I’ve given up any idea of convincing myself I do not live in a wild animal park. Sometimes I think it is ridiculous that I enjoy the backyard as much as I do, but understand what I’m saying: I’m not traveling nowhere to see all these creatures. All of them, except the one heron – the black crowned night – and the moorhen, have shown up in the backyard. I…
Playing with the new camera on a day when it is grey and rainy seems like it should result in some excellent learning experiences. But I don’t think it did. For right now, the Nikon D3300 and I are getting to know each other. Here are several familiar scenes/activities reproduced today with this device. Starting at the boring end and crescendoing near the pinnacle (of an almost flat day!). Aperture:…
My new approach to wild animals is this: I will speak their names and wait for them to show up. Without even trying, that is what has been happening. In the last month, it happened with the stork, the spoonbill and the blue heron. Just a couple days ago, I was asking about a wood duck. From searches online, it seemed the little pied-billed grebe might be a juvenile wood…
Let me tell you, there are some things which cannot be adequately recorded. The excitement of seeing otters for the first time in my backyard is one – or indeed the second time, which topped the first because I waylaid them – and they showed up! But the absolute good fortune of today is hard to describe. We decided to travel a ways from the backyard in the afternoon to…
The light-hearted backyard is back. A bright sunny (though not warm) day. When I looked out the sliding door this morning, I saw a burst of activity in the wild life. The white duck – the mallard hen – skittered down the bank, to the shore, and it looked as though it was being chased by a circling snowy egret. I’m not certain how likely such a thing is, so…
There is, indeed, rain. The rain torrents and abates. And does it again. We have had so many inches, it seems like summer around here. The sky has disappeared and there is only a low hanging slightly fuzzy light grey blanket above. And a darker grey sheet beneath. It is wet. Today might be the first since the rains started that I have seen no sun and no blue anywhere…
Continuing the wintry weather, the backyard go thoroughly soaked, though it was much warmer. It is about the same as the previous four winters we’ve lived here, but this has surely been the most enjoyable. I do wonder, though, where all the wild life goes when it is this soggy out. The raccoon and deer as well as the birds. The ducks seem ok with it. They move off the…
It was freezing last night. In the morning, the grass was dotted with frozen sections. They looked like early fall snowflakes on the ground. I donned several layers of clothes and went outside, and sat on a cushion to wait for the backyard to come alive. I particularly wanted the otters, but they did not show. Yesterday’s exciting account is still not written. Soon. As I waited in the…
We’ll start here. Did I ever tell you about this snowy egret and tri-colored heron that hang around and hunt together? Several weeks ago I started noticing that both these birds showed up at the same time each morning in that little bay across the way. I would photograph them just on the basis of their being birds in the backyard. After several days, it dawned on me that they…
The sound did not pull my attention. Too often had I been frustrated by turning just in time to see only the spreading waves. I never managed to see the fish themselves break the surface, but only the water’s concentric rings dispersing. I never quite have my eyes in the right place. So I didn’t turn around. Straightening my back in mild irritation, I pulled my elbows in and grasped…