Bird Weekly – Photo Challenge – Birds In Black & White or Sepia

Posted on March 19, 2021 by

86 Comments

Welcome to Week #40 of the Bird Weekly Photo Challenge. Week #40 challenge is birds in black & white, sepia, monotone or you can add a bit of selective color. Your choice of birds this week. I aligned this with Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge this week in case you wanted to add any flying birds to this challenge. Cee’s theme is Anything in Fight. Also, Terri with Sunday Stills offered a theme of Best Black and White Photos on 3/14 and her challenge runs until Saturday if you want to link to her challenge as well.

Reminder – Calendar change

I am taking the week of March 28th off, so no Bird Weekly on April 2nd. Frank and I will be celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary that week and will likely be out birding since we are not getting on an airplane anytime soon.

The feature image is a Snowy Egret staring me down.

Your photos can be in black & white, sepia, monotone or with selective color. Some of my photos this week have been in other blogs, not necessarily Bird Weekly, but are being shared again here specifically for this challenge. I’ve shared some of my past favorites in the slideshow.

Past Favorites

  • Wood Stork flying into the nest area with nesting material in its beak.
    Wood Stork with nesting material.
  • Close up photo of a Black-crowned Night Heron at Lettuce Lake Park in Tampa, Florida.
    Black-crowned Night Heron posing.
  • Anhinga posing for the camera. Photo is black and white leaving the eye and beak in color for nice contrast.
    Anhinga preparing to dry off.
  • Black-backed Gulls chilling at the beach.
    Black-backed Gulls
  • Snowy Egret prancing on top of a roof on the pier at Fort Desoto Park near St. Petersburg, Florida.
    Snowy Egret featured in the Bird Weekly Badge
  • Black and white image with some selective color of a Sandhill Crane. Closeup headshot.
    Sandhill Crane
  • Cormorant flying over where I was birding. Photo is in black and white with selective color on the bill and eye area.
    Double-crested Cormorant

Red-shouldered Hawk

Frank and I went on a picnic a few weeks ago. The sun was shining, the temperatures were mild with a light breeze. We set up our folding shares and table in front of the pond on the outskirts of a disk golf course. While eating our pizza that we had picked up at our favorite Italian restaurant across the street from the park, a Red-shouldered Hawk flew in and landed on the soccer field fence. I eyed them, but continued to eat my lunch. A second one flew in and landed on the fence. So now, we have a pair. It is approaching spring after all. Once I finished my meal, I decided to walk over closer, but not too close to get a better shot. The female hawk wasn’t fazed. The male hawk was ticked off and flew off screaming at me. This shot is zoomed in using my 200mm lens and cropped in post production. I was not that close to this bird. I don’t believe in disturbing them, but I must have interfered with his courting. He didn’t go far. Landed on top of a light pole behind where we were sitting. After we packed up and began to drive off, the male flew back to the fence where the female never left.

Little Blue Heron

This Little Blue Heron and Ruddy Turnstones were hoping to get some dropped shrimp from the fishermen on the pier. They allowed me to photograph them before the heron flew off. He circled and came back landing on a different part of the dock.

Osprey

Osprey build their nests in high manmade structures such as cell towers and utility companies. As long as there is a body of water nearby. This photo was taken along Osprey Trail at Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin, Florida. The park is just north of Clearwater on a barrier island. If you ever visit the Tampa Bay area, please put this on your bucket list. Honeymoon Island offers beautiful sand beaches, incredible sunsets and some great birding.

Great Egret

This Great Egret was coming in for a landing at a nest site at the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, Florida. Since they are colonial nesters, the Alligator Farm rookery offers much protection and many birds group together to raise their young. In the Spring, as in now…the sounds and visual is unbelievable. Birds are everywhere almost on top of each other.

Laughing Gull

Laughing Gulls are not shy once they get used to you. If you have a tantalizing bag of Lays Potato Chips, they overcome their shyness quickly. We don’t feed them, but if we accidently drop some crumbs in the sand while having lunch at the beach, well they get lucky. We don’t allow them to come close until we have finished our picnic. Once the food is packed up, they can get as close as they want to scour for anything that flew off our plate or we dropped. Just like a bloodhound, the gulls are on it! Provides a great photo opportunity when they get brave enough to step up.

