A back yard GBH

No, it does not eat food out of my hand and after seeing how they spear fish, that is not in my plans. The GBH is considerably wilder than my average back yard bird.

Had to look in as "GBH" to me, means "grievous bodily harm"!!!

But, a good capture there Bill. But what's the odd hair-like squiggle top-left? You got something on your sensor?

It could do grievous bodily harm if it speared your hand.

The squiggle is some tree twigs about ten feet from where I was standing. When the GBH took off, I started panning to follow it and swept across the branches. While I could have wasted some time painting it out, I choose to not participate in the "clone wars".

"clone wars"....lol.

Great focus with the busy background Bill.

Bill Boehme wrote in post #9558253
...I choose to not participate in the "clone wars".

"Hmmm....I feel a disturbance in the force."

Great capture (minus above artifact in photo).

Nice capture, no doubt looking to raid someones fishpond.

You managed a nice 'swing and snap' Bill.

Thanks for all the comments, guys. I live about two blocks from the City Hall in my town and this GBH can sometimes be be found right in front of the building strutting around like a politician.

Bill Boehme wrote in post #9558127
No, it does not eat food out of my hand and after seeing how they spear fish, that is not in my plans. The GBH is considerably wilder than my average back yard bird.

Nice shot. At first I thought you were saying he was wider than the average backyard.

Great shot Bill. They can become quite tame though. We had one on the dock where I had my houseboat parked and he was tame enough to walk up and steal bluegills from your bucket, while you were standing right next to it. If he was on the center walk and saw you coming, he would step out onto a finger to let you pass, just like any person would. He was a cracker.

tamer than you would think. I live near a small river that has smallmouth bass. i've gone several timesto birdwatch while a fishing friend angles. He is a strict catch and release sort. Many times I've seen him haul in a bass.As he is unhooking it a GBH will fly in and land next to him.He just hands it over. Who wants to argue will a guy who has a dagger of a bill?
Sam

artyman wrote in post #9558770
Nice capture, no doubt looking to raid someones fishpond.

If the water's all frozen, he'll make do with rodents; they and egrets will spear rodents with their bills, then wipe them off in grass or weeds, and swallow them.

Don1 wrote in post #9561515
Nice shot. At first I thought you were saying he was wider than the average backyard.

He's not that big ... yet.

canonloader wrote in post #9561891
Great shot Bill. They can become quite tame though. We had one on the dock where I had my houseboat parked and he was tame enough to walk up and steal bluegills from your bucket, while you were standing right next to it. If he was on the center walk and saw you coming, he would step out onto a finger to let you pass, just like any person would. He was a cracker.

When I was a kid, there were a couple occasions when one would land right next to me while I was night fishing by moonlight. It probably saw the ripples on the water and dropped in to investigate. They do a lot of night flying if there is enough light to see anything.

sam walker wrote in post #9562688
tamer than you would think. I live near a small river that has smallmouth bass. i've gone several timesto birdwatch while a fishing friend angles. He is a strict catch and release sort. Many times I've seen him haul in a bass.As he is unhooking it a GBH will fly in and land next to him.He just hands it over. Who wants to argue will a guy who has a dagger of a bill?
Sam

Maybe it was a game warden checking your friend's catch.

John Sheehy wrote in post #9562866
If the water's all frozen, he'll make do with rodents; they and egrets will spear rodents with their bills, then wipe them off in grass or weeds, and swallow them.

About the most ice that we ever get is a bit of very thin ice along the edge of the water -- not enough to support the weight of anything heavier than a sparrow. I got to see enough real ice and snow when I was in the Army at Fort Riley, Kansas to convince me that I would not miss it when I got back home.