Bird/Wildlife photography

Ever seen the Coyote Peterson video of him getting stung by one of those things? 

No but I’ve heard it isn’t fun. “Tarantula Hawk”

This was a first

All from Lake Vermilion, taken with a cell phone within a couple miles from home.

Blue Jay I got a couple weeks ago at a bird viewing station nearby

Saw this little possum last spring along the  river. I believe it's the first and only one I've ever seen in the wild. It was feeding on the much larger but dead possum, ripping off pieces of it's jerkey like flesh. Nature gives no fucks.

It's always cool to see a bird you've never seen before.

I finally had some birds other than juncos at my feeder last weekend. Goldfinch and house finch. 

Eurasion doves always on the power line and in the early evening/morning I can hear a great horned owl.

Saw this guy in upstate NY last weekend

On my night mtb group rides, the rider out front sometimes gets to see a big owl drop from the tree right in front of them and fly off down the trail. 

That was quick. 😆

LOL I was just trying to think of a turtle porn joke.....

But you topped it, nice one!

Lol. We only had 4 eggs in our first clutch last year and only one was fertile and hatched and doing great. Fingers crossed on these 12 eggs that were just laid. They are a Critically endangered species and only one was born in the wild in 100 years up until recently and not many have hatched in captivity.

I have a few other species of tortoises that lay a lot of eggs and there is a pair of wild skunks that we watch and they actually sniff out the nests and scratch around the surface making it easy for us to find the eggs. 

Since I started driving OTR and have been strictly taking photos for money, I haven’t done any shooting for fun or as a hobbyist. The bald eagles around here should be super active now, so I’m planning on going out tomorrow and doing my own “test” to see which combo works best for birds. I know what the answer should be, but I figure I may as well have fun with it. 

From left to right: Sony A1 with 100-400 4.5-5.6 GM + 1.4 TC, Sony A1 with 300 2.8 GM with 2x TC, Sony A1 with 200-600 5.6-6.3 G.

That’s quite the set up. 

On the topic of bird photography.  

Whatever happen to Paul Merrit -anyone heard from him over the years? 

The guy used to post some cool Eagle pics (not sure if they were all his or not). 

Luckily had my camera on me the other week while I was driving because this red shouldered hawk landed on a fence post infront of me.

From this afternoons dog walk at Sano's 

https://www.instagram.com/p/DG6p-ZeykeWf7vZ5e7y2q9_1b5DydwBDECQoSw0/

Just came across this. I’ve had a pair of crows coming around for going on 4 years now. One of their fledglings flew into my garage last summer and, was squawking like it wanted fed at my feet. Being a fisherman, I pulled a night crawler out of the fridge and, fed it. After, I held my hand out and, it stepped up. Took the pic and, set it back in the tree. Now, I have three crows coming around my house daily. 

This marmot was chirping at me as I walked by. For a brief second beforehand I thought I saw 2 much smaller marmots scurry into some boulders. Looking at her teets they must have been her offspring.  A couple years earlier I heard a couple of rattlesnakes in this same spot along the trail.

Sorry its so blurry.