To send you off into the new year,
here are the Judgy Gracks of July (a personal favorite), August, September and October. Be safe tonight and see you in the new one.
I will continue
to post the birds of the calendars in the coming days, but there are still some Gracks left for this year. July, August, September and October are always fun months. The babies emerge, and Grack babies are super cute, many birds undergo dramatic molts, and the landscape changes color too.
May for the Gracks
had to be something special, and in the non-judgy calendar, you see the OG, Count Grackula himself. He has stopped coming this season, and I think he may have just gotten too old, but his white markings made him very recognizable. The good thing is, the legacy is carried on, there are more like him with white spots. All other photos show why I had to make two Grackle calendars, I just like their poses but they are so awesomely goofy when they look straight into your face.
All calendars will be on sale from tomorrow until January 2nd 2024 here: https://tinyurl.com/ff6bj43m
When the warm weather returns,
Grackles also make a comeback here, they are one of the earliest migrants to arrive. The weather is wild during the early months of the warm season, which means that there are tons of great Grackle photos with rain but also their beauty sticking out in front of the barren yard. Here are March and April of the regular Grackle and the Judgy Grackle calendars. The top two are some of my favorites I have ever taken, and I absolutely love the last one.
The Grackles
for February are for one, yet another that came on a snowy day, and the judgy one with a very intense stare. Photos like the second one are why I decided to make a judgy Grack calendar, they just have the best poses, and the world needs to see them.
March and April
of the "regulars" calendar are a beautiful male Cardinal and a gorgeous Goldfinch in breeding plumage. Spring is my favorite season, I just love when everything sprouts and blooms and great things await. I forgot to post the February bird here yesterday, so that is here now, a Whitebreasted Nuthatch with a nice big peanut. You can get my calendars here: tinyurl.com/ff6bj43m
Calendars on sale Nov 11-12
My calendars are on sale this weekend, there are three designs available, and they come in different formats.
All of these can be found in my shop. There is also a link to the shop on the landing page here at ostdrossel.com. Have a lovely Friday, everybody!
Happy Halloween!
We had the first frost last night, and my garden is now finally done after an amazing season. The trees are losing their leafs and make it look like it’s raining gold. Bird activity is still not really high but Juncos are here and I hope everybody else will soon rediscover feeders and baths here. I am still having some issues with some of my livecams but the solution is out of my hands, so I have to wait until things are back working, which is hopefully soon. In the meantime, I have been bad at advertising the calendars, so here is a little promo I made. I will soon start introducing the birds from the calendar with the different species, too. Stay warm and have fun today if you celebrate!
Calendars are available now!
I finally managed to go through all my photos from the last year and selected those that I found worked well for the calendar. As announced before, there is more than one calendar this year. I have two Grackle-themed ones available because I wanted to get all my Grackle love out there - there is one with Grackles through the seasons and one with very judgy Grackles. Both come in different formats to choose from.
And then I also made a “regular birds” calendar like I always do. All of these can be found in my shop, and I have a promo running right now as well. There is also a link to the shop on the landing page here at ostdrossel.com. Have a lovely Friday, everybody!
November is an odd month in Michigan
because sometimes it can feel like summer still but it can also quickly turn to winter. This year, the trees took their good time to turn, and the backyard looked lovely, all dipped in reds, orange, gold and green. For the calendar, I first looked at the small birds, so the two Chickadees and the Goldfinch were potential choices. But then my eyes fell on the Redbellied Woodpecker lady, and I thought her size, the colors and detail would work a lot better. So that is why she is Miss November. My calendars are on sale this week, you can get yours here. Come good into the weekend!
Teen birds can be
very confusing, especially when you are just starting with birdwatching. They have the coolest patterns and colorations going on, and I have to say they are one of my favorites to see. It is fantastic that it is possible to see them even into fall. The calendar birds for August, September and October are teens. There’s a Rubythroated Hummingbird with just the first parts of the gorget appearing, a juvenile Cowbird morphing into adult plumage, and a teen Cardinal, still with lots of baby feathers and the characteristic brown beak.
Spring and summer
are my favorite seasons because it always feels like something new happens or visits every day. July is a major baby bird month, and just like in previous years, we had loads and loads of Blue Jays. I love baby Blue Jays because they are wonderfully adorable in looks as well as behavior. For the calendar, I started thinking about July with the beautiful sunny photo of the adult, lured by the vibrancy and detail. But then I looked at photos of the youngsters. All three are cute and quite typical but I found the “mohawk” one the most interesting to look at, so that was the choice for July. The calendars are on sale starting today (once approved by the website) and continue until Sunday. Get yours here.
