Northern Mockingbird

Note: WP occasionally shows you the post without pulling all the images. If you’re reading and it sounds like there’s an image missing, just refresh the window.

Let me start by saying these are not great photos. There are two reasons; well, two main reasons. One, the days was gloomy and rainy. That prompted me to shoot at a high ISO (1000 to as high as 5000). The high ISO was also driven by the high shutter speed, which was set at 1/1250-sec. Lastly, most of these photos (all, in fact) are crops of larger photos.

“Why shoot with those settings?”

Well, Bob, let me tell you.

This is a look back at photos from the last five months of 2022.

“Why five months? Why not six months?”

Well, Bob — if that is indeed your name — I’, not going through this again. If you want an answer, read the intro to the previous post.

Anyway, we continue with a brief — but hopefully worthwhile — look at a sampling of the 2022 photos I snapped using the Nikon D7500 camera.

“So, like, are these the best photos of the year?”

This is a look back at photos from the first seven months of 2022.

“Why seven months? Why not six months?”

Well, Bob — if that is indeed your name — I have 56 photos and wanted to split them into two posts, and it just happened that the first 28 photos cover the months of January through July of 2022.

“But you could have just processed a few more on this first half, no?”

. . . everyone’s a critic . . . Yes, I could have, but I didn’t set out with a particular number in mind. Fifty-six is what I had in the end, and fifty-six is what I’m working with.

“So, like, are these the best photos of the year?”

As shot

I know they are around and occasionally see them flying, but I rarely capture photos of them.

I am referring to hawks. However, two days ago, as we took a quick drive through the refuge, there it was, sitting on the pole.

Unfortunately, the powerlines were in the way . . . but, fortunately, I have Luminar Neo . . .

Just a quick . . . er . . . semi-quick post about the communal bathing habits of House Sparrows. It all started in September, when House sparrows became regular visitors to the birdfeeders. They usually come in small flocks of about ten or so, but occasionally more.

They got into the habit of doing vigorous bathing, usually with multiple birds in the birdbath at the same time. Wait, let me back up a bit . . .

Just a quick post . . . I just saw the notice for the winner of Flickr’s contest. Specifically, the Nature category winner.

https://blog.flickr.net/2022/09/29/world-photography-day-meet-your-contest-winners/

I’m like . . . “What?! A hummingbird Photo?”

I mean, I have hundreds of hummingbird photos. Heck, this past Sunday’s SmugMug Appreciation post had three photos of hummingbirds that I think are just as good.

Here they are:

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. Let me explain . . . on Monday, Labor Day here in the US, I started the day by sitting outside and photographing hummingbirds. Mind you, there were lots of other birds around, but I concentrated on the hummingbirds. Then, throughout the morning, I shot more photos.

For the record, 170 photos were snapped, of which I kept 123. The SmugMug gallery (HERE) has 75 of those 123.

How many am I going to show here? Don’t know yet, but not that many.

These photos are all cropped from the originals. Even after cropping, the photos are about 2400 pixels per side, and I’m linking photos about half that size (meaning, SmugMug offers larger versions, as will the slideshow at the end).