Backyard visitors

[twong]

Here is a link to my Flickr page. You can see a lot of the wildlife photos in hi-res on there. Lots of photos from NJ and PA.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39797696@N00/

 

For the last few days I have had a mother black bear and her two cubs visiting the backyard raiding my bird feeders eating the bird seeds and suet.

 

This is a second bear also visiting the backyard and raiding the bird feeders. This one has a scar on the right cheek.

Edited May 24, 2017 by twong

[Darren Roberts]

Wow! You've got some backyard!

[Rick in Maine]

That's exciting. Your shots are excellent.

We have the occasional backyard bear at our house in Down East Maine. Unfortunately, I get so excited I don't get 'em in focus!

Rick in Maine

[Tomcat Trebor]

That first one could win a wildlife photo competition. Lovely photos.

[twong]

12 hours ago, Darren Roberts said:

Wow! You've got some backyard!

Yeah it's pretty nice. I live in the mountains in the middle of the woods.

 

11 hours ago, Rick in Maine said:

That's exciting. Your shots are excellent.

We have the occasional backyard bear at our house in Down East Maine. Unfortunately, I get so excited I don't get 'em in focus!

Rick in Maine

Thanks! Nice you get bears too. Most of these are taken from the safety of the house from a window. The last photo though was from the driveway. The bear came out of the creek bed right next to the property when I was walking back to the door. I was a about 60 feet away though and only one step away from the door.

 

4 hours ago, Tomcat Trebor said:

That first one could win a wildlife photo competition. Lovely photos.

Thanks! There is so much competition for wildlife photos though, everyone has a camera these days.

[beingthehero]

The only animals that visit my backyard are squirrels and hares. Back in Ohio, it was only crows, foxes, and the occasional coyote...never bears, though!

[twong]

1 hour ago, beingthehero said:

The only animals that visit my backyard are squirrels and hares. Back in Ohio, it was only crows, foxes, and the occasional coyote...never bears, though!

Besides the bears, I get a ton of deer, squirrels and chipmunks. We also get flying squirrels but I never see them as they are nocturnal. I have seen foxes, skunks, raccoons and groundhogs too. Once in a while I hear coyotes but have never seen one. I would love to see a bobcat. We get them here but I have never seen one. I get mostly birds because of the feeders but not all birds are feeder birds but some still hang around the yard. There are also a lot of hawks and eagles here too.

 

Here are some of the feeder birds.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (male)

 

Red-headed Woodpecker

 

I have a hummingbird feeder as well. Here is a Ruby-throated Hummingbird (male)

 

This is one of the non-feeder birds. Scarlet Tanager (male).

[Rick in Maine]

Well done. Maybe you should give up modeling and switch to bird photos! Nahhh.

We've got the red-headed woodpeckers, grosbeaks and hummers. You have the photo skills. Great shots. I'm not nearly in that league. I've got good equipment (Canon), proper lens, etc. Out the window hasn't worked too well either. You've inspired me to try again. But I've got to go build a model.

Rick

[twong]

2 hours ago, Rick in Maine said:

Well done. Maybe you should give up modeling and switch to bird photos! Nahhh.

We've got the red-headed woodpeckers, grosbeaks and hummers. You have the photo skills. Great shots. I'm not nearly in that league. I've got good equipment (Canon), proper lens, etc. Out the window hasn't worked too well either. You've inspired me to try again. But I've got to go build a model.

Rick

Thanks! I haven't completed a model in probably four year or so. I have a ton started at all different stages but haven't actually finished one lately. I moved in with my brother and only have a small room to myself so trying to get models done isn't happening. I have no where to really build and even less room to display them. I am still interested in models, I just don't have to the room to build them.

You should get back into wildlife photography. It is a nice break from the models if you get in a funk. Also nice to just get out and enjoy nature. I got into wildlife photography when I visited the local lighthouse a few years ago when I used to live in NJ. I used to live a couple miles from the shore and barely ever went. I took it for granted. Once I saw all the different birds at the shore I was hooked. Later on I got into songbirds which are now my favorite, especially the Warblers.

