A fawn through the trees
We had a pair of mule deer fawns hanging around our backyard for most of the summer. From wobbly little babies to bouncing youngsters, they entertained us as they learned how to be deer. This was a rare moment where one stood still.
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The first hummingbird of the year
We heard a quiet buzz above our deck yesterday, looked up and saw a Rufous hummingbird hovering near our feeder. It was our first one of the year and one of the most welcome migratory birds that return to our backyard each year.
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Backyard blue jays
The home isolation as the world buckles down is hard. We are very fortunate to live in a forest so the time at home affords the opportunity to watch the trees and the wildlife that lives in it. These blue jays come by a couple of times a day. I’m sure I’ll be sharing more from my backyard for a while to come. Be safe, be isolated and find hope.
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Chickadees in late afternoon sunshine
Through the winter, there are chickadees that hang out in my backyard. On Sunday afternoon, I found a few of them pecking seeds out of the fresh snow below the feeder.
I took a few minutes to photograph them when the sun had dropped low enough to backlight them and the speckles of snow their pecking threw into the air.
A boreal chickadee came at the last and flitted about for a few seconds before flying off in a spray of glistening snow.
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Spring Robins
Robins are heralds of spring where I live. Our weather can be 20°C in the middle of winter or have a snowstorm in July so we have a lot of fits and starts between each season. I know that winter has mostly retreated when the robins return to our backyard. This one showed up with its partner about a week ago and I photographed him having a drink in the pond over the weekend. It was a mild winter but I’m still very glad to be enjoying spring now.
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A visitor on the deck
Bobbi and the kids watched a Lynx walk around our house and into the woods behind yesterday. I wasn’t home so that wasn’t a show meant for me but we do have less elusive wildlife that comes around. Particularly in the winter, some of the mule deer who live in the community clip clop onto the deck looking for seeds underneath the bird feeder. This doe was bold enough to visit during the daytime. She was rewarded with a pretty good snack being the first visitor in a couple of days.
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Stand off with a squirrel
Canon 5D III + 300mm f/4 lens: 1/200 seconds at f/4 on ISO 800
This squirrel has been a resident in the trees behind our house for five years. He’s feisty and acts like the backyard, our deck and everywhere else he travels is under his dominion. In this encounter I had my feet up on the railing and he squared off staring at me. It became pretty clear that he was impatiently waiting for me to put my feet down so he could pass. I obliged, but snapped off a couple of frames before removing the barricade. He chirped as he ran by and kept up the chatter as he climbed up a tree. I thought a simple thank you would have sufficed!
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Enjoying winter with the chickadees
After a nice break over Christmas where I was outside playing with my kids and walking along the river, I’m enjoying winter now. Following one of the cold snaps, the chickadees that visit our backyard seemed happy to be flying around in the -5°C weather after -30°C the day before. They were flitting back and forth between the feeder and the tree beside our second floor deck which allowed me to practice capturing their launches off of the evergreen branches.
The mid-flight images were not successful in the least (not shown – nothing worthwhile…) but I’m trying different strategies as me and auto focus are not quick enough to track their small bodies in their darting, quick flight movements. For now, I was happy to spend some time with these little birds in my backyard while the sun drifted in and out of the clouds.
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Backyard Woodpecker
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 IS lens: 1/1600 of a second at f/8 on ISO 800
We have several woodpeckers who use our backyard as their home base. There are a couple of Downy Woodpeckers and up to five Hairy Woodpeckers that hammer the tree trunks throughout the day. A couple of days ago, this male, denoted by the red stripe, Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus) was working away at this jagged tree top and was unconcerned about being photographed.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 IS lens: 1/1000 of a second at f/8 on ISO 800
Their tongues are really long but, unlike a dog’s tongue on a hot day, are not long in sight. It was a nice bit of luck to get a couple of images with the tongue visible. Above, his tongue was pretty close to full extension. Well suited to catching insects hiding under the bark and in the crevices.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 IS lens: 1/8000 of a second at f/4 on ISO 1250
He worked his way up the tree (though it looks more like a branch) and having exhausted the supply of critters that suited his palate, he flew on to one of the larger aspens across the yard. I liked this crouching pose I caught just before he launched.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 IS lens: 1/2500 of a second at f/5 on ISO 800
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Robins in the bath
The American robins (Turdus migratorius) which have lived in the trees behind our house for through the warm months have a habit of bathing in our little pond regularly.
In the summer, they seem to prefer washing up in the morning whereas in the cooler days of spring and now in autumn, they visit in closer to noon. The other day the pond seemed more like an airport as there were eight Robins along with several Black-capped chickadees and a Northern flicker (Colaptes auratus) flying around.
I find Flickers to be particularly handsome birds so I’ve included one here (a bit against the grain of the post).
It was great fun and I felt like they were wringing the most out of one of the remaining relatively warm days.
Their enthusiasm when splashing water around with their wings is a great photography subject and high shutter speeds can freeze the action at interesting moments.
I expect they will be leaving soon and will return next year as the harbingers of spring in late May a couple of weeks before spring has subdued winter.
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Chickadee at its feeder
One of the backyard’s Black-capped chickadees as it landed on their feeder. I liked the motion in the wings and the grip on the post by its feet.
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Backyard Chickadees
It was a sunny morning today so I spent some time photographing the Black-capped chickadees that live in our backyard. There are several of them that share the bird seed we put out with a large flock of Common redpolls and a few Red-breasted nuthatch through the winter.
As from a couple of weeks ago with their redpoll cousins, the chickadees were elusive to capture nicely in flight. But it was a very nice time with my backyard neighbours.
A couple from the morning.
I like my backyard, it’s a cool place.
Christopher Martin Photography 