Male Hooded Oriole

Male Hooded Oriole, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

I think Redding is almost the far northern limit of the Hooded Oriole. We get them every year. They nest in neighborhood palm trees.

The male is very shy and flighty. He doesn't like to land on props we put up and won't even come around if there is too much extra stuff around the feeder. The female doesn't seem to care all that much.

Two Outta Three

Two Outta Three, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Frank and I spent the evening a couple of nights ago shooting owls. I only got these two of three owlets at one time. To view more owl shots visit my Flickr Photostream.

More Turkey Shoot

What Turkey?

Shooting turkey's in Palo Cedro today. They are so common and prolific these days that it is hard to believe they weren't 20-30 years ago. Perfect cloud cover for rich saturated color too.

Lesser Goldfinch

Lesser Goldfinch, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Either sipping for nectar or pecking at an undeveloped seed. We tried all morning to get several species of birds on these flowers, but only two goldfinches came. Could have been the same one twice also.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Frank and I spent the morning shooting birds from blinds at his pond. I believe this is an Orange-crowned Warbler. It also resembles a Warbling Vireo. I mostly photograph them then look them up and lots of them look alike to me in the book. If you can confirm yea or nay on my identification please leave me a comment.

I changed the name of this bird after receiving input from a bird ID group on Flickr. Without doing a hands-on exam, I don't think anyone can tell for sure which warbler it is though.

It's empty!

It's empty!, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

A Lesser Goldfinch staging on a spent sunflower, waiting for a turn at the feeder. Mary wanted a photo of one on a beautiful gallon pot of Rudbekias she bought. I put them right next to the feeder and salted the flowers with seeds only to find out they preferred the dead sunflowers with no seeds.

Thanks Frank for the use of your spot.

Common Murre, Shelter Cove, CA

Common Murre, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

This little guy was either very docile or sick. I took this shot with my 100mm macro lens from around eight or ten feet away. Most of the time it's eyes were closed. About fifty feet behind me was the remnants of a boat. Post to arrive soon.

Acorn Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Just a couple hours in a photo blind at Frank's refuge. We saw a Western Tanager and Black-headed Grosbeak, but they did not come down in range. Thanks Frank. Visit my Flicker photostream for a few more shots.

Pheasant

Pheasant, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

I only saw two pheasant but neither of them cared who I was or where I was. They were in love, strutting, crowing and carrying on like I wasn't there. Usually they run!!!

When Killdeer Get Close

When Killdeer Get Close, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

This is not a cropped shot. We were driving around the wildlife area and had this cooperative Killdeer pose with a nice background for me.

They're Back

Click on the photo to view it larger in my Flicker photostream.

The Hooded Orioles have returned. We have had a pair for several years now feeding at our Hummingbird feeders and nesting in nearby Palm trees. Frank and I spent about an hour and a half sitting in my truck (a good blind) waiting for them to feed yesterday evening. The male came but only once. Hopefully they will ramp up their visits later on.

I Prefer Red Meat!

I Prefer Red Meat!, originally uploaded by Jim Arnold (jga154).

I went to Tulelake this weekend with Frank, Garry, and Heather. We spent two days photographing in the Klamath National Wildlife Refuge and Lava Beds National Monument.

Our focus for this trip was to get photos of the numerous Bald Eagles that visit each winter. We did see some eagles but most were not close enough to photograph. This one was breakfasting on a pole our first morning. I think breakfast was an American Coot (it's a little hard to tell at this stage).

We did see about forty eagles in a field, but they were too far away. Heather also spotted a suicidal goose in the field.

We did photograph sunsets and sunrises, but they were not spectacular, as well as deer and owls.

A Little Calibration and Testing

I went to Frank's this morning so we could do some fine tuning to the auto focus on our lenses. We spent an hour or so using a SpyderLens Calibrator. A couple of our lenses were quite a bit off and it is nice to have a camera that I can adjust the auto focus for each lens.

After we finished we set up in his blind and tested on real birds. This is a White-breasted Nuthatch eating a piece of corn from some suet that was pressed into a hole behind the branch. All in all the shots were nice and sharp.

