An Apple a Day

This little doe comes to our yard at least once each day to eat apples from our tree. We believe it is the same doe each time because she is always alone and because she is more tolerant of humans than most deer. 

A friend named Heidi is licensed by the state to take in injured or orphan fawns and care for them until they are old enough to be returned to the wild. Heidi only lives a few miles away from us. We have wondered if this could be one of her fawns because that would explain why this deer is so comfortable around people.

Deer are herd animals. Their herd is populated by deer who share the same mother. If this deer was brought here from another part of the state and then released that would explain why she does not have a herd.

She has become quite a connoisseur of apples. If she does not see one on the ground that is to her liking she will stand on her hind legs and pick one from the tree. Not only that, but I have watched her as she chased other deer away from "her" apples.

We began receiving our lonely visitor last summer. Hopefully within the next few weeks she will bring her fawn out of the woods to eat apples with her. With her fawn she can begin building a herd of her very own.

Backstroke

Don't you think this guy looks like he is doing the backstroke?

Authors of photography books and magazine articles teach the rules of composition. They teach us that animals should be on the left side of the photo facing toward the right because most of the world reads from left to right. They recommend that there should be space on the right for the animal to gaze into so that he doesn't look crowded. Somewhere in each book or article they always include a statement that it is okay to bend the rules once in a while.

I think this is one of those times.

Photos of Hummingbirds are harder to get than you might think. Oh sure. "They move quickly and might turn out as a blur." you are thinking. That's only part of the story.

Imagine that you take the cardboard tube out of the center of a roll of paper towels. Now imagine that you are watching Forrest Gump compete with the All-American Ping Pong team. You place your eye to the tube and your vision is instantly narrowed so that you can see only one small part of the scene at a time. This is similar to the way the world looks through a camera viewfinder and it is the only method you have to follow that speeding ping pong ball as it flies back and forth between the contestants. Kinda hard isn't it?

Now you know why some of your Hummingbird photos will have no Hummingbirds in them at all.

Not only that, but is is hot. Really hot. And humid. Ninety four degrees with forty six percent humidity. Before you take your camera outside you will need to place it in a plastic bag. Set it on your porch for a few minutes and let it warm up. The plastic bag prevents it from fogging up like a bathroom mirror during a hot shower.

Plan on wiping off the view finder of your camera with your tee shirt occasionally as every time you put your eye up to it you will cause it to steam up.

And boy are you going to sweat. Oh, sorry. Women don't sweat, they perspire. You are going to perspire a lot. Perspiration is going to run down your face and the small of your back.

Next your arms will begin aching from holding a heavy camera and zoom lens steady for several minutes while you try to get just the shot you want.

But when you are done one of these guys will be frozen in time and you will see him jamming on brakes to avoid a bumble bee, or sticking his tongue out, or with a drop of sugar water from your feeder on the tip of his beak. Suddenly it all seems well worth the effort.

Check out the new additions to my blog. You can link me to Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail a link to your friends. You can also check off little blocks indicating whether you think my blog is "cool" or "funny." There is no check box for "lame." I guess you have to write that in the comment box.

Work of Art

This gray fox is a true work of art. Look at the white color lining the inside of the back legs and the black around the eyes. The fur on the muzzle and the neck is beautiful too. As a matter of fact, it is hard to decide what part of him is most beautiful.

Have you heard people say that you should not see foxes out and about in the daytime? Don't believe them. This one was trotting along at 9:45 am and he is not the first one I have seen at this time of day.

He was probably hunting for food to feed the family as both male and female foxes share in that responsibility.

Foxes aren't picky about what they eat either. They will eat small mammals, birds, eggs, insects, vegetables or fruit. Their food pyramid must look pretty odd.

This fox stood still for about a minute and a half. It is very unusual to get to see one for that long as they are very wary and have lightning fast reflexes. A fox once spun around and raced away so fast that I heard his feet hitting the road. If you weighed 8 lbs and were running in your bare feet how fast might you have to run for someone to hear your feet strike the ground?

Soon a little breeze came along, his nose quivered once and he was gone. If I am ever in this situation again I am going to mew like a little lost baby mammal and see if he can be lured a little closer.

Foxes live about five years. It would be cool if this is the same fox I photographed with my first camera in 2006.

Darling

I have mentioned Darling in two previous posts and so I thought you might like to see a photo of him.

Here he is with Little Kitty.

Like a lot of guys Darling has very firm ideas about what is manly and what is not. He will not wear pink and he will not drink fruity little cocktails. He likes dogs and horses. Manly animals, those are.

So who would have guessed that he would LOVE this cat? When I was a kid growing up in the south real men did not eat quiche and they most certainly did not like cats.

I have known Darling for eight years now. I never knew until this year that he liked cats. He likes this one so much that when our daughter moved out with the Labrador he said that he didn't want another dog because it might make Little Kitty nervous.

And the feeling is mutual. Little Kitty loves him. We are talking about a cat that is so shy that I worry if she ever gets outside I won't be able to retrieve her. She is so timid our pet sitter has only laid eyes on her once. She is so elusive that I have to trap her in the laundry room to put her flea preventive on her. But here she is with her "hands" all over Darling.

And one more weird thing. Darling cooks very spicy food. Little Kitty loves his cooking.

fawn surprise

One afternoon I saw a doe resting under an apple tree in my front yard. I thought to myself, "This would be a good weekend to get a wildlife photo."

So early Sunday morning I crawled out of bed before sunup. After gulping down a cup of coffee, showering in unscented soap and donning camouflage clothing I headed out with my camera hoping to photograph some wildlife. After spending a long time seated under a tree I was hungry. I dug an energy bar out of my pocket and started eating. While eating I happened to glance over my shoulder and there about thirty-five feet away was a little fawn standing up to stretch her legs! I had to put the zoom lens to my eye in order to convince myself that I wasn't seeing things. She had been lying there at the base of a tree all along and would have remained quite invisible had she not stood up. In my haste to photograph her I let the energy bar drop to the ground. This sent the local ant population into fits of joy.

The fawn may have sensed that she was not alone because she stood watching and listening with those oversized ears for quite some time before she lay back down. Lucky for me she was looking in the wrong direction.

She may have remained in her hiding place until her mother came to retrieve her but a truck drove by. I thought it was interesting that she jumped up and ran across the road after the truck passed. She probably ran a very short way and lay down again to hide.