Friday was the only day in Cape May during CMBO’s Autumn Weekend Festival with decent light, and it did not really get bright until 10am when I already had to be at the Convention Center for set up. Still I took the trail early that runs out over the boardwalk behind the Hawk Watch at Lighthouse State Park, past the pond, and on around through the newly manicured pine forest, across the marsh again on boardwalks, past the second pond, and back around below the dunes and behind the pond by the Hawk Watch Platform. It is always further than I think it is, and takes more time, especially if you stop for any photography.

None the less, I could not resist stopping for this acrobatic Grey Squirrel in the pine forest section of the trail. It was making a big deal of scampering up and down a tree trunk about 15 feet from the trail, taking very obvious exception to my being there, but unwilling, for some reason, to give up its tree. Everything is still an experiment with this new camera (Canon SX50HS), and the light was not bright enough to really hope for sharp shots of this rapidly moving critter (or even accurate focus)…but still…I shot off several different bursts and was able to sort 3 keepers from the lot. Not bad at all.

I especially like the bright yellow green leaf behind the squirrel that completes the composition.

Canon SX50HS. Program with auto iContrast and Shadow Fill.  1800mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/60th @ ISO 800. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.