A Bird in the Hand

There are two schools of thought regarding bird photography... you can purchase a high quality camera, set up a feeder, and improvise a blind so you can get great photos, or you can just grab a bird and take a picture of it with your cell phone camera:





This afternoon, a crazy red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) flew into one of our buildings and got into a bit of trouble with my friend and co-worker Fred. Being a bird fancier, I robbed my little piratical friend of his sport, and grabbed the boid. Sorry, Fred- stick to the meeses, and we're cool.

Luckily, I had my cell-phone relatively handy, so I was able to snap a picture. The last time I had to grab a bird, my phone was in my left pocket, the bird (a mourning dove) in my left hand, so I was unable to snap a pic. That time, a co-worker's husband saw the proceedings, and started calling me "The Bird Whisperer". Every couple of years, it seems I play this role.

UPDATE: My standard joke regarding this picture is that it depicts my only game of "Angry Birds"- you grab a bird and he gets real angry. That being said, I think the cat was angrier that day.