Northern Flicker in the Grass (Dry Brush Filter)

The Northern Flicker was a new bird species for me this year, but after I first noticed it, it seems that I would continue to see it all over the place. (It's like buying a new car and then seeing everyone else driving that same car all over the place.) Thanks for stopping by!

American Robin in a Birch Tree (Dry Brush Filter)

An American Robin was perched in a birch tree outside my window. I processed the above version without Photomatix, but then sent a TIF file of the above photo through Photomatix for the following result:

The colors stand out a little bit better than in the original. Thanks for stopping by!

Brown-headed Cowbirds (Sponge Filter)

These cowbirds were a new species of bird for me, as I had never seen a cowbird before. (At least, I had never identified a cowbird before.) They weren't around for very long, at least, I seem to have caught some sort of window in which I happened to catch them with my camera. Thanks for stopping by!

European Starling with Worm Part 2 (Watercolor Filter)

Here is another shot that followed the photo which I posted yesterday. Thanks for stopping by!

European Starling with Worm (Sponge Filter)

The subject matter here might be the slightest bit gross (depending on your sensibilities,) but I really like the patterns in these European Starlings. Their yellow beaks were what first had differentiated them for me from the Grackles, but when you send the bird through processing, you can really make its color patterns stand out. This bird had been searching the lawn, and here you see that it came out successfully with a worm (the gross part). Thanks for stopping by!

Blue Jay in a Tree (Dry Brush Filter)

The Blue Jay is a very territorial bird, but I like the pretty patterns in the feathers on its back. This Blue Jay gave me a nice profile as it turned it head for the picture. Thanks for stopping by!

House Sparrow in the Grass (Watercolor Filter)

I caught an image of this house sparrow as it was making its way through the lawn. Thanks for stopping by!

Scarlet Tanager with a Jelly Jar (Dry Brush Filter)

I had been trying to attract the birds to my deck with a jar of jelly. It didn't really work as well as the bright orange bird feeder, but here is a Scarlet Tanager checking things out. Thanks for stopping by!

Scarlet Tanager (Dry Brush Filter)

We did not have a very great window with the Scarlet Tanagers this year, maybe only a couple of days. (This picture was from a little more than a month ago, May 18. I am about a month behind in my processing and posting.) The little squiggly lines that you see all over the photo were something that I found in processing, something that reminded me of a Vincent van Gogh painting. (Ok, this is not van Gogh. I simply thought about van Gogh as I looked at this picture.) Thanks for stopping by!

Oriole on the Lamppost

This oriole was perched atop a lamppost. What I liked best about this image is the position of its claws on the roof of the lamppost, all spread out, as the oriole attempts to keep its place on top of the cone. Thanks for stopping by!

Mourning Dove on the Sidewalk (Dry Brush Filter)

With all of the patterns in its feathers, the Mourning Dove is a pretty bird. It also has a very distinctive (mourning) call. Thanks for stopping by!

Male Oriole Dropping Down (Dry Brush Filter)

The oriole here was dropping down from an overhead wire, spreading its wings as it made its approach to my jelly bird feeder. Thanks for stopping by!

Female Oriole, Looking Up

There was almost something of the ballet in this pose of the female oriole. She was tilting her neck backwards so that she could look up as the male oriole (outside the frame in this pic), which came flying in and was making its way down to the feeder. Even though it's a weird crop, I really liked the angle on the female, as it made for an interesting pose.

The next image caught the male, too:

Thanks for stopping by!

Robin in Green Foliage (Palette Knife Filter)

Composition-wise, I know that it's one of those amateur-type things to do to stick the subject of your photo in the middle of the photo. Nevertheless, no matter how I tried to crop it, I really liked the placement of the robin in this photo, almost at a vanishing point as it was hidden within the depth of the trees. I also wasn't too keen on the blurriness of some of the branches, so I found a way around it by using a palette knife filter and then splicing two images together, in which I erased away everything except for the bird. Thanks for stopping by!

BW Female House Finch

Here is another black and white image of a female house finch on my bird feeder. I converted the image to black and white, largely because the orange of the feeder reflected up on the bird. There was something about this female house finch that seemed particularly feminine to me; maybe it was the eyes? Thanks for stopping by!

