Repeat Offender

Oh no another snake! I spotted this Garter Snake hunting goldfish in our garden pond this afternoon. I grabbed my Canon 7D MkII, a 12mm extension tube for close focusing and my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens. I then crawled on my belly to the edge of the pond and focused on the snakes eye. The snake stayed in place until I stood up and then it slithered into the pond. The camera settings used were AV mode,ISO 400, 1/800th of a sec at F 8.0. The camera was handheld with the lens foot on the ground. Photographed in Mendocino County, Northern California. #TeamCanon God's love and blessings to all, chris

Annual Visitors

One of the highlights of our backyard is a small pond. It's not very large being about four feet across and being under three feet and in depth. It's a highlight due to all of the wildlife it attracts. The nearest springs are both over a half a mile away so many birds and small animals use it for a water source. The birds bathe in it on almost a daily basis. Perhaps maybe even more as I'm not watching it all of the time. Each spring we get an invasion of the Pacific Chorus Frogs along with a few Western Toads. They come to the pond to breed and they provide a chorus of noise every evening. It's surprisingly loud! They in turn are followed by an annual invasion of Garter Snakes that come to eat the pollywogs as well as the Goldfish that we keep in the pond as well. This afternoon I spotted one of the Garter Snakes sunning itself on a rock in the pond. I grabbed my camera and then crawled on my belly to the edge of the pond. I was far too close and I had to back up go back in the house and add a 12mm extension tube so that I could focus that close up. When I was finished I slowly stood up and made an image of it from up above looking down on the rock where it was resting. God's love and blessings to all, chris all of these images were created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Canon 100-400 IS v.1 lens with a 12mm extension tube for close focusing. #TeamCanon

Life and Death Drama in the Backyard Pond

On Wednesday afternoon I was looking into the backyard checking out my bird feeders for birds when I heard and a saw a commotion going on in our small backyard pond. There was splashing sounds and a flash of orange in the water. I grabbed my camera and ran to the backyard. Two Garter Snakes had a hold of one good sized goldfish and they were thrashing around trying to pull it away from one another. Finally the bigger snake broke free with it and the smaller one swam off. The larger snake climbed up onto the rocks that ring the shore and attempted to swallow the fish. Which was pretty good sized for a Goldfish as it was almost four inches long. First it tried from the side and there was no way that was ever going to happen. Next it attempted to swallow it tail first. Luckily it gave up on that idea almost immediately. On it's final attempt it came from the head and it was doing pretty well when the blasted cat showed up. The snake spit out the fish and slid off into the forest. Yesterday afternoon I set up my photoblind next to the pond and I lay down on a piece of carpet. I got quite a few images of the Garter snakes hunting. They would chase the fish all over the pond until they got too cold and then they would crawl up onto the rocks to sun themselves and warm up. A couple of the snakes would try and ambush the goldfish from above. I didn't observe any goldfish being caught. God's love and blessings upon your day, chris All images were creted with a Canon 7D MkII and a Canon 100-400 IS v.1 lens or a Tamron 150-600mm lens. A 38mm extension tube was placed between the camera body and the lens to allow close focusing. #TeamCanon

Sneaky Snake

One of my spring and summer sights are visits from my local Garter Snakes. They try and sneak into the backyard to try and feed on the Goldfish in my small backyard pond. Here is a series of images from a couple of weeks ago. I put down my daughters yoga pad and placed my camera flat on the ground so that I could get as close to water level as possible. In order to close focus I placed an extension tube between my telephoto lens and the camera body. Enjoy the images. God bless, chrisAll images created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens with an extension tube. AV mode, ISO 400, F 5.6,Shutter speeds varied.#TeamCanon, #canonbringit

They're Back

Just about the time the iris bloom the Garter Snakes make their appearance in my backyard pond. My daughter Annika has told me that she has been seeing them. Today however was the first day that I saw one. Making it my official first one for this year. They migrate in every spring from the coastal side of the ridge where they have been wintering in relative warmth. They to come to eat my goldfish and this one would have been capable of eating even my largest ones. This one was pretty good sized as far as the ones I see in my yard go. No doubt it will catch and eat my biggest goldfish first! Oh well they get fed and I get some nice photography.For these images I used my telephoto lens with a 36mm extension tube to allow me to close focus on the snake from the edge of the pond which is only about three feet away from the basking snake. God's blessings, chris Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens,36mm extension tube, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 400,F stop and a shutter speed varied.

