Birds, Bears & Other Wildlife

It was a hot, hot July morning, when the temperature would later soar well over 100 degrees and a thick haze and high humidity was already heavy in the air.  I was in one of the state forests doing a photo shoot with the rising sun, which did not cooperate.  Oh it rose, alright, but it was stuck behind the clouds which also prevented not even a glimpse of the valley below in every direction.  I climbed down from my perch and drove around the forest until I came upon an open swampy area.  The sun, straining unsuccessfully to throw it's rays, instead cast a deep golden hue upon the scene.  Because of the heaviness of the fog, the light reflected off it rather than burning through it, causing a diffusion of details and color--all except for a nearby tree which happened to have a heron sitting on one of it's branches.  The big bird then flew off into the orange haze, settling on solitary long branch jutting upward in the distance--they, too, meshed with the diffusion.  The colors are real; no editing was used. 

                                                        I caught this bird in flight on another day.

        These barn swallows were just a few of many who then broke off into pairs to do their nesting thing.

  Backyard birding on lazy Saturday afternoon allowed me to notice this hummingbird perched on a branch...

                                                         I followed it to another...

                                                    ...and saw this Eastern Bluebird in a tree...

                                                       ...and this sparrow on a garden stake...

A finch enjoyed a few seeds.

This bird joined the others who visited our backyard...

...and this cheery robin foraged for bugs in in the grass.

A trip into town via the meadow route always provides a glimpse of  a heron.

                   *     *     *     *          And now for Bears and other Wildlife          *     *     *     *     *

This bear nearly jumped out of an apple tree to quickly obey it's mother's barked orders to come and follow her and it's two siblings into the nearby cover of evergreens when they saw me coming down the road.

                   This bear was all decked out with identifying and tracking 'earrings' and a 'necklace'.

                                    These two chocolatey black bear cubs played in the woods.

                                      *     *     *     *          Other Wildlife          *     *     *     *     *




                                      A red fox was wandering along the crest of a hillside.

                                       This little wood frog inspected me as closely as I inspected it!

                             A beaver walked across the causeway to enjoy the ponds on both sides.

                       This herd of white-tailed deer nibbled the fruits found on an orchard's ground.