Nature Photography by Richard L. Bowman

January 27, 2015

Admitting to a Mistake and Sharing a Link

A week ago, I was happy to receive an email from one of our sons-in-law, Holden Byler. In my opinion, he is a much much better photographer than I am, and I sure do like talking with him about our craft. So when he kindly suggested that I had misidentified two birds, I believed him and went to looked at the photos he was talking about. And of course, he was correct! A Carolina Wren is not a female House Sparrow. One major item is that the wren has a long curved beak while the sparrow has a short stright one.

Carolina Wren staying warm with fuffled feathers

A Carolina Wren Staying Warm with Ruffled Feathers (29-Dec-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

a female House Sparrow at our feeder

A Female House Sparrow at Our Bird Feedeer (16-Dec-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Note that I have also corrected the captions on the photos below.

As to the links I want to share, they will give you a preview of the quality work that Holden Byler does.

Holden's flickr Stream: https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdenbyler/
A Sample of Holden's bird photos on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdenbyler/sets/72157626661099358/map/

Hoe you enjoy the natural wildlife surrounding us, if we but notice it.

January 2, 2015

A December Sampling of Animals

Elsie and I left our home in Lezhë, Albania, on Wednesday, December 10, to fly to our home in Harrisonburg, VA, USA. Well to an apartment in the basement of her sister's house; our house was still rented out. We came back from Albania so that I could have hip replacement surgery and thus be able to live with a lot less leg pain.

A few days before we left Lezhë, I captured this pigeon sitting on the roof of the building across from our apartment.

a pigeon in Lezhe, Abania, across the street from our apartment

A Pigeon Seen from Our Apartment in Lezhë, Albania (7-Dec-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

A week after we settled into our apartment in Harrisonburg, I put up a bird feeder and captured the young female house sparrow eating at it.

a female house sparrow outside of our apartment in Harrisonburg, VA, USA

A Female House Sparrow Seen from Our Apartment in Harrisonburg, VA, USA (17-Dec-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Another common bird is the Mourning Dove, and this one was captured on the electrical wires that crossed the street near our apartment.

a mourning dove on the wires above the street

A Mourning Dove Near Our Apartment (18-Dec-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

On Friday, Dec. 19, we drove to Landisville, Pennsylvania, to celebrate Christmas with our children and their families and with my extended family. On Saturday morning, I captured these Canada Geese flying overhead

Canada geese flying overheqad, Landisville, PA, USA

Landisville, PA, USA: Canada Geese (20-Dec-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

a close up of the flying Canada geese

Close-up of Canada Geese in V-formaiton (20-Dec-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

A few days after we were back in our Harrisonburg apartment, I photographed these female House Sparrows through the screen over our basement window.

house sparrows on our new feeder outside our Harrisonburg apartment

Two Female House Sparrows from Our Apartment Window (27-Dec-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

And at that same time, I went outside and captured this female House Sparrow on a bush outside of our apartment.

female house sparrow in a small tree

A couple of days later, I photographed the Starling and House Sparrows shown below.

a starling in a maple tree

a Carolina Wren in a tree

the Carolina wren with ruffled feathers to keep warm

a male house sparrow in a tree

During my weeks of recuperation after the hip replacement surgery, I hope to observe many different types of birds. So check back as you remember to do so. Also check out the archives for previous photos I posted from Lezhë and Harrisonburg.

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