Category Archives: Wildlife

Backyard Critters

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It seems most of us have them … small wild animals and a variety of birds living close to home. Year around in many locations. Here in SW Virginia we especially have lots of squirrels and wild birds flying and running about the yard. They seem comfortable with us humans and aren’t too shy. Each in their own way can make a nice photo. However, you have to be alert, because they move quickly.

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I was fortunate to see this friendly squirrel sitting on our patio fence right by the door as I peered out. He didn’t move.

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Then today on a misty, cool morning my favorite type bird flew on top of our sundial to clean up seed I’d accidentally dropped after filling the nearby bird feeders. I grabbed my camera with telephoto lens and made this photo through the window glass over the kitchen sink. It’s not as sharp as it might have been had I been outside but these guys don’t linger so I had to get what I could. Photography is fun. Just keep your eyes open and camera handy.

Beautiful Moth

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The Pandora sphinx moth is a North American moth. It is a large, greenish gray camouflaged patterned moth. It has a wingspan of 3¼–4½ females being slightly larger than males. Pandora sphinx moths fly during dusk. Some places see only one generation a year, while others see two. I saw one yesterday on the side of our house. Very beautiful and interesting. Lucky me I guess.

Action on the Water

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Recently as I was walking along the Roanoke River, I spotted a small flock of Canadian Geese, feeding along the shoreline. The closer I got, they promptly waddled into the rushing water upstream, and began their escape from this intruder with camera in hand. Meanwhile, further downstream, a local fisherman was completely ignorant of my presence. He was definitely having fun, and I hoped at the time that he had been successful in his catch. It was “action join the water.”

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Wandering the Path

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I could probably write a lot of philosophical words about the title of this post, thoughts such as “taking advantage of paths in life that are placed before us.” But, this is a photoblog and not a place to get some personal developmental inspiration. I do hope, however, that my photo compositions below make you think about what might lie ahead for your camera lens, if you’ll just wander along paths, such as this walkway in a local nature area; and if you do, perhaps you’ll discover something nice just waiting for you. But, be quick because some scenes might change quickly, as it did with this twitchy squirrel.

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Earth and Sky

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A brief walk outside the back door to our home with my camera in hand, while I was waiting for supper to be ready, resulted in four quick images of what I saw that represented the magic of Spring — the renewal of the earth as it warms up and brings forth young plants and flowers, and a dark blue sky with a rising moon and a soaring Turkey Buzzard overhead. Making photos can definitely cheer one up!

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Getting Close

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Moving in close to your subject often results in some nice photos. Had I not done so with these two photos, I might have missed the bumblebee in the center of the flower, as well as the silky spiderweb, covered with early morning dew. I wondered if the ole spider was looking out at me from inside its hole … but I didn’t want to get “that” close to see if that was so.

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