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Welcome to the Pine River Review. Our sight is dedicated to our little homestead located along the Pine River tucked inside the Chippewa Nature Center's 1400 Acres of wild in Michigan's lower penninsula. We love to share our pictures, video, comment, and our own homespun music. Step inside our world as we celebrate this beautiful nook!


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

World Bird Wednesday XXII

And It Stoned Me


"And it stoned me to my soul."
So sang Van Morrison way back when. The stone birds atop the Kean building in Detroit had me singing that old classic line all day long. Hmmmm. A bird with human eyes. While I don't think these sculptures would qualify for the gargoyle hall of fame, not that there is such a thing, to their credit they've done a sterling job protecting their perch for many a year.


What's this? Well just a Dark-eyed junco picture where you can actually see that dark little bead of an eye for a change. A rare accomplishment for me!


The star of my birding week was this strange backyard bird I spotted working the leaf litter. I bolted for my camera but all I managed was a muddy reference shot before the Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) sped away. It's a first time sighting for me thus worthy of a personal celebration! My research informed me that the southern variations have a white eye. Though I did not hear it, their common name comes from its unique "Tow-hee" voicing. "And it stoned me just like Jelly Roll!"       ;-)WBW

            Now it's time for World Bird Wednesday!

   This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most diverse and beautiful treasurers, the birds. 
  World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through midnight on Wednesday.


  You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and intriguing of Earth's residents, the BIRDS.

                                                        CLICK THIS PICTURE!

#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W. http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/


#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST North America through Wednesday midnight and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!


You don't have to be a Bird Watcher or expert photographer to join in--just enjoy sharing what you bring back from your explorations and adventures into nature.The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!


          The thumbnails below are links to our contributors blogs where you can view their beautiful posts.
                     Come on it's your turn!

31 comments:

  1. Nice capture of the Junco, Springman, and congrats on adding the towhee to your list! I really like the pheasant in the new banner too -- it looks great!

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  2. Love the towhee! And you'd think with the zillion or so juncos at my feeders that I could get a good pic, but noooooo. Nice work on yours!

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  3. awesome catches! love the pheasant header too! stunning!

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  4. Springman, the little birds are beautiful but I'm totally in awe of the gorgeous pheasant and shot! WOW!

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  5. Your Junco is mooning you! Seriously though good job on that guy and the Towhee. I agree with everyone else about the pheasant banner, stunning!

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  6. If your enjoying the pheasant header please check out my previous post about the Ring-necked pheasants of Detroit. Cheers!

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  7. Nice shot of the Junco and congrats on the Towhee sighting. Where you well camouflaged to get that gorgeous shot of the Pheasant? I can't seem to get anywhere close to one at the moment.

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  8. Love the shot of the Towhee! Great composition.

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  9. WOW first of all on your new header! The page opened and my jaw dropped - gorgeous!
    I think you captured the little Junco with the glint in his eye just perfectly.
    You called your Towhee capture 'a muddy reference' but personally I'm really liking that bokeh background. :)
    Carletta@Round The Bend

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  10. What interesting stone birds! Nicely photographed!
    I can empathize with your difficulty in getting a shot of a Junco with real eyes instead of black holes! Congrats on the Towhee -I have yet to see one, although I think I've heard one.

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  11. Great new header to your blog. Like Frank getting close to a Pheasant is hard to do with a camera but in the car I nearly run one down every day on my commute. Your Junco and Towhee are beautiful birds.

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  12. I spotted the pheasant in a vacant lot standing on a fallen tree driving home from the firehouse on a dreary morning. I had the Canon handy with the 400mm. Very fortunately the bird stayed put and there was enough time to fine tune the camera settings. The first bunch of shots were horribly soft, sort of smeared. Even balancing the camera lens on the window ledge I couldn't get the camera steady enough to shoot at the low shutter speed. Just tired and shaky I suppose. Finally I took a chance, got out of the car and used the roof as my tripod with a remote shutter. That finally did it!

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  13. Doesn't it give you a buzz when you sight and identify a new bird? Great shots all, who said they have to be perfect anyway. . . now your pheasant up top, that still stirs me with awe.

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  14. I still have a few Juncos flitting around, and you are so right. That dark eye is difficult to catch. Nice job!
    I had an Eastern Towhee on my feeders all winter. A really rare sight for me. Never had one here before.
    I LOVE your header. We had a Ringneck visit my chickens a few years back and stayed for about a week.
    B.

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  15. WOW it is a beautiful Pheasant shot---excellent job on keeping it sharp and the lighting is perfect--and the little Junco EYE...YES its so hard to get that thing to light up!!
    Love the Towhee--I recall the first time I saw one I did the Dixxe Doodles too!!

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  16. Great pictures -- we had juncos and towhees in our yard in Oregon. The Oregon junco is different looking (I hope I get a picture when we're there this summer). The towhee (which must be the Western variety) looks pretty much the same as well as I can remember.

    Your pictures are wonderful. Thanks!!!

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  17. Nice captures, Springman! I love the Towhee. BTW, your header shot is awesome!

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  18. Simply Beautiful shots,the Pheasant takes my breath away.Happy WBW

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  19. Congrats on the Lifer!
    I had a lucky week with two of them :)
    I love migration ;)
    I love that Junco shot too, what a Beauty!

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  20. Congrats on adding the Eastern Towhee to your Life List!
    I like the "stone bird" on the Kean and the song.:)

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  21. The little Towhee is one of my favorite birds. We have lots out this way. We have the Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus).

    Neat story and shots about your Urban Pheasanr.
    Nature is taking over. MB

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  22. Great shots as always Dave, and yes, the Ring-necked Pheasant is awesome! I love Van Morrison too ;-)

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  23. Thats a splendid shot - see, dashing out of the car often pays results! Although I often wonder what non-birding type think!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Australia

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  24. So cute little birds!
    Happy Easter!

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  25. excellent pictures! i enjoy the towhees! this year they are coming on to my deck and trees near the house --- last year i just heard them: "drink your teeeeaaaaaaaa" and "tooowwheeeeeee"!

    beautiful pheasant shot!!!

    happy birding!

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  26. Let us get out and find some birds....It seems like all birds are waiting around your camera, wherever you go... I am really imposed!

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  27. Love the colorful new header!
    I used to get both the male & female towhee-actually I was looking up my pics of them today-they would hop back & forth under the feeder as I will toss out the parrots uneaten seeds from their bowls & they would eat whatever,but now I hear them in the woods but they don`t come near.I really believe the neighbors cats discourage?them from coming.phyllis

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  28. Missed the cut-off for posting this week and last week I was sick with a miserable cold... have set myself a reminder for next week! Meantime, I'm so envious of the Junco image... just marvelous! They visit me every winter and hide down on the ground under my deck furniture... impossible to get a decent shot! As others have noted... your Pheasant header is stunning! And I like the inclusion of the stone bird for this week. Towhee is nice too... wish I could see one... someday!

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  29. Once again, a great post and beautiful images.
    Thanks for comments and a nice easter to you.

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  30. Excellent shots, as usual! I'm starting to get jealous of the towhees...my bird book says we have them but I've never seen one. They are such pretty birds!

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