Bird 'Bloopers'

When you take as many photographs of birds as I do, you are bound to have to delete a lot.  Which I do, certainly... but I've also been saving up some of the 'bloopers' for you.  I think I have a pretty good collection now, so I'm going to share.

What makes a bird photograph a blooper?  Of course, a blooper is supposed to be funny and we all have different ideas about what is humorous.  So, I hope one or two of these photos will make you smile!

Cardinal having a bad 'hair' day!  That Mohawk does not look good on you, Mama!

Another bad 'hair' day, this time a Black-capped Chickadee.  She needs a blow dry!

Sometimes, the bloopers occur because of the location.  This wire fence has provided some fun...

The audition for the ballet didn't go so well!

However, this bird qualified for the Olympic gymnastics team, largely due to its strong grip.

Meanwhile, this Field Sparrow was so bored with the whole thing that it stretched out for a nap.... yawn!

A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird was just perplexed!

A White-crowned Sparrow turned its back on the show, giving us a different kind of show.

Speaking of 'show', this Ruddy Duck hen is doing a little showing off.  "See I can touch my 'knee' with my 'nose'. "

Some bloopers are just not the photo I was hoping for.  I thought I'd get a nice photo of a pair of Hooded Mergansers in the swamp, when this happened:

Maybe the drake is saying, "Thanks for the shower, honey."

Another unexpected photo is this one of a chickadee from the side.

Praying before dinner?  Or checking in the rear-view mirror?

This Northern Flicker was doing its best impression of a dead tree limb.  (Though you can see a bit of the yellow shafts on its tail if you look closely)

A common blooper when taking bird photos is twigs in the way.  Unfortunately, birds are very often found in trees, which have lots of twigs.  What might be a very nice photo is not, all because of a twig.

American Robin eating a crab apple. 

This Eastern Bluebird photo is not bad, but still... a twig!

Although, that photo is prettier than the ones I have of the young bluebirds when they favored sitting on this telephone pole:

"What, you wanted to take a pretty picture of me?"

Tree Swallow - No it's not 'screaming' because its feathers are stuck in the knothole...  that's just a feather that's part of its nest.