Gray Squirrel Framed

A little light on blogging recently but should be getting into the swing of it again. I was unable to get my camera trap for a couple weeks and had a few thousand files to review, among other things. Most files were mice at night but a few were squirrels during the day. This hollow log is a treasure chest for squirrels where they eat acorns while sheltered from the weather and birds of prey.
Technical: still image from Reconyx Ultrafire, medium tone curve in Lightroom and slight sharpening.

Getting the "eye"

After this fox squirrel had foraged for acorns to within 4 feet of me he discovered I was not part of the normal landscape. He then climbed a nearby tree and watched me for a few minutes while trying to make up his mind. Finally he moved on. 

Technical: still image taken with Canon C100

Giving Thanks

This is my favorite Thanksgiving image.  It is hard to not anthropomorphize when photographing animals. There are similar behaviors but clearly they have different motivations than humans. This squirrel was pausing in the middle of finding a walnut.

Turf Battle

Those you who have watched red squirrels know how aggressive they are when defending food. This fox squirrel is clearly getting the upper hand at the water hole.

Technical: Bushnell's capture data isn't transferred to Lightroom. It would have been nice to know the shutter speed that froze this action.

Tension

This has not been a good winter for collecting trail cam images. The deep snow and cold weather have kept wildlife close to home. Compounding that was a 3 week period when the camera was in position with dead batteries. Yesterday I changed cards at a watering hole camera where the seepage keeps it ice free in all but the coldest temperatures. While reviewing couple thousand squirrel images I noticed this hawk and squirrel.

Technical: Lightroom 5's vignette tool was used to highlight the hawk and squirrel. Bushnell Trophy cam used with slight cropping.

Under the Feeder

This guy was very nervous and ran off or up the tree several times for no apparent reason as I was recording it from the kitchen table.  Being at the bottom of the food change would make me nervous too.  The boreal owl was found on the other side of the cabin, only feet from the vole and birds.  Technical: The color of the snow was corrected for consistency.  ISO in the 2000 range.

Nervous

This hairy woodpecker is very nervous and is finally convinced the red squirrel's warnings might be important than eating.   As photographers we concentrate on the visual elements but recording video brings in the importance of sound.  Sometimes I just close my eyes and listen at the feeders. Technical: action at 75% normal speed, sound cleaned with Audacity.

Attack!

One squirrel had intruded on another's territory causing a serious but brief dispute(1/1500 second capture). This fall squirrels have been my photo passion.  In the process I learned each species has its personality.  The regal fox squirrels watch from above, gray squirrels are shy and retiring, red squirrels have a nervous energetic disposition.

Thanksgiving Prayer

Taking time to remember the source of our blessings.

A big appetite

Looking forward to tomorrow.  What more can I say? 

What happened?

A couple of slow days after a good start to the week.  The wind shifted to the south and east, now everybody is feeling good with the squirrels doing a lot less feeding.  Lots of deer on the move this morning but they saw me first.

Gray Squirrel Portrait

This guy was surprised when I moved as he was heading to a walnut tree.  He scurried to safety, checked me over, then came down, and continued on his way.  He seems to be looking at me intently.

Lift Off

I wish I could sat this was a snapshot but it took a few tries.  With the first sun in a few days I went to the park looking for squirrels.  This red squirrel was gathering walnuts and taking a log between trees. Autofocus was too slow so manual focus on the log edge was used.  ISO 1600 got the shutter speed to 1/1500, f 4.5.  About 3 feet before reaching the predetermined field of view I started pressing the shutter, occasionally he was in the frame.  The shutter speed is too slow to freeze the action, hence the soft head.  I'm looking into something called "pixel pitch"  which may explain some of the softness.  On the other hand these guys can fly.

Fox Squirrel

The largest of the squirrels and much more tolerant than gray squirrels these guys like to sit and watch you.  In contrast grays quickly run up and hide behind trees, eventually peaking at you.   This is low light photography with ISO 1600, 1/20 second at f4.5.