Photography of all types of wild birds.
This Eastern Bluebirds photo is one of our first ever Eastern Bluebird photos. These male and female Eastern Bluebirds are checking out a nesting box to raise this year’s family. We thought this photo was unique in the way the male Eastern Bluebird is checking out the nesting box. They also both went inside to check it out.
If you might like to have this photo, it is for sale at our Pictorem store.
Eastern Bluebirds photo Read More »
Here are a couple Painted Bunting photos that we have recently taken at a public garden in Southwest Philadelphia. These photos were taken in the second week of January of a bird a long way from home. Those of you who live in the southern part of our country have probably seen these songbirds quite often. The birds spend a good part of their non-breeding time in Central America. These unusually colorful birds migrate and breed in the Southeast and in the south-central United States. Male Painted Bunting birds are very easy to spot since their colors are blue, green, red and yellow. The female birds are just bright green in color.
Even though the birds are a long way from home in Philadelphia, this is the third consecutive year that one has been spotted at this location. We felt fortunate to have been able to take some photos of this Painted Bunting. We hadn’t visited this garden before, and it was our first time seeing one of those very colorful birds. Painted Buntings are medium-sized birds similar in size to finches. They’re a very colorful species in the Cardinal family, along with other Buntings, Grosbeaks and Tanagers.
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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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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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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.
American Bittern Photo Read More »
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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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.
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.
Pollinators Calendar Read More »
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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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.
Ruby-throated hummingbird feeding on Jewelweed photo Read More »
This mourning dove photo is one of our most recent pictures. This is our first photo posting.
Mourning dove photo Read More »
