Nuthatch, Seed Rejected!

Rejected, the seed

has been tossed from the feeder,

not making the cut.

I mentioned in yesterday's post how the nuthatches sometimes (ok, often) seem to pick through the seeds in my feeder. Here's an example of a seed that the nuthatch tossed before going back into the feeder to look for another one. Thanks for stopping by!

Nuthatch Sizing up the Seed

I have yet to figure out exactly why it does this, but the nuthatches notoriously come to my feeder and pick through several seed (usually grabbing one, tossing it onto the ground, grabbing another, etc.) before finally selecting one that it wants and flying away. Are my seeds bad? Is it looking for a particular seed (size, weight?) Did it simply not get the kind of grip that it was hoping for the first time, so it lets the seed go so that it can grab another and try again?

Hmmm....

Thanks for stopping by!

Nuthatch Greetings

It's come for the seed
but has stopped, looks toward you.
A nuthatch hello

Nuthatch Talking to a Tree (Dry Brush Filter)

Now, I know that the nuthatch was not actually talking to the tree, but, from the pose, don't you see where it could look like the nuthatch was talking to the tree? And, if a nuthatch were going to talk to a tree, what do you think it would say? (Do you like how I took a rather ordinary picture and found a way to make it... something... different?) Thanks for stopping by!

And Now for Something Different (Nuthatch, Dry Brush Filter)

When it came to nuthatches, I thought that I had pretty much seen everything. Then came today's pose, courtesy of the nuthatch just about to take off from the feeder, in which the feathers are fanned out in a way that I don't think I've quite caught on camera before. To quote Spock from Star Trek, "Fascinating." Thanks for stopping by!

If You Take Enough Pictures... (Nuthatch, Dry Brush Filter)

If you take enough pictures, you can catch a nuthatch doing just about anything, as in today's photo.

Thanks for stopping by!

Nuthatch Posing with Head Held High at the Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

Part of the visual interest for me in this picture is the way that the bird forms a right triangle with the feeder. How do you get a bird to pose like this for you? Fortuity. Fortuity.

Thanks for stopping by!

Nuthatch Hanging Out at the Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

It was the nuthatch's pose that really drew me into this picture. He looks like a little character hanging out at the bird feeder. What's he thinking? He's probably wondering about the strange guy over there with the camera. Thanks for stopping by!

It's a Blur (Palette Knife/Dry Brush Filters)

Blurry pictures are no fun. The shutter speed simply was not up to the movement of whatever it was that you were shooting. (I usually like to shoot at ISO-100.) If a bird is sitting still (relatively), that usually works great, giving me a shutter speed from anywhere in the neighborhood of 1/25 or faster. To catch all of the details on a bird in flight, I would need to be shooting significantly faster. One of the tricks that I use to get a faster shutter speed is to darken the exposure setting on the image (and then brighten it up in post-processing). Otherwise, bumping up the ISO will also get a faster image, although I have to watch out for weird things (read: artifacts) that sometimes appear in higher ISO images. (I suppose if I'm going to apply a filter to it anyway, what difference does it make?)

Hmmm...

Food for thought. Thanks for stopping by!

A Bird Finding Seeds on the Ground

The seeds that landed on the ground

were surely gone to waste,

until a bird had come and found

them liking to its taste.

Little Bird in the Snow (Paint Daubs Filter)

A precipice looms

near the bird, as it finds seed,

while sitting in snow.

Butterflies (Dry Brush/Sponge Filters)

As we live through frigid temperatures and falling snow, it's nice to think back to the warmer days of flowers and butterflies. I'm kind of looking forward to that time of year rolling around again. Thanks for stopping by!

This little nuthatch, staring back at me, does not look so happy from this angle to be having his picture taken. Or maybe it was just the cold. (Notice the snow around where it is perched.) Thanks for stopping by!

Black Squirrel Eating Seeds in the Snow (Dry Brush Filter)

The squirrels have found a rather clever way to get to the seed in my bird feeder. I suspect that they are trying to get the top off (which they haven't so far), but when they jump down onto the feeder, while their weight closes the doors, they manager to swing the feeder enough to launch some of the seed out onto the ground. That, and the nuthatches help the squirrels out by going through and tossing three seeds for every one they keep (roughly). Hmmm...

