I used to be…obsessed with getting these kinds of photographs but found that going through so many frames on the computer was too time-consuming. The part of photography I really enjoy is outside with the birds. But spending the time to figure it out was a good reminder that learning a skill is 90% a matter of repetition. Maybe 5% is learning how to be around birds. 3% is gear and 2% is luck (right place, right time). It’s still nice to have a lucky morning.

look at this tall chicken

Always ready for anything to happen. This one got tired of being chased away from nectar by other birds so she decided to hang out with me and take a bath on a batch of leaves that had just been hit with the sprinkler.

Back and ready for another day of breakfasts, lunches, and suppers.

A soft mourning dove in soft light.

I did not get to watch bumbling Cooper’s hawk fledglings this year because the pine is under direct surveillance from the red tailed hawks so the mama Cooper’s hawk nested a couple of houses over instead. The other day one of her children came to introduce itself though…

just stompin