Chipmunk,Squirrels,Towhee

I worked in the office today and photographed a couple of illustrations and worked on a rewrite of a section of a chapter. Somehow I managed to fit in a couple of breaks and do some photography in the backyard. With a little bit of work I was able to create some nice images of a Chipmunk, Western Gray Squirrel, Douglas Tree Squirrel and a Spotted Towhee. May God bless you this Valentines Day, chris Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon 100-400, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 800, F5.6, Shutter Speed Varied.

Let Patience Prevail

It was foggy and drizzly all day. From the moment I awoke until night fall. Job number one of the day was to catch the blasted cat Papaya. Sure enough when I went out into the backyard there she was sitting right on top of the bird feeder. Either she is really smart or the birds are very dumb. I have seen no signs to date that she has been successful in catching a bird. After dropping her inside I restocked the bird feeders and went back inside to work on my book. I would work for awhile and then take a break by photographing from the back bedroom window blind. I didn't get many bird pictures because the Western Gray Squirrels took over. What I was patiently waiting for is the Mountain Quail. They showed up yesterday and were all over the feeders. They did show up today only they stayed on the ground and didn't go up onto the feeder. Tomorrow is another day! I did get one really nice image of a Spotted Towhee. That's a Rufous Sided Towhee for all of the old timers out there or people with older birding books. God's precious love to all, chris Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon 100-400, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- AV mode, ISO 800, F5.6, Shutter Speed Varied.

Mossy Rock #2

Today I made another attempt at photographing the Mountain Quail that sometimes, I repeat sometimes come to my backyard. From my attitude you can probably guess that they didn't come.I was in the photoblind for almost three and a half hours which gave me plenty of other opportunities to photograph many of the backyard regulars. Western Gray Squirrel,Douglas Tree Squirrel, Spotted Towhee, Dark eyed Junco and Steller's Jay.Enjoy these beautiful creatures. God bless, chris

Done in by the Wind or Back to the Locals

Wildlife photography can be extremely challenging sometimes.Yesterday afternoon I was feeling really confident that I could get another Mountain Quail image. The quail have been coming in sporadically and I have a pretty good set up that works for them. What I didn't factor in was the wind! I could hear the quail coming up from the forest and I was anticipating some really nice images in my mind. That's when a big gust of wind hit the photoblind and pushed it forward about two feet. The quail scattered and didn't return.What remained was to photograph some of the other locals that weren't so skittish. I got some nice Spotted Towhee images along with Juncos, Steller's Jay and the always cute Douglas Tree Squirrels. So it was a very productive afternoon. God's precious light and love to all, chris

Birds in Joe's Backyard

My friend Joe Benoit is an excellent photographer.Our tripods have been planted side by side photographing many subjects over the years. The past few mornings I have been using my photoblind in his backyard to photograph birds.Thanks Joe. I was trying to capture some images of some Eurasion Collared Doves. I got a few images of them but they weren't that great.I'll try again sometime soon. I did get some excellent California Valley Quail,Spotted Towhee,Golden Crowned Sparrow and Western Scrub Jay. I really like the quail images.You can capture some awesome bird images in the backyard with a little bit of effort! Gods love and blessings to all, chris

A Shy One

Some birds are just harder to photograph than others. In the forested area where I live there is one bird that I'm lucky to get to photograph whenever I get the chance. It's not because it is rare either.In fact I see hem all of the time.They are actually pretty common. The bird in question is a Spotted Towhee. They used to be called the Rufous Sided Towhee but then they changed the name. I hate it when they do that. In any case they are hard to photograph well because they are a ground dwelling bird for the most part. Towhees prefer the underbrush and are rather shy and reclusive. They have to be lured from the ground up high enough onto a perch to be photographed because they normally love to stay down low. Yesterday morning I set up some perches that had ramps between them to encourage the ground dwelling birds to come up to a more comfortable level (for me anyway) to be photographed. This one Rufous er I mean Spotted Towhee obliged several times and this one was my favorite set of images from the morning.The thing I love about these Towhees is the intense red eyes!They are just so cool. Thank you for dropping in for a look today. Please leave your comments below. I love to hear from readers. God bless, chris

Fast and Furious

I'm not really sure if today's photoblog title fits for the viewer. From my point of view it really does. Yesterday I spent about two hours in the backyard photoblind. The birds and squirrels were pretty much non stop except for a few breaks provided by the Steller's Jays giving off alarm calls for some predator, probably a hawk that was nearby. I created a lot of work for myself and spent a good part of the day processing images. It was well worth the effort and here are some images from yesterday morning. Chipmunk Golden Crowned Sparrow Dark Eyed Junco Mountain Quail Douglas Tree Squirrel Spotted Towhee God's love and blessings to all, chris

The Clouds Parted

This afternoon I was working away on the computer when the clouds parted and the sun partially came out. That was enough for me to grab my tripod and camera and head out to the Burris Ranch for the first time this spring. When I drove through the ranch gate I was greeted by the Ruth the ranches owner. She told me that the bluebird has been standing his post over the bluebird box where I photographed him last week. That's a good sign of things to come.

I sat in my blind for a little over an hour and a half. I photographed a Titmouse over and over again as it seemed to be the only bird that liked my set up except for the Dark Eyed Juncos of which I already have a vast collection of images of. I saw a Wren but he wasn't in a very good position to photograph. The same with a Spotted Towhee. There was one House finch that landed just long enough for me to catch a couple frames of him. I was really happy to be photographing something different.

What a beautiful afternoon spent with the birds.

Thank you Lord,
chris