We had a visit from a garrulous gaggle of Bohemian waxwings yesterday morning. They honed in on the berry laden Korean mountain ash in our front yard and chowed down for a good long time. Bohemians are similar to their Cedar cousins, but are easily differentiated by the prominent rufous coloring beneath the tail and chin.
Our pal the barred owl was back yesterday afternoon, making himself (herself?) very comfortable on the top of our feeder stand for a good two hours. He seemed to be most interested in the goings on right below the feeder, no doubt waiting for a juicy mouse or other rodent to make its appearance. At times it looked like he was napping. Interestingly, none of the little birds seemed to mind too much that he was there, as the chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and even cardinals happily munched at our other feeders just a few feet away from the owl.
Nikon D600, Sigma 120-400mm lens @ 330mm, ISO 1250, f/5.6, 1/200″ exposure.
I posted this on my Weather Blog this morning, but figured I post it here too. As I walked up our walkway yesterday afternoon coming back from a ski, I caught the movement of a larger critter flying out of the hemlock by the feeder. Sure enough, it was this barred owl lurking about looking for a meal. It flew up into the top of one of our now-broken willow trees by the pond. Note the chickadee in the branch just below the owl. Chickadees like to know where the predators are, and will stay close and even harass them as a warning to other birds. Just another reason I love chickadees so much! The owl was nice enough to wait for me as I went inside and grabbed my camera.
Nikon D600, Sigma 120-400mm lens @ 400mm, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/1250″ exposure
A big black willow toppled over down along Fargo Brook a couple of years back. The cold temperatures the other morning yielded a bumper crop of feathery frost crystals on the exposed roots over the water.
Nikon D600, Sigma 105mm macro lens, ISO 1250, f/14, 1/320″ exposure
Morning sunlight illuminates a curl of birch bark.
Nikon D600, Nikon 50mm lens, ISO 160, f/1.8, 1/2500″ exposure
There’s a spot over by the Mailbox Trail beaver pond that has a bunch of old rusted milk cans and such scattered about in the leaf litter. This one held a clutch of still-green ferns and some moss.
Nikon D600, Nikon 50mm lens, ISO 800, f/8, 1/500″ exposure
First the red leaves caught my eye, then I spotted the curlicued shadow of an adjacent weed. Lucky angle!
Nikon D600, Nikon 50mm lens, ISO 200, f/1.8, 1/2000″ exposure
Beech trees are some of the last to drop their leaves—even holding on to them through the winter as they bleach to papery white.
Nikon D600, Nikon 50mm lens, ISO 800, f/1.8, 1/3200″ exposure
Young beech trees march off into the distance…
Nikon D600, Nikon 50mm lens, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/1250″ exposure
John Hadden Photography 