Birds

Voyageur

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They mysteriously arrive around May 5th every year, as if on cue. They feed, play, mate and nest and as mysteriously as they arrived, the leave. Always feel such joy when seeing them again and sorrow when they leave; an empty feeling. Letting go of attachment, knowing that they will fill someone else with joy wherever they go is what matters; they are always so special!

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Gotta love those hummingbirds. Is this the Kootenays? It certainly looks like it. When I lived in Nelson in the '70s the one thing that stuck out in my mind was the incredible number of hummingbirds. They were everywhere. This photo brought back a flood of memories of the natural beauty of that area. :)
 
In this part of the UK many birds stay for the winter and some sing nearly all year round. A robin in my garden has been singing its melancholic song over the last 2 months. A dipper on a small river alongside the garden has also been in full voice ( with the warbling seemingly matching the gurgling and gushing noise of the river flow - to my ears at least).

There is an old Welsh saying along the lines of "a land without bird song is a sad and lonely country" ( can't remember or find the exact wording).
 
Indeed watching a Flock of Starlings do there amazing dance in the sky`s is truly amazing,The way the seem to form Waves
of individuals that are so InTune is a Lesson for us here on Level 3 :)
 
Parallax said:
They mysteriously arrive around May 5th every year, as if on cue. They feed, play, mate and nest and as mysteriously as they arrived, the leave. Always feel such joy when seeing them again and sorrow when they leave; an empty feeling. Letting go of attachment, knowing that they will fill someone else with joy wherever they go is what matters; they are always so special!

Beautifully captured of a photo there, mate.

The hummingbirds didn't show up at our backyard until last summer of '08, after moving into the house six years earlier. We enjoyed watching those birds and went out and brought the food for them, "sugar drinks," they called it. I had one outside of my window, just watching me as I was on the computer. Cute little fella.
 
Posted a Hummingbird photo prior and actually have taken many over the years, however, a friend sent this link to a photographer by the name of Tony Markle and his collection of Hummingbird photos - very humbling, such amazing clarity and focal length - beautiful; not sure what camera and lens he used, but there is one shot that details the ruffle of feathers around the little hummer's head and they seem so similar to peacock feathers in micro - it was a good positive dissociation from the news today for me - enjoy :)


http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/933203
 
Parallax said:
Posted a Hummingbird photo prior and actually have taken many over the years, however, a friend sent this link to a photographer by the name of Tony Markle and his collection of Hummingbird photos - very humbling, such amazing clarity and focal length - beautiful; not sure what camera and lens he used, but there is one shot that details the ruffle of feathers around the little hummer's head and they seem so similar to peacock feathers in micro - it was a good positive dissociation from the news today for me - enjoy :)


http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/933203

Wow, very nice. Thanks for sharing that link, Parallax. :) Really beautiful pictures.
 
Parallax said:
Posted a Hummingbird photo prior and actually have taken many over the years, however, a friend sent this link to a photographer by the name of Tony Markle and his collection of Hummingbird photos - very humbling, such amazing clarity and focal length - beautiful; not sure what camera and lens he used, but there is one shot that details the ruffle of feathers around the little hummer's head and they seem so similar to peacock feathers in micro - it was a good positive dissociation from the news today for me - enjoy :)


http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/933203

Wow, great pics. Thanks a lot for sharing.

I like this one :

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And that one :

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Parallax said:
Posted a Hummingbird photo prior and actually have taken many over the years, however, a friend sent this link to a photographer by the name of Tony Markle and his collection of Hummingbird photos - very humbling, such amazing clarity and focal length - beautiful; not sure what camera and lens he used, but there is one shot that details the ruffle of feathers around the little hummer's head and they seem so similar to peacock feathers in micro - it was a good positive dissociation from the news today for me - enjoy :)


http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/933203

These are incredible, Parallax! There are some amazing shots there. Words just can't describe them.

Thank you for sharing the link.
 
Thank you Parallax! Sent this link on to my Hubby and family...brought a lot of smiles. :D
 
Many years ago, I think it was around 2001 or 2002, a pair of sunbirds decided to make a nest in my balcony.

It was an amazing experience. I could sit there watching mum and pop sunbird flying to and fro making this beautiful nest right there on my balcony. It was quite low and I could easily reach it. Needless to say, the whole family was told to keep away from the balcony and let the sunbirds do their thing. At night I could see a tiny head poke out of the nest, presumably mum sunbird keeping the eggs warm.

Early one morning, I woke up and found this teensy weensy little body on the floor right below the nest. It seemed that somehow the tiny little thing had fallen out of the nest. :cry: But I noted that the pair of sunbirds were still busy going to and fro throughout the day repairing the nest and to me, it looked like taking care of another egg. So I figured this poor thing had died in the night and mum or pop must have thrown the dead body out of the nest.

A few more weeks passed and than I heard chirping. The sunbirds were now more busy going to and fro and this time I could see that the pair were bringing food back. A few more weeks and finally I saw a head peering out of the nest but it wasn't a sunbird baby but a sparrow! The beak was what gave it away but initially I wasn't sure. Mum and pop sunbird were still frantically flying to and fro trying to feed this huge and always hungry and chirping baby.