 

Here is a link to my Flickr page. You can see a lot of the wildlife photos in hi-res on there. Lots of photos from NJ and PA.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39797696@N00/

[TaiidanTomcat]

Dude!! 

[82Whitey51]

Very cool! I lived in Maine for a few years...never saw a Black Bear up there until last week. While driving back home from my son's graduation in Orono, there was one off in a field along I-95 plowing through the bush. Great photos!

[twong]

4 hours ago, 82Whitey51 said:

Very cool! I lived in Maine for a few years...never saw a Black Bear up there until last week. While driving back home from my son's graduation in Orono, there was one off in a field along I-95 plowing through the bush. Great photos!

Thanks! The bears are common here so you have to be very careful. Most people in the neighborhood have dogs to help keep the bears away.

[nerdling]

Very awesome pictures. I used to see Black Bears from time to time when I was working for the Forest Service. But  now all I see are coyotes and rabbits.

[twong]

9 hours ago, nerdling said:

Very awesome pictures. I used to see Black Bears from time to time when I was working for the Forest Service. But  now all I see are coyotes and rabbits.

Thanks! Nice you were in Forest Service and got see some wildlife. Must have been a great experience.

[nerdling]

2 hours ago, twong said:

Thanks! Nice you were in Forest Service and got see some wildlife. Must have been a great experience.

Oh it was an amazing experience. Used to see lots of Bald Eagles as well. The best one was the time we had a baby elk that had wandered away from its mother come within 20 feet of us. He stood there for about 5 minutes trying to figure out what we were.

[Rick in Maine]

Who'd a thunk it?

This thread really took off. Lots of guys have put in their 2 cents. Good pictures of "whatever" get attention. These are first rate. Now I want to see what I can do. We've got the critters here...just need to get set up.and get a lot of practice.  Twomg has some winners...a lot actually.

[twong]

On 5/24/2017 at 11:54 AM, nerdling said:

Oh it was an amazing experience. Used to see lots of Bald Eagles as well. The best one was the time we had a baby elk that had wandered away from its mother come within 20 feet of us. He stood there for about 5 minutes trying to figure out what we were.

Sounds like some really great experiences especially seeing a baby elk. Eagles are pretty cool. My favorites are the songbirds though, especially the Warblers like the one posted below.

 

On 5/24/2017 at 1:10 PM, Rick in Maine said:

Who'd a thunk it?

This thread really took off. Lots of guys have put in their 2 cents. Good pictures of "whatever" get attention. These are first rate. Now I want to see what I can do. We've got the critters here...just need to get set up.and get a lot of practice.  Twomg has some winners...a lot actually.

Good luck with your wildlife photos and looking forward to seeing them.

 

Wildlife photography takes a lot of patience. Sometimes I sit around for hours waiting for something to get close enough. I only have a 120-400mm lens and a lot of birds are small, around 6 inches or so. Even at 400mm you still need to get the bird fairly close to get a decent photo of it.

 

You can see a lot of my wildlife photos on my Flickr page. I am still posting stuff from 2016 because I am really far behind. I need to catch up.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39797696@N00/

 

Here is a Blackburnian Warbler. This bird is only about 6 inches. It was taken Wednesday at the local park by me at the full range of my lens at 400mm. I waited roughly 40 minutes for it to come down low and close enough and I was maybe 8-10 feet away. At 6 inches long, I had to crop it to look like this.

 

This next photo was taken just today in the backyard. It landed about 5 feet in front of me and is not cropped. I had to go down to about 300mm to fit it in the frame. This is the Pileated Woodpecker and is much larger than a Warbler. They are about 18-19 inches long with roughly a 30 inch wing span.

Edited May 27, 2017 by twong