Copyright ©2018 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
It rained this week! I’m not complaining we need it, so when He-Man and I went for a hike on Saturday we went late morning to let it dry out a bit, and get warmer. We kept to the paved streets in the nearby hills b/c I did not want to trod uphill and down in the mud on the trails. We walked just over 2 miles and gained about 600ft in elevation. It felt like a workout.
FWIW: If I’m hiking or stretching my legs with a hike I’d rather go uphill for a bigger pay off verses a longer, flat walk. Since it was late morning there wasn’t any wildlife; the birds, deer, coyotes, and wild turkey were all napping I guess. Not a bad place to be on a late Saturday morning though. 🙂
Sunday it rained all day. Like me all the wildlife was hunkered down somewhere cozy, warm, and dry.
So, it’s to my archives we go.
Here are a few wild ones that visit my backyard bushes and feeders taken last year.
hum… something Squirrely (sp?) is going on here…
Yep! This one found the one feeder he/she can get in to!
Then there’s the fence sitters.
The top bird is a Mourning Dove…which I’m thinking was born in the hanging basket on my patio, or their Mother. The bottom bird is a California Towhee. I can’t tell if it’s the male of female.
I hope you’re all having a wonderful week and staying warm!
Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Hoodman Digital Film| PS CC 2018
more to come…
Circadianreflections Blog 
What a lovely place to be Deborah! You’re inspiring me to go out for a hike too…soon. The little squirrel looks so cute. Such beautiful shots as usual.😍
Thank you Lily! Hope you get a climb or hike soon!
Thanks Deborah! 👍😊, Lili
Lovely shots!
Thank you so much!
These are such great shots Deborah. We have had rain this week. But it is warmer so yay!
Yeah for warmer! It’s supposed to start raining here just in time for the evening commute.
We need so I won’t complain. 🙂 Just hope it arrives after rush hour.
Absolutely!
I loved the mischievous look on your squirrel! I liked how he looks like he is considering dodging one direction, but is paused!
The towhee and mourning bird look like they are right here, perched in my apartment. Thank you for bringing nature to me this Saturday morning, Deb! xo 💖
Thank you for looking Robin! I’m so glad you like the squirrel and birds. They keep me entertained, and make me happy.
I hope you have a lovely week-end! xx
How awesome photos. Squirrel photos are my favorite. Thank You sharing these.
Thank you so much!!
Guess I’m still too much of a city person to even think of taking a walk when there’s rain in the forecast, so yes, I’m warm and dry:) . There’s something so peaceful about a mourning dove, I can’t see too many of them!
I love your pictures of the squirrel! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season Deborah! Happy New Year!
Also, I love the new look of your website!
Oh thank you for that feedback Antonia! I’m glad you like it.
Thank you so much Antonia! Happy New Year to you and yours as well!
Great pictures! Squirrels are so cute 🙂
They are aren’t they! Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I really appreciate it, and now I know you like squirrels! 🙂
I love your horses! I’m so excited about my upcoming wild Mustang trip. In my mind I’ve packed my clothes and gear a thousand times already and made just as many changes. I’m going to buy a new pair of hiking boots for the trip, and I’m researching dry sacks to carry my clothes, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, toiletries, and purchase a separate dry sack for my gear that will fit in a saddle bag. This causes me the most anxiety! My clothes, sleeping bag, and pad are easy to plan. My gear and what to pack it in…not so much. Neither are my shoes/boots. But I’ll figure it out by June. 🙂
I’m going to write the photography guide to ask him what he packs his gear, and clothes in and go from there.
You’re welcome 🙂 I love your photography! That’s awesome about your trip! Horses are pretty great! 🙂 I hope you have a fantastic time on your trip and get lots of good pictures!
Thank you so much! I hope it’s a good trip. In my mind I pack my gear, clothes and stuff daily. I do need to get new boots, and a couple of dry bags, but other than that I think I’ve got my gear and clothes worked out.
Beautiful captures of your neighbors. Squirrels are so cute and photogenic but my favorite is the morning doves … they are such a pretty and peaceful-looking bird. I also LOVE your new banner image … stunning!
Wow you captured these so close up and personal. Every little detail, love it!
Thank you so much xx
I think the animals are all nesting in my neck of the woods too! 😃 Except for the birds. We just got about 5 inches of new snow today. ❄️ So it is looking rather wintery in my backyard. ☃️ I enjoyed your photos. They remind me of summer. ☀️ My favorite is your Mourning Dove. We get them in my yard too – but yours is prettier. ❤️
I love all of these Deborah. I can tell that Wild Wednesday is going to bring lots of amazing photos! 🙂
Oh wow. You got such clear shots, it’s like I’m looking out the window! Love them all, but that photo of the mourning dove won my heart. Such pretty composition and color. Just beautiful!
Oh, thank you so much Joey! Aren’t they; the Mourning Doves lovely. I’m looking forward to Spring to see if they nest in my hanging basket again. They tried to last year, but a Mockingbird found the nest and ate the eggs, so they moved to a new place. I was so angry with that Mockingbird and nature! The parents or offspring still came to my patio to rest and forage for food. The year before they had a successful brood of two. That’s why I thought this one might be one of those coming home to forage and nest.
