Female Cardinal Contortionist

This shot captures the amazing wing beat of birds in flight. Our eyes are unable to follow the wing movement in detail and high-speed photography is needed to freeze the wing motion. It’s amazing how far the wings actually beat, giving the impression of contortionism to the female Cardinal in this shot. This particular image was short-listed for 2017 Bird Photographer of the year, and was featured in an article by the Daily Mail national newspaper in the U.K. The image has been published by William Collins Books in the 2017 Bird Photographer of the Year, available in hardback only

White Breasted Nuthatch.

White Breasted Nuthatch. These little birds are fiercely territorial over our bird feeder! They religiously guard their food source and quickly chase away any competitor birds. But the allure of free food is too much for the multitude of other feathered visitors in our garden and the other birds constantly steal the “Nuthatches food”. Sadly the Nuthatch hasn’t realized that he (or she - my eyesight isn’t good enough to tell....) probably expends more energy chasing the other birds away than he (or she) consumes at the feeder. There’s probably a lesson for us all in this....

Proof Of Angels

Proof of Angels. If Angels do exist, I think they must hide in plain sight in the form of doves. This is a Mourning Dove, captured at 1/4000 sec with high speed flash to eliminate the background and freeze the motion. Our eyes are too slow to see and appreciate the beauty of their flight.