Rick's Photo Blog

After some weeks of limited sightings of hummingbirds they have returned for regular visits. The last couple of days it seems one comes to the window feeder every 10 minutes or less. I’ve also seen this guy guarding the feeder and chasing away intruders. This shot was taken with a flash through the front window. I also captured a video of a hummingbird taunting our cat while he was sitting in the window. The bird seems to know he is safely out of reach and hovers in front of the cat before going to the feeder.

As many photos as I take, whether around the yard or at school, organizing them and editing them can be quite a task. The one tool I regularly use is Picasa. With it I can organize photos into folders and edit them quickly. In addition, there are a number of plug-ins available making it easy to upload to Flickr, SmugMug, Facebook, or any number of photo processing sites making it easy to print them out.

The collage above was created by choosing the photos I wanted, selecting the middle photo, and saving. I uploaded it to AdoramaPix and had a 16×20 print made. Within a few days it arrived and looks great.

Many of the birds around the feeder are easily frightened when I get close. The carolina chickadees, however, are pretty comfortable. Unlike the cardinals and grackles, who will sit and eat for quite a while, the chickadee will pick out a seed and fly up to a branch to eat it. That makes it a challenge sometimes to get the shot. Frequently I will take the shot only to see a photo of an empty feeder or just the back tail feathers of the little guy. This shot was one of those fortunate ones just as he was taking off.

We returned home this afternoon after spending a great week with Jen, Lee, and David Lee in Fort Mill. Having spent the last seven days holding our grandson, feeding him when he was hungry, changing his diaper, kissing him goodnight, and sharing in the every day activities we now wait anxiously until he (and Jen) come to see us in Greenville in a couple of weeks. Dena jas pictures in her brag book and I’ve uploaded the last batch of photos we took just before leaving. The photo above is hardly original — I got the idea from a similar  photo in the hospital — but I look forward to printing and hanging it to remind us of this “little bundle of joy.”