One morning, the whole family was sitting there watching the sunbirds feeding this "baby" and all of a sudden during a break in the feeding, this huge baby fell out of the nest and on to the floor of the balcony. It sure wasn't a sunbird baby since the baby was a lot bigger than either of the sunbirds and the beak was very different from the parents. So, there was this huge baby bird on the floor trying to get up and fly while pop sunbird (the larger and more colourful of the two sunbirds) trying to do something.

Well I eventually couldn't take it anymore and picked up this baby and held it gently in my hands. Mummy sunbird was sitting a few feet away while daddy sunbird was kind of frantic. I put my hands out with the baby bird in it and lo and behold, daddy sunbird, after some hesitation, flew right up and landed on my index finger and started feeding this baby! After awhile I gently put the baby on the balcony and almost immediately the baby suddenly flew off, landing on a branch of a tree right outside the balcony and that was the last I saw of it.

The sunbirds were still around but they never came back to the nest. Not sure what to make of this story but I thought I'd share it.
 
Thank you Paralax for sharing those amazing photos. They were wonderful!

And Vulcan, that was an amazing story. I had heard of and seen (on discovery channel) of birds who take care of other bird eggs as their own. But seeing it first hand must have been something else. Thanks for sharing! :love:
 
That's awesome, Vulcan! It reminds me of an experience I had many years ago as a kid in the Philippines. They are similar in some ways.

My family lived on a military base. A friend and I loved to play around some empty housing units on a street adjacent close to his house. We were running around one empty house when we disturbed a bird that was inside of a large bush on the corner closest to the front porch. It streaked out of the bush like a bolt of lighting, startling both of us. Curious, I decided to look inside of the bush. To my surprise, I found a nest there...and inside were two peeping chicks.

I was somewhat of a junior naturalist and so I was careful not to touch the nest, let alone the chicks. My friend and I both left the house and decided to steer clear of that bush so things could return to normal for them.

I kept an eye on the bush from a distance, checking on it later that day, and the next day after coming home from school. I was dismayed because I suspected that we had frightened the adult bird into abandoning the nest. This seemed to be the case when I passed by before sunset that day to check on them, and found no adult either sitting in, nor around, the nest. I felt horrible and responsible. These chicks were going to die because I had been running around like an ape and chased their mother away. :(

Because I felt responsible, I decided I would do what I can to help these chicks survive. Having learned that most birds were insectivorous, it made sense to me that their parents would feed them using such a food source. I wouldn't be able to feed them like their parents would...this was a problem. I looked around the general vicinity of the abandoned house, and noticed that the most common insect seemed to be a variety of small, black beetle. They seemed to be everywhere...and as such, I imagined that they would be the choice of the parents due to their availability. I picked up a few of the beetles, removed all of the hard, chitinous parts (such as the legs, wing covers, head and thorax), crushed them up into a paste, and brought them to the chicks in the nest.

The little things were peeping furiously, their mouths open and facing upwards. It was a simple matter to drop the crushed insects into their mouths. I did this a few times, until they seemed to stop peeping. I told myself I would return the next morning as early as I could manage. When I returned the next day, I heard them peeping in the bush. I went about the task of collecting a number of the black beetles, and once again, rendered them into a state that seemed to be as close to what their parents would do. It was a bit gruesome, but the survival of the chicks depended on it.

I kept doing this, day after day. I lost track of time - I'm not sure how long it took. It wasn't terribly long, I think. Along the way, though, one of the chicks died. :( I noticed that it seemed sluggish compared to its nest mate the day before. I removed its little body from the nest and buried it in the ground near the bush. At this point, the little things were growing feathers, looking less like helpless little chicks and more like awkward versions of their adult selves. I was able to tell that these were sparrows, the most common bird found around the housing areas.

I kept feeding the survivor. Before I knew it, it was a cute ball of feathers. It looked very close to what an adult looked like. At this point, I began thinking: how the heck am I going to teach this little thing how to fly, since I can't do it myself? I stuck my index finger out in the nest next to the fledgling...and to my surprise, it hopped up on it. :shock:

I walked out into the yard with this little fellow on my finger. I lowered my hand down close to the ground, and tossed him into the air. He fluttered his little wings and landed in a heap in the grass. He hopped right back on my finger when I offered it to him. I did this quite a few more times, then put him back in the nest. I fed him before I left. It was a weekend, so I was able to spend more time with him the next day.

The next day, this little fellow seemed to be getting the hang of it. He started to glide while fluttering his wings. Eventually I started tossing him into the air without lowering my hand close to ground. He sailed across the yard! He was getting good at it.

I picked him back up, and he seemed to regard me quizzically. I remember this moment, because it was then that I tossed him into the air, and he flew up to the rooftop of the empty house. He sat there for a while, watching me. Then to my amazement, he flew away. I couldn't believe it! :)

I sometimes wonder, now, if I dreamed the entire thing...it was all so surreal. Those little birds were so very, very lucky that a predator didn't get to them. They were also fortunate that it was the dry season, and the Philippine weather in that region of Luzon was conspiring in their favor: it was typically a balmy 80 - 90 degrees F every day, not going lower than 78 degrees F at night. That closely simulated the warmth and protection they would have from an adult insulating them in the nest.

I walked away from this thinking that all of my actions have consequences. I'm just so thankful I was able to save at least one of them.
 
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