Happy Sunday!
I am continuing with the introduction of the calendar birds. The choice for June was a tough one. I knew I wanted an Oriole, and since this season there was an abundance of them, I also had an abundance of photos. The wet Baltimore Oriole was my first pick because it is just such an unusual look and I loved the background and lighting. However, the bird is not entirely identifiable, so eventually, it was out. The “Tequila Sunrise” one is another favorite for the beautiful colors but somehow it lacked something. The final choice was an Orchard Oriole, and I chose it because I loved the gentle pose and felt like this beautiful bird deserves some attention.
You can get my calendars here.
Bird activity is a little slow
due to the mild weather, so I am not getting many good photos. Things will pick up again in time but this is just as good of an opportunity to introduce the birds in my calendar for 2023. You can get the calendar here: tinyurl.com/5xd4tmzw. The year begins with a Dark-eyed Junco. Many call them snowbird around here because they appear in fall and leave in spring, being something like a sign that winter is truly coming. They are entertaining little birds that I learned to appreciate even more with video footage because it enabled me to hear them up close too. For the calendar, I went with a photo that shows one in the sun because I loved the pose, the light and the clarity. The alternative was a snow storm photo. I loved that too but it felt better to start the year on a positive note. Have a great Sunday!
Happy Thanksgiving!
This year, I am thankful for health, nice weather, my loved ones (including kitty), all of you wonderful people, and the fact that I get to enjoy Grackles a lot longer than usual but not in the overwhelming numbers from summer. I see one at least every day, but upon closer inspection, it appears that there are several individuals. I wonder if they will now actually spend the winter here, that would be a first. I hope you are surrounded by good people and have a good meal today. If you are shopping for Christmas presents, consider my calendar, it is still on sale until tonight. Happy Thanksgiving!
I am happy to announce
that the 2023 calendars are ready and available. It always takes me a while to go through the photos and decide what to use, and this time around I was actually a bit nervouse because it felt like it was not really a great year, but in the end, I think I really like this calendar. The page that I am selling them through handles everything for me, from printing to payments to shipping, so if things go wrong, you will have to get in touch with them. They are made to order. There will be promo sales too, so it is good to check back there every now and then. I made five sizes in three formats. 12 x 12, three rectangle formats in different sizes (8.5 x 11, 11 x 14, 12 x 16), and a desk calendar. You can choose sizes and binder to your desires. I will talk about the birds and photos in the calendar as the weeks go on. I am so happy it is done, it is a bit of a reason to look forward to 2023. You can find the main shop page here: https://www.createphotocalendars.com/Shop/ostdrossel
The November bird
of the 2022 Ostdrossel calendar is a beautiful male Red-Bellied Woodpecker, and I chose the photo also because in it, you can see why they got their name. Yes, there is also a Red-headed Woodpecker, one of the most beautiful woodpeckers I have ever seen but only once had in my yard, but this is not it. Red-bellied Woodpeckers are regulars here, and we love them for their goofiness and beauty. You can get the calendar in several sizes here: https://www.createphotocalendars.com/Shop/ostdrossel. The promo sale is still going on until January 1. 2022.
I hope
that you all had a Christmas that was as fun as the one I had. There was no snow, which was a bit sad, and it felt like the birds were all having their very own gatherings, bird traffic is slow right now. So today is another good day to introduce who is in the calendar. October is the “furry birb”, one of the resident groundhogs. They are not at our house and they make us laugh, so we tolerate them. Since the year is ending soon, I have added another promo in the shop that begins tomorrow and is good until January 1. Check it out here: https://www.createphotocalendars.com/Shop/ostdrossel
The September bird
of the Ostdrossel calendar for 2022 is one of my favorite MoDo photos. This silly bird was posing like for an iconic painting. The light and leaves make the look perfect. It is hilarious and beautiful at the same time. The calendar is available in several sizes and you can get it here: https://www.createphotocalendars.com/Shop/ostdrossel. Have a great Tuesday!
The outside looks very pretty today,
we were gifted with snow over night! I am glad I got my little Santa Stop done yesterday (check the livestream to see it), and I love that there is more activity at the feeders today too, so hopefully there will be some fun new photos later. I still wanted to continue to introduce the calendar birds for 2022. I apologize for slacking a bit with that, but it has been busy. July and August are the months that burst with bird variety and baby birds. The July bird is the vibrantly looking and beautifully singing Baltimore Oriole, and August shows an adorable young Blue Jay. Be safe out there in the snow today!
If you are interested in getting an Ostdrossel calendar, you can get them here: https://www.createphotocalendars.com/Shop/ostdrossel
