Author Archives: Con Daily

This Evening’s Hummer, Yesterday’s Fox

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This broad-tail hummingbird’s image was captured just after sunset this evening as he sat on a choke cherry branch with ponderosa boughs in the background. The late afternoon rain left everything dripping and the clouds reflected nice colors long after sunset. Shot at 1/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400, with 70-300mm lens at 300mm.

Yesterday morning I filled a couple of cf cards with fox images. I haven’t had time to look at all of them, but this one is typical, mom cleaning behind her kit’s ear. There are three kits, each with it’s own look and personality. This image was shot in mid morning sunlight at 1/800 sec. f/4.5, ISO200, with 70-300 lens at 120mm.

Kits, Hummingbirds, and Spring

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Spring has finally pushed winter aside. Fox kits are emerging from their dens, hummingbirds are fighting over feeders and wax currant flowers, and raindrops are replacing snowflakes. Just over a week ago, we had a foot of snow with phone and power outages (again!) and ice on the windshields last Monday morning. But now, the weather is warm and springs seems truly to be here.

Friends Cris and Glen invited me over to photograph the fox family living under their deck. The beautiful kits won’t be this size for long. Startled by the sound of the camera, they would run back under the deck and bark for their mother who seemed bored and not at all concerned at the people watching from the window.

snow

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This week’s storm dumped 2 feet of snow on us and knocked out power at my house for over 12 hours. It snowed all day and night on Tuesday, a heavy wet snow that bent and broke trees and power lines. One neighborhood some miles from here is still without power. The temperatures are warm, though, so the white blanket is quickly melting. This shot of Lions Head was taken a few minutes after 6 am Wednesday with the canon 30d 28-135mm lens at 28mm and f8. Shutter speed was 1/13 second. I used a tripod and mirror lockup.

I had my first hummingbird sighting today and shot a few quick pics of her near my feeder. Nearly noon, the light was not perfect, but I’ll have a look at those shots later and perhaps post one.

Pasques at the Patterson’s

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I went to visit my good friends, the Pattersons, a couple of days ago. ‘Twas a good thing I had my camera along, for this group of three perfect pasques is quite a rare thing this year. With all the snow and freezing rains we’ve had, many of the pasques have brown frostbite on the petals. These three beauties must have emerged at just the right moment between the snows. We had snow again last night, so I wonder how they are looking now. Many thanks to the Pattersons for allowing me to crawl around on their ground shooting the flowers.

The broadtail hummingbirds should be coming any day now. I’ve read reports of a few sightings in the area. My feeders have come out of storage and are washed and ready. My two year old fuchsia is blooming in the greenhouse and ready to be hung outside – but only during the day, the nights are still too cold for it. I’m hoping my next post will include my first hummer pic of the year.

“Pasques at the Patterson’s” was shot with Canon 30D, 60 mm lens, 1/125 second at f/8 from about 18 inches away.

Spring?

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Spring Greetings!

I shot this photo of a pasque flower Monday, two days ago. Yesterday it was covered with few inches of snow. Much of the snow melted yesterday afternoon but high winds were blowing snow around and I stayed in. This morning, Wednesday, it’s 17 degrees F and I’m reading that we may get as much as a foot of snow on Friday.

I’ll keep looking for these beautiful little fuzzy wildflowers between snows for the next few weeks. For those of you who don’t know these flowers, they are quite small (2 to 4 inches tall) members of the buttercup family. This was shot from ground level (read: wet knees and elbows) with Canon 30D and 60 mm lens from about 20 inches.

The first hummingbirds should be on their way soon. You know what I’ll be shooting for then. 🙂

Steller thief

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This Stellers Jay is looking to steal Uncle Abert’s (in previous post) seeds and peanuts. He perches in a ponderosa pine nearby and calls his friends to the feast. Then, he lands on the low junipers or an old fallen tree to get a closer view of the seeds I’ve spread on the ground. He’s not fond of me or the camera, but if I am still and quiet he will stay long enough to pose for a few shots.
Canon 30D with 70 – 300 lens at about 200mm.

Uncle Abert

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Uncle Abert poses for my camera to thank me for the bit of multi-grain bread I tossed to him from the deck. He’s an abert’s squirrel of the gray and white variety, we have black ones and brown ones with ear tufts here, too. Last time I posted an abert’s squirrel photo online, someone commented that my squirrels had been messing around with my rabbits. Another poster suggested that I’d altered the photo in Photoshop. Not true, and those who live in areas of the western U. S. where these squirrels are common know that these squirrels are real. This one had been visiting each day for for a week to eat sunflower seeds and corn when I decided to throw him some bread. We are good friends now, as long as I stay on the deck and don’t venture too close to him.