Thursday, April 30, 2009

There's More Critters Out And About!

Hello everybody. Has everybody had weather as crazy as ours? I am sick to death of the rain. We always get it all in the spring, but never in the summer when we really need it for the crops. The fields are all flooded now, some even high enough that the water is crossing the roads in some places.
Remember that mama Robin from two posts ago? This picture is mama and one of her babies, sitting on our bird bath yesterday morning. The baby is just so adorable! I know that there was at least one other baby, but not sure where it was.
If anybody knows what this funny looking bird is, please let me know. It has long legs. The body appeared to be about the size of a grackle or a pigeon. I've never seen one before, whatever it is!
These two ducks are Mergansers, but I'm not sure which sub-species. Possibly Common or Hooded, from looking at my book, according to their territory. Both of these pictures are of flooded fields, not ponds!
This picture of a male Mallard was taken at the same time I took the pics of the Mergansers. I played with the shadows on this, the same as I did with a previous Mallard in flight in the April 7th post.
This is the same male and a female Mallard. Again, I played with the shadows.
The past few days, I've been going out to Lyle's to take care of his critters while he is down south visiting. I'm pretty sure he went to West Virginia to see his son. There is one dog, one Cockatiel, about a dozen cats(outside) and four pea fowl, one of which is the hen and the other three are males. The picture above is the oldest male's tail. I used the "fluorescent chalk" filter to get the effect.
This is the same peacock with his tail fanned. His name is Peapot!
And this is Peapot trying to figure out what in the world I'm doing! None of them are tame. We can get closer now than we used to be able to.
This is one of the many Grackles that come around here to eat. Between them and the Starlings, I don't know which are the bigger pigs! Again, I played with the shadows on Photoshop for the effect. After leaving Lyle's yesterday, I went taking more pictures, in the rain, no less! I was having a heck of a time. Taking pictures of a Killdeer that just doesn't want to cooperate is a riot! The Killdeer is part of the Plover family. They lay their eggs around gravel and their eggs look kind of like little rocks, according to my Aunt Pat. She gets these birds around her farm all the time and she finds their "nests" in her driveway. I couldn't get a clear enough shot of any, so I gave up for the day. I also can't seem to get close enough to the Horned Lark to get a decent shot. I chased one of them around for a short while too! They won!
I'm going to get off here for now. I hope everybody has a great weekend. I hope it stops raining!!!
TTYL
Love Ya
Lisa

13 comments:

The Great Ethan Allen said...

That Grackle is AWESOME! you have totally outdone yourself with these pics. I really love how you captured the common mallards. Their blue cheverons are often overlooked. Oh! and I have never seen the common merganzer, but we have a beautiful Hooded Merganzer male that hangs out at a small park around here ever year. He is quite striking. Totally love that Grackle. They are such a pretty bird. especially when the light hit those irridecent feathers!

Susie said...

Hi Lisa,

That's such a sweet picture of the Robins. They look so cute. We had a nest of Robins at work but now they have left the nest.

Have a great weekend!

Don't Feed The Pixies said...

I absolutely love the shots of the peacock, especially the close up of the feathers: you really have an eye for these things

Roses and Lilacs said...

Loved seeing the peacocks, how beautiful. I have killdeer on the farm too. They do the 'injured bird routine' and try to lead us away when the dog and I get too close to a nest. They don't have a pretty song but I do enjoy their call at dusk on a summer night.
Marnie

Lori Schmidt (LoriProPhoto) said...

Ditto on the rain stopping or the farmers won't get their crops in on time and we will see another hike in feed bills and fuel!!!!

GMG said...

Hi Lisa! TGIF and a holiday here!!
And the weather is great!!
Lovely pictures! Is Photoshot giving more blue to the blue? ;)

Blogtrotter is still turning around Vilnius. Enjoy and have a great long weekend!

Anonymous said...

Hi Lisa, I always enjoy seeing your nature shots. You and I would have a grand time exploring and taking nature shots together of the birds and animals we spotted. That peacock is something else. I saw a white one the other day on someone's blog. I didn't know there were white ones. Did you see the hummingbird I got a picture of the other day on my recent post? Hope you have a great weekend. xo Lynn

Lib said...

Hi Lisa,
Love the photo's.
Hope things are going well your way!
HAve a great wk.end.
Love,Hugs,Blessins',Lib

Jimmy "Handi" Warner said...

Lisa,

Hey lisa, Sorry i've not commented lately... Been on World of Warcraft, and I've not logged onto my Main google account for sometime where I watch your blog.

Your pictures are really nice... Love them ALL. Really Great Pictures... Wish I could get me a Lense for mine with Great Zoom...

Well, i hope to see more post soon.

Handi

Patty said...

When you enlarge the photo, Peapot looks a little mean in his face,
Tdoay we ahd a beautiful sunny day and lawnmowers were whirling all over the neighborhood. Of course, I mowed our front yard Wed. between rains and the backyard yesterday between rains. Because we understood it was suppose to rain today and tonight and tomorrow. But at least mine is done, did have to clean up the mower alot yesterday, but I was smart enough to put on this pair of clear boots, made for rainy weather, saved having to clean up my shoes, only ahd to rinse off the boots. Hey I guess I am getting smarter in my old age. Finally!!
Have a great week-end.

Middle Ditch said...

Wow, your birds have their young early! Here they have just begun to lay their eggs!

Lovely pictures and the bird you don't know the name of is probably just a common wader.

Merle said...

Dear Lisa ~~ Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos with us. They are all great and the ones of the peacock are terrific.
Thank you so much for your comments
and I am quite OK again after the fall. It was indoors and didn't hurt much at all. Getting up afterwards took time and a lot of effort. Glad you enjoy the jokes and especially the silent meal one. Lots of dishes.
Take care, my friend, have a good week ahead of us. Love, Merle.

Lydia said...

I absolutely love the shots of the Mallards. Great work on all of them.