Author Archives: Simon Bate

“Hmmm. I wonder what did that?” (Looks straight up.) “Oh. It’s big (maybe I should move). But what is it?” “Ah. Hello there!” The end.

Toward the end of my walk, I sometimes think that I’ve seen all there is to see and I might as well head home. Yesterday I was thinking that as I left the holding pond behind the townhomes. For no reason at all, I paused by some bushes and saw some movement. Probably a Chickadee,Continue reading “Save the best for last”

A few weeks ago we had White-eyed Vireos swinging through on their spring migration. Currently their red-eyed cousins are having their turn. It’s not hard to catch the Red-eyed Vireo with its beak open. It frequently vocalizes, saying two phrases every two seconds or so. The first phrase is on a straight or slightly fallingContinue reading “Red-eyed Vireo”

When I walk around the pond, I’m usually looking at birds. But I do keep my eyes open on other fauna…and flora. There are some surprising things along the paths. Last fall I discovered a persimmon tree in plain sight. I had been walking by it for years but never noticed it. Today, while chattingContinue reading “Jack and Myrtle”

There was quite a spectacle this morning at the pond. I was chatting with J when a Great-blue Heron walked up from the water onto the grass. It soon went back down the bank and into the channel, where it took three quick steps, darted its neck, and came up with a large frog. DavidContinue reading “Grenouille Crue”

The other day the Bank Swallows were flying low over the pond, catching insects. I thought it would be a good opportunity to experiment with photographing birds in flight. Rather than use auto-focus, I switched to manual and tried to catch swallows as they zoomed near me, focusing as best as I could (they dipContinue reading “Swallow on the Wing”

This is the third in my series of posts about how I (sometimes) categorize my pictures. Today’s is an artistic picture. It’s not the standard pose I look for in a bird. Certainly not a “reference plate.” In fact, it shows only a portion of the bird. Additionally, the bird is preening. Most preening orContinue reading “Get Your Heron Straight”

Correction from yesterday. I was so energized about having seen a Palm Warbler, I entirely missed that every time I meant to write “Palm Warbler” I wrote “Pine Warbler.” (Pine Warblers are quite common at Seagroves Pond; I see and hear them just about every day.) Thanks to a couple of friends, I have sinceContinue reading “Poster Girl, or Boy”

In general, there are three types of photos I take: artistic pictures, reference plates, and desperation shots. The artistic pictures are those that are composed (mostly) in the viewfinder. They bring together the bird—or birds—and the other elements surrounding the bird in a well-balanced whole. The “reference plates” are those that focus on the birdContinue reading “Life-Lister”

(or “Double Double-crested”) I took this picture of two Double-crested Cormorants drying their wings just a few days ago. If you go to the pond today, it’ll look a bit different. On Monday workers from the town started lowering the level of the pond so that they could repair damage to the dam caused byContinue reading “Pair Dryer”