David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Western Meadowlark, Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/11, 1/640 sec).
Trogon with a red breast perched on a wire. Viewed while on a bird watching field trip in a rainforest in Costa Rica.
Young Turkey Vulture (showing up the day before tax day…) Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 280, 300 mm, f/2.8, 1/320 sec).
Turkey Vulture Soaring Under a Spring Moon. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 140, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec).
For an earlier version of a Turkey Vulture flying past the moon check out (24-February-2007)
Another sign that spring is here. There were hundreds of robin in my backyard today. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 100, 600 mm, f/4, 1/320 sec).
I grew up in Minnesota, and the return of Robins was always a sign of spring. Here in New Jersey we have a few that stay for the winter, but with the large number that showed up today I think these are from the group that migrate (maybe some of the ones that I saw down in Florida back in February at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge). When I was in the 6th grade, we moved from Minnesota to Florida. In Florida, the Robins would arrive in the late Fall and leave in the late Winter. Before they left, they would all get drunk on fermented China Berries (couldn’t even perch or stand up and walk straight). I don’t know how they found their way back home as they migrated north. The reason I bring up seasons and migrations is that there was a SAT question where you had to relate Robins to Seasons. If you grew up in the North, Robins related to Spring — but if you grew up in the South then Robins related to Fall or Winter. What was the right answer?
