Bopbop

Left among the King penguins, I took these. The first one is for the shapes and colors, so, artsy. That is a Gentoo penguin porpoising. Almost looks fake and I know I took it.

Correct thank you. another case of I went by it 6 times and did not recognize it. There was something that I must have seen in eBird that guided me away. I have got to improve that. It is in my field guide to birds of Patagonia and the S Atlantic and I went right by it also. By the way I’ve been to Patagonia but do not own any of their clothing:-)

In Southern Ocean near South Georgia 2 weeks ago. Don't really fit Blue Petrels in discontinuity of black head and neck extension. The one that is almost horizontal to the water in the group does have a white splash(dot)at the tail end as does the single bird??. Ebird's Vanuatu pix almost look like them in head and neck (not tail) but that is ridiculous. Last time I asked something in these forums I had passed over the bird in iBird about 12 times and it was in reality an easy pick but I was dense. Be gentle.

Nothing dramatic but at the time (2016) it was my trip of a lifetime. I've had some secondary trips of a lifetime since, to Galápagos for example and Costa Rica was marvelous.. I went to see the ice and snow, since I had seen some magnificent portfolio excerpts from other photographers. I classify myself as a nature photog, with birds, particularly in action and flying, as my favorites. Penguins were secondary at best. They were primary for all the other 'explorers' on the ship. But the minute I got off on Half Moon Island (many of the tours stop there) I was hooked on penguins, in that first case Gentoos. All over-all the time. I started collecting a Penguin Life list, up to 8 now. A major shortcoming of my trip to the Southern Ocean was missing the Magellanic Penguin around Ushuaia or the Falklands. While in the Antarctic Peninsula we saw Antarctic Terns and 4 penguin species (including one lonely Emperor on some fast ice), Snowy Sheath Bills (ugly) nesting Blue-eyed Shags with chicks (cormorants) and Skuas robbing nests (the guests all wanted to take the Skuas out ? ), Humpbacks making bubble nets, a Killer whale pod, numerous Weddell and Crabeater seals and enough beautiful ice and snow to make me happy. I have some general recommendations from the trip if interested.

1. I have this thing about frontal views of birds. For example my Green Heron Avatar. 2. The King Penguins did attack me. It was kinda slow and shuffling but they DID. Real story.

I was in the southern Ocean and could not post these due to limited internet access in South Georgia. I realize most will never get there and this post is not meant to be one upmanship . The pix are here just to show bird pix. As my wife has it we have been blessed with the wherewithal to be able to do this. Too many complaints and I'll remove them. In order South Georgia Pipitx2, a gathering of King Penguins,Black Browed Albatross.

After you look at this one-go to my website ( https://www.housleyphoto.com/photos-2/ ) and look around. I decided yo do a website and a photo aggregator. It is not too hard but unless one wants to dive deeper, it is moderately limited in action and accessibility. After my move I'm going to get started updating again. The website is a show off place, not a retail site, unless you want it to be ;-) ) No one buys photos of nature anymore if they ever did., at least not mine. I sold a framed photo from my wall 4 weeks ago to an employee (for the cost of the frame) to clear out my house for our move. They can be had larger and much better at Walmart.

All my Canon DSLRs have had one.

The cardinal taking off is a quirky favorite of mine. Last posts from my trip.

From last few days as I was traveling and difficult to process and upload.

Last is of course a Bird of Paradise. Sorry, a little. My Bad... I have better of the honey creeper at https://www.housleyphoto.com/photos-2/files/page3-1007-full.html and https://www.housleyphoto.com/styled/photos-9/files/page13-1003-full.html but you takes what you gets... Ill remove if it offends... By the way I love the Euphonia, Townsend's Warbler,

First birds in a while (8 months). Been trying to get a decent Bird I for a long time. Decent finally. My Vanity Website, birds and all. Not a retail site.

An Angry bird. Fluffed up Green Heron. To be my avatar.

Great Frigatebirds, Males in breeding dIsplay. Great distinguished from Magnificent by green on back. Galápagos.

A few birds from the way south. Go along with egg thief earlier. Antarctic Terns

I apologize that these are not recent, if that is an issue, but I now mostly photograph on eco-trips. Since I then get a passel of pix then I'd submit 20 in 4 days and that would be worse. Here are some blue-footed boobies from the Galápagos: Oh, bored?? look at my website to be updated tomorrow. The second photo is on the front page: https://www.housleyphoto.com

Thank you.

South Polar Skua robbing the nest of a Gentoo penguin on the Antarctic Peninsula, December 2016. He flew a few yards away and devoured the egg. The Gentoo is peculiarly useless in protecting the nest. Squawking seems their major defense. If both parents are around the Skua usually fails. Nest placement is very important in passing on your genes. The Skua is sometimes seen in the Mid pacific so it is listed in iBird. Keep your eye out, the last frame may end up in iBird.

Violet Sabrewing Hummingbird, Monteverde Costa Rica Feb. 3, 2019. ed: Little unsharp since I downsized the file and its shown>100%.

All I got was this direct on, silhouetted in Lake Arenal area. Do you agree it is a Clay-colored thrush or am I completely off base here? edited: ^^exposure,^saturation, definition and vibrancy. sharpened . Just as an aside might it not help to edit some of these really dark images by increasing the exposure before posting. Just saying. Or are the helping hands downloading themselves and fiddling with the image?? george ed: Thanks in advance.

#3 singlet is rufous-collared sparrow

I think Ill buy it. My book is brand new, listing it as Black-crowned. I think I blew it off because my example has no wing bar and both book examples show one as well as white spots only on the tail end not along the outer border like my photo seems to show (although the tail is rounded which may give that impression). Going back your ID is probably the best and fits my 'ant...' recollection. One of the Cornell females seems to show more proximal tail spots. I can recall the time, and even the place on the walk. The naturalist just tossed the ID offhandedly out there and we kept on walking. (We were busy chasing Collared aracaris and Keel-billed Toucans, who wouldn't be elsewhere occupied?) Thank you. My vanity web site. Just a showoff place, linked elsewhere in the iBird contributors list.

Another deep in the rainforest, behind the foliage, worsened by my tremor, image of a 'low bushes' bird. The Naturalist mentioned an ant shrike or bird by my vague recollection. I'm striking out though, even with females. No ant" " really fits. With this one buried in the foliage, don't completely trust the colors. See my last mistaken notion about color and bad focus although the focus is better here. The tail is spotted on its edge and the visible back and breast not spotted. ?eye ring. Again, as always, thank you in advance, even if you do point me to something I already rejected ?

Thanks, I saw this in my search of the Field Guide, Birds of Costa Rica (garrigues)and because of the differences, the more greenish head (which in retrospect could be due to processing given the slow shutter speed and my tremor, therefore a wash over effect from the vegetation) the larger white throat on the reference (again processing issues) and the lack of a wing bar on my bird, I rejected that choice. In looking further afield? some of the images in google, appreciating the possible misidentification, also have no wing bar. The one in the field guide with bar is IDed as the Caribbean race. Given all this, I buy it. Thank you for making me look twice. And I just reviewed the note versions I took during my trip. The naturalist did mention a shrike tanager the day I took this, 30 versions ago. I did not get a further ID but in the field my notes were brief.Thank you Mac OS. ed. and the time of the note 513PM was just after the photo time stamp at 427pm