MarkG

I usually don't take photos of birds in flight, but I decided to try it out today. I was on a bridge and this time of year Eagles and Ospreys will be flying down the river. I caught this eagle and I'm very happy with this shot.

I saw four of these ducks on one of the smaller retention ponds in the neighborhood this morning. (Chapel Hill, NC) I couldn't ID them when I saw them, but got a few OK long range photos. I went through a few of my bird books without and luck and then used the ID feature on Merlin. It had some initial problems identifying the bird as well, but I finally found a decent image of the duck and Merlin ID'd it as a Ring-necked Duck. Merlin also ID's it as a rare bird for around here, so I'd really like a second opinion before I post it on my eBird checklist. Thanks!

I found this Pine Warbler this morning and gently stalked it for about 20 minutes. It was a bit of a treat to have it low and not have to take photos looking up. I ended up taking well over a hundred photos and ended up with a pretty decent ratio of good photos. I'm posting two because I just can't select one that I think is best.

If I thought about my best or favorite photo for much more than a few seconds having to choose would be difficult. But as soon as I thought about it this photo was the first photo that popped into my head. It's a Mangrove Swallow, the photo was taken while on a river tour of the Frio River in the northern part of Costa Rica. It was taken last year in January, a few months before the pandemic kicked in.