A Pleasant Surprise

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A Pleasant Surprise

December 30, 2011 by Andrew McLachlan

Blue Jay

Winter has finally arrived here with the last couple of nights going down to -20 degrees Celsius and we have about 6-8 inches of snow on the ground. This morning I took advantage of some spare time and settled into my photo blind out in the backyard with a thermos of coffee, lots of battery power, and a several compact flash cards. The Blue Jays were particularly active today. Here are three of my favorites of the day.

Now for the surprise…beside my feeding station that I have set up with an assortment of perches (that I change frequently) for photographing songbirds, I have a two foot section of a tree trunk set-up with suet cakes on the backside of the trunk (so they are not visible in the photos) to attract woodpeckers. The woodpeckers that I am able photograph with this set=up are Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, however, this morning I glanced over at the trunk to see if there was any activity on it and was shocked to see a beautiful Red-bellied Woodpecker enjoying the suet cakes. I am going out tomorrow for more images and hope that this woodpecker is still hanging around and remains cooperative. Below I have posted two images captured this morning. I like them both, although I do think the head angle on the last photo is a little better, but the first image does show off the beautiful red cap behind the woodpecker’s head. Let me know which is your favorite and why?

Posted in Birds | Tagged bird photography, blue jays, nature photography, ontario, red-bellied woodpeckers, winter | 7 Comments

7 Responses

on December 31, 2011 at 7:49 am | Reply a creative adventure/denise ippolito

Andrew, I love snow. Nice images, enjoy the New Year.
- on December 31, 2011 at 4:20 pm | Reply andrewmclachlan
  
  Thanks Denise, all the best for 2012!!!
on December 31, 2011 at 9:58 am | Reply Sandy

Very beautiful photo’s! I love them all and both of the woodpecker photo’s are superb and would be hard to pick a favorite. The first one has lots of color, but the second one is more dreamy, so I love them both.

Once I found an abandoned baby blue jay and had to take him home to tend to him. He was in the middle of a busy street and otherwise would have been hit by a car. This was one very smart bird! He started to imitate the phone ringing and we couldn’t tell which was which. He also had a great sense of humor. Eventually I released him and missed him very much.

I would love to see a picture of your photo blind!
- on December 31, 2011 at 4:22 pm | Reply andrewmclachlan
  
  Hi Sandy, thanks for the kind words. I love your story about the baby Blue Jay. I will do a post on my blind soon and include the photos of it too….beware, it ain’t a pretty site (but it does the trick) 🙂
on January 1, 2012 at 5:34 am | Reply Sandy

lol, it doesn’t have to be pretty! 🙂
on January 1, 2012 at 7:35 am | Reply doudou

Beautiful shots! I had a Blue Jay stop by my patio a few days ago and scream at me :o) He didn’t stay long enough for me to get a photo.
- on January 1, 2012 at 1:25 pm | Reply andrewmclachlan
  
  Thanks for stopping by…I appreciate the comments.