backyard birds – Wandering Dawgs

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #399 – Stuck in Place

May 25, 2026Posted in Birds, PhotographyTagged American Flag, backyard birds, Coastal Georgia, Eastern Grey Squirrel, Georgia birds, Lens-Artists, Memorial Day, Painted Bunting, Stuck in Place33 Comments

Egidio has given us a challenge to help us “unlock new inspiration in our photography.” His challenge is to stay in one place for 30 minutes to an hour. We can use the cameras, lenses and cell phones of our choice but we can only walk 10 or 15 steps in any direction to capture new images.

I’ve been in a rut recently with my photography so this challenge really motivated me to get out and have some fun with my camera. I’ve been watching the birds at our bird feeder from our deck but have not been inspired to take any photos until this challenge.

I chose a place in my back yard where I don’t usually sit. I had a great view of the bird feeder and the back yard. All of these photos were taken with a 400mm zoom lens. While I waited for birds I zoomed in on some random things.

Today is Memorial Day in the United States. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance to honor U.S. Military personnel who died in service to our country. In honor of this special day I will start with an American Flag from a neighbor’s back yard.

My neighbor always flies an American Flag. It’s especially meaningful this Memorial Day Weekend as we remember our fallen heroes.

This time of year the Holly Berries are green, not red.

Later, this Male Painted Bunting showed up at the feeder.

This Eastern Grey Squirrel was watching me watching him.

I’ve been wanting to get out to take photos and this challenge was just the inspiration I needed. Thank you Egidio!

I really enjoyed all of the different vibrant colors you showed us for Ritva’s Choose a Color challenge. Thank you to everyone who joined the challenge.

Many thanks to Egidio for this week’s challenge. If you would like to join the challenge please be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to his post Lens-Artists #399: Stuck in Place.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, May 30 at noon eastern time when Tina will be your host for the challenge.

If you don’t want to miss any of our challenges you may want to think about subscribing to the Lens-Artists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Lens-Artists challenge please click here.

Every Day is a Gift

Feeding the Backyard Birds

February 11, 2022February 11, 2022Posted in Birds, Nature, PhotographyTagged Are you a bird feeder, backyard birds, Carolina Chickadee, Change, Georgia birding, Lens-Artists, Painted Bunting, Photo Challenge, ruby throated hummingbird, Sunday Stills, Tufted Titmouse32 Comments

I enjoy feeding my back yard birds and keep a feeder filled with seeds close to my butterfly garden. It’s fun to see how the birds in the yard change with the seasons. During the warm months I keep three hummingbird feeders filled with nectar and grow flowers that attract them. I enjoy sitting and watching the birds and trying to capture them with my camera.

In Fall and Winter birds like Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, House Finches, and Northern Cardinals show up frequently. All of these birds can also be seen at various times during the rest of the year. The pair of Northern Cardinals in the header photo were perched in a tree near the bird feeder this week. They like to hang around waiting for seeds to fall to the ground for an easy meal.

I start seeing a change in the birds in the spring when the weather starts warming up. The hummingbird feeders go up and I anxiously await the first Ruby Throated Hummingbird. Spring also brings the Painted Buntings to the yard. Both the hummers and the buntings come around frequently all spring and summer.

This post was inspired by John Steiner’s Lens-Artists challenge Change

and by Terri’s Sunday Stills Challenge Are you a Bird Feeder? Her post reminds us that February is National Bird Feeding Month.

Bird Weekly Challenge #20: In Your Yard or Garden

October 27, 2020Posted in Birds, Nature, PhotographyTagged backyard birds, birdweekly, Coastal Georgia, In your yard or garden, Photo Challenge, salt marsh18 Comments

I have to admit I spend a lot of time in my backyard watching and photographing the birds. Here are a few of my favorites.

This great egret landed in our yard one day

We also are lucky to see wading birds in the salt marsh behind our house. I’ll often run grab my camera to capture them when they land on one of the docks.

Thank you Lisa. for this Bird Weekly challenge. Her original post is Bird Weekly Challenge #20: In your Yard or Garden

Back Yard Painted Buntings

May 6, 2016Posted in Birds, Georgia, Nature, WildlifeTagged backyard birds, Georgia birding, Painted Bunting16 Comments

We’ve been watching painted buntings come to our feeder in the back yard for the last couple of weeks. For several days every time I set up my camera to capture these beautiful birds I scared them away. They are very skittish and fly off when they sense the slightest movement.

I never gave up trying and my patience finally paid off when I was able to get a few shots of a pair at the feeder.