H.J. Ruiz – Avian101 – Page 725 – "My Backyard Visitors" – All about birds

Vortex Hits Again

After having almost a week of beautifully sunny and warmer temperature last night started another so called “vortex cold wave” and we’re back to shivering in the mid 30s!

Luckily I did not waste my time during the warm days and shot a good amount of pictures, mostly as a welcome home to the variety of birds I’ve seen in my backyard lately.

The great majority look very healthy and strong, they have good appetites and I’m sure they will make good mates for the next generation.

In a couple of occasions I’ve seen Red-winged Blackbirds stop by a couple of minutes and leave. Once the blackbirds species are back we could consider the migration is over.

Chipping Sparrow

Northern Cardinal (F)

American Goldfinch (M)

American Goldfinch and House Finch

Field Sparrow

Text and photographs © HJ Ruiz – Avian101

Tags: American Goldfinch, birds, Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow, House Finch, nature, Northern Cardinal, photography, photos of birds

Rare Birds of North America – Book Review

This is a review to an interesting book titled Rare Birds of North America, authored by Steve N. G. Howell, Ian Lewington and Will Russell.

The book is a detailed explanation of migrations patterns, places where birds occur and a clear description of rare species. With a total of 262 species that are found in USA and Canada.

Click to see Sample Entry (PDF)

For any bird watcher, bird photographer or Ornithologist this book can be very helpful especially when helps you make an easy visual comparison with the 275 illustrations and perhaps find out that you’ve seen or photographed a rare species. I couldn’t help to notice that some of these rare birds have resemblance to birds already in our own list of birds.

I believe that many of us will get very curious to see if we have a rare bird in our lists. Being myself a photographer I will keep this book handy when I get any doubts about the ID or the appearance of a bird I have photograph.

This book review was written by H.J. Ruiz – Avian101.wordpress.com

in February 26th, 2014

Tags: birds, Interesting information, nature

Rhapsody in Red

You’all knew I was going to Tractor Supply Store… Well, I went and bought a lot of seed mix for my birds, I also purchased a new larger size feeder and a metal bracket for the deck. I also got the new garden hose and box that I keep in the patio.

Then I had a couple of photo sessions with the birds, it was glorious time! I used my Canon 60D this time instead of my Canon Mark II. I was satisfied with the results, with the sun shinning so bright I had no problem to get good shots.

I’m very happy to see a good number of birds lately:

– Chipping Sparrow
– Field Sparrow
– Song Sparrow
– White-throated Sparrow
– Eastern Towhee
– Northern Cardinal
– Mourning Dove
– Brown-headed Nuthatch
– American Goldfinch
– House Finch
– American Crow

This post features the Northern Cardinal (M) hence the title.

Tags: birds, nature, Northern Cardinal, photography, photos of birds

Planning Ahead

Temperature is 64º F as I write this blog 1:00 pm. It’s sunny and pleasantly warm, I spent some time shooting some pictures in my backyard and planning of what to do about my bird feeders and what will be the best angles to get a great background color and bokeh. All those factors are important in order to get a good photo. You must always remember that all these happen in my backyard. So I do plan and prepare for all my shots believe it or not.

I’ve just discovered that my garden hose is shot and beyond repair, I was cleaning up my deck and flower pots and I wanted to pressure wash it and my hose connector from the housing busted and water just wastes away. I need a new one now! Oh…C’est la vie!