Faces of Fall

As I have noted before once we get into late fall I am extremely limited in what I can photograph at my bird feeders.Today I decided to challenge myself to see if I could photograph all of the species of regular visitors to my feeders.I went out into the backyard,restocked the bird feeders and climbed into the photoblind and waited. There must have been a hawk up in the trees because there was absolutely nothing coming into the bird feeders. After about a half an hour I was surpized to see a Chipmink as the first victim er creature to come out and want to be photographed. Next and probably the easiest on my list were the Dark eyed Junco and a Steller's Jay.They were easy because there were so many of them. After that I worked on the most difficult image of all the Red Breasted Nuthatch. Because it was dark and cloudy out I was forced to use a pretty slow shutter speed and nuthatches pretty much never stop moving. I solved it by looking for a place they always landed and prefocused on that spot and just waited. I had tons of blurry nuthatch images by the time I was done!But I got a nice nuthatch image for all of my patience. After that I photographed an image of a Chestnut Backed Chickadee. I thought the squirrels were going to be the easiest today because yesterday they were all over the place. Today I waited and waited and finally a Western Gray Squiirel and a couple of Douglas Tree Squirrels came at the very end when it was starting to rain.It was a fun little personal challenge and i hope you like the images. My favorite image of course was the Douglas tree Squirrel. They are so darn cute. God's love and blessings, chris

Tis' the Season

It is indeed the season! Now that the rains have come the "Fungi Season" has begun and will probably continue well into late spring and early summer.I have started to see more and more fungi beginning to push themselves up through the forest duff and leaves lately. Here is one that popped up next to a Redwood tree close to our road yesterday afternoon. I loved how it stood out from the dark forest floor. Love and blessings from God to all of you, chris

Splash of Color

Today was one of those days where I got a lot done but not necessarily on the things I needed too. Over the past week I have been spotting the Mountain Quail covey in my backyard. As many of you know I am determined to capture a excellent image of one.Today with that in mind I sat in the photoblind for about an hour early this morning and then later on sat in the blind for about two hours in the afternoon. During all that time I didn't hear or see any quail. I did manage to add many images to my abundant collection of Western Gray and Douglas Tree Squirrel collection. OH MY! I gave up around three o'clock and went in search of something different. I walked down to the end of our road and back. On the return trip a splash of color caught my eye.There was a Bracken Fern illuminated by the late afternoon sun and just glowing with possibilities. I photographed it from several angles before I found the best one. The problem with the best one was that there was a branch from a bush blocking it. I solved that problem by setting the timer on my camera and running over to the bush and pulling the branch out of the way when the shutter released. After a few laps back and forth I had an image I really liked.The quail can wait for another day. God's love and blessings, chris

Just Around the Bend

Today I awoke to the sound of rain on the roof top. Later the rain stopped but our ridge top stayed fogged in all day until late in the afternoon. Just a little after four the sun burst through the fog in rays of Angel's Breath.It was incredible! I ran downstairs and grabbed my camera and quickly walked down our road to find a good spot to photograph it. By the time I had reached the first bend in the road the clouds had moved back in and blocked out the sun.Drat! I looked back up the road towards our house and caught the last bit of very faint light on the tree trunks through the fog. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little sunnier. God's love and blessings to all, chris

Great Run of Chinook Salmon

On Friday while I was out photographing the fall colors I did a quick check on the Chinook Salmon run in the Eel River. I only watched them for about a half of an hour. I was really impressed by the number of salmon I saw spawning in the shallow riffles of the river. The females were digging reds (nests) by turning sideways and digging up the gravel by flapping their tails. There was a lot of pushing and shoving for nest sites. The males were pushing each other around to see who would get to fertilize the eggs. A beautiful sight to behold since the numbers of salmon have been down for so many years. I read recently that this may be the biggest salmon run that anyone can remember.I look forward to the creeks rising and seeing some salmon soon closer to where I live! God's love and blessings to all, chris

My Annual Fall Color Tour

Just about every year I make my own personal fall color tour through part of Mendocino County.I drive up over Red Hill into the Rock Tree Valley. I ford Tomki Creek and then drive out Hearst Road to the bridge on the Eel River at Emandahl. Then I backtrack to Tomki Road and the come up over Berry Canyon Road and back to Willits. Today was no disappointment as the fall colors were the best that I have seen in many years. It was just beautiful. The sky was cloudy and it was mixed with high fog that gave the leaves a rich saturated coloring. I had a wonderful drive and made it back just in time to have a quick lunch with Lenore. God's precious light and love to everyone, chris

I'm Stumped

Today has been a mix of mostly rain and sleet with doses of sunshine mixed in for good measure. I got cabin fever this afternoon and just had to get out. I walked down our road and photographed a mossy stump. Later on I took Annika to Ukiah for an appointment and we spotted a rainbow on the return trip home. God's love and blessings to all, chris