Redwinged Blackbird

I saw this red-winged blackbird today at Piedmont Vineyards, which is the oldest vineyard and winery in Virginia.

Red-winged blackbird on a cat-tail

Bird Photography

Without any special lenses, I find bird photography very challenging with my point-and-shoot camera as birds tend to fly away when approached. Does anyone recommend an affordable, decent telephoto/zoom lens digital camera?

Virginia Bird Photography Blog

I found this impressive Virginia wildlife blog specializing in Virginia bird photography recently, which I added to the links panel at the left. The site is the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory photo blog.

Video of Release

View more videos at: http://www.nbcwashington.com.

News Article

Tom Sherwood reports for NBC4 Washington:

The Canadian hawk had been trapped inside the ornate reading room of the library…

It spent the past two weeks at the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia in Falls Church, where birder Linda Moore helped care for it…

Fredericksburg.com reports:

All David Martin wanted was an iced coffee.

He had to endure assault and battery–or more appropriately, assault and birdery–to get it.

Martin’s attacker, a mockingbird, was on him the minute the 17-year-old exited his car Thursday in front of Caribou Coffee in Central Park.

This is the bird’s nest that the rat snake might have been trying to reach last week. The nest remains with young birds still alive.

Birds Nest on a Rain Gutter Drainpipe

Here’s a short video clip of a wild turkey in the front yard. I shot the video through a window; the background music is a Dave Rawlings Machine CD I had playing at the time. The song is entitled Monkey and the Engineer.

Here are a couple photographs a a wild turkey in the lawn…

Wild Turkey in the Yard

Wild Turkey in the Yard