Little Shadow Bird Keeping Watch (Dry Brush Filter)

Keep watch, little bird,

in the shadow of winter.

A sunburn can hurt.

Unidentified Bird Seed Eating Object (Dry Brush Filter)

Ok, so, obviously, they're birds. (Not squirrels, which have also been known to eat the bird seed, aka black oil sunflower seeds.) My first inclination was to say that they were chipping sparrows, given the little tuft of red that is visible on at least one bird's head. I'm not quite sure that's what these are though; the chipping sparrows (at least, the male ones) typically have a black stripe over the eyes, which these birds are missing. Hmmm. Mystery bird. Thanks for stopping by!

Smile for the Camera, Pine Siskin (Cutout Filter)

This was a new bird on my list, the Pine Siskin. Basically, I googled a yellow winged sparrow, and this little bird popped up in one of the search results. The little splash of yellow on the wing adds a little bit of interest to the otherwise dull colors of winter. Thanks for stopping by!

Chickadee Stopping By

I like the chickadees that come to visit our feeder. I'm not sure what exactly I find so special about the chickadee, but they seem to be so infrequent (or, at least, I notice them so infrequently) that it's a delight to see when they are stopping by.

Nuthatch Poised at the Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

It doesn't take much 

for a nuthatch to empty

a feeder of seed.

(The squirrels seem to help, too.)

Nuthatch at the Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

The nuthatch was one of my favorite birds that would come and eat the seed that I would set out on my deck. At my bird feeder, however, the nuthatch has been a little bit territorial; the other birds all disperse whenever the nuthatch comes to the feeder. Hmmm...

Chickadee in the Wild Branches (Dry Brush Filter)

(A poetic reminder that some words just shouldn't be rhymed...)

To rhyme away a chickadee

you need a little chair,

and if it's not too rickety

you'll very soon be there.

Chickadee at the Feeder (Dry Brush Filter)

Having received a bird feeder as a gift, you might now expect to see all sorts of bird feeder photos appearing on my photo blog. Since putting it up this winter, we've noticed a few new birds in our backyard. Today's photo is of an old friend, the chickadee.

O chickadee, my chickadee,

You hope to find some seed,

O chickadee, my chickadee,

I hope that you succeed.

Another Dreary Winter Scene

O dreary winter, please, away,

And hasten to depart,

Your welcome here is overstayed

For summer has our heart.

Dark Winter Trees

The winter trees are dark, yet white,

the branches lined with snow;

if we should wait until the night,

with starlight they would glow. 

Fall Color Tour with Strange Reflection in the Sky (Dry Brush Filter)

A couple of years ago, I was enjoying the fall colors on a drive through Wisconsin. Looking back through my pictures, I noticed that some had strange shapes in the sky. Were they clouds, or some kind of reflection? Whatever they were, I thought they were kind of cool and chose the picture for today's photo. Thanks for stopping by!

Purple Flowers with Yellow Daisy Background (Dry Brush & Palette Knife Filters)

I had processed this image differently a while back. It had come through as an HDR merger of three image files. Here, I just processed the middle file and applied filters to the background, which I layered on top of each other and erased out the parts that I didn't want to keep. Thanks for stopping by!

Playground Redux (Palette Knife Filter)

I've edited this photo before, turning the background black and white and editing in the red and blue structure. This time, I used the palette knife filter and edited in the red/blue roofed structure. This kind of makes me think about how a child might color a playground such as this one, the palette making the objects not quite as precise in the photo, while the little red roofed area (my favorite part of the picture) is sketched in with great detail. Thanks for stopping by!

Sunshine Through the Trees on a Cloudy Day

If, by and by, a cloudy sky

has chased away the sun, 

that dreary day won't last for aye; 

it's time will soon be done.

Surreal Butterfly (Poster Edges/Dry Brush Filters)

What sweetness is there

in the nectar of flowers?

Too little to share.

Butterfly Taking Flight (Paint Daubs Filter)

To flight, little bug,

for the whole world of green waits.

It's waiting for you.

Happy New Year! Butterfly (Paint Daub Filter)

A pair of good wings

can help you travel places

much faster than feet.