Project Type: Animal Photography

Backyard Birds

I installed a bird feeder on the deck a few weeks ago because I had seen a red cardinal around. I wanted to get a good picture of it. It had become my “white red whale.” Well, just about every bird in the neighborhood showed up, even a squirrel. At one point, several rabbits, doves and sparrows were all eating the seeds in the grass together, in perfect harmony. Finally, after several weeks, the cardinal showed up, along with a juvenile cardinal. I noticed that the cardinal has a bad (missing?) leg, but he was eating just fine.

Here are some pictures.

A Visit to the Phoenix Zoo

While my wife was at a conference in Phoenix, I took the light rail (and walked a mile and a half) to go to the zoo. The lines to get in were very long, but I got in quickly by pulling out the phone and buying the ticket online. It was $25, and the ticket barcode came up right away. I bypassed the line and had the phone scanned in less than a minute. Here are some pictures I took.

Dog on the Rocks

The German Shepherd Dog and I went up to Hammonds Rocks early in the morning last week to take in the sunrise. It was about 20 degrees Fahrenheit, but that didn’t stop us. It certainly didn’t stop the dog. She loves the cold weather. Me? Not so much. I should have brought gloves, especially for climbing the rocks. You definitely don’t want numb hands when doing that.

(As always, give the images some time to load. They’re big files.)

Out on the trail
Looking over the precipice
Nervous smile
Looking at the horizon
Dog on a high place
Taking a breather
Dog in the sunshine
Dog in the sunshine 2

The Spider By The Porch Light

Ah, the circle of life. As soon as I turned on the porch light this summer, this guy (or gal) would build a spiderweb and catch insects flying at the light. It was very impressive to see it crawl over to the insects and wrap them in its web. I caught it on video, too. You can watch it by clicking here. Then I went and got the camera and took some pictures. They’ve got some good detail to them even when I used a cheap-ish telephoto lens.

“Moth? Yes, please!”
“Delicious!”

Horses Around My Neighborhood

We live in a rural part of Pennsylvania, and there are a lot of horse farms around our neighborhood. It’s always a treat to drive by them and seeing the horses running around, the babies and their mommas, or just seeing them eat together in a herd. The German Shepherd Dog came along on this photographic excursion.

Birds in the corn
A farm
A dove watched me intently
Panorama of horses
Dog eyeballing a horse
The dog watches from the car as I take pictures

Bald Eagle Sighting – Johnson Lake, Nebraska

We were out in Nebraska for my sister and mother’s birthday, and we decided to go to Johnson Lake because the weather was beautiful. As we were watching the puppies run around, we saw this guy come out and scare away some seagulls that got too close to the nest.

Dog on a snowy day

Looking up at a squirrel
“Come here, squirrel!”
“Come down and play, squirrel!!!”
Snowy, cold day
Happy dog
Bad dog? Nah. Good dog!