Lily pads

LILY PADS, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, AUGUST 11, 2020 

Pentax K-3

Sigma 18-250 at 88mm

1/400 f8

ISO 400

Normally I'd use a Tamron 90mm macro or a Pentax 18-135 for garden shooting in order to get the best possible image quality, but this day I thought I'd try a Sigma 18-250, my go-to lens for the lightest possible traveling kit, and see how it did. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Scruffy youngster

JUVENILE HOUSE SPARROW, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JULY 12, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 with Pentax 1.4x extender (420mm)
1/200 sec. f8
ISO 400

Adolescents of every species in the world always look unkempt, as if they've been out all night. This one is a female house sparrow about six weeks old.

Hooligans

JUVENILE HOUSE SPARROWS, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JULY 12, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 with Pentax 1.4x extender (420mm)
1/640 sec. f8
ISO 400

At about six weeks of age, these young house sparrows have graduated from fledgling to ill-mannered hooligan stage. All day they fight frantically for a perch on the feeder in the Three Crowns Park garden.

Tiger swallowtail

TIGER SWALLOWTAIL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JULY 12, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 with Pentax 1.4x extender (420mm)
1/400 sec. f8
ISO 400

Normally I'd be equipped with a 90mm macro lens to shoot butterflies, but the 300 and extender were on the camera when this butterfly came along in the Three Crowns Park garden, and the rule is to make use of what you have. The blossom seems to be either an allium or an eastern waterleaf.

Adult robin

ADULT ROBIN, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JUNE 30, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 with Pentax 1.4x converter
1/1000 sec. f8
ISO 1600

Robins are so common that I never think about photographing them, but today they were the only birds that came to the Three Crowns garden on a warm and sticky day. I was able to get in close and capture plenty of detail.

Juvenile robin

JUVENILE ROBIN, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JUNE 30, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 with Pentax 1.4x extender (420mm)
1/250 sec. f8
ISO 1600

When I spotted this bird in a tree I thought it was some kind of thrush not often seen in these parts, but then realized it was a juvenile robin, perhaps four or five weeks old and not long from the nest. At that age they are very trusting and this one allowed me to get in close for its portrait.

Cardinal on the run

CARDINAL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, MAY 28, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 with Pentax 1.4x extender (420mm)
1/4000 sec. f8
ISO 1600

This redbird was pickin' 'em up and puttin' 'em down when I captured him dashing from a presumed predator (probably a fellow geezer pushing a rollator) in the garden at Three Crowns Park.

Feeding time

HOUSE SPARROWS, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JUNE 24, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 with Pentax 1.4x converter (420mm)
1/800 sec. f8
ISO 1600

Some fledglings take longer than others to learn how to feed themselves, and so mama still has to do all the work.

Singin' in the bath

FEMALE HOUSE SPARROW, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JUNE 20, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 with Pentax 1.4x extender (420mm)
1/400 sec. f8
ISO 1600

Actually the sparrow is just taking a long drink in the garden waterfall at Three Crowns Park.

I've just washed my hair . . .

HOUSE SPARROW, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, JUNE 18, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F" 300mm f4.5 with Pentax 1.4x extender (420mm)
1/4000 sec. f8
ISO 1600

. . . and I can't do a thing with it. This house sparrow had just emerged from the little waterfall pool in the garden of Three Crowns Park, the retirement community where we now live.

Cowbird

COWBIRD, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, MAY 6, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 260mm
1/640 sec. f8
ISO 400

The cowbird is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of smaller birds, first destroying an original egg and replacing it with one of its own. The victims being bird-brained, they rear the intruder chick as if one of theirs. Cowbirds are not nice. They are thugs. Cowbirds destroy nests of birds that reject their eggs, and some birders think those that give in and accept cowbird eggs are simply going along with the shakedown to save their nests, like bodega owners in the Bronx.

Female Red-winged Blackbird

FEMALE RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, MAY 7, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 300mm
1/800 sec. f8
ISO 400

For the longest time I thought this was a Pine Siskin, a sparrow-sized finch with identical markings and a sharp pointed beak, but when I realized it was actually a lot larger (robin sized) than I remembered, it had to be a female red-winged blackbird.

