Tag: birds

Photo by Joe Wilcox
Read More

Momma Hummer

This hummingbird is better entertainment for our cats than TV is for humans. She faithfully sits in her nest, on a tree in the middle of our apartment building’s courtyard, with clear view from a window we leave open year around for Cali and Neko. The felines are mesmerized during the night.

The featured photo is the original, shot using Fujifilm X-T1 and Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR lens. The image is converted JPEG from Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. The second is an edited crop. Vitals: f/4, ISO 200, 1/60 sec, 50mm. 

Continue reading Momma Hummer
Photo by Joe Wilcox
Read More

What Is Your Flickr Anniversary?

I can’t count how many times my relationship with Flickr nearly ended over the past decade. I subscribed in October 2005, making 10 years ago this month. For reasons I cannot guess, my oldest uploaded photo is the Pelican, on Ground Hog’s Day 2006. I shot the bird with Nikon D70 and Nikkor 70-300mm f/3.5-5.6 lens while vacationing in San Diego (where I now live) in August 2004.

I don’t have an exact date during the month, just a receipt for a Pro membership on May 6, 2006. I maintained Pro until Flickr (more or less) ended the option in May 2013. But Yahoo brought back Pro accounts in July 2015, offering perks to previous subscribers. Last month, I renewed mine for two years, for $44.95. 

Continue reading What Is Your Flickr Anniversary?
Photo by Joe Wilcox
Read More

Flickr a Day 107: ‘Snowy’

When choosing photos for this series, I weigh many considerations, such as: Image quality and appeal, composition, and story behind the image or the one about the shooter. Today’s selection is soft and doesn’t represent the high IQ typical of Matt MacGillivray. But it’s a great shot superbly composed (or cropped) that is interesting. Bird and bricks? WTH?

Matthew works for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as a web application system architect. But birds are a passion, as his photography shows. He shot self-titled “Snowy” on Jan. 4, 2009, using Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi and Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6 lens. Vitals: f/7.1, ISO 200, 1/400 sec, 400mm.

Continue reading Flickr a Day 107: ‘Snowy’
Critters by Joe Wilcox

A Summer Story

A cold November day is good time to reminisce about summer past—and to point out that behind every picture is a good story. So, what’s with my daughter and the bird?

On July 6 my wife and I picked up a Styrofoam giant glider plane at the local toy store, which my daughter and I took it out for an evening fly across the back yard. But my daughter’s throw put the plane across the fence and in the neighbor’s lot behind ours. So she and I had to walk round the block. Along the way, as we sheepishly shortcut past some condos, we caught a flash of feathers before a load SMACK of birdie hitting a window. 

Continue reading A Summer Story