Catch of the Day

As you may now, I have been chasing birds everywhere including making trips to wildlife refuges. I don't mind to carry heavy camera gears and walk for miles, just for a peek of birds. And, if I am lucky, I may capture a few shots.

I am counting the birds I have seen, a lot of them.  However, most of the time I watch them from distance. The more I am accustomed to their habits, the better shots I am getting. But, I have not been able to capture hummingbirds.  They are too quick and I am too slow.  I know if I waited long enough, they would come back.  But as impatient as I am, I just cannot sit and wait around. I have to keep my head and hands busy all the time.  Consequently, many shots were taken, but I don’t have a favorite one, until today.

I have never known that hummingbirds have such big eyes and even while it was enjoying its nectar, it kept an eye on me! That's why I have such a hard time to catch them.  Not a perfect shot, but this can be my most favorite one. It was cloudy and I had to shoot through the window from inside the house. If I had tried to open the door, it would instantly fly out of my sight.  This catch of the day has made me a very happy Friday.

Cormorants are not particularly attractive birds. They are as black as crows; however they may get better popularity because they are not as commonly seen as crows.  I have a special emotional attachment for these birds because of what I saw in southwest China where cormorants are fisherman’s slaves.  I desire to look at them close, but I had no luck for a long time until I captured this shot.  I have not studied this bird well enough and not sure what they are doing up there. Are they arguing, fighting or simply conversing? Don't know, but their silhouette certainly looks very interesting to me.

As a child, I was told that crows are bad omens.  They bring bad lucks. I don’t recall that I ever saw crows when I was in Taiwan, but crows are everywhere here. Bad omens must not be working in this country.  But their black profile seems to prompt me to think something spooky. I decided to add vignette and that makes it even more like mid-night in spooky hollow, isn’t it? 

My neighbor knows I am taking photos of everything. She came to knock my door with this little guy hanging on a stick. She thought this dragonfly was injured and could not fly. 

The rule to shoot wildlife pictures is to focus on their eyes, but I could not tell which are its eyes. This little creature looks like a helicopter to me and I can not tell where are the windows of the plane till I took another shot from the side. Now I am sure you have also found its eyes.

There are so many small creatures co-existing in our surroundings and they keep their eyes on every move of ours. Are you aware of that?

I won't never comprehend how God created their brains, tiny and yet sophisticated enough to spy on us, the supreme beings.

As a matter of fact, God teaches birds to fly first before we know how to fly in the sky. We invented airplane by first observing how birds fly. Have you thought about that?

My discovery journey continues....