Crappy - but getting closer
Northern Harriers have been on my list of "must have" birds for a long time now. I see them occasionally when I'm driving someplace but never when I have my camera at the ready. There are a couple of places where they are known to hang out near our place up in C'ville but I've never seemed to be able to get anywhere close to 'em.
However, yesterday I decided to go to JEPC (a few miles west of our place in Petersburg) to see what it might offer in the way of winter raptors. I wasn't more than 300 yards in the front gate when I saw a harrier cruising one of the dove hunting fields. After watching it fly just out of range for quite some time, I decided to go hunt down something else. When I returned, this lady was working right next to a parking lot so I pulled in and got some terrific angles with wonderful light and good focus only to realize that I had the camera set up for night photos I'd taken several hours beforehand. As a result, the best pictures I took of this bird were basically blank white with a brown blur in the middle of 'em. Shit!
This was from a little later and while I was actually chasing this bird with my truck. It sucks for details and composition and it's cropped to within an inch of its life but it is officially the first harrier pic in which you can tell what it actually is.
I got into Flickr a few years ago for the purposes of improving my photography and it has helped immensely but I've kind of gotten away from posting things that aren't "homeruns". Sometimes, though, to grow one must publish a stinker on occasion.
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Uploaded on Dec 30, 2009
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Getting closer with the jays.
These birds are as common as dirt around the lake house but very hard to get to pose. This is the closest I've come to a decent picture of on and it still is a lot softer on the focus than I'd like but as with the harrier pic that follows this one, they can't all be gems. This one is posted mostly to remind me that it is the persistent pursuit of a goal that is joy of a hobby and that's the real reward.
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Uploaded on Dec 30, 2009
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Formidable Opponent
This is the squirrel from the previous series as he prowled the railing of my deck trying to figure out how to get at the seed in my bird feeder. I have it placed about 10 feet from the deck - a distance that seems to be just beyond the leaping range that this dude thinks he has. It was very intriguing to watch this critter cogitate in his process of solving my puzzle. Once the wheels start grinding in his head, that tail goes nuts belying the thinking that's going on. Today's game went to the tree rat but tomorrow's another day. I will succeed at frustrating this thief's attempts. It's just a matter of time...
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Uploaded on Dec 28, 2009
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How the hell did I get in this jam?
Being stuck down here at the lake house with too much snow, wind, and cold to venture out I decided to do a McGyver thing and come up with something with the materials I have on hand to thwart the squirrels that keep raiding the bird feeder. There once was a time that I would've been inclined to solve this problem with a little more prejudice but I've long since abandoned those inclinations so I decided to make this an engineering challenge. Instead of using a slingshot, air rifle, or plastic explosives I decided that I would try to make something to keep the tree rats out of the bird food.
My first idea was to take a couple of two liter soda bottles, cut their bottoms and tops off, and tape them together so they looked like a big pill capsule. The problem with that was that they could just reach the lip of the top opening and climb right around it. So, I thought that maybe stacking two of those assemblies on top of one another on the main post might be just enough to deter them. It was for about 20 minutes and then it was thwarted as well. However, the problem proved to be this critter's determination and strength against less than solid construction.
During the process of figuring out how to get around this obstacle provided this squirrel with a couple of rather claustrophobic moments and me with about a half hour of pure entertainment. When he had trouble shimmying up the outside of the bottles, this critter managed to force himself through the bottom opening and climbed the pole inside. However, the opening at the top was too tight for him to squeeze through. When he tried to get out by going down, he managed to get the bottles into a position that left him no opening if he pushed down on them to get out. So, he turned around and went back and forth between the bottles for about 10 minutes. Just when I was about to go out and try to get him out, he managed to squeeze out between the two capsules. A short while later, he took a running leap and jumped over both and got the to feeder and virtually cleaned it out. Sometimes elegance must be abandoned for the simple "run and jump" approach.
I forgot to take a picture of this prototype but I have a new version that I will show tomorrow. We'll see how far he can get with the new one. I know that I could solve this with a quick trip to the hardware store but when you're stuck out in the country with no TV and nothing going on at work it's good to challenge your mind like this. Besides, if I'm paying the mortgage and providing the food I think I'm entitled to screw with the squirrels a bit.
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Uploaded on Dec 28, 2009
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An Archive Kestrel
I haven't really been putting in the time or effort on photography that I should lately, mostly 'cuz of all of the seasonal shopping and making of gifts. This year I opted print and frame a few pics for people on my list and, in the process, have run across a few jems from the past year's work that never saw the light of day. This is one of 'em.
The main reason that I chose this one is because of all of the kestrels I had to drive past on my way down to the lake house yesterday. As I cruised down I counted one of these about every 5 miles of the 200 mile trip. They were all over the place hunting the drainage ditches and I wanted to stop several times but slamming on the brakes at 70mph would've been less than popular with all of the other people using the road. Overall, between these guys and the redtail hawks I counted over 80 raptors on the trip and I'm almost positive that any I would've stopped to photograph would've bolted as soon as I rolled the window down.
Another reason for posting this picture is that I've come to regard the kestrels, redtails, and rough-legged hawks that are so common along I-39 as sentries or an honor guard. This all goes back to the period right after Ryanne died when I was driving that road a lot to be with my extended family. For a number of trips it seemed as though they were posted along that road to watch over my journey. I know that it was just a matter of them having a lot of food to hunt in those locations but when you're looking for reassurance you will often make shit up to help yourself cope. The strength, toughness, beauty, and power of these birds is inspiring for me and has made me want to be able to emulate their tenacity.
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Uploaded on Dec 22, 2009
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