Feathered Friends & Foes Photo Contest

[TheLorax]

Lovely photos.

Many of them are so beautiful. Have we forgotten we have a monthly photo contest-
April 2010 Photo of the Month Contest - post entries here

[havalotta]

Originally Posted by Equilibrium

This bird is dainty. They're even dainty when they eat. I watched them for hours and had a chance to see them gulp down fish. The fish they catch are gone in the blink of an eye and they resume the position they were in.

All your birds are pretty cool.
The first on in this set looks like he stepped into a bucket of paint.

[havalotta]

A few of the game birds.

Turkey(Meleagris gallopavo)

Ruffled grouse (Bonasa umbellus)

Bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus)

[Sage]

havalotta, love that grouse with the berries or grapes!

Lib, terrific collection of the herons, egrets and ibises!

[havalotta]

I was driving along a road I've traveled many times before when something different or out of place had caught my eye. I slowly backed up.
At first I had thought a car hit a grouse up into the brush. I quickly realized it was feeding upon the grapes.
I had just switched into the video mode and along came the neighbor wondering why someone had stopped alongside his property.
I'm trying to keep the camera focused on the bird while briskly waving the guy on.....
He just did not get the drift and sat there idling in between us. The bird spooked.
It was really neat watching him while I could.... I've never seen one feed like that before. His whole face was purple in the end!

[BooBooBearBecky]

Pileated Woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus

[havalotta]

You've captured the male quite beautifully.......

This is the female Pleated (Dryocopus pileatus)

[Bulucanagria]

I should be sharing a really nice close-up of a red-tailed hawk feeding on a small furry creature by the side of the road but some people (my roommate) can't see what the big deal is and why they should pull over so I can get some shots. (sigh) Sometimes I feel like a stranger in a familiar land.

[TheLorax]

Sage took a picture of a beautiful hawk feeding.

I believe her picture is an anchor. Perhaps if you show your roommate her picture he will understand?

[Bulucanagria]

Nah, he sorta gets it. He can look at something like that and appreciate it to a degree. We sometimes hike together, though not often anymore. When he hikes, he wants to get from here to there. Not necessarily as fast as posssible, but he wants to see as much as he can in the time he has. On the other hand, I can stop and spend half an hour exploring a patch of moss or an old log or pile of rocks. To him nature is cool, to me nature is a basic necessity of life, my church, really. Different points of view, certainly, and I can't fault him for that. But I can be annoyed by him not stopping for a great photo-op...and I am.