MLK Quote

MLK Quote

Nature's Inspiration Movie

http://www.flickspire.com/m/HealthierL433/NaturesInspiration -- Nature's Inspiration Movie: The photographs in this short video are from award-winning photographer, Ken Jenkins, and they are breathtaking. However, this video is much more than beautiful photographs! Peggy Anderson has compiled beautiful quotations from the likes of Emerson, Thoreau, and many others that truly capture the beauty of nature and solitude. Absolute must watch for nature lovers.
Showing posts with label birds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birds. Show all posts

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Creatures In My Garden -- Part 2 -- Videos and Photos

I continue with the theme creatures in my garden. In the first post, I posted pictures of the creatures. In this post, I tried to capture their actions in videos. I am not a great video maker; my hands shake too much; also, I don't do any video editing. On top of that all the videos are taken from inside the windows as the creatures will run away if I go out to shoot their actions. So sorry for the poor video qualities.

As I mentioned in my previous post, bears started coming to our yard to feed on the bird-food. So, I had to stop providing birds with food for the last one month. I resumed this week, and who was the first one to come to the feeder? Well, you have to watch the video to get the answer :-) (yep, this is my trick to make you watch my videos).



One has to admire the tenacity and hardworking of the chipmunks. They climb the fences, trees up into the patio; scurry down the length of the patio and jump into the bird-feeder. They then stuff their mouth with sunflower seeds, and rush to their homes doing all the acrobatics of climbing and running and dodging all the birds, squirrels and our dogs. They continue this throughout the day. The number of trips they make from their homes to the bird-feeders and back can easily add up to the distance around the world (okay that's my theory).


I think the squirrel mistook itself as a chipmunk. It sat in the bird-feeder, exactly like the chipmunk, to have its lunch. It was quite a precarious perch for the squirrel as the feeder is about 6 or 7 feet up from the ground. And the ground is nothing but bricks. So, if it falls, it can be quite hurtful.


Then another squirrel whom I will call Dr. Squirrel Einstein realize that there is another bird-feeder from which one can obtain food much easily. Then, finally the birds came. Birds usually do not come to a feeder that is occupied by squirrels. If they come, they sit nearby and wait for squirrels to leave. Birds do not mind chipmunks. But this time, the birds took a long time to come. The birds occupied one of the feeders.



Many people claim that creatures can wreck havoc on gardens as they can destroy flowers, fruits and vegetables. They do eat berries and fruits. But they do not destroy the garden as many people claim. Rather, I find them useful to the garden as they fertilize the garden and eat all the unwanted and destructive bugs.

And, now here is the culprit -- THE BEAR -- for who I have to remove the bird feeders. If you watch the video, you will notice that it did not exhibit any sign of fear. We were in the patio. It was down in the garden. It saw us; stared at us and then leisurely rambled around the garden, taking all its time and without being scared of us, before it left the yard.  That means this bear is not scared of humans and that's a dangerous thing. If it ever comes across a human and attack, the bear will be then shot dead by police. So, for its safety I stopped providing bird-food. Now though I provide the food, but I bring it in for the night. And, I hope it will not return during the day-time as it did in the video.



Now some photos:










The bird in the last two pictures could be that of a common Grackle or a Brewer's Blackbird. Brewer's Blackbird are not supposed to be present here in the North-East. But at the same time, this bird is not of the size of a common Grackle. So, I'm confused about what it is. I have contacted the Cornell Ornithology Lab to find about its identity.

I'm joining in the memes hosted by Eileen,  Rambling WoodsSt Germain's and Today's Flowers meme.

Creatures In My Garden -- Part 2 -- Just Some Videos

I continue with the theme creatures in my garden. In the first post, I posted pictures of the creatures. In this post, I tried to capture their actions in videos. I am not a great video maker; my hands shake too much; also, I don't do any video editing. On top of that all the videos are taken from inside the windows as the creatures will run away if I go out to shoot their actions. So sorry for the poor video qualities.

As I mentioned in my previous post, bears started coming to our yard to feed on the bird-food. So, I had to stop providing birds with food for the last one month. I resumed this week, and who was the first one to come to the feeder? Well, you have to watch the video to get the answer :-) (yep, this is my trick to make you watch my videos).



One has to admire the tenacity and hardworking of the chipmunks. They climb the fences, trees up into the patio; scurry down the length of the patio and jump into the bird-feeder. They then stuff their mouth with sunflower seeds, and rush to their homes doing all the acrobatics of climbing and running and dodging all the birds, squirrels and our dogs. They continue this throughout the day. The number of trips they make from their homes to the bird-feeders and back can easily add up to the distance around the world (okay that's my theory).


I think the squirrel mistook itself as a chipmunk. It sat in the bird-feeder, exactly like the chipmunk, to have its lunch. It was quite a precarious perch for the squirrel as the feeder is about 6 or 7 feet up from the ground. And the ground is nothing but bricks. So, if it falls, it can be quite hurtful.


