We have many visitors around the yard and I do my best to capture them. Lately I have been focusing on the Hummingbirds but I did get a bit lucky a few days ago. I have been trying to get a decent shot of the Red Shouldered Hawks that hang around the neighborhood for almost a year now. I will admit that I haven’t put 100 percent effort into it. Well last weekend we had a Hurricane or tropical storm, or whatever it was by the time it hit the Carolina coast. We received some moderately high wind speeds and heaps of rain. The morning after the storm passed the sun began to break through and I noticed that the Red Shouldered Hawk was back. I managed to sneak up on him drying out in the woods. Not the best image quality but the closest I have gotten to the Hawk to date.
Later that same day I was photographing the Hummingbirds and I happened to look up right as the Hawk was flying overhead. I pointed the camera and began firing away. To my surprise my settings were almost perfect. Sometimes you just get lucky. I now have my first usable shots of the Hawk in flight and am looking forward to getting some more.
Bonus images of the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. One of them was quite cheeky and looked right at me while sticking out its tongue.
About a two weeks ago I decided that it was time to thoroughly clean all of the bird feeders around the yard. After a good cleaning and plenty of time left in the sun to dry it was time to replenish seed/suet cakes and place them back on their respective hangers. Shortly after completing this process I was outside looking at the garden box and the feeders and I saw a little Hummingbird buzzing around one of my seed feeders. The feeder is red which I assume might have drawn it in. After inspecting the feeder and determining that the food provided was no good the little bird buzzed off. I have thought about putting up a feeder for them but wasn’t sure there were any around. Now that I knew for sure and with encouragement from David Akoubian of Bear Woods Photography and Bear Woods Happenings telling me “If you build it they will come” (ha-ha) I decided to put up a feeder.
Almost instantly I had two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds coming to the feeder. They were very skittish at first and if I was anywhere near the window or outside they would not show up or leave immediately if they were already feeding. I was eager to get some photos but I decided to practice patience and let the birds get used to me and the feeder. Well the strategy has certainly paid off. I can now get within about 8 feet of the birds while they feed and they fly even closer than that to me. Here are a few of the photos. I am new to shooting Hummingbirds and the lighting has not been great but overall I am pleased and looking forward to improving.
I figured it was probably time to post some new pictures but I don’t have anything all that interesting to post at the moment so here is a shot of Oshie running and two shots of a Mississippi Kite returning to its perch with a meal. The kites have been hanging around in a tree across from our house catching all the big flying bugs. It is pretty neat to watch the aerial acrobatics they perform while chasing dragon flies and other large flying insects.
This adult male Western Lowland Gorilla decided he wanted to eat his lunch in peace. He grabbed the branch and sauntered off to where no one could watch him eat.
Jesse
Nancy
Oshie's World 
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