Split Rail Fence or What's Up There?

This image was my favorite image from a series of images that I did this last week. I found a mossy covered section of split rail fence to use as a perch. I set it up right next to the bird feeder for the birds to land on. Right now there is very little variety of birds coming to my feeder though that will change soon. Right now there are pretty much only two species of birds visiting the feeder on a regular basis. Chestnut Backed Chickadees and Red Breasted Nuthatches. This was my favorite Nuthatch image. God's tender love and blessings upon your week, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/200th of a sec. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Simple Lichen Perch

I'm always searching for new perches to use for my bird photography. The best ones are usually found when I'm either driving or walking to our gate and back after a windy night. Saturday I found a really nice lichen covered one on a walk with Lenore and Badger to the gate. After our walk I set it aside for future use. I ended up using it yesterday afternoon and early this morning by clamping it up next to the bird feeder for the birds to land on when they came to feed. There was a mix of Chestnut Backed Chickadees and Red Breasted Nuthatches coming in with the stray Gray Squirrel or two that I yelled at to go away whenever they tried to climb up to the bird feeder. Here are three of my favorite images after editing this morning. God's blessings upon you, chris All of the images were created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Battle Worn Beautiful Warrior

This last weekend Lenore and I trimmed the roses and cleaned up a few flower beds. We were amazed to see an Iris blooming in the front yard. This is the first flower bloom we have had this year. You could tell it was tough by how it looked. A bit rumpled, tattered and torn. It managed to pop up close to the wall where it is the warmest. Many, many years ago my dad was splitting up some Iris in his yard and he gave me a bunch to plant in my mine. He left this earth long ago but every time I see one of these Iris in bloom I'm reminded of what an incredible gardener he was. Every place he ever lived he always found places to put in beautiful flowers and a large vegetable garden. Thank you for the wonderful memories, Dad. God's love and blessings to all, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Canon EFs 17-85mm lens at 85mm. #TeamCanon

Batchelor Group of Tule Elk

Nature works to return to a natural state. Highways and bridges crumble. Grasses grow up in the cracks of sidewalks pushing and pushing to make them wider. Native species work at repopulating areas where they once were found. Sometimes it is done with the help of man. Such as it is with the Tule Elk. Prior to the Gold Rush in California they were widespread in many parts of the state. During the Gold Rush they were market hunted to near extinction for their meat and hides. Luckily there was a small remnant population found in the Central Valley on one of the many, many ranches of Henry Miller in 1874. He felt the herd should be saved. From that small herd there are now over 5,700 elk found in herds in many parts of California. There are even limited hunts by special permit. Elk have been slowly returning to around Willits where I live as well. At the end of last week when I was driving to the north end of the Little Lake Valley I watched a small batchelor herd trot out of the brush. Once they got out into the open they stopped and began milling about. A closer look through my telephoto lens revealed that some were foaming at the mouth. My guess is that they had been being chased either by dogs or coyotes. As they made their way closer to the road I got some nice images of them before I drove off and left them be. God's love and blessings upon your week, chris All images were created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 shutter speeds varied. #TeamCanon, #TakenWithMyTamron