Birds on a Branch Not. "House Finch"

You probably may have heard of an old song with the line. "It never rains in California..." well this morning that definitely was not true in Northern California where I live.It was pouring down rain at times. I decided to go work out at the gym and then go out to the Burris Ranch for some bird photography. I actually like photographing in light rain as compared to a bright sunny day. Rainy days have this light that gives really rich saturated colors that I like. I managed to get out to the photoblind and restock the bird feeders between showers. The photography was a bit slow but the birds were really cooperative staying on the perch for long periods of time. Around eleven the rain started pounding down and I was wondering how long I would have to stay in the blind until it stopped, when suddenly there was a break in the rainfall. I quickly packed up my stuff and headed for the pick up. I almost made it too before the heavens opened up again and baptized me.I was a bit wet but I stuffed my camera under my jacket so it was fine.I headed home for some editing of the images I had taken. After some work I narrowed my images down to five that I wanted to post for the photoblog. Then I came across the sixth image. Now jumping back a bit or perhaps forward depending upon your point of view I'll admit the title is a bit confusing. I was going to call this photoblog entry "Birds on a Branch" but after finding the sixth image I felt it was just stunning because it is so detailed and colorful.I decided to just post one image for today instead. God's love and blessings to everyone, chris

Backyard Buzz and Flutter

With flowers a blooming in the backyard things things are a buzz with Bumble Bees and the flutter of butterfly wings. This afternoon I was able to photograph the three most common species of butterflys to my yard at this time of year. Duskywing and Tiny Checkerspot and Mylitta Crescents. Some butterflys flew through but didn't stop. there were California Sisters and Western Swallowtails. The best spot of all day was a Bumble Bee Clear wing Sphinx moth. They look something like a cross between a moth, Bumble Bee and a hummingbird.When I first saw it I thought. "That is a huge Bumble Bee!" I got some images just for ID sake but they aren't worthy enough to print. If it keeps hanging around here for awhile I'll try and get some nice images of it. God's precious love and blessings to all, chris

Oh Those Squirrels Again!

This morning I didn't have a lot of time for photography as I'm still working om some landscaping projects around the house. I limited my efforts to the squirrels near my photoblind in the front yard. Luckily I didn't have too long of a wait before a Douglas Tree Squirrel came up to the feeders. It was a feisty female and she guarded that feeder for a pretty good length of time before a Western Gray Squirrel challenged her for the spot. They had a pretty good battle before she relented and gave up her spot mightily protesting the whole time. It was a great way to start the day. May God bless your spirit today,

chris

Round'em Up

Over this past weekend I went to a cattle round up on a local ranch near Ukiah, California. It was really exciting to watch the Border Collies, cowboys and one cowgirl work together to bring the cattle down off of the mountain and into the main corral. The cattle were then sorted into smaller corrals. The cows and their calves went into one corral. The yearlings went into another and the steers into the last one. The cutting was pretty interesting to watch as they were trying at times to get one steer from the whole herd. A good horse with cutting skills was a real asset here. It was noisy with a lot of commotion. After the sorting the yearlings, cows and calves were shipped to another ranch in Wiilits, Ca. We followed the cows up to Willits where the second part of the day was spent on the Benbow/Coleman ranch on the edge of Willits. I was saddened to find out that this old historic ranch may soon be gone to make way for the new freeway bypass. I have always admired this ranch when I would drive by. A little bit of history may soon be gone. Here the cows and yearlings were dewormed and the calves were cut,dehorned and branded. It was a pretty eventful day. I'm already looking forward to going on another round up soon. It took hours to edit these round up images. Take your time and linger a little over them.

If you like my blog please share it with others onGoogle + and Facebook. Thanks Sincerely and God bless, chris

A Few More Birds

This morning I headed out to the Burris Ranch in the Little Lake Valley in Northern California for some bird photography again. Who would have thought I might do that again? I got into the photoblind pretty early after restocking the feeders and setting up some perches.I saw a lot of House Finches and even photographed a Brown Headed Cowbird. It wasn't my favorite image though

. Here are my two best images of the morning. An Oak Titmouse ( one of my favorite birds) and a California Valley Quail. God's precious love and blessings to all, chris

A Dose of Birds

This last weekend I photographed a spring round up on local ranch near Ukiah California. It is taking me days to edit all of the images. The lighting was poor which makes editing all that much difficult as I have to process individual images. This morning I took a much needed a break and did some bird photography on the Burris Ranch out in the Little Lake valley. The birds were pretty active even though there weren't a lot of species to photograph.When I climbed out of the photoblind at the end of the morning there was a Blacktail Deer feeding at the edge of the pasture and I couldn't resist taking his portrait as well. Here are a few images from the day.

God's love and blessings to all, chris

Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary

This weekend marks the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. In honor of that I am posting an image from my own family's heritage.It is a photograph from my Grandfather's collection taken of my mother and her sister in front of the Golden Gate Bridge during its construction. William Schwerin was quite the accomplished photographer and his photography spans the decades from the 1920s through the 1970s. Pictured are my mother Betty Schwerin and her sister Maryanne Schwerin. God's love and blessings to all, chris