Puffy Birds - Dr. Dude Photography

I like puffy birds. Birds that are puffed-up seemingly against the cold are adorable. Here is a collection of such birds.

Rub-crowned Kinglet all puffed-up while sitting on a branch in a bush. — **Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Fort Worth Nature Preserve Cross Timbers Trail footbridge, Fort Worth, TX, January 2, 2022**
*Canon EOS 5DS R with Tamron 150-600 mm lens; 483 mm; ISO-1000; f/6.3; 1/1000 sec.*
*This Ruby-crowned Kinglet does not appear in the Bird Species List as a representative example.*

I love this photograph, even though it is a bit blurry. I have never seen a bird puff up this much. I was shooting this Ruby-crowned Kinglet hopping around a bush and didn’t notice him get puffy (my other shots were more normal). When I was reviewing my photographs of the day I started laughing when I saw this one. While not the representative image for the day, I knew I had to share it, so this bird is where the idea for the Puffy Birds collection came from.

A puffed-up Carolina Chickadee sitting on a tree branch. — **Carolina Chickadee, Mineral Wells State Park bird blind, Mineral Wells, TX, September 5, 202**1
*Canon EOS Rebel T3i* with Tamron 150-600 mm lens; 428 mm; ISO-3200; f/9; 1/640 sec.

This Carolina Chickadee was one of the first puffy birds I photographed, and probably the one that endeared me to them. I may have better Carolina Chickadee photos, but I like it so much it remains (at the time I put this list together) as my species representative photograph.

Cooper's Hawk perched in a tree looking for its next meal. — **Cooper’s Hawk, Village Creek, Arlington, TX, January 17, 2022**
*Canon EOS 5DS R with Tamron 150-600 mm lens; 600 mm; ISO-3200; f/7.1; 1/2500 sec.*

This guy let me hang around for a long time while he was hunting. Most of the time he was not this puffy. He flew across the trail to scope out a different field, and after he landed he looked like this. So I took a few more shots and then left him alone to find his breakfast.

Barred Owl sitting in a tree. — **Barred Owl, Kentucky House, Murray, KY, November 18, 2015**
*Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EFS 18-135 mm lens; 135 mm; ISO-320; f/5.6; 1/200 sec.*

Owls are sort of puffy to begin with, but this Barred Owl was the puffiest owl I have seen. We heard this owl (and a few others as they would call to each other) often during the four years we lived in Western Kentucky and I was very lucky to get a shot of it almost out our back door.

Brown Thrasher perched on a thorny vine. The bird's upper bill appears to have a malformity and is about 10-15% the length of the lower bill. — **Brown Thrasher, Fort Worth Nature Preserve Dead End Trail, Fort Worth, TX, January 15, 2022**
*Canon EOS 5DS R* with Tamron 150-600 mm lens; 428 mm; ISO-400; f/6.3; 1/500 sec.

This puffy Brown Thrasher stayed near me for quite a while, just a few feet away. He liked posing which worked well as I liked taking his picture.

Eastern Phoebe sitting on a small branch. — **Eastern Phoebe, Fort Worth Nature Preserve Cross Timbers Trail foot bridge, Fort Worth, TX; January 2, 2022**
*Canon EOS 5Ds R with Tamron 150-600 mm lens; 483 mm; ISO-500; f/7.1; 1/1000 sec.*

Although not a puffy as some, this Eastern Phoebe was puffy enough to be included. She was so cute sitting on this branch and I am fortunate to have been able to catch her in a photograph.

White-throated Sparrow perched on a tree branch and looking puffed up against the cold morning. — **White-throated Sparrow, Village Creek, Arlington, TX, January 17, 2022**
*Canon EOS 5DS R with Tamron 150-600 mm lens; 600 mm; ISO-2500; f/7.1; 1/500 sec.*

It was a very cold morning as I was walking along the fence row at the Village Creek Drying Beds. This adorable White-throated Sparrow was perched near the fence and was flitting around a bit. He finally settled down enough for me to get this photo with him looking so cute.

White-winged Dove sitting on a branch looking all puffed-up. — **White-winged Dove, Falcon State Park, Roma, TX, April 18, 2021**
*Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Tamron 150-600 mm lens; 600 mm; ISO-2000; f/14; 1/1250 sec.*

This White-winged Dove was the first puffy bird with my new lens. It was unusually cold and cloudy that day and this dove was certainly feeling it.

Carolina Wren puffed up on a cold morning. — **Carolina Wren, Fort Worth Nature Preserve River Road, Fort Worth, TX, February 6, 2022**
*Canon EOS 5Ds R with Tamron 150-600 mm lens; 600 mm; ISO-2000 ; f/6.3; 1/3200 sec.*

This Carolina Wren spent most of the time I was taking over 100 photographs of it singing. For a brief time he stopped singing and puffed up on this cold February morning.

Northern Cardinal perched on a branch of a tree. — **Northern Cardinal, Fort Worth Nature Preserve Forked Tail Creek, Fort Worth, TX, February 20, 2022**
*Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Tamron 150-600 mm lens; 500 mm; ISO-1250; f/6.3; 1/1250 sec.*

I was walking along a trail, still on a natural high from seeing and photographing a Barred Owl when I saw this Northern Cardinal all puffed up. It was a cool morning, but definitely not cold and it was getting warmer. Still, he was perched there looking gorgeous.

White-eyed Vireo perched on a medium-sized branch and is all puffed-up, looking up into the right. — **White-eyed Vireo, Fort Worth Nature Preserve, Fort Worth, TX, March 27, 2022**
*Canon EOS R5 with Canon 100-500 mm L-series lens; 500 mm; ISO-1250; f/8; 1/2000 sec.*

Originally I thought this yellow bird flitting around so rapidly (and at a decent distance) was an American Goldfinch. I was surprised when I got home and saw the pictures that it was a White-eyed Vireo. With it, and a few others I saw that weekend, the spring migration north is in full force. I was happy to see one of the shots has this bird in puffed-up mode.

White-eyed Vireo on a small branch with his head feathers all puffed-up. — **White-eyed Vireo, Fort Worth Nature Preserve, Fort Worth, TX, June 11, 2022**
*Canon EOS R5 with Canon 100-500 mm L-series lens with 1.4x Teleconverter; 700 mm; ISO-5000; f/10; 1/1600 sec.*

Here is another White-eyed Vireo. This guy was defending his territory from another White-eyed Vireo. I guess he is trying to look bigger by puffing up. The shot was very quickly taken, so it is not as sharp as I would like, but actually ended up better than I thought when I first took the picture.