We had so many mockingbirds in Georgia. They’re charming but dominant, so it was very love/hate for me, and oh, so noisy at mating time!
My MIL had mourning doves nest in her wreath several years in a row. It was always a delight to see those babies emerge. Good luck 🙂
Nice photos. Our Mourning doves have not returned in numbers from the Hurricane. The Mocking birds and Cardinals have come back as well as our Osprey “Oscar.” Thanks for the view of your backyard denizens.
Great post! Love the photos!
Thank you so much KK!
You are welcome!
How fun to be able to snap such photos from your backyard. You really are a talented photographer, Deborah. I’m glad you got some much needed rain. We are not having the best winter here in Utah. Very few snow storms and lots of fog. Ugh!
Oh, that’s not good. I’ll never forget my first and last attempt at skiing was in Utah. There was a lot of snow that year, and the first time I ice skated on a frozen pond was in Utah that same Winter. Good times, and memories!
The high pressure system seems to have broken and we have rain perhaps you’ll get some snow soon!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment Camie! I do love the birds, lizards, and squirrels that visit my yard here in Suburbia. 🙂
WP is not liking me lately, and is refusing to let me ‘like’ anyone’s post … but I do!! I especially like the larger photos now showing up in your posts. It’s so much easier to see how beautifully crisp they are. I especially love what I think of as ‘007 Squirrel’ in the first photo 🙂
LOL! 007! I thought it was on a secret mission to get to my open feeder so 007 fits!
Thank you so much for the lovely comment on the size and view of my images on this new theme! I’m so glad the images look good. Sometimes I worry that they don’t look as good as they do on my monitor on WP and viewers monitors.
For the squirrel images I was sitting on the step to the sliding glass door and used my bent knees as my tripod, and timed my shot to my breathing…specifically; took the shot between breaths when I was the stillest.
This 200-500mm lens is really heavy for me to hand hold. I learned that trick/technique from a few old timers. Love them!
Shooting with the old timers is priceless. It really is.
I often wonder the same thing. Monitors are so different from device to device, but I do love your new theme. Every year I keep saying to myself that ‘someday’ I should give my blog an overhaul … and never do. Maybe when I’m 80 and have a bit more time on my hands 😉
I was taking a video of the 5 deer I saw this week in the park, and afterwards was disappointed by how incredibly shaky it was. I thought I was being really careful to keep the camera still. Whenever possible, I try to rest the camera or my elbows on something solid but so often that’s not possible.
I love my tripods. They really increased my keeper rate. Talking about shakes…when I use my cell phone’s camera I shake so much it’s ridiculous! I keep thinking the weight of my DSLR makes me steadier for some reason. I feel like I’m shaking all over the place with my light-weight cell phone. Figure-toi!
That’s a good point. It IS easier to steady the heavier camera!
Last year I bought a great tripod, but I never travel with it, largely because I normally take hit-and-run photos, as opposed to well-planned deliberate ones.
Well, you must have known that I’d enjoy this post. Your photos are very pretty. I like the first one the best.
Our squirrels and Mourning Doves were both back out yesterday, enjoying the glorious high of 31f. They had all been hunkered down during the bitter cold weekend.
I agree with you on the hill, except I don’t enjoy walking downhill. That bothers my knees. In any case, it sounds like good exercise
I hoped you’d like the squirrel images. 🙂 That squirrel was trying so hard to be sneaky, and make sure Diva Dog was not outside. She chases them away. Lucky for her only I was outside that time.
You don’t know how many times I’ve said to He-Man, “Let’s take two cars and drive to the top of the mountain leave a car, and drive down and hike back up. I’d rather save my knees from the down hill.”
He’s not game. 😦 Since his Patella Tendon blew out the hardest recovery has been the downhills when hiking, and uphills when on his bike, so he’s working really hard at getting those skills back. So, we walk down the down hills, and he’s working on getting out of the saddle to get uphill on his bicycle.
I’m hoping one day he takes me up on the suggestion to drive two cars to leave one at the top so we can drive down.
I’m glad your Mourning Doves and Squirrels are back. It’s been so cold there that as you say I’m sure they’ve been there all along just hunkered down in their warm nests. They’re masters at creating warm nests.
I can understand him wanting to build back up, but I’d be with you on the two cars. Downhill just hurts. Maybe you should bring a book and when you get to the top say: “I’ll wait here, you can go get the car.”
Judging from the crowd in the yard yesterday, it looks like everybody survived the arctic blast.
🙂
Deborah, that sounds like a good workout to me! And pleasant too… can’t beat that. I love the sweet critter photos. Hugs.
Some days it feels as if I’ve never hiked uphill evah! That was one of those days. I blamed it on the rich dinner and wine I had the night before. 🙂
Thank you so much Teagan! Hugs right back ya! xx