House Finches

HOUSE FINCHES, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, MAY 28, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 with 1.4x Pentax extender (420mm)
1/2000 sec. f8
ISO 1600

The house finch, abundant across North America, has an interesting history. It is native to the American Southwest. New York City pet shop owners, who had been selling them illegally, released their birds en masse in 1940 to avoid prosecution, and now they're everywhere. All house finches east of the Great Plains are descended from those New York birds.
As soon as I snapped this photo, the female in the background chased the male away and took over.

Chipping Sparrow

CHIPPING SPARROW, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, APRIL 19, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 with 1.4x Pentax extender (420mm)
1/2000 sec. f8
ISO 1600

Almost as abundant as the bigger house sparrow, the little chippie likes to frequent suburban gardens, policing the ground under bird feeders. Its jaunty brown cap is its most prominent identifying mark.

Savannah Sparrow

SAVANNAH SPARROW, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, APRIL 19, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 with Pentax 1.4x extender (420mm)
1/320 sec. f8
ISO 100

Looking as if it went crazy with yellow eyebrow liner, this sparrow—often overlooked because it resembles a female house sparrow—is ubiquitous across the United States. It got its name not because it is common on the American savannah, but because an ornithologist spotted it in Savannah, Georgia.

White-Crowned Sparrow

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, MAY 2, 2020

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 300mm
1/500 sec. f8
ISO 200

This striking little sparrow is always a welcome visitor among the clouds of house sparrows that frequent our feeders. It's common in the West but uncommon in the Midwest, usually seen here while migrating. This photo particularly pleases me because it was taken with an inexpensive consumer zoom lens racked out to its maximum focal length, proving that one does not need to use costly professional kit to get decent bird photos.

White-Throated Sparrow

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, APRIL 26, 2020

Pentax K-3
300mm Pentax-F f4.5 with Pentax 1.4x extender (420mm)
1/250 f8
ISO 100

White-Throats are infrequent but always welcome visitors amid the hordes of House Sparrows that flock to the feeder in the Three Crowns Park garden. The species is famous for its whistling call, "Old-Sam-peabody-peabody-peabody."

House Sparrow

HOUSE SPARROW, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, APRIL 20, 2020

Pentax K-3
300mm Pentax-F f4.5 with Pentax 1.4x extender (420mm)
1/250 f8
ISO 100

Ubiquitous house sparrows have been hogging the finch feeder I installed in the garden at Three Crowns Park. They're greedy but amusing little fellows. One male in breeding livery posed nicely in a flowering forsythia bush under the feeder.

Cedar Waxwing No. 3

CEDAR WAXWING, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, MAY 12, 2020

Pentax K-3
300mm Pentax F f4.5 with 1.4x Pentax extender (420mm)
1/400 sec. f8
ISO 400

This shot from our kitchen window at Three Crowns Park, taken in the evening sun, shows the wing markings, seemingly dipped into red sealing-wax, that give the bird its name.

Cedar Waxwing No. 2

CEDAR WAXWING, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, MAY 13, 2020

Pentax K-3
300mm Pentax-F f4.5 with Pentax 1.4x extender (420mm)
1/400 sec. f8
ISO 200

Another shot of a waxwing feasting on fresh shoots in the Three Crowns Park garden. They hung around for two weeks before heading north to their summer homes.

Cedar Waxwing No. 1

CEDAR WAXWING, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, APRIL 28, 2020

Pentax K-3
55-300mm Pentax with 1.4x Pentax extender at 322mm
1/3200 sec. f8
ISO 400

Waxwings stop in Evanston for a couple of weeks in late April and early May in flocks of about a couple dozen birds and go to town on the fresh buds of several species of trees. I was pleased with this shot because it was taken with an inexpensive consumer zoom combined with an extender, and the image quality was surprisingly good for that. The photo has also been cropped quite a bit.

Cardinal on alert

CARDINAL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS. MAY 28, 2020

Pentax K-3
300mm Pentax-F f4.5 with 1.4x Pentax extender (420mm)
1/4000 sec. f8
ISO 1600

This photoblog resumes today after a long hiatus with a shot taken in the garden of Three Crowns Park, a retirement community in Evanston, Illinois, where we now live. This colorful prelate is a frequent visitor, and if I've got the camera ready, often poses prettily for his portrait.