Birds and Nature

It didn't take this female bird long to start eating her grasshopper prey, a frequent meal item for this species. It's interesting how she holds her prey in one 'hand' while she eats it. SeEtta

Here is another a in series of close-up encounters I have experienced in the past few weeks--this time this American Kestrel flew onto a tree branch less than 25 feet above me earlier this week. This is especially surprising as I have found this species to be pretty wary of people. If you super-enlarge this pic (by double clicking on it then clicking on it again) you can see that the prize it is clutching in it's foot is a grasshopper. With her mouth open, she seems to be ready to devour her catch. More to come. SeEtta

I was very surprised to see the gleam in this bird's eye which is shown so well in the top pic. So commonly this is the result of photographer's using flash, something I rarely use and did not use in these pics. This is all natural, likely from the sunlight, no artificial gleam in the eye. I mentioned in the previous post that this bird was part of the landbird migration along the river corridor. So how do I know it's a migrant and not a bird that was here this summer? There were few Bullock's Orioles in this area this summer and those in the closest nests (1/4 mile away) had already moved on weeks ago. In all the pics this bird has it's bill open--it was pretty hot and this is how birds cool off. SeEtta

Landbird migration has been in full swing this week in riparian areas in the Canon City, CO area. I have apparently been living right as this oriole flew in less than 15 feet above me providing a wonderful opportunity for close-up photos. From the plumage characteristics this bird is a female or immature. The mostly flesh/pinkish colored lower mandible (with rustyish markings) makes me think this may be a juvenile. Birds of North America online calls the lower mandible "bluish gray, dull white at tip and doesn't mention anything about juvenile birds nor could I find anything online or in my books about it. Note: I didn't do any color modification or other editing of these pics with the exception of some cropping to preserve color and shading. SeEtta