An Unusual Bird to Find in Rhode Island

The scissor-tailed flycatcher, also known as the Texas bird-of-paradise and swallow-tailed flycatcher, is a long-tailed bird of the genus Tyrannus, whose members are collectively referred to as kingbirds. Wikipedia

Scientific name: Tyrannus forficatus

Higher classification: Kingbird

Rank: Species

Symbol of: Oklahoma

Did you know: Scissor-tailed flycatcher has grey head and back, white throat and belly, dark brown wings with white edges and salmon-pink flanks, lateral sides of the body and bottom parts of wings.softschools.com

Don't Forget to Enter Your Flower Images this Month

This Thursday is the deadline for this month's photo contest.  Click here to enter your flower images.  

I shot the images below at a new tulip garden in Situate, Rhode Island this spring.  In these images I was concentrating on a primary subject with a shallow depth of field for lots of background bokeh.  In the next few days, I'll post another series of tulip images where I was focused on create blurred abstracts.

Tips for a Great Turkey Shoot

The trick to shooting turkeys is to get low.  Images at their eye level are more interesting.  Most turkeys in the wild are very skittish, therefore it helps to use some sort of blind and a turkey chair.  A turkey chair is made for turkey hunting and is low to the ground.

Start by finding a location where you know turkeys tend to frequent and scout out what time of the day they are most active at this location.  Then set up on this spot before they usually arrive, before sunrise is often the best time.  Sometimes I just wait for them to come to my back yard, they seem to like 7 am.  You can also try putting out bird seed or use a turkey call to draw them in.