Best of Birding 2017

It has been a slow year for me from a photography standpoint, but I have managed to get out and take some photographs especially of birds. Here are my top three picks for bird photography for 2017.

No. 1: In February, I captured this image of a Sandhill Crane migrating south for the Winter in Cecilia, Kentucky foraging for food next to a pond. The thing I like best about these birds are how large they are and, in spite of that, still seem so utterly delicate.

No. 2: This beauty was added to my Birding Life List. This Summer Tanager was up and down on the branches of the Crab Apple trees in Cheekwood Botanical Gardens in Nashville, Tennessee, grabbing seed after seed and swallowing each one whole. I managed to capture this image before this seed went down the hatch. The depths of red on this tiny little creative is just mesmerizing.

No. 3: I just added this image in the past two weeks as the American White Pelicans had made a stop over on their migration route south on Old Hickory Lake, in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Virtually right out my front door. The Pelicans, to my delight, are still here on the lake. What I wouldn't give if they would stay and overwinter here allowing me photos ops aplenty.

I'll post my best landscape and flower image(s) in a few days. In the meantime, I hope you are getting your decorating on. My tree is up and lit and adorning my living room with wreaths and table decorations all around. I decorate in the classic red and green colors as it brings such a beautiful uplifting feeling in Winter, when there are numerous gloomy days. I hope you are having a fantastic week. We're heading into the weekend. ENJOY!

Sandhill Crane Watch

It has been several years since I have been able to photograph the beautiful Sandhill Cranes that use Kentucky as a flyway on their way South to Hiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, in southeast Tennessee, and points further South. Today was one of those days. I was on my way home after a brief visit to Louisville to take care of some business with my condo there. Earlier in the week I had read on the aba.bird.org website that over ten thousand Cranes had stopped over south of Elizabethtown in Cecilia for a rest.

I have photographed the Cranes in Cecilia several years ago. It's not easy getting decent images as the Cranes are normally far off in plowed corn fields feeding. But just as I was leaving, I noticed a group of Cranes near a pond in a yard off the highway. I managed to capture these images getting as close as I could without disturbing the Cranes.

I can't help it, Sandhill Cranes, to me, are so beautiful. Hiawassee National Wildlife Refuge is almost two hours from my home in northeast Nashville. Some day I shall pay a visit. I also read on the same website this week that there are thousands and thousands of Cranes overwintering at the refuge. It won't be long before they will fly north to their nesting grounds in Canada. I would love to see a nest one day and the smaller chicks. What fun that would be. I trust you are having a wonderful weekend. It's been very cold here, but there's a warm up on the way this week. ENJOY!

Graceful Sandhill Cranes

Without a shadow of a doubt, these beautiful Sandhill Cranes appear the most graceful when in flight.

From pecking the ground while they feed, to dancing about in the midst of hundreds of other cranes in their ritual mating dance, to stretching out their wings to lift their large bodies off the ground, to witnessing them fly overhead. Yes, these creatures are gorgeous. No doubt. Please cry uncle if you tire of my Crane images. I won't mind. Thanks to everyone for your well wishes on my post last evening. I promise I'll be back out soon on yet another photo trek. ENJOY!

Sandhill Cranes Up Close

Sandhill Cranes close up . . .

And close up . . .

And in flight . . .

I captured these images near the fire station in Cecilia, Kentucky. The Cranes have been there for about a week flying in and out of different farm fields. It was kind of like Cranapolooza the day I took these. ENJOY!

Sandhill Cranes, Perspective!

Another image from yesterday's drive to photograph the Sandhill Cranes staging in areas around Cecilia, Kentucky. This particular image was starkly green and vastly out of focus. I had mistakenly turned the setting on my camera in the wrong direction. I realized after I took this photograph and changed it. But there was no going back to get this image again. After some work, I did manage to get most of the green out of the image, but at the cost of clarity and much more. But still I felt I wanted you to see this image as its perspective is so unique. Two cranes looking in opposite directions. Perspective is important in an image. In this one it's quite dominant. And while it's not my best work, granted it's pretty lousy in quality, it's ok. Because into every life a little imperfection is ok. ENJOY!