Devilish Deer

The birds have been cleaning out two of my bird feeders faster than I can refill it or so I thought. Yesterday when I was editing some images at the computer I found out why. Badger went absolutely berserk. He was running from window to window and barking furiously. Thinking we were under attack I got up to see what was up. There was a doe on her hind feet thrashing her head against the bird feeder to push it sideways to shake out the bird seed. Off to the side there was a buck eyeing her hungrily. It wasn't the bird seed that interested him either. He went towards her and she spun off away from the feeder trying to get across to him that she wasn't having any of it and that she wasn't interested. He followed her around head down lips up phleming. She would come back to the feeder and knock it around some more while he stood watching. Several times he stopped in front of my back drop for bird photography. I couldn't resit the opportunity to photograph him there. This continued until she had cleaned the bird feeder out and then she settled down to try and eat the seed while the buck chased her in circles. God's love and blessings to you, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 L IS lens handheld. AV mode, ISO 800, F 5.6 shutter speed varied.

At the Whim of the Elements

Today we are at day three of the rain outside. It’s fairly rare to have this much rain in the summertime in Northern California. Today I photographed one of my favorite childhood pursuits a helicopter seed. That’s what we called them anyway. Did you ever play with them as a child? They float down from the trees like a helicopter. We used to marvel at them and collect as many as we could and throw them up into the air to watch them float down again and again. With a little research today I found out that these seeds are called Samara Fruit. Samara Fuit goes by many common names such as whirlybird, helicopter, whirligig, polynose, or Northern England, a spinning jenny. These seeds are made with a wing to have the wind help disperse them away from the parent tree so they will have a better chance of surviving. They are at the whim of the elements because where they finally end up is where they will have to grow. God's love and blessings to all. May you bloom and prosper where you are planted. chris

In Another Place and Time

This morning I noticed that the first crop of Dandelions is well under way. Many have bloomed their brilliant yellow blossoms and gone to seed for the people willing to pluck them and blow off the seed heads to make wishes. This evening I photographed one in blue. For some reason it just fit. I'm not sure why, but I just wanted to do it in blue. God's love and blessings to all, chris