JimB

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Louisiana Waterthrush

One of the best shots I've seen of this species!

Generally I'll use manual mode w/auto ISO and exposure comp when needed but I'll switch to all manual If lighting conditions are consistent on the bird. Sometimes I'll switch to aperture priority. I always use back-button focus!

Blue-winged Teal

Thanks! I was well hidden on the bank of a river at water level near a warm water discharge from a nearby wastewater treatment plant which explains the steam on the water. Sometimes during unusual cold spells this area will attract large numbers of waterfowl, this time a few mergansers showed up and this one started doing this courtship display near some females. This particular area was a calm eddy which kept the mergansers close to shore. The only thing I had to do was be still and wait. This shot was taken at 700mm on a full frame camera so it wasn't super close.

A Red-breasted Merganser doing a "Salute-Curtsy" display.

No, not at all. I'd blame the other person for the rude response to your inquiring about the photos that made you suspicious.

The fact that the first owl is looking up and into the camera suggests to me that it's real along with the feet position that meghann pointed out. The second owl may be a different one (grey morph?) but it too is looking right at the camera. I know that screech owl pairs can be a red and a grey so perhaps this is a pair that did fly into this house. There is no definitive proof that the story is false so there is no reason to question it IMHO. If I were to "stage" and make up a story like this I would try to at least take better photos of them. Yes, fake photos have been around as long as photography, even some major photo competitions have discovered faked photos that were submitted.

If you haven't had any problems after formatting the card then that's probably the solution. I don't regularly format my cards but I do it often enough that I've never had an issue and I always format them in the camera. If you don't have one already I highly suggest you get one or more backup cards then use the new one and keep the suspect card as a backup or get rid of it. If the problem continues then try a new card reader, they're pretty cheap, actually they're cheaper than some new SD cards!

American Woodcock from a few days ago.