Our backyard has seen a lot of different creatures over the years... deers, racoons, bobcat, possums, foxes and a lot of birds..
Yesterday we were visited by a turkey! Have no idea where it came from. Landed in our backyard.. spent a few minutes.. and took off!
Did not have enough time to go grab the lens as I was jet lagged.. so a grainy iPhone photo is all we got.
The backyard animal collection continues to grow..
I had all but forgotten about the zoo pictures from the New Year's eve trip to San Diego. Things catch up and before you know it, the photoblog series came to an abrupt end.. or blogging for that matter.
Was not feeling well last two days but made up for some quiet time this afternoon with photo editing. Here, are the birds that posed.
Majesty even in captivity!
This guy was posing for portraits!
Almost all the shots here were taken with the 70-200.. some with the now working extender at 400mm.
This one is not a bird but rather the tail feathers.. the bird kept sticking its head into the feathers. Waited for almost 5 mintues but had to move on with the group..
it was one long feather.. at least 30 inches long and absolutely gorgeous.
The Kookaburra is one shy bird. This one kept shuffling around. Was glad to catch the colors on the tail feathers.
when it came to "color" , this one takes first place!
This one is a close second..
THis is the first time we saw a secretary bird in a zoo. They could have done a better enclosure for this one instead of a thin long strip facing the road. A bird this beautiful deserves to be free. . or at least a better enclosure.
Last but not least, a dove that came and posed for me. This is my favorite picture of the entire bird set.
On to other beautiful creatures, big and small tomorrow..
Now that the flu has come and gone, went back to do Yoga after a week. It was one of those classes where your body knows it has been there before, as does your mind, but things have become rusty. You think you are lifting your leg up 45 degrees and the mirror and all those images of your 4th grade math teachers tell you.. "are you kidding?"
Anyways, as usual I meander away from the topic. Things will get better again over time, till the next set of germs come.
Decided that some time will be spent just sitting in one place, camera in hand, to photograph the things that move around in the backyard. Was not disappointed..
These two are raising a family on that tree.
This fellow makes quite a racket on the bushes..
These baby robins were playing around. It was a treat to watch.
I have no idea what this bird is... but he visited us for a very short time.
Then came the bunny.. our new neighbors need to be warned about this guy.
He has quite a reach!
Sat there for a good hour trying to capture this hummingbird in flight. Not a single shot came out okay. Need to put a bird feeder in the backyard. There are at least 8 hummingbirds in our backyard. Their acrobatics are amazing. Will try to take pictures of them.. has to be easier with a bird feeder.
The bumble bee was too fast to capture too..
While all this was going on in the backyard, my wife calls and says, we saw a deer in our front yard.. come take a picture of that.. It was like all the animals knew that I was ready with the camera!
This one was posing for me!
Feel much better today.. sometimes all it takes is to do yoga, have a good lunch, nap with the little one and sit in one place in the backyard and see (and mostly hear) nature sounds.
Have put water in a bucket for the critters. The ground is parched because we had shut off the sprinkers. Today, I turned on the sprinklers for some time. The worms are out and the birds are now on the ground.
The drought is probably hitting them a lot more than it is hitting us. Dry lawns, less flowers, no veggie garden this year to attack for the bunnies..
Everything said and done, an afternoon of peace.
Copyright © 2012, Sundar Narayanan. All rights reserved.