Bald Eagle portrait 1

Bald Eagle portrait 1, a photo by Jen St. Louis on Flickr.

One of the perched shots from Saturday's workshop. As expected, my in-flight shots were horrid. Won't attend that workshop again until I've managed to upgrade my camera. I love my Nikon D90, but it's just too slow for BiF.

Grosbeaks, Grosbeaks, everywhere!

Last night we had four male rose-breasted grosbeaks on our feeders at the same time. What a sight that was! The most we'd ever seen together before were two, so needless to say, we were surprised to see so many. They're such beautiful birds... and I can't seem to get a decent picture of one to save my life. **grumbles**

Anyway, heading down to Simcoe this afternoon to a birds-in-flight workshop with some of the birds from the Canadian Raptor Conservancy. I'm a little worried that my camera and lenses won't be up to the task, but I guess we'll see! If I get any decent ones, I'll be sure to post them. :)

Male Baltimore Oriole portrait 1 (Explored!)

Male Baltimore Oriole portrait 1 (Explored!), a photo by Jen St. Louis on Flickr.

This one's getting a lot of attention on Flickr right now... One of the male Baltimore Orioles who have taken a liking to our yard.

It's funny, this was one of the birds on my "To Find" list last summer when we did our birding trip down to the states, and it's one of the only ones I didn't find. As soon as we got home, they showed up at our feeder. I hoped they'd come back this year, and man, have they ever. We seem to have at least two pair of them, which is awesome. Love these birds!

They're baaaa-aaaack!

They're baaaa-aaaack!, a photo by Jen St. Louis on Flickr.

I love our hummingbirds. I really, really do. They make such awesome photography subjects... even if they make me crazy by moving so damn fast.

Yard visitors

Some of our more amusing yard birds over the past couple of days: the Indigo Bunting intermingling with some Godlfinches, and a male Baltimore Oriole playing hummingbird at a feeder that's most definitely intended for smaller, hovering-type birds.

Feelin' blue... but in a good way!

Went to the garden centres and spent a small fortune on a nice variety of bird-friendly plants. Going to go start planting shortly.

When we got home, we had a lovely surprise on the feeder - a beautiful male indigo bunting. We saw them a few times last summer, but much later (late July, after they'd harvested the wheat in the one field adjacent to our yard). Totally made my day. :)

Tree swallow

Tree swallow 3, a photo by Jen St. Louis on Flickr.

Spent some time out at Snyder's Flats a couple of weekends ago with a friend and fellow photographer. We were really hoping for some Osprey shots, but they were very uncooperative. Had to settle for some song birds, and even then I was disappointed in most of my shots. This tree swallow picture is probably my best of the day, I'm afraid.

The more I look at it, the more I like it, though... :)