Friday, May 23, 2008

Sky Watch Friday-Clear Weather Brings Wildlife Activity


After a long rainy period with a few sunny intervals, we finally had a mostly clear day yesterday with only a few mid-morning sprinkles. After that it turned into a stunningly beautiful day, the only problem being that the temperatures were more like March than late April.

I prepared the photos for this post last evening, but found that I had no internet service so I had to wait until service was restored this morning to post.

Canon 40-D: 17-40mmL at 17mm,1/350sec-f8 ISO 100

The beautiful sunshine brought the wildlife out early in the evening, with a herd of whitetail deer being the first to arrive. The deer are now changing from the winter to the summer coat and the does are pregnant. Most fawns are born between mid-May to mid-June, with most arriving in my area around June 8th. Each year I anxiously await their arrival! Within the near future I hope to be able to show you some of the new born.

Deer enjoy the sunshine too:Canon 40-D 17-40L at 17mm 1/180 sec. f8 ISO 100

The Gobblers are still strutting: Canon 40-D 500mmF4+1.4x extender-severely cropped
1/750 f8 ISO 400

Even the turkeys visited the meadow. This bird was nearly 200 yards or 600 ft. away. This is a small central portion of the photo. This gobbler was strutting, but he did not gobble. Turkey mating season should end within the next week or so and then my primary focus will shift to the deer and the arrival of the fawns.

19 comments:

TR Ryan said...

I love the meadow scene with the deer - amazing clouds and beautiful valley. That Tom is huge...wow!

Carletta said...

Stunning images.
I love watching the wildlife - I have deer and turkey on the property that I get to see regularly. Wish I could capture them as well as you!
It's been a lovely visit.

Patty said...

I love these. The one of the deer is especially pretty, and that turkey looks good enough to eat (ha ha)

Michele said...

Beautiful photos... crisp and clear and yes, the turkeys are still doing their dances! Awesome shot!

Tom said...

Stunning photo's Willard... sorry to hear about the problems with the internet.. but it didn't stop you doing a great post for Sky Watch.

Daniel J Santos said...

All beautiful images, excellent.

Profile Not Available said...

Beautiful photos! Especially the turkey!

Andrea said...

Beautiful skies and WOW what a turkey.

Kay said...

This is so cool. Beautiful sky and I love the turkey. I have NEVER seen a turkey in the wild before. What fun!

FO - 2 said...

Great shots from the wild.
Beautiful.

Jane Hards Photography said...

Lpatop troubls, internet troubles i know them well. Beautiful blue sky and those delicate clouds.

Dina said...

Wow, just like in the Thanksgiving scenes. So turkeys really DO look like this. Beautiful.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Willard: Sorry to have missed this post yesterday. You always have such great photos and a beautiful SWF with the deer in the meadows. I was fishing so things were of out of sequence. I thought I stopped by but obviously I would have remembered this one.

Tom said...

Hello again Willard just stop by again now I had more time to view the pictures and read through a bit more.. as Quint says a great lesson as well.

KOSTAS said...

Amazing work, very beautiful the photographs

chrome3d said...

Clouds, field and deers too. Brilliant!

EG CameraGirl said...

You got a great shot of the strutting turkey! Turkeys seemd to be everywhere around here...until I remembered to bring my camera. Now I never see them!

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Anonymous said...

Great turkey shot.