So, did I get anything else for World Waterfowl Day? Well, read the title.
After a couple of days with no sign of them, the two pairs of wood ducks returned again this morning, being a little more brazen than before in that they ventured much further out into the open pond than previously. However, this did not mean that they treated my presence with less suspicion. The Girlfriend was watching from
Now, this… this one makes me pleased. Actually, psyched.
Remember last week when I said that cedar waxwings had some of the best coloration of the North American birds? Well, wood ducks (Aix sponsa) have them beat, or at least the males do the females are considerably less flamboyant, which we’ll see in a moment.
More importantly, however, was that this one, and three more, were all spotted
Man, I hate finding things out too late, but at least this time I’m not, though it’s certainly cutting it close. I just happened to check out the calendar for Sylvan Heights Bird Park and discovered that tomorrow, January 17th, is a whole new holiday (for realsies):
Early this morning before the temperature had risen above freezing, the local pair of red-shouldered hawks (Buteo lineatus) had perched together for a few minutes in the backyard, immediately after the female had taken unsuccessful shots at two possible meals, one of them an unidentified bird. We rarely see them together, and so far never as close as this, though we know
It’s funny – I finally sat down yesterday to clear out the burgeoning Sort folder of new images, slotting them into their respectful spots (which includes the trash bin,) and less than 24 hours later, that folder is already up to 71 images. Some of those you’ve already seen, since the occultation photos came in there, but some will show up on Friday.
For now, we have a handful that
So I did indeed get out to view the occultation of Mars by the mean ol’ moon (ours, I mean, not any of the other planets’,) and even snagged a couple of video clips. The nice thing was, Mars was bright enough to be seen near the moon with only a slight overexposure of the moon itself, so that worked out acceptably well.
You can see it easily down there at the bottom,
Tomorrow night, a little after 9 PM EST (so 2 AM Jan 14 UTC – adjust as necessary,) the moon will occult Mars, pretty directly for most of the US. This will last for a little over an hour before Mars reappears again out the other side, so this is an easy thing to spot by naked eye, and a good target for telephoto lenses, small and large telescopes.
I keep making noises to this
It’s January, it’s cold, everyone (in the northern hemisphere) is cooped up inside, and to top it all off, we’re back with the tag roundup – death and tags, you can’t escape them. And while you think you know what tags are and what they’re for, here on the ol’ Walkabout blogaroonie, they’re also irreverent and uncouth comments on the content, and since
The big winter storm rolled in last night, though for our region (mid NC and towards the coast) it wasn’t very impressive. A dusting of snow where we used to live (and where The Girlfriend’s Sprog presently lives,) while out our way, it was merely sleet which has changed to rain – not even photogenic enough to make for decent pics, either way. But the red-shouldered hawk (Buteo
This week’s entry is one that I’ve been looking for, as a photo subject, for years. They’ve always passed through the areas I’ve lived in, and in fact can be found all over the US, but they tend to prefer specific conditions that I’ve never been in at the right time. But yesterday, success was to be had.
That’s a cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum,)