We made a spur of the moment trip up to Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee yesterday to check out the bald eagles and nests.  This is a gallery of my eagle photos from the day.  All of these were shot with a Nikon 500mm F4 with a 1.4 Teleconverter, making these 700mm.  None of these in the gallery are cropped, so you can see exactly what I saw with this lens.  The final big photo shown below is cropped in tighter so you can see the beautiful bird a bit closer.

Shooting conditions were rough.  Temperatures were frigid yesterday, especially with the extremely high winds.  It was hard to hold that big camera/lens combo in those winds.  There's a winter storm coming in later this week, so I imagine that's got Mother Nature fired up!

Most of the eagles we saw were in the area of the visitor center.  We did go to the levee and counted several nests on the levee {6, I believe} as well as a couple in the trees in the middle of the fields.  None of the nests we saw had activity, but it's a bit early for nesting and I believe the eagles do most of their nest work early in the morning.  We were there in the mid-afternoon.  The sun was out when we got to Reelfoot yesterday morning, but by the time we arrived over by the levee area, it had turned cloudy. 

I have found the most exciting time to go to Reelfoot is when the snow geese arrive.  Last year, we were there on February 9th and it was covered up with geese and eagles everywhere.  In 2021, I don't think we went due to bad weather.  In 2020, it was January 25th when we were there with tons of snow geese present and lots of eagle activity.  So I will be watching close to see when the snow geese make it there this year...my guess is anything between the end of January and first week or so of February.  Although we have been having colder winter weather already this year, and we have a big winter storm coming this weekend, so I'm wondering if that may push the geese and wintering eagles into the area sooner.  I'll keep an eye on it!

One thing I love about wildlife photography is the fact that there's always a new situation out there I haven't seen before.  I've been doing this for a long time, and often get the same types of shots time and time and time again.  I mean, I can't even begin to count the number of eagles-sitting-on-a-nest shots I have.  Or eagles flying overhead in the sky.  It almost gets boring after a while, and I'm always seeking something new and different.  I mean after all, birds do other things besides perch on something or fly by!

So when I get a chance to witness some action, something different, I'm all for it!  And that's what happened yesterday up at Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee when we spotted this red tailed hawk on the ground.  We knew he had something, we just couldn't tell what it was until he tried to carry it off.

Imagine my surprise when I saw it was actually another HAWK!  This is a first for me to have seen!

I'm not even totally sure as to what kind of hawk it is.  It just shocked me it had another hawk, rather than something like a rabbit or squirrel or mole or something furry.  We were extremely far away and shooting from the car, so these shots aren't the greatest.  I was shooting with a Nikon 500mm F4 with a teleconverter, bringing it to a 700mm focal length.  And these are cropped in a good bit to show the bird a little more closely.

Of course I'll probably never do anything artistic with these photos.  I do have quite a few pieces of other hawk art in my shop, however.  Click the button below to see them!

I just love these wood ornaments my printer makes for my online shop!  I order new ones every year now and these are the ones I chose for this year.  One or two of these will end up on my tree, and the others I give as gifts.  They have several shapes available, but the oval shape works well with most of my artwork.  Last year they came with red ribbon, which I didn't really care for so I switched it out to the string.  This year, they came with the string, which I prefer much better!  You can't tell from this quick cell phone photo, but the printing on these is FANTASTIC.  Good color, and crisp and clear.  I think Ollie looks fabulous on all of hers, and the Pickwick Eagle looks fantastic, too!

On the back of the ornaments is another little surprise!  An embedded magnet!  This means the ornament can be displayed on the refrigerator year round, if you desire.  They don't come signed, btw.  I only sign the ones which come directly to me.  I usually use a gold paint pen, which leaves a permanent signature.

I'm giving a few of these as gifts this year.  People just love them!  They're not tiny, they are substantial and excellent quality -- a great way to bring ART to your home during the holidays and after.  If you'd like to pick your favorites, just click the button below.  I have over 3,300 art and photos available, and of course a large portion of my inventory is my favorite subject - BIRDS!  I also have many different wild animals, and some domestic animals as well. 

When I look out my window and see a bird sitting there, well within my reach, I have to grab the camera and take some photos.  Especially when it's a raptor, like this juvenile Cooper's Hawk.  I'm passionate about the raptors!  

So here this bird sat, on the darkest, rainy day, which made for absolutely horrible photos.  I captured several shots, but I was drawn to this one, where he was looking up at the water droplets falling from the electrical wire above him.

Normally, I wouldn't do anything with a shot like this...but that POSE!  I loved the pose and decided to brighten him up and see if I could create some fun art.  In looking through my background collections and resources, I finally decided he needed to be in a winter scene.  So I added this colorful winter background, added some snow overlays, and I removed the wire from above, which had now becoming distracting.  Now it appears as if he was watching the snow fall!

I love being able to take my birds from one scene to another.  And doing so gives me a use for the "horrible photos", which I get plenty of, often thanks to low light situations.  When photographing from home like I do often, I also get many of the same shots over and over, because there's only so many things around here for the birds to land on, like this wire.  By using different backgrounds to spruce things up, I can create several different looks for my birds, even if they land on the same wire over and over again.

