Saturday, January 31, 2009

Camera Critters: Winter


Winter, the thermometer hovers near zero, the ground is covered with a glare of snow and ice, caused by substantial rainfall on top of a previous coat of snow. This is the dreaded "Hunger Moon" and the creatures of the great outdoors are locked in a bitter struggle for survival. Fortunately the snowfall is not deep in our area, but the hard crust makes it difficult for the deer to walk and for smaller species to dig through to underlying food sources.

Canon 40-D: Whitetail Family, Canon 70-200mm at 135mm

The birds are visiting the feeders, giving one a lot of super photographic opportunities.

Canon 40-D: Tufted Titmouse, 300mmf4 Canon 1.4 extender

Grey Squirrels soon find a bird feeding operation, and in this case they are welcome visitors. I have few truly excellent squirrel photographs and wish to utilize this situation to remedy that shortage.

Canon 40-D: Grey Squirrel 100-400mm Canon at 400mm

Hopefully I will have more opportunities to photograph them in the days to come.

For more Camera Critters photographs, click Here!

20 comments:

EG CameraGirl said...

I love squirrels, too, Willard. They CAN be pests if they can get at the feeders but I don't mind them eating seeds off the ground.

This grey one looks intelligent. She has her eyes on you and your camera.

The titmouse photo is amazing, I see you have 300mm lens. I have a Canon Rebel and will be looking into better lenses when I can afford them.

You ALWAYS have such amazing deer shots!

June said...

These are GREAT shots!! Love them all. Someday maybe a long lost uncle will leave me money for a 400mm :-)

b13 said...

My neighbor has been feeding the squirrels peanut butter lately. I have to get some shots when they all swarm his driveway :) Great shots here!

Carletta said...

Always great shots from you Willard but I'm really liking this bird and squirrel.
Looking forward to seeing more squirrel shots from you. Mine are always through the window and blurry. :)

Brad Myers said...

Great photos again Willard, I have been doing my part to keep the wildlife eating around here. I have no squirrels around the house because of the types of trees we have but I do not need to drive far to photograph them.

Always looking forward to the next photos and lessons from your site.

lv2scpbk said...

Wonderful wildlife photos. I love those little squirrels though.

Tom said...

Greys are trapped and killed over here Willard... there can cause damage to wiring and such like, but I for one enjoy them for what they are... a beautiful mammal.
Get post Willard.
I've pictures of my land rover in action today :O)
Tom
Wiggers World

Gretchen said...

Love the squirrel! Never get that close. :)

SaraG said...

Awesome photo's, ALL of them!
Take care and thanks so much for sharing.

Naturegirl said...

Willard your photos are truly heartwarming for any lover of Nature!
Awesome images!

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

It is a tough life for these animals in the winter and yet they do survive through it all. I love the squirrel Willard. A great post.

Philip said...

Great Shots !! That squirrel I must agree is one of my favorites too great work !!

Shelley said...

Your group of deer was lovely, I loved how tufted titmouse had sharp eyes in your photo and the gray squirrel was excellent too!

Louise said...

GREAT squirrel shot, and the bird, too!

One can count on this blog for a good dose of reality. Things I don't always like to see or hear, but real nonetheless.

The Birdlady said...

I just love all three of these photos!

Unknown said...

Classic Camera Critters series Willard. I like the bird image the best.

Kerri Farley said...

Oh I really LOVE all of these Willard...but that titmouse has to be my favorite. WOW!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Willard: What neat captures of the critters which you encounter. Neat Titmouse and grey squirrel photos.

Ken Conger Photography said...

Nice series with some great images. Blue Skies.

Leedra said...

Cute little Titmouse.

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