Vacation Birds

I always love seeing different birds while I am traveling around. While visiting China in 2008, I spied this beautiful bird at a garden in Shanghai. It was pouring rain, which didn’t stop us from touring around or this seabird from hunting.

While on vacation in California and Florida, I remembered walking on the beach in California and the seagulls flying all around my kids and me. We watched them hovering in the wind.

While down in Florida in the Keys, I met up with a pelican who had to just come out of the water and was hanging out on the dock sunning himself.

Birds closer to home

Since moving up to New Hampshire four years ago, I have begun to become very interested in watching the birds out by our bird feeders. The previous owners had a wonderful spot set up off a second floor deck that has a view from the kitchen window. Often I stand at the kitchen sink simply watching the birds for minutes on end. I’m fascinated by the them, particularly in winter when the elements are so tough. There are usually a flurry of blue jays, gold finches, purple finches, and mourning doves that regularly visit the feeders. An occasional indigo bunting or scarlet tanager will visit as well.

Then there are always the hummingbirds who make their presence known sounding more like giant insects than the gentle birds they are.

Where we live in New Hampshire we are fortunate enough to be surrounded by all sorts of wildlife. We live 1500 feet on the side of a mountain overlooking Newfound Lake, it’s a glorious place to live. Many times when I am out and about, hiking on our property I come across some creatures such as this barred owl I saw in the woods hunting one morning.

Other times, I’m lucky enough to be sitting in the family room looking out onto our deck and see another barred owl visitor perched on one of the poles from the lattice that fell down in a snow storm to hunt on a cloudy day.

I’m fortunate enough these days to be able to get up closer to some birds, even hold them if I want. I’m talking about my chickens. This spring we started to raise four Rhode Island Red chickens and have been enjoying fresh eggs for months now! Current count is at 515 eggs which will increase most likely to 519 ater this morning once my four girls are done laying.

This is my post for the Bird Weekly Photo Challenge Wk #17:Macro/Close Up.