I'm happy to see this bird has started visiting.  He was back the next day hopping all over my fence, as well, and I have a feeling he has chosen my yard for his wintering spot.  I usually get one of these hawks a year who "moves in", and they are always a delight to watch.  Not so delightful for my songbirds, of course, as they know they could be his next meal if they're not careful!

If you would love to add this winter bird scene to your collection of wildlife art, just click the button below. 

Note:  This art was created with the help of the Winter 1 Background Collection with snow overlays, available here.

~Like a bird singing in the rain, the grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.~  
Robert Louis Stevenson

When I feel sorrow, no matter what the reason, I can always count on having my spirits uplifted by the joyful songs of my sweet songbirds.  That was the case on this particular day, when I was feeling very sad over the needless and senseless loss of a long time family pet.  I walked outside, hesitantly, and spotted a little wren on my fence post.  She began to  sing loudly, and I closed my eyes and just listened to her for a few minutes.  The melody of her song was beautiful, charming, delicate and loud all at the same time.  It's the one thing which brought me joy that day, and I couldn't help but paint a picture of the tiny bird who infused my otherwise gloomy day with a little bit of sunshine.  Thank you, Miss Wren.

Note:  I painted my photo of this bird in Procreate on the iPad.  I teach others how to do this on Skillshare, if you're interested!

It's always a great day when I see my owls! :)  We head to Pinson almost every afternoon to start making our rounds to see what we can spot.  Pinson Mounds is a park relatively close to our home and although the focus of the park isn't the wildlife, it has plenty of it to offer.  On a cold day, it's almost a given to find my favorite owl, Ollie, or her mate, sitting in the sun in a tree on the exit road.  On this day, we found just that, but because the owl was sleeping, I knew it would be awhile before any action happened.  And I've experienced one too many days of sitting for hours watching an owl sleep and waiting for wake up time!  So we decided to drive around for a while and go looking for some deer, hawks, coyote, bobcat, bald eagle and whatever else we could possibly stumble upon.

Every time we passed the tree again on the loop, the owl was still sleeping.  And then the sun went down.  As we were making our last round, the owl flew from the tree down into the swamp area by the bridge.  I jumped out to track where it went, since it went down low.  I thought maybe I might get some shots of it getting a meal in the swampy bottom.  I finally found it, perched in a tree in the distance, with a million branches in the way.  Go figure!

For some reason, I lowered the camera.  Possibly because 700mm gets kind of heavy when hand held!  When I did, I glanced up and low and behold, perched right there off the road in front of me, was an owl!  I could tell by the closeness to the road and the calmness of the bird {she usually ignores me like this}, that it was Ollie, the female barred owl I've been photographing for 8 years now.

I said her name a few times, and finally she turned and looked at me.  Yep, it was Ollie for sure!  Ollie is very used to people...she's been in the park a long time.  I often will show her to park visitors who come up while I'm photographing her.  The excitement on their faces when they realize they can see an owl in the wild so close is such fun!  Once there was an older couple walking on the road when I was there.  A woman and her elderly father, who wasn't in the best of health, neither of which had ever seen an owl in the wild, much less so close.  They were able to get photos with their cell phone!  The man was so excited to see her.  I hope that moment with Ollie created a special memory for him.

I have shared the beauty of this bird with so many now...from park staff, to casual walkers, to school children and to so many online.  Every time anyone sees her, it always brings an "Oh!" and a smile to their faces.  Ollie has brought as much joy to them as she has to me!  I have spent hours photographing her in multiple situations over the last 8 years, and it never gets old.  I know she won't be around forever {she appears to be an older bird}, and I want to enjoy every minute I can with her.

As the dusk descended upon the area, Ollie's mate in the distance began to hoot.  And Ollie joined right in.  I love her body pose when she's hooting, the way she leans forward and her entire neck puffs up.  This art I created with her hooting photo is appropriately named "Hooting It Up".  They often hoot right before they hunt.  I was waiting on the hunting, but the darkness became too much for photos, and the park was closing, so it was time to say goodnight.  Thank you, Ollie, for another great evening.  I hope there will be many more!

When I was a kid, my parents would take me to visit my grandparents in Milford, PA.  My grandmother, Grace, was a huge bird lover.  She would get up early every morning, before daylight, and make her pot of coffee.  I would wake up shortly after to the rich smell of the fresh brew, and in my pajamas, I would wander into the kitchen, where Grandma sat at the tiny two-seater kitchen table.

"You're up early," she'd say. 
"I want to be with you."
"Are you hungry? Do you want some cereal?" she'd ask.
"Yes."

I'd eat cereal, while she sipped on coffee, and we both watched the birds arrive at the feeder right outside the kitchen window.  The cardinals were her favorites, and mine too.  I loved their bright red colors.  They really stood out in the falling snow with that brilliant red.  She'd tell me all about them, about what they like to eat, and how they behave.  I didn't remember it much then, I was too young.  But I relearned it all when I got older and started photographing Cardinals and other beautiful songbirds.

And that's where it began -- at a tiny kitchen table in Milford, PA, watching the birds arrive for their morning meal.  I've been hooked on birds ever since.  And to this day, every time I see a Cardinal, it reminds me of those early morning cereal-coffee dates with my grandmother.