Visiting Cousins in Oswegatchie New York

ISO 1600 1/125th of a second shutter : f/4 180mm Manual Focus Lens hand held 

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ISO 3200  1/1600th second f/6.3 118mm lens hand held 

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ISO 3200  1/2000th second  f/6.3 118mm lens hand held 

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ISO 3200  1/1600th second  f/6.3 110mm lens hand held

Squirrel of the deck

Townshend, Vermont

Is it Spring yet

It is the day after Thanksgiving 2014, it snowed all day Wednesday and a lot of people- including myself- posted photographs of said snow some of which were creative, some just documentary. 

I'm a life long Vermonter, so snow and ice are all part of living here - but after the magic of the first snowfall has passed, it's just cold.  

Don't get me wrong, if I was in a warm climate I'd complain as well!

My idea of winter is as follows: it can snow from about Thanksgiving until January 15th then temperatures should warm up to 65 or 70 and stay that way until the next fall.  

Now, I have suggested this plan to mother nature for the last oh! 20 years or so,  and we've all seen what kind of pull I've had with her.  She just giggles at me and then it rains.  

So onto the photographs!  We have a tree in our front yard with this great long void in the center.  I have no idea how deep it goes but in recent years squirells have taken to nesting in it.  I've seen as many a 6 at a time running up and down the center of the trunk, chasing each other and playing.   A little taste of spring at the beginning of winter.  ;-)

They are still here!

This morning in our back yard

This evening in the neighbors front yard

Visitors this afternoon

 

While outside with the dogs this afternoon I noticed we had visitors, four in all once the dogs went back in the house I was able to get these photographs of them.  

Time to go boys!

ISO 12800 f/16 1/400th of a second 400mm lens

Brattleboro, Vermont

I set out this morning camera in hand to capture animal images, 

had a list that I wasn't able to complete, pesky birds just would

not co-operate,  but had a really good time looking 

Hello! Whatcha Doin'

ISO 12800 f/8.0 1/3200th of a second 400mm lens

Brattleboro, Vermont

While standing in the weeds waiting for the ducks to come back around and do their thing I was distracted by this little guy.  He flew in and stayed for awhile, watching what I was doing.  I wish I had a shorter lens than the 400 to catch this guy a bit sharper, but the other lenses were in the car and moving around 

too much would have scared him off.  Cool birds Cardinals!

Toolin' Around Canadian Style

ISO 12800  f/8  1/6000th of a second 400mm lens

Brattleboro, Vermont 

My second stop of the day, these geese were part of a flock that I would guess numbered a couple of hundred and were set down around this meadow pond. Yesterday when I saw them for the first time, they were all in the pond.  You could have walked across that pond on geese and never got a toe wet.  Very small pond, lots of geese!

My iPhone Project: Grazing

Townshend, Vermont

We have a farm right next to our local market, so when we stopped this evening, these guys caught my attention.

My iPhone: Hangin' In the Trees

Brattleboro, Vermont

I was watching a squirrel today go about his business, in the rain.  It's curious how things that make people just want to go back to bed (like a cold, rainy, dreary day), don't bother these guys at all.  When he caught my attention he was people watching, sitting up on his back legs looking at me while munching away on an acorn.  It was raining quite heavily and he was just sitting there watching people go by and you could see he wasn't concerned at all.  I wasn't able to catch that, but I did follow him into this little wooded area and snapped this photo.  Very interesting animals.  

My iPhone; Contemplation

Guilford, Vermont

Today I visited a pond in Guilford, Vermont, on the bank I came across this lone Canadian Goose, he didn't seem to mind sharing the view with me. I was able to get this one shot of him looking out at the water a few minutes later he got in and swam away joining a small group about 100 yards away.

My iPhone; Watching all the cars go by

Jackson, New York

Sometimes you just have to use what is available. Today was a good example of that, I was working in New York and on my way home when I saw this deer with two others, standing beside the road .  I was able to take this shot with my iPhone, as it was the only camera I had available to me at the time.   It is a little off my iPhone theme but I couldn't pass it up.  No Sepia this time 

Look who's come to dinner

This evening Nancy was getting the table ready for dinner while I was finishing work for the day, she had just sat down when I heard in a rather excited tone, "BEAR !   BEAR!! on the deck,  BEAR!!! on the Deck RIGHT NOW!!!!"   I came into the dinning room to see this guy climbing the railing and heading to check out the bird feeder.  He was disappointed as that feeder has been empty for months.  I was able to take several shots of him from less than 10 feet, before he half jumped, half climbed down the rail and went out to the apple tree in the back yard. 

I think this guy is the same one who decided that our trash bin was a lawn toy 

last Saturday and knocked it all over the side yard.

ISO 200 f/4.0 1/15th of a second   26mm lens  hand held 

Creatures in the Tree

These little guys live in a tree at the end of our driveway, based on their size they were born recently and have just started to venture out of the den.  They don't go to far from their home but are very interested in things around them.   There appears to be  6 maybe as many as 8 in this tree.      All photographs shot with 400mm lens   ISO 12800 f/7 1/250th of second during the late evening hours.

 

Me and My Shadow

ISO 400 200mm lens f/8 1/500th of a second

This afternoon while returning home I was traveling on Vermont Route 149 near the New York border, I saw in a field off the side of the road a female deer, she appear to be alone as I got closer I found this was not the case.  It is not to unusual to see deer in this area, even in the middle of the day, what was different was the fact that these two were with her.  A mother and twin fawns, it is rare to see twin white tail deer, many don't survive due to allot of reasons but these two where happy and healthy.  May be a little to adventurous when mother deer saw me she turned and went back into the woods, these two came within 25 feet of me standing on the side of the road.  After taking several photographs I said the them "shouldn't you two go find your mother"  and this is what happened.  

Today was a good day!!!!!!

Mom and the twins

Sunny Bear

ISO 200 f/4.0  1/25th of a second  30mm lens

Robins; Dinner Time

ISO 400 f/2.8 1/80th of a second 55mm lens

Front Yard Visitor

ISO 400 f8.0  1/250th of a second  55mm lens

Robins: Almost Time

ISO 400  f/2.8  1/80th of a second 60mm lens

Little Horse

Today Nancy and I visited with friends of ours who raise miniature horses, recently they had a new arrival, this little one who was named Stellar was born 3 weeks ago today.

ISO100  f/2.8 1/60th of a second:  Taken by my iPhone

ISO 80  f/2.8 1/20th of a second:  Taken by my iPhone