Posts in Category: animals
Winter chipper
The chipmunks are all sound asleep in our yard, or at least I have not seen them in a month or more, but on my walks through deeper forest, I have seen several chipmunks moving around recently, despite the cold. I caught this one scampering back to its borrow. It stopped on what appears to be its own doorstep to assess my intentions. I took a few photos and then moved on so it could finish whatever business brought it out on a January afternoon. Sony Rx10iv at 1200mm equivalent (600mm optical and 2x Clear Image Zoom). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 2000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Confiding squirrel
Eastern Grey Squirrel, Kennebunk, Maine. I was taking photos of the birds out my back deck door, standing in the open slide, when this squirrel hopped up on the rail and came pretty much right up to me. This was taken at about 3 feet. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Hoover at the seed…
Chipmunk, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I am not in the habit of naming our wild neighbors, but if I were, this one would be “Hoover”. It is dainty, even for a chipmunk, and it is the last of our chipmunk visitors to be a daily under the feeders. Perhaps it was assigned clean-up duty, or perhaps it is a first year chipper and does not have the whole “pack it away for winter” thing down yet. Whatever. I am fine with it until it climbs up and raids the sunflower seed feeder. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Mealworms: not just for birds :)
Our Chipmunks are evidently busy elsewhere, putting in supplies for the winter, as we are not seeing them on the deck much. This youngster, one of this year’s second brood, came yesterday, drawn by the spilled mealworms we put out for the Bluebirds. Of course he was hovering up all the spilled seed as well. The original handy-vac, cleaning up our deck. We appreciate his efforts, and the opportunity to watch him…just as long as he does not go for the feeders themselves. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 640 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Mind that tongue!
I spent some time in the photo blind the other day and was entertained by this chipmunk getting a drink from my pump and bucket water feature. The chipmunks are very bold. Twice now I have had them join me in the blind when I apparently set it up across one of their highways…or maybe they were just being friendly. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Laudholm Chipper
The chipmunks are everywhere abundant this year. We see them every day around the yard. They have made repeated attempts to undermine our rose bush. They like to play hide and seek among the marigolds in the planters on the back deck. Carol rescued one from drowning in a water bucket yesterday, and I suspect, from the nighttime noises in the walls, that they have gotten into the house. This one was on the boardwalk at Laudholm Farms, and let me walk right up to it. The shot is cropped only on the long axis, full frame otherwise…so I as close indeed. I have to admit, I have a lot more time for chipmunks than for squirrels, which this year, is a good thing. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
The Snowy Egret in its moods
Snowy Egret: Kennebunk Maine USA — The Snowy Egret is such an elegant bird, until it isn’t. 🙂 I found this beautiful creature along the margin of Back Creek where it passes under the access road to our local beach. Just doing its Egret thing. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Portrait of Mrs. Squirrel
I think squirrels are cute…but that does not mean I give them a free pass when it comes to raiding my bird feeders. I have invested in a set of “squirrel proof” feeders and suet cages that, for the most part, defeat the squirrels’ attempts at criminal trespass. That does not mean they don’t try, several times a day, sometimes once an hour. The idea of all that food, right there in easy view, is evidently just too much for them, even when past experience has proven that they can’t get at it. It is entertaining to watch them, and I don’t mind anything they take from the ground under the feeders, even when I scatter seed for the sparrows. If it is on the ground it is fair game. This mother squirrel is one of the pack of 3 or 4 who come to our yard every day. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Praying Chipmunk
There is not much moving in Maine’s forests during March other than chipmunks. I did see my first Red Squirrel two days ago, but not nearly close enough for a photo. This chipper appears to be praying at a mossy alter in the March sun, at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farms, in Wells, Maine. And well it might be, and well we should join it in prayer in these days of spreading Covid-19. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Feisty Chipmunk…
On our first really warm day of spring…hovering just under 70 degrees…this chipmunk at Laudholm Farms in Wells, Maine, was pretty full of himself, feisty even. He was not sure he was going to give me the right-of-way on the boardwalk through the lower woods along the Rachel Carson NWR border…though he did finally take the leap off the edge and into a pile of brush. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos and assembled in Framemagic.