The winter visitors are enjoying the variety of seeds and nuts in and around the feeders. Keeping them filled can be a challenge.
We’ve had the male and female cardinals, goldfinches, nuthatches, chickadees, hairy and downy woodpeckers, sparrows, doves, bluejays, juncos and robins. A few weeks back we had a red breasted woodpecker but it was only sighted once.
The cardinals love the safflower seed. It cost a bit more but it sure is worth it as lots of the other birds don’t eat it. I showed some 2sDay cardinals last week and here are some shots of the female and the male enjoying a snack.
I get lots of questions asking where I create my mosaic/collage images. I use a few different sources, (Photoscape, iPiccy, Fotor, Picasa) and do try to list them at the end of each post but this week they were all created with Fotojet.
This is an easy to use free program on the web. Free is always good isn’t it? If you so choose there is also a paid version that gives you access to many more templates and features. Sometimes there is also a free trial month of the paid version. The program works well on my Mac but won’t work on my iPad because it requires Flash. Thats okay with me as I always use my camera and upload the images to my computer. I rarely use the camera on my iPad or iPhone. But it is something to consider if you do use the those cameras frequently. I have no idea if the program works on other types of tablets.
I used the creative section instead of the regular mosaic/collage to get a different look this week. The nuthatch was wondering why the log feeder was empty when it arrived. And the chickadee is always flitting in and out to the coil feeder for peanuts and suet. I fill the coil feeder with a combination of peanuts in shells and suet. It hangs by the kitchen window so I’ve always got a good view of the lens friends that visit.
There are lots of choices at Fotojet to do all sorts of things but after creating the image I use the photo editor on my computer, Pixelmator, to add text and resize to an optimal size for uploading to my site. This is a Mac version which is similar to Photoshop. It is worth while resizing your images, especially if you use a site like Blogger which gives you limited storage. Images straight from the camera can be huge and will slow down how your site loads when others view it. It is always important to add a watermark to your images as there are lots of unscrupulous folks out there who are out to steal them. I always make sure the text is going through part of the image and not just at the edge of the photo where it can be easily cropped off. I’ve learned the hard way and had to prove to a few sites that the image they are showing is mine and not that of someone who refuses to give credit to the person that created it.
The robins are around daily, looking for bare patches of grass to show through, snacking on the sumac plumes and other berries and singing their spring song while sitting in the trees. They arrived at the end of January with a large flock of starlings and have stayed.
We are in for several days of above 0 Celsius weather so perhaps some picking out of evergreen trees for the first nesting will be happening. Robins are considered a sign of spring but always seem to arrive early and several bouts of snow happen after their arrival. Red wing blackbirds are a really good sign of spring arriving but we haven’t seen any of those yet. But I’m always on the lookout.
I’m sharing with Mosaic Monday.
Where do you create your mosaic/collage images?
Have a look at some more of my lens friends photos.
