So many birds in the tropics are so colorful and often their name describes one of their attributes so it is almost sad when a bird gets named "Plain". That is the case with these, Plain Parakeets. Like most parakeets, these guys travel in social groups and are very vocal (apparently they have a lot to say to each other). Sometimes the problem with photographing them is getting one or even two birds isolated from the flock. These birds were photographed in southeast Brazil. Shot with a Canon R%, 100-500 mm lens at 300 mm, SS 1/200, f/7.1, ISO 1250. Handheld, processed in PS with minimal changes. Cropped to 16:9 to view on a TV.

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Really nice shot. No doubt about why they are named "Red shouldered Hawk". Eye contact with viewer is striking.

Thank you. I cropped this to 16:9 because it will be viewed on a dedicated TV I have mounted on the wall that shows our travel and bird pictures.

You are absolutely correct! I had a total brain cramp when discussing this image.

Thanks. Appreciate the comments.

Another Santee Lakes bird. This is a less common migratory duck that was at Santee Lakes last Saturday, an American Wigeon. This duck has been difficult for me in the past to capture the green and cream head of the male. I did not do much better here. Shot with a Canon R5, 100-500 mm at 423 mm, SS 1/1000, F/8.0, ISO 2000, EC -0.7 (to avoid blowing out the whites on the body and blue on the beak). Little processing in PS; duck slightly brightened and increase saturation slightly.

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American Coots are very common (everywhere) and most people consider them nuisance birds. From a photography point of view, they are pretty bland. Usually when I photograph them, I try to capture one or more of three things-the red eye, the great feet, or action (they fight a lot among themselves). This image captures none of the above very well, but the bird is sitting on one of my favorite perches at Santee Lakes, so I had to push the shutter. Shot with Canon R5, 100-500 mm lens + a 1.4 extender at 700 mm. SS 1/1000, F/10.0, ISO 2500, EC of -.7 (to prevent blowing out the highlights on the beak). Processed in PS, with bird being brought up and warmed up slightly and BG being brought down. Saturation of eye and legs brought up and few specular highlights in BG cloned out.

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Come down to Santee Lakes near San Diego. There are 15-20 pair that are year round residents and are super tame. This shot was taken with the bird about 7-10 feet away. Many other ducks, some resident, some migrant, present also.

Thanks for looking and commenting.

At the location this bird was photographed, there are many year round Woodies and they are silly tame. This bird was gathering acorns that had fallen to the ground from a near by Oak tree.

Truly. Like hummingbirds (and many other birds), the light angle determines if they are spectacular or merely ordinary.

Thanks.

Thanks. The birds do not always cooperate when I tell them to "pose".

Not infrequently, after I process an image, I look at the final product and ask myself, "Was it worth all the time I put into it?". This is one of those images. A Canada Goose taking a bath at Santee Lakes. This image has been manipulated extensively. I was using too much lens and the bird just barely fit into the frame. I did not need to to that as I was using a zoom lens (100-500 at 420mm), but I did. Also the background was very close so was in focus and very distracting. In post, I expanded the canvas on the bottom to give the goose a little more room. I cropped in a 16:9 aspect for a number of reasons, but primarily because this image will be displayed on my TV at home. The bird was brightened and the BG darkened selectively. Then I used Photoshop's background blur filter and blurred the BG. Was all of this worth it? Probably not, but it was done at that point. Shot with a Canon R5, SS 1/2500, ISO 5000, f/8.0, EC of 0.

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