Overlooked Photos of 2020 #17: What, Me Worry?

Photo taken in Celista, BC — July 12, 2020

Manage your stress or it will get the best of you. This little Song Sparrow looks like it’s having a hard time doing that, eyes etched deeply and shoulders hunched. A bird’s life is one of constant, twitching caution, of looking this way and that for predators, food and photographers, of standing still only for seconds before flitting to the next perch. That would stress anyone, I think.

* Why I didn’t post it: Same old, same old. Lots of photos from that time, just didn’t post all of them. In the end I couldn’t resist sharing this worried little bird. Or am I anthropomorphizing?

* I took a lot of photos in 2020, more than in any previous year. Some I shared, but looking back I’ve found many I didn’t. Maybe I thought they weren’t good enough, maybe I had something else to post or maybe…I just plain forgot. As the year winds down I’m rectifying those oversights and posting some photos I overlooked earlier in 2020.

Overlooked Photos of 2020 #16: The Architect

Photo taken in Okanagan Falls, BC — May 30, 2020

Considered one of the baddest of the bird kingdom badasses, the Eastern Kingbird is practically fearless — they’ll go after red-tailed hawks, for pity’s sake. This one, however, was somewhat more placid and devoted to its domestic duties. We found it high in a tree gathering nesting material and in no mood to harass or challenge us. Which is just as well: I don’t think we would have fared well in a fight.

* Why I didn’t post it: On the same day I found this Eastern Kingbird I also took a great (well, I liked it…) photo of a Tree Swallow. Those bright swallow colours must have blinded me to the beauty of the Eastern Kingbird; I posted the photo of the swallow and moved on. I now think I should have posted both. What do you think?

* I took a lot of photos in 2020, more than in any previous year. Some I shared, but looking back I’ve found many I didn’t. Maybe I thought they weren’t good enough, maybe I had something else to post or maybe…I just plain forgot. As the year winds down I’m rectifying those oversights and posting some photos I overlooked earlier in 2020.

Overlooked Photos of 2020 #15: Eyes on the Prize

Photos taken in Oliver, BC — May 23, 2020

If you’re a mouse or a vole, this fellow is the last thing you want to see cruising above your meadow. The Northern Harrier is a fearsome predator, using both vision and hearing to track its prey. And as the provider for his mate and offspring — sometimes more than one mate and several offspring — he’s highly motivated to bring home the rodent bacon. I didn’t see what he eventually caught, but I’m fully confident he did it soon after I took these photos.

* Why I didn’t post it: I shot these photos very early in the morning, practically in blue hour. As a result, I used a high ISO and they came out a little noisy. The shame of posting a noisy photo was just too much to bear…I feared I’d be chucked off Instagram, consigned to peddling my photos on street corners, begging passersby to please sir, please madam, look at my hawk photo. I hope that won’t happen. Will it?

* I took a lot of photos in 2020, more than in any previous year. Some I shared, but looking back I’ve found many I didn’t. Maybe I thought they weren’t good enough, maybe I had something else to post or maybe…I just plain forgot. As the year winds down I’m rectifying those oversights and posting some photos I overlooked earlier in 2020.