This is a case of sheer luck, and I think it's important that we all recognize that it does happen. I was watching (and watching, and watching) two or three Chestnut backed chickadees flying or flitting all over the place, and I couldn't nail a shot. I couldn't even come close. They're a favorite bird (now) which made it more desirable even then, and after a whole hour, frustrating. (You mean it can take more than an hour to get an image of a tiny bird???) Then I was pointed at that chain just as a focus check on my new camera and, hey ma, lookit what I found!
Mind you, my equipment was first generation. My experience with birds, nil. And of all birds to go after, I had to try one of the most difficult, so on the 10th anniversary of really getting into this, let me show you what the back of a Chestnut-backed Chickadee looks like. And then think of what the beginning of 10 years of sheer enjoyment really is.
Tags: Chestnut-backed Chickadee First Bird Image with S3IS Resident Walnut Creek California Canon S3IX Copyright Ethan A. Winning
© All Rights Reserved
Chickadees, tits, and nuthatches are the most skittish birds in existence, and there was a time when I didn't think I'd ever be able to get an Oak titmouse, Wrentit, or Bushtit. They simply don't site still. Well, I did get a few, but only once did I get a pair on the same branch, and this is it!
Published in BirdWatching Magazine, February 2013.
Cornell University Choice November, 2016.
Tags: DailyNature-TNC13 Bushtit Pair wcswebsite Canon SX40 or SX50 DailyNature-TNC14 North America NA Ethan Winning E. A. Winning
© All Rights Reserved
The Oak Titmouse is a small (one ounce, 3 inch) bird that inhabits woodlands on the California coastal region to Baja. It's almost identical to the Juniper Titmouse except for song and range. In fact, because of the brown tinge on the crest of this one, I would swear it's a Juniper titmouse, but they're almost never seen in the lower elevations.
The Oak titmouse is active, very active like a bushtit or wrentit. It is feisty, and highly territorial. It mates for life and will drive off any other titmouse or threat in its territory. It's a good thing its territory isn't that large. When I go out in the morning, I will see at least six to eight in trees surrounding the front of my house.
I never thought I'd get a shot at one of these. They move too fast. But 2011 was a bumper year, and I even got this one at about 12 feet in a pear tree. Sometimes, the older powershots were better at closeups than the newer SX 40s and 50s.
Faved by Cornell University
Tags: E. A. Winning Oak Titmouse Walnut Creek Open Space Old Borges Ranch Trail Old Borges Ranch Northern California Birds DailyNature-TNC13 DailyNature-TNC14 North America Avian Ethan Winning
© All Rights Reserved
When an Oak Titmouse perches on your favorite garden "sculpture," you just have to take the shot and I just happened to be looking for White-breasted Nuthatches across the street. They must be hung over, but this guy was just as happy as can be, already singing his springtime mating call.
Speaking of springtime, we actually got a good rain two days ago and, now before the last leaf has fallen from the maple and sycamore trees, they're starting to bud again.
© All Rights Reserved
When I used to walk Alex, our Cairn Terrier, every day, we'd cover about six miles, and it was then that I started taking pictures of birds. Having had an Oak Titmouse pop up every so often in front of me, I wondered how I was ever going to get one good image of this flitting and charming little bird. But I finally did and where else but in one of the heritage oaks, perched just long enough.
A California bird of the oak woodlands, this bird is said to have the loudest song for any bird its size, often belting out a song that can carry for a mile. Of course, that means that you won't get any sense of direction, but for six months out of the year, you get to hear his three cheerful songs.
© All Rights Reserved