Miscellaneous Macro

With the exodus of all of my house guests most of today was spent putting the house back in order. That didn't stop me from grabbing my camera this afternoon and playing with a macro lens in the backyard. I found a few welcome subjects around the pond. I pursued a Skipper Butterfly, Garter Snake and a Honey Bee. I also chased an Abalone Shell though it was quite a bit easier as it didn't move. I'm really enjoying the summer weather. God's blessings to all, chris

Return of the Snakes

My backyard pond is a summer destination for Garter Snakes. They love the goldfish and the rocks to sun themselves on. Yesterday I noticed the first two arrivals. Each had their own small rock on either end of the small pond. Periodically they would go for a swim and so far unsuccessfully try and capture a goldfish to eat. They were pretty tolerant of my presence as long as I didn't make any fast movements and I didn't get too close. Here are my first snake images of the summer. God's love to all, chris

Substitute the Snake

Some days in nature photography things do not go as planned. This afternoon I planned on doing some hummingbird photography one of my favorite things to do. Alas, the weather changed and it got cold and windy. Not the best of conditions for this type of photography. Later on when I was passing by the pond I saw one of my backyard Garter Snakes sunning himself by the pond. Here is an image of it. God's love and blessings to all, chris

Flutterbys

Spent most of the day working on getting ready for Jay's graduation tomorrow. Cleaning stuff up, buying him a present etc. This afternoon I took a break and photographed my unwanted visitors again the Garter Snakes. As much as I dislike them eating the fish out of my garden pond I have to admit they are pretty cool to watch and photograph. Some have the patience of Job sitting and waiting to ambush an unsuspecting fish. Others try the more active approach and just swim like crazy after one fish in a whirl of colors through the little pond. While I was waiting for a snake to appear today a Pale Swallowtail Butterfly floated by and started feeding on my flowers. Naturally I couldn't resist taking its portrait. It stuck around the yard for about fifteen minutes before it drifted off towards the valley below. It made for a nice distraction from the snakes and something beautiful to photograph. God's light and love to all, chris

Garter Snakes

With the arrival of the warm spring weather there has come the arrival of snakes in my backyard. Luckily so far it has only been Garter Snakes foraging for goldfish and polly wogs in my small garden pond. Last year they all but wiped out my goldfish. It's amazing how such a small snake can swallow a four inch goldfish! God's blessings to all, chris

Hansen's Resort

Tired of Garter Snakes yet? I feel like I own a Garter Snake resort. Now they come everyday to spend all day swimming and sunbathing on the rocks in my pond. Eating and snacking on my fish when they get hungry. There isn't hardly a time I can't go into the backyard and not spot one of them at "Hansen's Garter Resort and Pond". Sure makes for some nice wildlife watching and photography though.

God's love and blessings to everyone,

chris

Garter Snake Round 2

I have been hoping to catch the Garter Snake in much better lighting. Throughout the day I was checking the pond to see it. Better lighting was not to be. It came out in the middle of the day forcing me to once again lie down on the hot flagstones to capture some images of it.( Note to self put a pad down next time.) I watched it for a long time. It was indeed lying it wait for one of the goldfish. At one point it struck towards one and missed. Then it went back to waiting again. Itt had the patience of Job. Finally it yawned and swam off out of sight behind some rocks in the corner of the pond.

God's precious love to all,

chris

Little Predator

This summer the terrestrial garter snakes have taken to using my small backyard pond as one of their hunting grounds. A few weeks back I encountered one of them leaving the pond with a rather large bulge in it's belly. It was only later that I noticed my biggest goldfish was missing. Today one of the was sunning/hunting off of one of the rocks in the center of the pond. It stayed there long enough for me to photograph it.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris