First up, captured over my lunch break today, are a pair of Golden Crowned Kinglets. This is the male:

And here is the female:

They are tiny little things, and fast moving. It took a bit of fast-focusing to get these semi-decent shots. The photo of the male is not the clearest, but I like it.

The backyard features a large, 3-story, old pine tree – not too far from the house, which has made it easy for me to pick up a few old hobbies of mine… birdwatching and photography.

Birds fascinate me. Each species has their own interesting traits, characteristics, and migratory patterns. When a new bird appears, it’s a new challenge to pursue. What is it?! Aside from, what Nate would likely confirm as, obsessive observations – I have 2 other tools to help me identify each new bird that makes an appearance. First, is the iBird Midwest iPhone app; second, is my trusty telephoto lens.

Part of the challenge that I enjoy, is getting out my Nikon, hooking up the telephoto lens, and waiting until the bird stops jumping around, or moves into just the right light – allowing me to finally snap a fairly decent photo. It’s like True Detective: Bird Edition. It’s a practice of patience. And it’s something that I do to relax and distract.

Without any further ado, here are a few of the best photos (either aesthetically or just because it’s a cool bird) that I’ve managed to capture over the last 4 months. P.S. I saved the best for last.

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Birds of the Winter
All common visitors, except for the fancy red-bellied woodpecker.
Clockwise from top-left: white breasted nuthatch, slate-colored dark-eyed junco, red-bellied woodpecker, and blue jay.

European Starlings
I don’t know why people dislike starlings so much – just look at that coloring! I swear, Beyoncé probably has a bodysuit that looks just like this…

Tufted Titmouse
Who named this bird? Really? Apparently, the Old English meaning of “titmouse” is small bird, where tit means small. Okaaay.

Red Birds
Red birds are awesomely beautiful, but sometimes it’s just too much… tone it down, guys. That’s why I like female cardinals a bit more. Left: a purple finch among the leaves; Right: a female cardinal.

Magnolia Warbler
This beauty just arrived in the last week and has likely already departed to complete it’s migration to the U.P. or Canada.
It kept pretty high up in the pine tree and jumped from branch to branch pretty quickly – making it a fairly challenging bird to photograph.

Female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird
And finally, there’s this tiny, little love who came in from migration about a week ago. As you probably guessed, she was also extremely difficult to photograph. Fortunately, they’re pretty fond of perching in thick trees between sips of syrup.

Wow, the last few months have been pretty intense for Adam and I. We went to New York City, Adam went to Portland, our summer weekends were packed, and WE BOUGHT A NEW HOUSE!!!

That’s right, the day that we left for NYC – we also closed on our new house. We’ve left the dregs of Livonia and have moved to the lovely outskirts of Ann Arbor, in Ypsilanti! It’s a perfect location – SO close to all the awesome things of AA, just down the street from the quaint, hipster downtown of Ypsi, a minute from the main highway (I-94), and in an amazingly awesome neighborhood (coincidentally constructed by a Quicken Loans sister company). It’s in the trifecta of awesome – Ypsilanti location, Ann Arbor schools, and Pittsfield Township taxes. :)

It’s a 2002 colonial model, cathedral ceilings, big kitchen, walk-out basement(!), huge backyard, and so much more. It’s so much of an upgrade from our old house that we can barely believe it’s really ours. The neighborhood has a ton of big, open parks, plus a large wooded park area with a playground, a community pool, plenty of undeveloped lots that make the area seem not very cramped, a variety of wildlife, and friendly, diverse people.

It’s really the best place we could be right now. :)

Here are a few pics of the new place, sorry about the clutter – it’s a work in progress!

Oh, and you might notice, also, that we got a cat!! Her name is Ginger <3