Chipping Sparrow out on a Limb

Maybe it's not a limb; maybe it's just a branch. "Chipping Sparrow out on a Branch" doesn't sound nearly as cool as "Chipping Sparrow out on a Limb," though. Thanks for stopping by!

Crab Apple Flowers (Dry Brush Filter)

I'm thinking back to May when the crab apple blossoms were blooming on the tree in my yard. For some reason, my tree was blooming later than many of the other trees in town. Thanks for stopping by!

Pair of European Starlings (Dry Brush Filter)

I liked the pose that I had with this pair of European Starlings. They were combing the ground, looking for grubs or worms. Thanks for stopping by!

Portrait of a Northern Flicker in the Grass

I don't think that I had seen a Northern Flicker before this year, and now I seem to notice them more and more often.  (It's amazing what you notice once something is on your radar.) Thanks for stopping by!

Brown Thrasher Beside Tree (Dry Brush Filter)

When I hear the name "brown thrasher," and particularly when this name is applied to a bird, I expect to see something that is much more violent (and bigger, much bigger) than the bird that you see pictured here. Brown Thrasher sounds like the evil archnemesis of Big Bird, not this little brown bird with spots.

Granted, as I watched the bird go through the yard, overturning leaves, looking for grubs (or bugs or whatever it was hoping to it,) I could see where the name "thrasher" applies. Thanks for stopping by!

Brown Thrasher

A few weeks after I started seeing the hermit thrush, I saw a very similar looking bird -- the brown thrasher (more info here). What stood out to me about this bird was the yellow color in its eyes.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bluebird Pics (Dry Brush Filter)

The bluebird was a little bit far away, so the pictures are a little bit small. However, these may be my only bluebird pics this year, so... here they are!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wild Rabbit Running through the Grass (Dry Brush Filter)

I was watching the wild rabbits a while back as they were working their way through the grass. I happened to catch this one with my camera as the rabbit decided to move. Thanks for stopping by!

Cat in the Yard (Dry Brush Filter)

We affectionately make reference to the neighborhood cats that wander into our yard as "kill traps". We wouldn't mind so much if they came to take out the squirrels. However, we are fairly certain that they are also interested in taking out the birds that we enjoy watching in our yard. (We once saw a neighborhood cat take out an injured rabbit; literally, it carried the rabbit away. Thankfully, we haven't see anything like that yet with the birds.)

Bird inside the Lamppost (Dry Brush Filter)

I never did discover what kind of bird this was, but I thought that it was kind of cool to be able to (sort of) see it through the glass in my lamppost. (While the bird was somewhat visible in the original, the HDR effect in Photomatix helped to bring it out a little.) Thanks for stopping by!

Chipping Sparrow with Seeds (Dry Brush Filter)

I'm always pleased to see the birds on my decking getting to the sunflower seeds (instead of the squirrels).

One of the things that I like best about the chipping sparrow is the stripes that it has in its wings. There's something about it that reminds me of a tiger. (I know, it's rare that anyone would ever compare a chipping sparrow to a tiger, but I just did.) Thanks for stopping by!

Hummingbird

This is my first hummingbird. It's not the greatest picture, but it's the first where I've managed to catch the bird's image. It stopped at my oriole feeder, which apparently is also a hummingbird feeder. (I'll have to look into that...) Thanks for stopping by!

Squirrel, begging? (Dry Brush Filter)

Something about the position of this squirrel's 'hands' suggested a beggar to me; maybe it was knowing that the squirrel was checking out my deck to see if I was going to let it come unhindered to shuck and eat the sunflower seeds?

Female Oriole at the Jelly Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

The orioles usually only latch on to the pole when the jelly level is too low for them to be able to reach from the side. It makes for a cool picture, but it's also a reminder for me to set out more jelly. Thanks for stopping by!

Nuthatch with a Seed in its Beak

This is a common pose that I get from these White-Breasted Nuthatches, the one where the bird picks up the seed in its beak, looks at me with one eye, and, within moments, will turn and fly away. I like the detail that I get in these photos, where I can see individual strands in the bird's feathers. I also like the shape of this bird's claws. Thanks for stopping by!