North American Birds

Great Egret

Photographed in St. Augustine, Florida during a visit with Rolande’s sister, Jinette and family in 2004. The Great Egret is the symbol of the National Audubon Society, one of the oldest environmental organizations in North America. Audubon was founded to protect birds from being killed for their feathers. This beautiful bird is actually a member of the heron family and will grow to a length of 40″, with a wingspan as great as 60″.

One of my favourites, the Osprey is one of the largest birds of prey in North America. The Osprey eats almost exclusively fish. It is one of the most widespread birds in the world, found on all continents except Antarctica. This particular bird was photographed flying near its nest which is located atop a bridge that crosses the Bow River near Castle Junction, Alberta. The Osprey grows to 24″ in length with a wingspan of 72″.

A very young owl, not sure which type. Photographed while perched under the eaves a golf clubhouse in North Scottsdale, AZ. Thanks to Barry Stewart for knowing where to look. The shot was taken from about 10 m, using an EF 85-300 mm lens and my Canon Rebel XT camera.

A joint project of me and my son-in-law, Drew Perkins. This is one of many shots we took on a November Saturday afternoon in 2008, in Scottsdale, AZ. We put out a feeder to attract the birds and were very successful at creating an afternoon of picture opportunities. I contributed the camera and lens on this occasion and Drew contributed his flash equipment and lighting expertise. We had  a lot of fun experimenting with the lighting, shutter speeds and so on and were ultimately rewarded with a number of very pleasing shots.

Another of the many hummingbird shots taken by Drew Perkins and myself. This is the same bird; we discovered that hummingbirds are very territorial and once he had staked out our feeder, this bird was unprepared to share! They’re very tiny, no more than 9 cm in length with a wingspan no greater than 11 cm. They flap their wings at the amazing speed of 53 times per second.

Although it has an ugly, bare-skinned face, the Turkey Vulture is beautiful on the wing. Seldom does this graceful and talented bird flap its wings as it soars over large areas searching for carrion. This is a very large bird, up to 32″ in length, with a wingspan as great as 70″. I photographed this from the patio of our friends’ (the Murphys) home in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California. I used my Canon 5D, Mk II camera and Paul Murphy’s EF 85-300 mm lens. Thanks, Paul.

We have some large ravens in Alberta. I often refer to them as black chickens. This fellow and his mom were sitting in the snow bank near our car, parked while I was getting some other photographs. I think they were looking for a handout. Ravens are among the smartest of all birds, gaining a reputation for solving ever more complicated problems invented by ever more creative scientists.

Two majestic bald eagles, photographed near Telegraph Cove, B.C. in May,2009 during our west coast tour. I got this shot from a boat, using my Canon 40D camera and my EF 100-400 mm lens. The national emblem of the United States, the Bald Eagle was threatened with extinction in the lower 48 states because of DDT (a type of pesticide) poisoning. Protection under the Endangered Species Act, together with reintroduction programs, brought populations up, and the species was reclassified as Threatened in 1995. By 1999 some were suggesting that Bald Eagles could be removed from the endangered species list, and they were delisted in June 2007—a true conservation success story.

Nice duck, photographed on the edge of a water hazard at Starfire Golf Course in Scottsdale, AZ. One of the most familiar of ducks, the Mallard is found throughout North America and all across Eurasia. The male of the species is easily identified by the iridescent green colour of his head.

This beautiful female of the Mallard species was photographed at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary in Calgary, AB.

Photographed by Rolande from our back porch on a pleasant June day in 2009. Robins are popular birds for their warm orange breast, cheery song, and early appearance at the end of winter. Though they’re familiar town and city birds, Robins are at home in wilder areas, too, including mountain forests and Alaskan wilderness.