Foxy Lady

    I rented a large telephoto lens for the holiday weekend. First I tried it out in the backyard. The hummingbirds have a favorite limb they like to rest on when not at the feeder and so I had some good luck with them.

    You might think that the larger songbirds would be easier. But they are not as predictable and therefore much harder to photograph.

    At daybreak the next morning I went out in search of  more wildlife to photograph. This lens is too heavy for walking through dense woods. It is like carrying a bazooka. So I picked a promising little clearing, settled down with my back against a tree, and promptly became miserable. One of my back muscles was not in a cooperative mood. This particular muscle pained and complained me no matter how I shifted or twisted. To complicate matters further, I was so sleepy I could not hold my eyes open. Even sitting up, I slept so soundly that I dreamed. I was tempted to throw in the towel and go home. But I spent a lot of money to rent this lens and by golly I was determined to enjoy it even if it killed me.
    Quite a bit of time passed and the sun was lighting up the green grass. Luckily I chose this moment to change the settings on my camera to match the brighter light. Hardly had I finished this little chore when I caught a gray figure moving quickly toward me on my right. I tried not to get too excited, telling myself that it might just be a cat out hunting. I thought of my own cat who had caught a nice fat lizard to eat the day before.
    I raised my weighty camera and watched. I could see a fox peeking under some lumber at the edge of the clearing! She must be looking for her own lizard. She swung to her right and trotted across the grass directly in front of me. I could not have asked for anything better.

     If you click on her photo she should go to full screen for you. Look carefully and you can see that she is nursing a litter.