Another "Two-fer"

This doe was out front this morning right along the edge of our pecan grove. She stood still while I got several photos of her and, while this isn't the best shot of her, I was surprised to find a bonus in it when I downloaded it from my camera!

If you'll look at the bottom right of the photo (click to enlarge), you'll see one of the pesky bandits we have to combat in our quest to harvest ripe pecans! You might say that we could surely spare a few for the squirrels but they come in hordes from the woods surrounding us and can literally strip the trees of nuts in a surprisingly short amount of time.

Plus, they aren't the only thieves we have among us! The crows are very clever and will drop the pecans into the driveway in hopes that we'll run over them with the cars! That way they can just dig in and feast on the already cracked pecans!

Then there are the raccoons and possums and even our neighbor down the road has confessed to picking up a pocketfull from near the road while he was supposed to be picking up trash along the shoulders of the road!

So, maybe the pecans that the squirrels get don't sound like a big deal but I'm thinking that we'd better blast some rock music (or maybe a 410) or there won't be any nuts for us to collect! After all, we're the ones who planted the trees, watered and fertilized them and who have waited patiently for over 20 years for the trees to bear a nice crop - I'd sure like to be the one to reap the harvest!

Totally Awesome!

Doe With Twins
copyright
Jan Gibson

I just wanted to share a wildlife photo with you that I took with my new camera this morning.

First, a little background so you'll understand my enthusiasm. Our driveway is about a tenth of a mile long and has pecan trees on one side and pecan and peach trees on the other. It's a "far piece" from the back of the house (where I was trying to hide) to the area where the deer were under the pecan trees. Not only that, but it was getting ready to rain so the morning was pretty dark. As any photographer knows, the more extended the zoom, the more light is needed to get a decent photo.

This was a situation that my old camera would have refused to even consider taking a photo and would have laid down without even attempting the shot. With my new Canon, I not only got to take the pictures, but they actually came out fairly well. The fact that they weren't all perfect was operator error along with the conditions and not the camera's fault. However, Christine (from Creative Life Studio), an accomplished photographer, told me that even professionals take hundreds of photos to get that one that's absolutely perfect so I guess I don't feel too badly about these.

No, they aren't perfect, but I did get photos good enough to be used as painting references which has been my goal all along. And, I hope as I keep practicing, I'll get shots that are better and better.

Just doin' the happy dance here!

Deer Intimidating Fox

Deer with Fox

I realize the photos above aren't the best but they were taken from quite a ways away. However, I'd promised you that I'd post them so here they are!

I was astounded when this little scene played out. I was in the kitchen which has a window overlooking this back hay field when I saw the two foxes come out of the woods on the right and start their nosing through the grass. The herd of deer was grazing to the left but none of them seemed in the least upset about the foxes.

I'd run for my camera when I first saw the foxes and stepped out onto the back porch to watch what would happen. A couple of the deer broke away from the herd and cautiously approached the foxes. One of the foxes, probably the female (bottom photo, red arrow on the right) moved back into the woods while the other fox nonchalantly worked his way toward the back and left. As the deer got closer, the remaining fox moved into the woods to the rear.

It seemed very odd that the deer were intimidating the foxes! The deer didn't seem to be approaching in a threatening manner but more out of curiosity. I do know that one fox against several deer can't do them much, if any, harm, but you would still think the deer would be the ones to move away.

Anyway, seeing this sort of thing for myself is one of the things I like so much about living in the country.

Another Award!

Just a quick post today as I'm still immersed in painting. However, Christine from Creative Life Studio has given me an award and I've been remiss at posting and thanking her for it.

So thank you so much, Christine! I'm so gratified that you thought of me. I'll have to think about who to pass the award to next!

Please bear with me and I promise to get back to posting soon. We're still dealing with many things right now but they have dismissed my husband's mother from the hospital and moved her into a rehab center.

I also have new photos of our two foxes and a herd of deer grazing unconcernedly in the hay field with them. Actually, I even have photos of two of the deer chasing one of the foxes away. It was very interesting to watch. But, I'll have to get those photos cropped and fixed up enough that you can see what's going on! Where does the time go?

Two plus Fifteen

Wildlife composite

Just waiting for a little daylight before getting back to painting so wanted to post some photos from yesterday.

The fox was back again along with a mate perhaps? Anyway, there were two of them this time. I had a hard time getting a photo of one of them as it hung back in the treeline to the right where the shadows were too deep to see it.

Then, later in the afternoon, a herd of deer wandered into the same place where the foxes had been. We see the deer all the time, sometimes too often, but the herds are getting larger and larger. Not all are seen in the photo but there were about fifteen deer there yesterday. Sometimes we see herds with thirty or more deer in them.

Oh, some news and I'm not sure whether it's sad news or not. I haven't seen the rabbit since the last photos I took of it. It had let me photograph it from just a few feet away several times so I wonder if one of the foxes got it or if it just got fed up with me pointing the camera at it so much. I hope it found a better hiding place but I do miss seeing it! Maybe it will come back one of these days.

I got some really good shots of the one fox but, again, my poor little camera just couldn't zoom in close enough to get any detail. I'm saving my money for a new camera and if anyone has any recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

I need a versatile, point and shoot camera since I photograph animals from quite a distance away and also photograph flowers very close up. I wouldn't have time to mess with changing lenses and fiddling with f-stops, etc. which is why I'd like a simple camera. However, it needs to zoom in very close and take good, sharp photos! And, a great price wouldn't hurt either! lol

OK, back to the easel!

Hope everyone has a great day!