Thank you! I suppose one is a photographer if one takes photos, but I've not bought any professional cameras or sold anything. Since DuBois bought me Canon Powershot S2 IS 12 X zoom and Olympus SP-550 18 X zoom point-and-shoot cameras I've taken photos but was disappointed in the picture quality, so Gail suggested I buy a DSLR. DuBois' mom sent Christmas money in 2007, so I did research and bought a Canon EOS 40-D camera and Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L lens in Jan. 2008. It's taken a long time to get the hang of it, and even now, most of the photos have to be deleted-I'll typically take 300 photos and keep 13. At first I used tripods, but now just handhold or brace my arm against my knee. I still have to get VERY close for the photos to look like anything, so it's mostly about knowing the bird calls, habitat, habits, and trying to gain an advantage with height, lighting, etc I try to get close enough to use the auto-focus, but it only works well in strong light, with no surrounding branches. To compensate for my eyesight, I usually twist the manual focus back and forth as I shoot rapidly, in hopes that something will be in focus

I am in N.E. Ohio (5 miles S.W. of the point where I-80 crosses the Ohio/Pa state line). I am 62 yrs old and for the first 20yrs of my life I lived on a dairy farm about 6 miles from here. In those days this entire region was polluted by the steel mills, but the mills closed in the late 70's and the every year we see more and more species of birds and animals returning here that we only read about as kids. Just this year I got my first look at Bluebirds & Baltimore Orioles. We currently have two families of bluebirds nesting in a pine about 60ft from our back door and the orioles are nesting in a pine right beside it. Immediately to the east of our house is a 18acre field and we see upwards of 12 deer out there every day. Sometimes the deer actually come in our back yard. Two weeks ago i got a quick snapshot of a flock of 21 wild turkeys out in the field and we have Bald Eagles nesting in a woodlot about 250 yrs behind our house. I actually got to see the mother eagle teaching a pair of eglets how to fly. What an experience that was. One of the eglets actually landed in our yard and the mother sat on a limb about 60 ft above the house encouraging it to fly again. There is one pair of birds that frequent our yard that I have not been able to identify. They are bright yellow with coal black wings and a black crown on their heads. at first i thought they were goldfinches but when i saw them up close they are much larger than finches. These birds are as big as a robin or bluejay. We have flocks of gold finches so it is easy to see these are not finches when they are all together in the yard.

I heard it again this morning, so I got my binocs and tried to find it. It was very elusive. It was at the top of one of the black walnuts. Just could never see it. I don't think its an owl, or I probably would have been able to see it. I have gone through every bird song on my Audubon CD, and I just can't find the sound. It sounds like the first note that the bobwhite sings, but its continuous and starts out fast and slows down. Its a very musical tone (but monotone). Bobwhites don't get high in trees do they? gosh this is driving me crazy!

Its hard to see if it had wing bars. I'm thinking it's not a chat, since it doesn't have a white eye ring or line. If it has wing bars, maybe a parula? I'm in central Indiana and I've started having parulas here every summer now. Are you hearing any song? I'm not very good at I.D.ing Fall warblers..........