Bird photographs - Purplebear's Photography

Leucistic American Robin photo

Here’s a Leucistic American Robin photo we took fairly recently. It’s possible you may have seen one of these birds, but it was a first for us at the time. I definitely am not a bird or genetics expert, but according to a variety of online sources, leucism describes defects in pigment cells caused during a bird’s development, which prevents pigments from reaching some or sometimes all of a bird’s feathers. The degree of leucism varies with a bird’s genetic makeup. The skin and eyes remain their normal pigment and color. You will see white splotches on its head or back.

We also have a photo of a Canadian goose that appears to be leucistic. We saw both of these at separate times while on our photo walks at a local wildlife refuge.

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Red-shouldered Hawk photo

This is our most recent Red-shouldered Hawk photo. We walk two to three times a week at the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge trying to get photos just like this. The funny thing is we took this photo right out our kitchen window. There’s a tree in our neighbor’s yard that hawks use constantly for surveying the area. Usually they are Cooper’s Hawks or Red-tailed Hawks. This is the first time we’ve ever seen a Red-shouldered Hawk in that tree, and we’ve lived here a long time.

Just in case you might be interested, we recently included this photograph in two of our newest calendars that we have for purchase. The wall calendar is located at our store in Zazzle. Our desk calendar is located in our store at Createphotocalendars. We also have a photograph of this same bird for sale at our Pictorem store.

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American Bittern Photo

This American Bittern photo was taken at the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge. This is the first photo we’ve taken of an American Bittern and also the first we’ve ever seen. We learned to get a photo of this particular bird is not an easy thing to do. They could be standing right in front of you and you might not see them.

They are a species of wading bird in the heron family. They’re well camouflaged and blend in with their surroundings. As you can see from the photo, when you first see an American Bittern, what stands out immediately is its thick neck and long, pointed bill.

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Red-shouldered Hawk photo

This Red-shouldered hawk photo was taken at the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge located near the Philadelphia International airport. We often see many different birds of prey at this refuge. The Red-shouldered Hawk has great colors, especially when its wings are fully extended.

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Pollinators Calendar

This pollinators calendar is our most recent addition to our nature calendars collection at Purplebearspics our Zazzle store. The calendar is made up of photographs of bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

Pollinators Calendar
by Purplebearspics

Most of these photographs are taken in our garden or on our walks in the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge. We have other products at our Zazzle store relating to pollinators, such as other calendars, garden flags, home decor, jigsaw puzzles, mouse pads, mugs, ornaments, photographs, postcards and other products.

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Belted Kingfisher photo

After many attempts, we finally have a half decent Belted Kingfisher photo. This Kingfisher was perched on an old concrete pier overlooking a marshy area of the wildlife refuge we visit often.

Belted Kingfishers, from what we have noticed, are one of the few birds where the female is more colorful than the male. We couldn’t get a good look at the front of this one to see if it was a male or female. Another thing we’ve noticed about these birds is that, for such a small bird, they have a pretty big wingspan. That kind of surprises you when they take off.

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Ruby-throated hummingbird feeding on Jewelweed photo

This ruby-throated hummingbird feeding on Jewelweed photo is one of our first hummingbird photos taken in the wild, not in our garden. This photo was taken at a local wildlife refuge and it seems that the Jewelweed is one of their favorite food sources in this area. There are plenty of flowers in the refuge but most if not all of our sitings are on the Jewelweed.

We have been taking pictures for years of the hummingbirds feeding on the potted plants on our deck and the flowers in our garden. If you are interested, you can see some of those pictures on our hummingbird blog Taking hummingbird pictures in the wild just adds a new challenge to our photography.

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Mourning dove photo

This mourning dove photo is one of our most recent pictures. This is our first photo posting.

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