Rainy Day Grays, Jays and Chickadees

This morning there were spatters of rain on the rooftop when I woke up. Back in the ancient days of film photography that would have been a disaster.  Now with digital cameras it means a whole day of uninterrupted photography. The clouds are like a giant light diffuser casting soft light onto everything. Yesterday I created a new set up with a green lichen covered section of a branch. Behind it I erected a muddled brown, black and gray backdrop. Over the branchI hung a single spout bird feeder for the birds to come to. I put my camera on a tripod in our open back bedroom window. I  put it behind a window hide or blind with an opening for my camera lens. The flash I lay on the window sill point outwards towards the feeder. It was a long wait this morning for the birds to start using the feeder. First came the Chestnut-backed Chickadees.  Tentatively at first and then soon it was one after the other. There was another long break before a male Western Gray Squirrel arrived. Wow, can they pack away the seed.! They grab the bird feeder with two paws and pull the feeder opening right up to their mouth and gobble away.  Something scared the squirrel off. Possibly a hawk flying by. Less than five minutes went by before a band of Steller's Jays showed up. They were active for about fifteen minutes jostling for positions at the feeder. I had a really nice time photographing everthing that stopped by. after editing these are my favorites. God's blessings upon your weekend, chris  All of these images were created with a Canon EOS 7 D MKII camera and a Canon 100-400 mm v.1 lens. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550 EX Speedlight set to - 1 1/3rd stops. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0. Shutter speeds varied.  #teamcanonusa

Wintertime brings a shortage of birds to my backyard in Mendocino County, Northern California. There is cold rain, snow, fog and sleet. The only birds that tend to stick around are the chickadees, jays and juncos. Once in a great while I'll spot a hummingbird or two and the rare warbler or thrush. This morning I put up a new bird feeder along with a mossy snag.  I had an abundance of Chestnut -backed Chickadees and a couple of Steller's Jays show up for the free seed.  One of the jays had no tail. A few days back I found an awesome perch, It was a lichen and moss covered branch. I set it up in front of a fall covered backdrop and photographed the jays and Western Gray Squirrels. I got some fantastic images. Everything was photographed with a Canon EOS 7 DMKII camera anda Canon 100-400 v.1 lens. For fill flash I used a Canon 550 EX Speedlight. God's blessings upon your upcoming week, chris #teamcanonusa

Playing With the Chickadees and Juncos

 When winter rolls around I very limited in the amount of bird species that I can photograph in my backyard. The most common birds left that haven't migrated south are the Juncos, Chestnut backed Chickadees and the Steller's  Jays. Every once in awhile I'll spot a Varied Thrush but usually when it's raining. This morning I set up a lichen covered branch about seven or eight feet out from our back bedroom window. I hung a single spout bird feeder over it filled with black sunflower seeds. I then went back inside and set up my camera behind the window blind/hide. Almost immediately the Dark-eyed Juncos came to investigate. They were soon followed by the Chestnut-backed Chickadees. I got some really nice images before the lighting got too bright. All of these images were created with a Canon EOS 7D MKII camera anda Canon 100-400 mm v.1 lens. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550 EX Speedlight set to - 1 2/3rds stops. #teamcanonusa  God's blessings upon your week, chris

Unhappy With AT+T #att

 I have been off the air as it were. AT+T throttled back our hotspot data to where I could no longer use the internet. I couldn't access my banking, billing or even FB. Living out in the country has its technological challenges. The primary one being connection to the internet. Over that pas three years we have used our phones as a hotspot to connect our computers to the internet. We purchased an Unlimited Elite Data plan to make that possible. All seemed to go well until the last two months. There is a clause in our plan that if you use too much data they will throttle your internet back. I t's only supposed to be cut back but still usable at a slower rate of data. That hasn't been the case! As soon as we hit the cap it shut down to slower than dial up. It worked fine for three years and then now this. I've called them numerous times about this with promises of help but so far nothing has happened. They promised engineering would call in five minutes. They never called. One time they hung up on me. Three times they have just repeated that I have used all my data and that's the way it is. when I explain that it is supposed to be throttled back and not turned off they offer no solutions. Well it's a new month and I will have data for a short time until it's throttled back. Soon I will hopefully be getting a new provider. Bye AT+T Enjoy the ducks and geese from yesterday. Lake Ralphine in Howarth Park, Santa Rosa, CA

Newish Knothole Feeder

Over the last couple of days I rebuilt one of my knothole bird feeders. I originally had two of this type but a squirrel destroyed one last week and a bear tore apart the other a couple of days later. The one the squirrel destroyed was fairly easy to rebuild. The one the bear tore apart was pretty much a total loss. I may be able to salvage a couple of  the parts. After rebuilding the feeder I set it up in the backyard about eight feet out from our back bedroom window. I put up a window hide/blind in the window to hide behind. Then put up my tripod with my camera and flash poking out from the blind to the feeder. This morning I filled the feeder and then went into the kitchen and made breakfast and some coffee for Lenore. After breakfast I checked the feeder about every ten to fifteen minutes for birds and squirrels. After about an hours wait a Douglas Tree Squirrel showed up along with four or five Chestnut-backed Chickadees. The chickadees would make quick trips to the feeder whenever they thought that the squirrel was too occupied to notice them. Later when the lighting started to get to harsh a western Gray Squirrel stopped by for a snack as well. I had a really enjoyable time photographing them.  God's blessings to all in the upcoming New Year, chris

 Last year around this time we acquired Charles Dickens the stray black cat. He was found to be living under our wood pile in the rain and snow. He would yowl every time I went to get firewood for the wood stove from the pile. I never did see him which made it quite unnerving at times when you went to grab some wood. Was this cat going to jump out and attack me? This was settled one day when I was sitting in the photoblind and he came into the blind and jumped onto my lap. Since that time he has wormed his way into our family.  Dickens biggest problem is that he is a cold blooded killer. He has killed numerous squirrels and birds since his arrival. A couple of weeks ago I about lost it when I came outside to find hime devouring a Douglas Tree Squirrel. I vowed that he must become an indoor cat. He has been decidedly unhappy about this decision and has tried to make several jailbreaks. Once he was successful resulting in the death of another squirrel within fifteen minutes of his escape. Being a wildlife photographer I just can't put up with this. so Charles is going to be an indoor cat until we find a better living situation for him.

  This morning I photographed some Jays and Chickadees and it was so nice to have no interruptions from either the Blasted Cat Papaya or Charles. God's love, blessings   and a merry Christmas to one and all, chris

Frosty Time of Year

 This is my favorite time of year for photographing frosty leaves. It's early enough for the leaves to still have a little color and it's cold enough for there to be frost. The past couple of mornings I've headed down from our ridge top home to the cold valley below. Up there it was in the balmy high 40s almost 50 F and down in the valley it was hovering around 30 F.  Both mornings I forgot my gloves! Luckily I had my jacket and a sweater. I've got a favorite meadow along Willits Creek where I love to photograph. The frost holds there in the shade and even on the warmest days the frost will linger until late in the day in the shadows. I brought along a big gold reflector to bounce some light into the shadows to brighten things up. I brought along my tripod with a shutter release. Two cameras and two lenses. A Canon EOS 7D and a Canon 7D EOS MKII for lenses I had a Canon EF-S60mm macro lens and a Tamron 180mm macro. I took a lot of leaf images and these were some of my favorites. God's blessings to all of you, chris