Super Harvest Moon 9/29/23

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On Friday 9/29, it was the second full Moon of the month. This full Moon was a Supermoon because the Moon was at the nearest point in its orbit of Earth during the full Moon. Harvest Moon refers to the first full Moon in the fall equinox, which was on 9/23/23. It’s called the Harvest Moon because the light of the moon would aid in the gathering of the harvest. In addition to the moon, Jupiter and Saturn were able to be seen. Jupiter was just under 386 million miles away, with all 4 Moons aligned perfectly for a picture. Saturn was just over 829 million miles away. The air was cool and appeared to be rather clean of pollutants, which helps with the details on the Moon. Photos below are from Friday night. Enjoy!

Pine Siskins in My Yard 10/7/20

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I’ve had Pine Siskins at my house since 9/23. The number seems to grow a little each day. I’m guessing there are over 60 right now! I counted 42 on the ground at one time and could still hear and see them flying around my trees. I figured I would photograph them today, since they were so active at my feeding areas. Usually a few come down, but the majority stay up in the maples or arborvitaes. Not today though, as most were eating thistle seed. After eating they fly to drink water and then back to the tree tops. Some of them are extremely yellow, more than I’ve ever seen on siskins. Having that many around, you really get the variation in color between each one. Some show very little yellow, others a decent amount and still others show more whitish than brown. I have quite a few images, but they show the variation I was talking about. All images are from today. Enjoy!

Raptors at the Franklin Landfill in February

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February turned out to be an excellent month for viewing raptors at the Franklin Landfill, in Milwaukee County. Bald Eagles were plentiful, with 11 being seen on the 15th. Two of them flew around, performing quite an acrobatic show. It was very cool to watch and photograph. Also during the month, up to 15 Red-tailed Hawks were seen, many just soaring on the sides of the hill, in the up drafts of the wind. They would just hover, flipping their wingtips up and down to stay in one place. Also present were, 1 Rough-legged Hawk, 1 Northern Harrier, 2 American Kestrels and 1 Northern Shrike. I was able to see the Rough-legged Hawk go down to the ground and catch mice several times. A couple of bites and back in the air it went. The shrike was one of the more tame shrikes I’ve ever seen. Usually you can’t get within 50 yards of one, but this one let me a lot closer! That was really exciting! I spent many days there during the month, while taking over 10000 photos, trying to catch all of the action happening. The photos below are from my visits during the month.

My Yard 2/3/2019

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I usually have both Red-breasted/White-breasted Nuthatches and Brown Creepers over the winter. It’s been so cold lately, that being outside is not really reasonable. Today when I came home, from being out taking pictures, I could hear the three birds in my trees. So, I stood by my door with my camera and took some photos of them. The warmer weather had them quite active today. The pine tree with the suet and peanuts they go to, is only about 25′ from my front door, so I can get some very close looks at them. Below are some of the photos from today.