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These are some of my favorite photos I've ever taken. Enjoy!
sfitzgerald86
Not my best photo ever, but this bird was too cool to not be in my Favorite photo collection. After hours of looking in the park that Fairy Terns were supposed to nest in in Honolulu, my dad and I were walking back to the hotel to head out to the airport when several terns were seen flying around a tree near a hotel along a busy street! This particular bird had managed to get fishing line tangled in its beak and a storeowner and climbed up into the tree, retrieved the bird and freed it of its deadly burden. The bird sat on this ledge for a few moments after being freed before flying away.
sfitzgerald86
We checked out this area on a tip that there were Burrowing Owls in the area. Little did we realize how many of them there were! Not only did we see young standing in the entrance of their nest hole but we also watched this particular bird fly over us calling before settling onto this "road sign" right next to the car. This photo was taken with just my point and shoot 3x optical zoom Coolpix 4500!
sfitzgerald86
We had been hearing this species many of the stops we had been at but we hadn't see one yet. When Steve Howell began his pishing to lure a Hermit Warbler down into sight we were all pleased to have this bird perch literally right over the group not 20 feet from where I was standing. I only was able to take a few photos of it before it was gone, but I was pleased with this photo.
sfitzgerald86
This Ash-throated Flycatcher landed right next to us while we were trying to locate a calling Least Bittern in the Kern River Preserve in southern California. I held up my binocs and took the digital photo through them. This is my best photo ever using that technique.
sfitzgerald86
The Ruddy Turnstone is one of my favorite shorebirds and I feel that this photo really captures the character and spirit of this species. The cryptic markings camoflauge this species very well among the beach debris that this bird was combing and this is very typical behavior for this species. Many thanks to Tom Uttech who allowed me to digiscope this bird through his Zeiss Diascope 85mm scope.
sfitzgerald86
I lucked out and captured these Common Terns in the midst of a little disagreement. The comparison between Forster's and Common's plumage and shape is what really completes this photo for me personally.
sfitzgerald86
Following the remarkable winter invasion of the winter of 04-05 many birds summered up in the Chequamegon Penninsula of Bayfield Cty Wisconsin. This was one of possibly over 50 birds that spent the summer in northern Wisconsin The extreme wear you see in the birds feathers isn't something many people see without going up into the high boreal belt where this species is normally found in the summer as a breeder. Many thanks to Ryan Brady for keeping track of these birds and showing them to me that evening.
sfitzgerald86
Unfortunately this photo doesn't give one the full picture of this location. Add to this sight the dawn chorus of Black-billed Cuckoos, Brewer's Blackbirds, and the wolf-whistle of Upland Sandpiper and this will give you a slightly better feel of the whole experience I was taking in while I captured this photo.
sfitzgerald86
After leading tours out to this bird for over 3 weeks I finally was able to photograph a male on a Jack Pine instead of the Northern Pin Oak the birds prefer to sing from (slightly taller perch to sing from). A gorgeous bird!
sfitzgerald86
The male went straight into the cavity almost every time - the one time he didn't I got really lucky with this shot. Once in a lifetime...
About Me more
These photo’s were taken through my spotting scope with a Nikon Coolpix 4500 digital camera. This method of taking photos is called "digiscoping" and you can learn more about it at: http://www.mailbag.com/users/maverick/avian.html
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