Phainopepla

The one and only time I have seen the Phainopepla is at Floyd Lamb Park just north of the Las Vegas strip. The giddiness in my step was like a little kid at Christmas. Non bird people would just see a black bird…no big deal. Not me! This photo is proof of a life bird added to my growing list.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

The sunlight shined through the branches of this oak tree perfectly to highlight this Red-bellied Woodpecker as he or she performed the acrobatic techniques to picking the insects out of the tree limbs. Seen down the trail behind the restrooms near the tower at St. Marks Wildlife Refuge

Black Vultures

Black Vultures make a great black & white photo because they are already black. Add a white dirt road and you have perfect contrast! These juvvies were hoping along one of the driving trails at Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. They never took flight and we had to be cautious and drive slowly to get them to part the ways. Kids being kids and trying to figure out life.

Home Decor

My wooden seabirds that are part of my house decor. These little birds help me with my mental attitude when I can’t be at the beach.

Upcoming challenges can be found on my Bird Weekly Challenge Page.

Next time…Week #41 – Reflections as in a mirror reflection of the bird and itself. Your choice of birds!

Category: birds, Birds Weekly Photo Challenge, nature, photo challenge, photography, travel, UncategorizedTags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

86 Comments on “Bird Weekly – Photo Challenge – Birds In Black & White or Sepia”

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    • I know I tried to comment on your post with birds but it wouldn’t work on my phone. WP did something and I can view others posts but not like or comment. Notice the raised feathers on the head like a cardinal, only they are black. Next time you are out there, you will probably take a second look, huh? 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      • Yes, I seem to find something different each time. It appeared that the county was adding water to the ponds the other day. The kind of birds there are a little different each trip. The park is about 15 minutes from my house.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Lucky you! The last time we were there, almost 4 years ago, there were nesting Burrowing Owls near the entrance shed. We got to go out, keeping our distance to see them. 😊

        Like

  10. Such a gorgeous collection in b&w, Lisa! I love your seagull decoration, too. We may have our home walk-through today so things are going to get crazy around here. Hope you are feeling great and off to a great start for your weekend!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks Terri! I love my birdy decor too. I’m excited for you and I know from the email that you are moving in this week. I know you are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel even though I know you have plenty of work ahead of you. Hope you have a wonderful weekend and no roadblocks for your moving. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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  12. I’m not big on envy, but I really envy your birds photography! You have gotten such wonderful active shots of birds on the wing! I get pictures of them eating themselves into a coma, but rarely flying. Part of that is that I’m too slow and too engaged in “framing” the photo that sometimes, I simply forget to actually take the picture. But the other reason is that we are so heavily wooded here that you almost never see birds flying. They are either landed, getting ready to eat, or about to take off. When I do see them in the air, it’s inevitably someplace else — typically along the water. When I see the hawks in the air, they are usually way up and I’m in the car — not a great location for shooting an eagle or hawk overhead.

    I have noticed and now that you mention it too — that the males are edgier and more likely to fly when they hear any kind of noise or movement while the ladies seem much more calm. When I was doing the bird count, I noticed it even more than usual. I’d see a pair — two cardinals or two woodpeckers for example — and when I hoisted the camera, the male would fly away and Mrs. Bird would eye me and get back to her real job — eating.

    Right now, as the migrants are beginning to come home, they are just beginning to show their breeding colors. The goldfinch are still almost olive or tan, but in about a month they will be sunshine yellow. The purple and house finches, though, are brilliant red. I hope it’s a good season for the feathered folks.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Getting them in flight is difficult. Sometimes I’m lucky and sometimes I’m not. We still have goldfinches at the feeder. Saw a male and female this morning. The male is about 3/4 of getting his colors in. They are not usually here this late. There were 6 on the feeder this afternoon. They are probably still here because Frank puts food out 3-4 times a day. He doesn’t fill the feeders and gives them fresh every few hours. LOL! 🙂

      Like

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  23. I love that shot of the Great Egret coming in to land – it looks almost like an oriental painting! And the colour pops in your slide show are very effective, especially the Sandhill Crane 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you Sarah. All those photos have showed up somewhere at some point but I tend to find reasons to put them in. LOL! Love the technique when I can use it. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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