Birds of the Alders at Lily Pond

I spent about an hour and a half photographing birds at Lily Pond in Lassen Volcanic National Park a week ago. I captured these six and saw several more species. If you can identify the Vireo please tell me. Also if I missed any let me know.

Yellow Warbler



Wilson's Warbler


Red-breasted Nuthatch


MacGillivrey's Warbler


Cassin's Vireo - Thank you Larry Jordan

Hermit Warbler

Visit my website to see American Pika and other wildlife photos I took on this trip.
http://www.jimarnoldphoto.com

Avocets of Summer Lake Wildlife Area

This is a slideshow I made of avocets in the Summer Lake Wildlife Area in Oregon. Click on the title to go to the link. You may have to download a viewer from Photodex for this show. It's safe.

The music is Stevie Ray Vaughn's - Chile con Carne. It usually plays fine, but today it echoed.

Thanks, Jim.

Recent Visit to Ash Creek Wildlife Area

I got many flight shot opportunities of this curlew as it swooped past me for several minutes. Guess I was too close to the nest but it had to be at leasst a hundred yards from me. © Jim Arnold Photography 2009 all rights reserved.

This little avocet was very busy wading and pecking at things in the water. © Jim Arnold Photography 2009 all rights reserved.

A very pretty bird in the green grass and blue sky reflection. © Jim Arnold Photography 2009 all rights reserved.

This buck would walk between bunches of grass to keep concealed from me. © Jim Arnold Photography 2009 all rights reserved.

I could just see the baby in the tall grass once in a while. It was definately not coming out for a photo. © Jim Arnold Photography 2009 all rights reserved.

I made what is probably my last visit to the wildlife area this year. There were only a few birds and other wildlife still around. Some baby (more like adolescent) shots and a few larger mammals. I still got a few shots though.

Sage Grouse Lek

Sage Grouse Lek
Originally uploaded by jga154

Well we did get our Sage Grouse shots. Also many other great photos.

Our weather was pretty good, at least the first day, Friday. After the grouse we found a Great Horned owl nesting in the refuge and took turns photographing her on the nest. To cause the least disturbance we had one person go in and set up a tripod and lens. We then each took turns with our camera bodies on the lens. Good thing we all (4) shot Nikon.

Saturday the grouse decided to display too far from the road for photos. So we went down into the refuge again. The Sandhill Cranes did not want to be photographed much either. We did get some Red-wing Blackbird shots and a pheasant.

Later we drove the Diamond Loop. Photographed a mule deer buck with his antlers still on while the fellow nest to him had nubs of new antlers coming. Kinda weird.

Frank and I photographed the inside of the old Peter French round barn, built in the 1800's. Then we drove out to the Diamond Craters. Some good photo opportunities there but it started to rain. We went home and ate diner.

Should have stayed out though. As usual the rain broke and the sunset was beautiful.

Sunday morning had a slight skiff of snow so we started home early. We stopped on the way to take a few snow, sagebrush and weather shots.

We had a great trip took a few thousand images and made it home safely.

Malheur Trip

4am Thursday, we leave Palo Cedro, CA for the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern Oregon. A trip to photograph sage grouse on a lek. I hope they are there...I hope it doesn't rain/snow...If it does rain/snow I hope we can photograph something else. Well there's hope anyway.

This is a shot in my yard. It must be getting close to spring...Maybe I'll have more to say when I get back.

Flicker - Bird Photography Weekly

Flicker
Originally uploaded by jga154

With my wife driving and me shooting out the back windows on a too busy county road, I managed to get a few good photos of this flicker. It must have had something wrong with the left eye (the one towards the camera of course) because in most of the shots the eye is half closed.

Horned Lark Bird Photography Weekly #27

Horned Lark Bird Photography Weekly #27
Originally uploaded by jga154

Mary and I went for a little ride this afternoon out to Millville Plains and found a flock of Horned Larks. They sure don't sit still much. I think I took a couple hundred images to get a few that were sharp.

We also found a Flicker willing to be photographed for several minutes. It was barely in range but came out pretty good. Of course there was a White-crowned sparrow on a berry bush that was very willing. I got frame filling shots of it. The other photos are posted on my Flickr site.