My Humble Offering of a Squirrel

This morning was a wool gloves, hat and winter coat kind of day. It was clear and cold. The clear conditions not the best for photography. I checked the temperature before heading outside and it was hovering just below 24 degrees Fahrenheit. I stepped or rather slid out onto our deck and it was covered in a sheet of ice. Welcome to Northern California! I proceeded to the backyard and I set up the new knothole feeder and moved the bird bath breaking up the ice only to have it seemingly start to refreeze before my eyes. I settled into the ice covered blind and waited. Immediately the Dark Eyed Juncos showed up along with a small group of immature Spotted Towhees. No one seemed to like my feeder or if they did they hopped on and off of it so fast my reaction time to trip the shutter was too slow. The blind started to thaw in the sun and I was treated to the drip, drip of water from off the inside of the blind. It was tempting to give it a good shake but that would scare everything off. Eventually a nervous Douglas Tree Squirrel showed up but it was too afraid to use the feeder. The light was going fast so I zoomed in and settled for a close up portrait of the squirrel. May you have a blessed week, chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens at 600mm on a Manfrotto tripod. Camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/60th of a sec. #TeamCanon