You Capture - An Animal

Beth's You Capture challenge this week is 'An Animal' and at first I thought it really would be a challenge.  But that was when I was forgetting that birds are indeed animals.

Of course I couldn't leave out the bluebirds that still visit our feeder and birdbath multiple times every day.

They also sit on the fence while trying to contend with the wind.


And I have to include this cute little black capped chickadee holding his bird feeder treasure between his feet.

And this sparrow who looks annoyed at my intrusion.

But my favorite bird shots today were of this downy woodpecker.  He was enjoying his meal and I was enjoying photographing him enjoying it.

When an intruder decided to partake of the feast right around the corner.

The woodpecker was obviously annoyed and took immediate measures to send him on his way.

Finally his efforts paid off and the intruder 'flew the coop'.

Although the woodpecker's feathers were still ruffled for a time, he eventually settled down to finish his meal.

The last bird I photographed was sitting on an animal-friendly apparatus put in place to help lost animals find new homes.

You know, lost animals like these.  See how well it works?

For more animal shots, visit Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry.  Better yet, why not put up some animal shots of your own.

You Capture - Begins With B

Beth's You Capture challenge this week was to photograph items that start with the letter B.  Naturally I waited as long as possible to begin my project and naturally I struggled.

Of course I wanted to include my favorite B subjects - bluebirds but sightings have been much fewer and farther between so the captures I did get were in much less than ideal conditions and try as I might, I just couldn't fix the photos so that they looked good.  Here's proof.

 So I went with this Bird - a female cardinal but first and foremost - a Bird.  By far my best option.

 

For more and better shots of subjects that begin with B, visit Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry.

You Capture - Spring

Beth's You Capture subject this week is Spring and it's one of my favorites.  I started with the freshly blooming azalea and found I wasn't the only one who appreciated it.

 Then a walk around the side of the house revealed some hardy geranium blooms.  I love these because not only are the blooms pretty and delicate, but the foliage is really interesting which is good because the blooms aren't all that prolific - at least not on mine.

 The peonies won't bloom for two or three weeks at least but the buds say Spring to me and have a beauty of their own. I wasn't the only one who appreciated these either.


Of course no Spring blog post would be complete without including a bluebird and maybe even some bluebird friends.

  Then yesterday I thought to address the flowers in front one last time.  The first is one of Mr. Right's favorites - the Columbine.
 

 And the next one is a sprig of spirea.  The blooms seem to have lasted extra long this year and I'm glad because it's one of my favorites.

Finally the worst picture of them all, because it was by far the most challenging to capture, had to be included because it says Spring more clearly than any of the others.

There are many other Spring pictures at Beth's I Should Be Folding Laundry.   Go take a look.

You Capture - Fun

Beth's You Capture subject this week is Fun. At first I pondered when I could get together with some of my grandchildren to take Fun pictures but since a relaxing visit wasn't on the horizon, I thought about what I do on a day-to-day basis that's fun.

One things that's always Fun is feeding our koi. Unfortunately it's a little early in the season to get great shots so these will just give an idea of how fun it is.

Right now, though, my go-to fun activity is photographing the birds in our backyard. I try to capture them in flight or in quirky poses or just going about their day-to-day businesses.

Or sometimes in a series. Starting here, the guys at the lunch counter must surely feel like somebody's watching them.

Soon he joins in - unobstrusively.

Then he takes over.

For see more Fun shots, go to Beth's I Should Be Folding Laundry. Or join in, what could be more Fun?

Bird Feeding and Watching

We had such a difficult winter that I became concerned for our struggling feathered friends and finally bought a bird feeder. Within a couple of days we had a pretty respectable variety of visitors.

See how cute they are? And not only are they fun to look at, they're fun to listen to also.

Life was better despite the cold and snow but then as it began to warm up a little, we had more, less welcome visitors.

One day as I was exercising, I glanced out the window and the bird feeder was hanging sideways. I asked Mr. Right why it looked like that and he said, "oh, because there's a squirrel hanging on it". Sure enough, a squirrel had it tilted sideways so the seed could pour out more easily as he assisted it with his paw - reaching in and dragging out more and more seeds. He had his tail wrapped around the front of the feeder which for some reason added to the offensive sights.

Soon more and more squirrels came. I understand that they have to eat too and I'm really not adverse to feeding them .... except they never get full. It's unbelievable. And they're so bold. I finally started trying to scare them off. But they weren't scared of me. When I came out the door, they just looked at me while munching the birdseed that was filling their cheeks. No I had to go almost right up to them before they'd scamper off just far enough for me to leave and then they'd calmly come back.

You would think I'd have pictures of some of them but the truth is that when I saw them I spent my energies trying to get rid of them and didn't even consider photographing them.

Finally, they were so bold and so annoying that I decided it was time to take action. Tomorrow I'll write about what we decided to do and how that has worked out for us.