Saturday, February 19, 2011

Camera Critters: Mourning Dove

The mourning dove is a common species here in southcentral Pennsylvania, but I seldom get close enough for a good portrait of the species, as they are quite shy.  With that in mind, I erected a pop-up blind close to the bird feeding station and eventually one landed and posed long enough for me to capture two shots.

Mourning Dove

Dove Spots Me In Blind
Neither photograph is quite what I wanted, as I find the weed stem across the bottom of the tail in the first photo to be distracting.  I removed it with photoshop in the second, but I am not completely satisfied with how it turned out.  I will remove the offending object before I set up again to photograph in this spot.

Both photos taken with Canon 7D and 300mm F2.8 with 1.4 extender.

For more Camera Critters photographs, Click Here!

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill

17 comments:

Iowa Gardening Woman said...

Beautiful shots, of the doves, they have such a lovely sound. I had 6 of them under my feeders this week.

eileeninmd said...

Lovley images. Your mourning dove is a beauty.

Anonymous said...

Wow - superb shots!

Kritter Keeper at Farm Tails said...

i haven't seen my doves for awhile. i am sure they will be back. i love these shots! i found a 4-5 inch yellow feather. wondering what bird that would have come from...i posted about it, tell me what you think. whomever it was, they were attacked as there were several all over the ground...

Kay L. Davies said...

You'll remove the offending object, and no bird will ever pose there again. LOL
Good idea about the blind, though.
We had two mourning doves here last spring and by summer we had three, so the pair must have mated and produced an offspring because the third was smaller than the first two. Very exciting. I have no idea where they nested.
-- K

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

Ruth Hiebert said...

I think these are great,but I do see the stem and it need not be there.It's amazing what can be done with Photoshop.

Unknown said...

They're great birds!! Nice shots. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

EG CameraGirl said...

Neat photos of the mourning doves! We have a few living in our cedar trees. I love to hear them coo.

Anonymous said...

Love the photographs of the mourning dove!

Anonymous said...

They truly are a sad looking and sounding bird. Great photos!

Pia said...

Your photos are wonderful!

Gretchen said...

Beyond gorgeous! My subjects weren't moving at all, so they were easy to capture this week. :)

Anonymous said...

I like these birds too Willard. I see a couple hung around here all winter. I think the young ones are the most interesting. They are like a puppy dog all skin and not filled out yet.

It was the way lots of kids were treated -- like I was when I was growing up. There was nowhere to turn for help and people didn't really care about your neighbor's kids. The language goes with that territory. I can't imagine putting blank spaces in to make the words palatable for some people. Some complain anyway.

Verde Farm said...

I love mourning doves. Great shots. I am a friend of Kritter Keeper’s and that’s how I found your blog. Wonderful :)
Amy

V.L. Locey said...

Beautiful shots Willard. I love hearing the mourning doves in our pines.

Marie said...

So pretty! I love the doves in our neighborhood.

Marie
bonkersinbarnhart.com

FAB said...

Nice portraits.