spring birds returning

Two images, same bird, taken minutes apart but they look seasons apart. Conifers form a springy green background for the bird on the fence while the pond ice background gives the second image the feel of winter.

Though ice still covers the ponds this week, the Canada geese, six of them, have returned to Lower Lake Ranch to stake nesting claims at the fishing ponds. The one below hid from me in the tall grass the same evening I photographed the robin. Same buck fence in the background but how different the color due to a passing cloud and my angle of view which excludes the conifers in this one.

I caught a glimpse at great distance of a blue heron on the creek the same day I made these photographs so know they’ve come back to us as well. If the high winds of the past week ever slow down I’ll get out to make more photographs of our spring birds.
winter woodpecker
Winter Moons
Full Moon setting over Cathedral before sunrise and Wanning Moon with sunrise-pink clouds and Lions Head


smiling aspen

A little snow really brings out the beauty in this aspen’s face. The mind’s eagerness to find faces in nature’s patterns is well known and hard to resist in a forest full of tree people.
snowing

Now half grown, one of this year’s babies captured as snow fell this morning. It was moving across the hillside with a group of does and young mule deer in a world gone white when I stepped out to make a few images. They stopped to nibble the trees, shrubs, and tall penstemon seed heads around my home before moving on into the trees and out of sight.
winter birds

The pigmy nuthatch comes close to me to get a seed from the just-filled feeder. The finch waits in the trees until I’ve gone back in the house to take his turn at the seed mixture.

Autumn Buck

This buck’s going to tomorrow’s show in Buffalo Creek as a 12 x8 inch print matted to 12 x 16″. He wandered by earlier this week (before our big snow) with two does. His antlers still have bits of velvet hanging in strings. By next week’s show in Conifer, I plan to have him in a frame.




recent comments