Friday, April 6, 2012

He Who Wears The Crown

White-Crowned Sparrows are mighty handsome birds. They suffer a bit from over-exposure here during the winter months as they descend on the Valley of the Sun in massive flocks. Even so, I really appreciate that they're a species consistently brave enough to stand their ground when the cameras come out. I had a great time photographing some foraging White-Crowns at the DBG a few evenings ago. Watching birds feed...does it make you pine for the good ol' hunter-gatherer days?


With the DBG in full bloom, it was a colorful all-you-can-eat-buffet, and the White-Crowns were loving every minute of it. I'm not sure they always knew what exactly they were eating, but hey, when you look this good, you don't need to know anything.


For some reason, I'd never taken a picture of the back of a White-Crowns head. Usually a bird's backside is a throw-away shot. But whenever I see the back of the White-Crown's cap I'm always reminded how cool it is. I hope my hair goes white in such a pattern.



The sulking juvenile still seemed a bit reticent to join in the feast, as if his parents were embarrassing him or he just thought the whole thing was, like, totally lame. He perched on the rusty garden fence and sullenly observed the dine-n-dash. Eventually he joined in too, as the juveniles always do.



Pretty birds. I'll miss them when they're gone.