Quiet Riot at the Bee Balm Patch...

The last shot is something that used to be impossible without modern cameras.

Getting several shots in quick succession while keeping things in focus used to be nearly impossible in the film days.

Now there are cameras that 'track and focus' on whatever you choose to follow. It is quite amazing. I love 'shooting' butterflies and hummingbirds as they move from flower to flower.

I miss a lot of shots even with the fantastic modes in my camera. It may take me a few days worth of trying to get anything decent, but it is always worth the extra effort.

The Swallowtail shot consists of 3 shots blended together later in a program I use called ON1. It is so much simpler [and cheaper] than Photoshop.

Anyway. 

Enjoy my Quiet Riot at the Bee Balm Patch.

 PS~ I did get a visit from one of the Tree & Brush Folks! Yeeehawww!

Eagle Watching

I did all of my errands Thursday morning that included picking up groceries, Charlie Food, and visiting the meat locker.

Phew. My purchases were expensive. It was a $200 day.  I noted that most gas stations were again in the process of changing their prices. This week it has floated up .10 a gallon and dropped .10 a gallon. 

It rained hard off and on all day with thunderstorms in the early morning and then again midday. The temperatures spiked with humid, muggy, and warm conditions at 68 degrees just before dark. 

I was worried about the sudden drop of temperatures to 28 overnight and how it would effect Mica our elderly grey mule who is prone to colic when there are wild temperature swings. 

However this morning, all of the equine kids are running, bucking, and farting. Fred, the eldest is pretty stoic. He is giving evil ears to anyone who bumps into him.

This is their typical winter morning routine anyway. Run, buck, and chase each other at dawn. 

All is good with the equine. The youngest mule is out chasing crows in the winter pasture. I wish I had that kind of energy at 6am!

Yesterday afternoon we had a visitor. We often get eagles flying or roosting in trees not too far way but this one was not far out the back door. The eagle carefully preened itself just before the storms hit. 

I grabbed my camera and stepped out into the yard and tried to take photos of it. It was hard to figure out what settings to use. The eagle appeared as a dark blob against a very bright grey sky.

Thankfully I have learned a few tricks over the years. I shoot RAW with my Oly -- [now called OM] -- and sometimes it can help save some of the information that the camera sees. In this case, I brightened the exposure and the shadows. 
The eagle at this point was just hanging out and preening.

Eventually the other birds noticed the eagle and a few Blue Jays decided to harass him. He was rather non-pulsed over it. I didn't catch it, but the eagle snapped at the Blue Jay when he got too close.

The Jay eventually sat in another tree and called out the eagle's presence to everyone else.

I had to move inside and shoot through the glass door when the rains came down hard.

Here, the eagle just looks ticked off at the pounding rain. When it let up, he/she just shook.

Soon the crows started to annoy the eagle. I've seen crows actually chase eagles before so I was really curious as to what would happen.

The eagle literally ignored them and they didn't actually dive bomb him at all. I figured the eagle would take off and fly away.

After hanging out for three hours, the eagle spread its wings and...

took off.

I'd waited for hours for this opportunity to 'shoot' him/her taking off. He landed in another tree close by and I was able to move to the porch and take one last shot as he left the second tree.

I was so tickled to have been able to watch this eagle from the comfort of my back door. And to observe him for hours. 

It was the highlight of the day. 

Birds of all kinds

I'm not much of a 'birder' but I am beginning to understand the fun in it. Taking photographs of birds in their natural environment is harder than it seems. 

Grackles~~ Correction!
These are Starlings!

As annoying as these birds are, I found out that they eat insects and all sorts of bugs. So maybe they aren't as bad as all that. I wish they'd stay out of the shed though.

These were on our dead pine tree this morning.

We have a lot of crows around here and I've started to observe them. This bunch is making a new nest.

One landed on a locust tree near our house and I watched it as it tried to literally yank a branch off the tree.

Not sure if you can see that it is still hanging on to the branch above and is doing this maneuver in an upside down fashion yet still maintaining its balance.

Interesting. Can they tell which twigs are dead? The crow took three tries at it and then flew off.

I thought I'd take a chance and head out to Kickapoo Valley Reserve to see if any birds had come to the ponds since last week. 

I was rewarded by Redwing Black birds singing and the echo of swans, Sandhill Cranes, and geese from down in the ponds. 

It was a muddy trek, but worth it. 

Canada Geese

They sure can make noise! And I got to practice shooting them in flight and panning at the same time. 

11 seconds of angry birds...

I headed around the back way to the second pond. I was hoping to be able to find a good spot to watch the birds.

Midway across the pond there were Geese, Swans, Sandhill Cranes, and some crows walking about on the ice [not in the photo].

This pair of swans were building a nest.

Thanks for that link Aurora!
Their bills were all black when I blew up the photo. I think that means they are Trumpeter Swans.

Below is the swan building her nest. I was watching from the blind and trying to hold that long lens perfectly still was a bit hard.

She picks up sticks and whatnot from around her and drops it on her nest!
How cool is that?

16 seconds of nest building

On my way back to the car I found this guy serenading me on a tree next to old 131 trail.

Redwing Blackbird

This evening while doing chores, I saw a Blue Bird again. I sure hope they build their nest in the cavity by Sven's pen.

And tomorrow? We could get snow and rain. No one is quite sure where it will happen yet.

Trees trees trees...

In years past, I've always concentrated on what is below the trees. For some reason this past year, I've been looking at trees with more interest.
I still adore fungi, moss, and bugs but right now there are none of those things available to look at under the snow.

