"This is the dead ash tree in our front yard that has been the site of so much drama this summer. A Red-Bellied Woodpecker pair started excavating the nest hole at the very top of the tree around the end of March."

This was taken 13Oct2022 and is the latest installment of this summer's woodpecker saga. This Northern Flicker showed up and easily intimidated the Red-headed away from the hole. The flicker went inside and stayed awhile before flying off.

I'll have to do some research to find out if woodpeckers stake out a specific winter residence, or just sleep around in what they find at the time. Any of you all know?

Flicker&RHWPConflict_13Oct2022 by Marshall Smith, on Flickr


Marshall

You're welcome!

Keep looking...this one is probably on its way to South America now, but they'll be back again next year.

Marshall

Thanks all, glad you liked it. I found some "cool facts" at this Cornell Bird Labs site:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-billed_Cuckoo/overview

Marshall

Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

A seldom seen, but certainly very welcome, visitor to our Northern KY yard, early this morning.

Yellow-billedCuckoo_03Oct2022A by Marshall Smith, on Flickr


Marshall

Justwatch.com is a very handy website for finding movies, TV shows, documentaries, etc. I use it all the time.

Currently you are able to watch "All in the Family" streaming on Freevee Amazon Channel, Pluto TV for free with ads or buy it as download on Apple iTunes.

Currently you are able to watch "M*A*S*H" streaming on Hulu or buy it as download on Apple iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, Microsoft Store.

Marshall

Warblers are coming back through our yard now, here in KY. This female Golden-winged Warbler was a first for me!

Golden-wingedWarbler22Sep2022 by Marshall Smith, on Flickr


Marshall

That's funny!

10 frames/sec X 60 sec/min X 6.67min = 4002 shots


Marshall

High speed continuous mode in a modern camera can be either a blessing or a curse, lol!

Professional action sports or wildlife photographers can shoot that many shots in a days work, looking for those perfect moments of a sequence.

The trick then is to be able to quickly cull the duds out of all that content.


Marshall

TheOnlinePhotographer blogger Mike Johnston had an article highlighting a YouTube video of a talk given by Sam Abell, the great National Geographic photographer.

Almost two hours long and I had to take it in several "bites" over a couple of days, nevertheless it was very interesting and valuable to me. This was much more than a bunch of great photos put up one after another.

He talked about his career at National Geographic and how an assignment would go, the good and the bad. Most helpful was showing several versions as he "worked" the photo and the value of being ready and then just waiting.

Talked about one assignment in Moscow where he shut himself in his hotel room on his day off and took TWELVE hours to work a view of pears on his windowsill!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYf9klvk8vQ

Marshall

The way Peterfiore answered the info about Photo Mechanic and faststone image viewer is somewhat misleading...faststone is Windows only, but Photo Mechanic is both Windows and Mac.

I've been a Photo Mechanic user for many years and can recommend it highly; use it to ingest to my computer from a camera card, then quick review of the set, to trash the rejects, and last to rename and number the final selects.

I'm not a pro, or even play one on TV, but many working pros depend on it for their daily livelihood. It has many advanced features that I have no need for, but are there if I ever do.

Here's another PM discussion on the Hog from a couple of years ago:

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-676079-1.html


Marshall

They are fascinating insects but one disturbing fact to consider is that there have been documented instances of a large mantis taking an unsuspecting hummingbird. Best to relocate one if found around any hummingbird feeders!

Marshall


From Gardening Know-how:

Can't read the writing but it looks like you've got a metric set of precision machinists gage blocks and the proof sheet for their tolerances.

I worked maintenance at the Toyota plant here in Georgetown and our machine shop had a set of these. Our rough machine work rarely needed these tolerances but they were handy to use for some setups on the mill.

Looks like the front row left block is 90 mm, and the right is 100mm. You could stack different blocks together to add up to a needed dimension.

Marshall

I keep my camera set on High Speed Continuous and then try to only fire off one shot. This really forces a light touch on the shutter button.

Plus I, and many others, have found that taking a short burst of two or three shots will result in one shot being noticeably sharper than the others.

Marshall

[quote=cedymock]All or more that you want to know about Mourning Doves, along with banding by state.[unquote]

Thanks, cedymock, lots of good information at that site!

A commenter on our local fb birder group reminded me that mourning doves are game birds, "It may have been banded by the dept of natural resources. They are a game bird. When hunters shoot a banded bird they are supposed to report the band and harvest info. Which gives info on population numbers, lifespan, migration, etc."

Marshall

I've been getting up early lately and throwing seed around our front yard to attract birds. Trying to get a local group of crows comfortable enough with me to do a photo project of them.

I've had mixed success with that, however a lot of other birds nearly always show up for the free meal.

Top of the early arrivals are mourning doves, so much so that they've become common and I rarely photograph them.

So, on Tuesday morning the first couple of shots, just to check camera settings, were of a dove in the driveway where I hoped a crow would be later. Took two shots and didn't even think about this one or any of the multitude of other doves that were there. Took a hundred or so shots that morning and called it a day.

Tonight I ingested the card and started to edit the shoot. Deleted the first one and was about to do the same with the second when I happened to notice that the dove's left leg was banded. Probably wouldn't have even noticed that if the dove's pose hadn't been mid-step at the time.

BandedMourningDove06Sept2022 by Marshall Smith, on Flickr


No prize winner, for sure, but I'm struck by the randomness of the event. Somebody somewhere at one time had this dove for a study or something, banded it, and released it. It showed up here out in the country in our driveway along with a multitude of others just like it, and my first test shot of the day was of it, and I didn't just automatically delete it tonight.

The serendipity of it is what intrigues me.

Marshall