Then another squirrel whom I will call Dr. Squirrel Einstein realize that there is another bird-feeder from which one can obtain food much easily. Then, finally the birds came. Birds usually do not come to a feeder that is occupied by squirrels. If they come, they sit nearby and wait for squirrels to leave. Birds do not mind chipmunks. But this time, the birds took a long time to come. The birds occupied one of the feeders.



Many people claim that creatures can wreck havoc on gardens as they can destroy flowers, fruits and vegetables. They do eat berries and fruits. But they do not destroy the garden as many people claim. Rather, I find them useful to the garden as they fertilize the garden and eat all the unwanted and destructive bugs.

And, now here is the culprit -- THE BEAR -- for who I have to remove the bird feeders. If you watch the video, you will notice that it did not exhibit any sign of fear. We were in the patio. It was down in the garden. It saw us; stared at us and then leisurely rambled around the garden, taking all its time and without being scared of us, before it left the yard.  That means this bear is not scared of humans and that's a dangerous thing. If it ever comes across a human and attack, the bear will be then shot dead by police. So, for its safety I stopped providing bird-food. Now though I provide the food, but I bring it in for the night. And, I hope it will not return during the day-time as it did in the video.



I'm joining in the memes hosted by Eileen,  Rambling WoodsSt Germain's and Today's Flowers meme.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The Thief

Foreword: The Thief is a children's story based on drama that takes place in many backyards across the world. The story, based on pictures, is appropriate for children between the age of one and three years old. The idea of the story came to the author while she was experimenting with her rented telephoto lens. The book was first published on February 11, 2014, and got reprinted many times since then.
She comes over the fence, across the neighbor's yard, tip-toeing perilously on tree branches.
She peeks cautiously through the branches; stands up to see if the coast is clear. And waits patiently.
She then slowly climbs down. While climbing down, she carefully checks out some holes to see if the loot can be stacked there.
Victory at last -- the feeder is under my control now. Shoo! off you go...this does not belong to you birds now. THIS IS MINE -- EVERY TEENY-WEENY MORSEL OF SUNFLOWER SEED IS MINE.
But, victory does not last long. Protector of feather-friends and yard is near-at-hand. They come roaring out of the door, galloping fast on their feet, and barking the sweet songs of victory. They go round and round the yard, howling and growling, jumping up and down with the hope that one day such jumps will allow them to soar up into those darned high tree branches and get hold of the thief.
Run! run! run! scamper! scamper! scamper! Climb up the tree fast for dear life. Phew! that was close. Am I high enough from those two $#&****#!!? Yesss!! Good, that I grabbed some more seeds -- all those scampering and climbing surely makes this girl hungry. At least up here in the high I can sit peacefully and enjoy my booty.
Peace at last. All those food has made me sleepy. Let me take some rest for a while before I again walk all the way back to my home. Why do these humans have to cut up the trees and put them in a funny way on the ground! Walking on them is dangerous.
Disclaimer: Hehehe...No, I haven't published this as a book :-P. I have a dream of publishing books one day though. I am linking this with Michelle's wonderful meme -- Nature Notes which she holds every Tuesday. Are there any other meme that I can link with? If you know, please let me know. Thanks.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

My Experiment With Telephoto Lens

I rented a 500 mm Sigma telephoto lens. So, here are some pictures. Please click on each photo to see the larger version. The lens is so heavy, weighs as much as I am :-P, and the camera really shakes. Very fast shutter speed is the key if taking pictures without a tripod; however that can make the pictures appear dark. All these are taken without a tripod and the subjects are really far away, more than 200 feet away. My neck, hand and shoulder were aching from trying to hold the camera and steadily. All these pictures are taken of all the birds that appear in our backyard, bird-feeder. This post is linking with Rambling Wood's Nature Post. If anyone not seen her blog, please go and visit it -- her blog is a treat with beautiful pictures and information about nature. I am also linking it with Hootin Annie's I'd rather be birding .


The female and male cardinals. The male and female can be distinguished from the color of their feathers -- the males look gorgeous with beautiful orangish red feathers. The females do not have that color but grayish yellow with some reddish streak. The song of the male bird, at least to my ears, is absolutely beautiful. They sit perched on tree tops and sing, signalling the coming of spring.

Some kind of finch or sparrow in the first picture. Sparrows in the second and third picture. It seems that there are lots of different kinds of sparrows in the US. I do not know which kind these are.

The above three pictures are not taken with the telephoto lens. Thus, they are not that clear. All the various kinds of birds -- juncos, chickadees, sparrows, finch, titmouse, nuthatch, bluejays, cardinals, sterling and woodpeckers -- that come to our feeder throughout the day. In the second and third picture, one sees the Red-Bellied Woodpecker.


Nuthatch in the first and second picture. I think these birds spend upside-down throughout their lives. Whenever I have observed them in nature, they are always upside down. Tufted titmouse in the third picture in the first row. Chickadees in the first and second picture in the second row. Junco in the the last picture -- these are migratory birds. They are seen in NJ only during winter. They will go away with the coming of spring. Apparently they come from farther north in the US and Canada.