Groundhogs Minor and Minimus.
We’ve lost count of the groundhog population.
They seem to be everywhere.
Chomping on peanuts, surveying a flowerbed or chasing one another, hurling insults and threats.
Groundhogs can be seriously unkind!
But they make very good photographic models.
The only problem being forcing myself to stop.
Mama had four babies that were reluctantly weaned, hanging on in spite of being roughly dragged around.
Now she concentrates on building herself back up.
The kits varied in size and as we see them all the time, it’s hard to notice their growth.
However “Minimus” is very tiny and seems to get smaller, despite her ravenous appetite..
Presumably an illusion, due to her siblings getting larger.
They all need to grow a lot, as they may lose up to 50% of their body mass during hibernation.
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Photographing birds is an altogether different undertaking, most challenging when they are black.
Birds are very uncooperative and the light is always wrong.
If it’s sunny, the windows throw up reflections, and they are festooned with the necessary but annoying bird-deflector decals.
Still, I keep trying.
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Red-winged blackbird
The gorgeous, iridescent plumage of Grackles is a particular challenge.
Grackles dip their peanut/s in water to moisten them.
They wouldn’t want those 12 nuts getting stuck!
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Photographing Goldfinches on the Njyer seed feeder had another sort of complication.
A man in the kitchen got in the way…
…resulting in a totally different photograph.
Both out of focus. (Sorry)
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Male Grosbeak with a rakish coif.
He is the only one that uses the spare hook as a perch. Sure enough a decal was in the way.
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Zoomer the chipmunk is totally food oriented these days and seems not to notice us at all.
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One of my favourite subjects never fails to provide new material, last night being no exception.
This morning was quite different.
At first I wondered if it was wildfire smoke, such as we had for a few days in 2020.
But it was just the preamble for a rare and much needed rainy day.
Beautiful, as always!
The animals look all so busy … well, busy eating obviously. But it just seems as if they are not taking any time out to just relax … but then again, maybe that’s not what animals do. Although all the furry ones are cute, I like little Zoomer the most … that’s if I can get my eyes away from the beautiful clouds in the sky!
Groundhogs and chipmunks appeal to me. I could watch them for hours.
Best wishes, Pete.