Photobombing a Nesting Osprey /  by Todd Henson

A small insect photobombs a nesting osprey.

Some things just don’t seem wise to photobomb, and a nesting osprey, in my mind, is one of those things. But apparently this little lone insect didn’t share my hesitation, as it had no problem photobombing this osprey sitting atop its nest, feathers on the back of its head slightly raised in the breeze.

Obviously this was a completely unplanned photograph. But I’m always happy when I notice these pleasant surprises while going through images on the computer. Spend enough time out there and you’re bound to find something interesting or different every so often.

Zooming in to get a closer look at the osprey photobomb.

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Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher Nestlings /  by Todd Henson

Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers feeding their young nestlings. You can see the feet of the other parent hanging on a small branch to the right of the larger branch.

One of the many joys of avian photography is observing and photographing nesting behavior. You need to be careful, of course, to avoid causing any problems for the birds. You don’t want to stress them, scare them away, damage the nest or surroundings, or attract a predator to their nest. And that makes finding a nest you can safely observe for brief periods of time a very special thing, indeed.

One year in mid-June I found a small Blue-gray Gnatcatcher nest in a tree just off the trail. It wasn’t so low that I could look down into the nest, but it was low enough to see the little chicks heads as the adults fed them. I only spent a short period of time at the nest, perhaps 10 minutes, as I didn’t want to attract attention to it, either of predators or other people who might then attract even more attention. These things can sometimes get out of hand. I enjoy sharing, but in these cases I’ve learned to stay quiet to try to protect the well-being of the birds.

I was fortunate in this short time to observe both adults busily feeding the chicks. When they left the nest the chicks would quiet down and lower themselves. But when an adult returned the chicks started making noises to attract the attention of the adult, yelling, “Feed me, feed me!” In one photo you can see an adult holding a captured spider while the other adult feeds one of the chicks.

Feed me! One of the Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher nestlings lifts it head and opens its mouth waiting for food from the incoming parent.

Both adult Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers at the nest, one holding a spider for the young nestlings.

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher nests are interesting. They are covered with moss, lichen, and other small things held together and stuck to the tree with spider webbing or caterpillar silk. I’ve watched nests being built and it’s an amazing process. These little fearless birds are so industrious and so fast. It really is a beautiful thing.

I know some of you might not find this next part as interesting, but I was fascinated to observe the removal of a fecal sac from the nest. These are closed nests. And all animals that eat must purge themselves of waste. Well, how do these birds keep their nests clean with several young all eating and growing together? The young chicks expel their waste in a small fecal sac, which adults will remove from the nest. Nice and tidy. And for scientists and naturalists these fecal sacs are a wealth of information about the diet and health of the birds. I’m just a photographer and nature enthusiast, though, so I left the fecal sacs to the birds. 😀

You can just see the fecal sac at the lip of the nest, just below the adult.

The parent grabs the fecal sac. Unfortunately, I lost focus on the birds.

The parent lifts the fecal sac out of the nest, keeping it clean.

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Do You Dare Follow The Path? /  by Todd Henson

 

Do you dare follow the path? Where might it lead?

 

Walking down a forested trail you feel a pull to the right. Something has caught your attention. You’ve walked this way before and never felt this pull, never seen anything out of place. But this time is different. You can’t help but stop and peer into the trees.

And then you see it. Why had you never seen it before? There is a small path leading off into the woods. It passes under a series of arched trees which almost seem to form a doorway. But to where? What’s beyond looks similar to what’s around you, and yet somehow different. The lighting is off, there’s a mist in the air you don’t see elsewhere. You feel a pull, to walk the path, to pass through the doorway, to find out what’s on the other side.

Do you dare follow the path?

This photo actually began much as described above. Walking a trail I’d walked before I had a sense of something to the right. And when I looked I noticed this small path and the arched trees, and my imagination pictured something a bit different from what I actually saw. So I captured some images, looking forward to a little experimentation later in post-processing to see if I could convey something of what I’d imagined.

I’m still not terribly skilled in Adobe Photoshop, so this was all done in Adobe Lightroom using simple post-processing tools I’d use on any other photo, mostly dodging and burning (lightening and darkening), but also adding that misty area, trying to create the illusion of a doorway to elsewhere.

Interestingly, this photo became a potential vision of the near future as a couple months later I found myself reading The Ten Thousand Doors of January, a book by Alix E. Harrow. It’s a wonderful tale of a young woman named January who discovers there are Doors, yes with a capital D, because these are special, being doors that lead to other places, other worlds, paths from here to there. And her world gets turned upside down when she finds a book titled The Ten Thousand Doors that seems to be about fairy tales and fantasy, and yet has the ring of truth to it. I highly recommend giving it a read. This is one of the magical books that can appeal to a wide age range.

If you’d like to purchase a copy and are unable to get to, or order directly from, a local bookstore consider ordering The Ten Thousand Doors of January through Bookshop.org, if it serves your area. They are a B-Corp, meaning a corporation dedicated to the public good, and they support local, independent bookstores with a percentage of your purchase. You can even choose a specific local bookstore to support if any of your local stores are affiliated with them. I’m not affiliated with Bookshop, but have ordered through them, supporting one of my local bookstores.

I’m also providing my Amazon affiliate link for The Ten Thousand Doors of January, if you prefer shopping there. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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