March photo dump
American Kestrel
I had just arrived at the lake and saw a bird fly past me that I didn't recognize. I saw some blue so I thought it might've been a Belted Kingfisher, so I followed it around the lake to discover it was an American Kestrel - a bird I've been hoping to see for 6 months!! We got to hang out for about 10 minutes before it took off. It was glorious and I was grinning ear to ear.
Ruddy Duck
I like to play with my camera settings while standing by the shore since there's no shortage of birds to photograph in the water. I'm still new to "manual" mode on my camera, manually adjusting the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. I think I got them dialed in just right for this Ruddy Duck - the duck is clear and crisp and the water is smooth and creamy.
Say's Phoebe
Red-shouldered Hawk
Neotropic Cormorant
I've only ever seen Double-crested Cormorants and I totally missed the hooked beaks. If you zoom in on this one, the hook is very pronounced and noticeable. Glad I'm not a fish!
Ross's Goose
American Goldfinch
I'm still waiting to get a photograph of a goldfinch that I absolutely love. These ones didn't quite hit the mark, but they're as good as I could get under the conditions that day.
baby birds!
Baby birds are adorable. Sadly, I watched a man walked over and pick one up to take selfies. I thought (and if I'm honest, I was hoping) the geese parents would attack him and teach him a lesson. But they just honked at him until he was done selfishly taking photos and put the baby back down. I wanted to walk over and tell him how you really shouldn't do that - it can harm the baby, it can cause the parents to abandon the baby, and if you somehow don't care about that, ever heard of bird flu? But I chickened out (no pun intended). He didn't seem like the kind of person to be receptive to that and I was there alone, so I made a judgement call for my own safety.
But honestly - if you wouldn't go to a park and pick up some random person's baby from a stroller, don't do it to other animals either. Not cool.
birds in flight
I'm trying to get better at taking photos of birds in flight, which is understandably difficult since they're a moving target. I had plenty of opportunities to practice while standing lakeside as cormorants came in and out of the water.
non-feathered friends
White-lined Sphinx
While planting some new daffodils in my backyard, a visitor stopped by. At first I thought it was a hummingbird, it was so large! It flew around drinking nectar for around 10 minutes as I watched in giddy amazement!
unknown moth
This guy was hanging out on the side of my house. I love using my macro lens to get super close-up shots of insects.
Common Side-blotched Lizard
lizards...fighting?
One lizard has another lizard in its mouth, and they were flailing about. The lizard being eaten(?) had a beautiful blue under its belly and head. Not sure what led them here but it was quite the scuffle!
Painted Lady
unknown butterfly
