Early Morning Madness

Last night the dogs awoke me at ten 'til three in the morning. Who knows what critter they were barking at? Mountain Lion,Bear, deer or flock of turkeys I really don't know. I got up to see what all the fuss was about and I could hear some creature off in the forest traveling through the dry leaves. While navigating my way in the dark back to our bed I noticed a bright spot of orange in the sky to the east. The last quarter moon was up and climbing into the sky. I'm up so I might as well photograph the moon I thought to myself. So I photographed the moon and surprised my self afterwards by promptly falling asleep only to be awoken by the dogs at six to be let out to go for their morning constitutional. I love my dogs... . This morning there was smoke in the air though not as bad as yesterday. That's probably why the moon was so orange. I took Badger the photoblind dog with me out to the Burris Ranch in the Little Lake Valley. The bird photography was a little slow and there were very few birds. All House Finches and one Junco. Before leaving I completely rearranged all of the feeders to hopefully change things up a bit. We'll see what happens. God bless everyone, chris

Wild Bandtails

This morning I went out into the front yard and sat in the photoblind just to see what I might see. A few Stellars Jays came by followed by a young Raven. Neither of these offered to have their portraits taken. I guess they just weren't in the mood. Later on a Douglas Tree Squirrel crawled around under the feeder avoiding my camera as well.
A Western Gray Squirrel did the same. I wasn't having much luck until a small group of wild Bandtail Pigeons came in. They climbed all over the perches giving me plenty of opportunities to photograph them. Bandtails are a gorgeous bird with their striking bills and feet.They are also exceptionally skittish. I made sure to keep all my movements with my lens to a bare minimum. I had a great time photographing them.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Mug Shots

I have been spending a lot of time in the photo blind this week. For some reason there seems to be a lot of jays out at the ranch. Both Western Scrub Jay's and Steller's Jays sometimes even at the same time.Steller's Jays prefer a mountainous habitat with coniferous forests while scrub Jay's tastes run to oak woodlands and riparian habitats. The habitat where my blind is at is a transition between mountain and the riparian and pastureland habitats of the valley.It is a perfect overlap that's suited to the two species.

The bully boys have been taking over the feeder forcing the smaller birds to flee when they arrive. The jays take over for only a short time but it takes awhile for the small birds to become comfortable enough to return. Here are a couple of mug shots of some of the neighborhood bullies.

God's love and blessings to everyone,

chris