The skies have been overcast and dull or it has been bright as all get out! 

Birch Trees 

edited to look artsy

Boxelder
seriously...
I wasn't smoking anything!

I found myself looking for objects that lend themselves to almost an abstract and artistic flair.

If nothing else, it is fun to hike our deep woods to find something interesting. I need to figure out what these trees are. They hang on to little orange leaves. They catch my eye while walking on the deer trails.

I used a ribbon that was attached to a deflated Mylar balloon I found to one of these trees so I can try and ID this tree type in the spring.

Snow storm!

The view across the neighbor's meadow to the east. 

Super duper zoom in

on a crooked tree branch

A friend of mine said it looked like neural brain synapses...
Hmmm, my brain was just enjoying the snowfall.

Another view of the same 

branch...
Amazing how a different shot and color edits

can make it look:

I thought of Aurora when I found this tree---> pointing down. 

Sorry it is such a poor photo, with the snow fall I had a hard time getting any proper exposure against the snowy sky.

However it is one awesome -cool -bizarre -wild cherry tree. I know last summer I never saw what it looked like up in the branches.

This bizarro tree lives near my favorite boxelder and the smushed face tree I spotted last June:

That makes 4 favorite odd and strange trees in one small area.

Winter is a good time to examine branches and shapes. I found some other wicked and strange trees on my walk around the meadow in yesterday's snowfall. 

Man Eating Tree?

*Edit 3 10 2022: Old Hawthorn Tree*

I'm enjoying the bare bones of the trees in the forest around me...but I would be lying if I said I didn't miss the forest and all of its glorious colors.

After all, trees rule the land around us.

For the Birds again

The sun was so warm yesterday afternoon, that I could sit on the porch and watch the birds at the feeder. They flit between the feeder and the pine tree and Hickory. 

What I didn't realize, is that I'd learn about bird habits and how they interacted. Generally I glance out the window and admire the birds I do know. It is fun to watch them come in, eat and leave.

So I watched. This guy is a bully as well as the Flicker.

He/she chases all the other birds away. Bully!

The Juncos seem to be more sociable. They even let other birds sit on branches near them. 

There are certain times that everyone seems to want to feed at the same time.

The cardinals are morning and late afternoon feeders. I generally see the lady cardinals before the sun shines into our hollow in the morning.

The male cardinals make their appearance and always stand out. He didn't really go to the feeder but seemed content to watch all of the other birds.

The Nuthatch would hit the feeder and immediately go to the pine tree where it would run up and down the bark.

The Tufted Titmouse is fun to watch also. He/she takes the seeds from the feeder to the tree and it appears that she tries to break it open on a branch?

She/he was really quite entertaining. My step daughter told me that she puts out peanuts for her Titmice. 

I never thought much of photographing them either and did NOT realize exactly how hard they can be to photo! There is no way I got decent photos easily. The ones here are a few I picked out of many, many others. Thank goodness for the ability to delete the crappy ones!

I am so proud of myself for being able to sit for one whole hour and just watch.

I'm the kind of person whose feet need to keep on moving unless I am asleep.

Well, I got the driveway and turn around areas shoveled out with the skid steer and I did not run into anything.

I dislike that machine and like it also.

If I ever had my choice, I'd get a little Mule or UTV type thingy to attach a plow to and push it around. 

White Eyes by Mary Oliver

In winter

    all the singing is in

         the tops of the trees

             where the wind-bird

with its white eyes

    shoves and pushes

         among the branches.

             Like any of us

he wants to go to sleep,

    but he's restless—

         he has an idea,

             and slowly it unfolds

from under his beating wings

    as long as he stays awake.

         But his big, round music, after all,

             is too breathy to last.

So, it's over.

    In the pine-crown

         he makes his nest,

             he's done all he can.

I don't know the name of this bird,

    I only imagine his glittering beak

         tucked in a white wing

             while the clouds—

which he has summoned

    from the north—

         which he has taught

             to be mild, and silent—

thicken, and begin to fall

    into the world below

         like stars, or the feathers

               of some unimaginable bird

that loves us,

    that is asleep now, and silent—

         that has turned itself

             into snow.

November Colors

Let me give a huge round of applause to another blogger and photographer who has encouraged me to see the Beauty of November!

Generally, November has been the boring month, the brown month. The month of adjusting to light/time change and early darkness...as well as temperature changes. I've always turned a bit inward and ignored the overcast skies and the leafless trees. Nothing seemed to appeal to me outside.

But if you look for it, sometimes you can find some amazing things. 

Points down

Tamarack Trees in full color
with afternoon sunlight 
highlighting part of them!

A stump in the woods. 

The moss picked up some yellow highlights of the subdued sunlight that tried so hard to come through the dull grey overcast.

Charlie and I headed down the ridge trail that our neighbor made years ago with his bulldozer. I sat on the trail to look at some lichen on a rock. I turned to look up the trail and squished my eyes half closed. I wanted to see the forest for the colors and not for the trees. 

Muted greens

yellow

reds

burnished oranges

leaf litter

sticks...

and

bark

make me Happy!

Maybe...
just maybe...

I can start to look with different eyes.

Wild

Strawberries 

make me smile!

Barberries

Pointy 

Sharp

Red,

No
smiles.

Pretty reds

and greens

decorating

creek rocks.

Imagination

drifts while

admiring the trout

in the creek.

Abstract reflections

of 

the grasses above

the water.

At the end of the day, I can honestly conclude that I found this particular November day full of vibrant colors.

Maybe I can change my attitude about November and look for its beauty. After all, I find winter to be fascinating and beautiful.