Ever Changing View

It started snowing yesterday afternoon and slowly built up over the night. We awoke to about four inches of snow. It was just enough snow to make the view out our bedroom window quite delightful. It also made it a necessary to have to use 4WD to get down our driveway to the road. Right now as I am typing this I can hear the snow bombs coming off the trees as the snow is melting. God's love and blessings to all, chris Image created with a Canon 7D mkII and a Tamron 18-200 mm lens.

Toms

This morning my brother Eric and I did some bird photography out in the little Lake Valley. The House Finches were coming into the bird feeders like crazy. Afterwards we decided to go look for some wild turkeys on the way home. We spotted two young toms on one of the roads in Brooktrails. When they trotted down one of the side streets and we decided to follow them. At the edge of a clearing we stepped out of the pick up to photograph them. Suddenly they stopped in their tracks. Off to our left a group of eight large toms came rushing off a hillside at a full run towards them. They surrounded the young turkeys and began kicking and battering them with their wings and bodies. It all happened very quickly. Eventually the young tom broke away with the large group of toms in pursuit. They chased them downhill away from the clearing. When they were satisfied that they had chased the young interlopers from their territory the big toms came back up the hill. By then I had regained my senses and got in a good position myself to photograph a couple of them as they came by me. What an exciting event! May you have a blessed day, chris all images created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens. #TeamCanon

Like Clockwork

Every day at about ten o'clock a group of about dozen wild turkeys come by my bird feeder to pick up any seed that may have fallen from my bird feeder. They show up en masse and all the squirrels and small birds depart rather hastily upon their arrival. It shows good sense as turkeys are surprisingly not above snacking on things other than grain.

Here is an image of one of a first year poult posing next to a Doulas Fir Tree. Though it has grown quite big enough over this summer to hardly be called a poult anymore. I love the soft morning light on its back.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Portrait of a Fallen Giant

On my travels on my way homeward yesterday I stopped to photograph the fog filtering through the forest. I was really drawn to an old fallen Redwood Tree. What's left of it anyway. Fires and a slow deterioration of the years have reduced it down to this beautiful moss covered mass on the forest floor.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

A Walk Along the Creek

I awoke still feeling not so great today. Lenore implored me to get up and look at the incredible sunrise and I'm glad I did. It was such an intense red that didn't last very long as it gave way to bands of light and fog. After everyone headed off for school I decided to go for a walk along the Par Course Trail. It is a wonderful loop trail that loosely follows Willits Creek.The trail dips down through a nice Redwood Grove. It is probably the most used trail in our area and it gets a lot of users. This morning though I pretty much had the trail to my self as I only saw three other people.This morning I found most of my images in the Redwood Grove. There are just so many things to look at you have to keep focused and look for things that capture your eyes. I had a wonderful time. Let me know your thoughts on it in the comment section below.

God's blessings to all,

chris