Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: avian

Winner of FlickrDuel contest: Alpha Pets This is a picture of sunlight shining though our parrot's eye. Taken on August 14, 2011.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Steve and I are part of a photography group here in southern Oregon, and there is a photo theme for each monthly meeting. The photo presentation is always fun because everyone comes up with so many different ideas! This month's theme was "Pet Portraits", and this is one of the pictures I took! Pumpkin is our darling Caique parrot, a bird native to the Amazon Basin in Brazil. We got her when she was just 6 months old and she's now 10 years old, and the love of my life (along with Steve of course!). This picture was taken in our kitchen with the sun shining through the window and through one of her beautiful eyes. I have another picture like this , taken with my SX30, but I thought it would be fun to take another one with my 5D Mark II! Isn't she amazing?! She's my best little friend in the whole world!! :) This image was taken in April, 2012.

Here's another picture I took when Steve and I went to Brookings, Oregon, for my birthday back in September. It was odd to me to be so excited to see these birds, since I used to see them all the time when I lived in San Francisco. Living inland in southern Oregon, I hadn't seen them for years, so I was overjoyed to see them again!

Oh, what a joy to see this bird again! This species of seagull is so familiar to me, and yet, I haven't seen one since I was in San Francisco last year, and before that, it was several years. Growing up in San Francisco, which is surrounded by ocean and bay on three sides, these seagulls are almost as common as pigeons. They love to hang out at schools because kids feed them and leave garbage everywhere for them, and, like pigeons, they are found wherever there are lots of people, ever alert for scraps of food. The Western Gull is in a family of about 60 species which are found all over the world. This species lives along the west coast of North America, thriving from British Columbia down to Baja, California and Northern Mexico. Australian friends will notice its similarity to the Pacific Gull , with the exception of the beak, which is very different in thickness. Most gulls are migratory and move to warmer climates during the winter. They feed on all types of sea food, both living and dead, and are also happy to eat any type of food left by humans. Unlike most animals, gulls can drink and process saltwater!! Gulls are monogomous, and pairs live in large colonies of birds, building nests on the ground or on cliffs. Clutches usually contain three eggs, and breeding seasons last 3 to 5 months. If you would like to know more about the Western Gull, Wiki has a very nice page here: Wiki: Western Gull For more information about Gulls in general, Wiki has a great page here: Wiki: Gull By the way, I've uploaded FOUR other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

I saw this crow out at Brookings, Oregon. There were several patroling the parking areas in hopes of getting a handout!