunter would return to share its meal with the nesting bird.
I was very surprised to discover a Red-winged Blackbird eating from the bird feeder in my backyard this weekend. It spooked when we went outside to watch it, but it came back soon after. My wife and I sat and watched it eat while the kids went crazy playing in the yard. I don’t know how common it is for a blackbird to eat from a feeder, but I’ve never seen it before, so I had to get some pictures to share.
It’s been pretty exciting to watch all the birds come to the feeder through the spring. Among the many House Sparrows that are year round residents in the neighborhood, I’ve also had several White-crowned Sparrows, many Robins, two pairs of House Finches, and (also surpisingly for me) a trio of Common Grackles. Of course there have been many other birds as well, but these are the repeat visitors…
Anyway, here are a few pictures of the Blackbird from the other day. Because of the patchy colors on the wing it appears that this bird is a juvenile (1st summer).
