favorite perch

The broadtails are fighting over favorite perches near the currant bushes loaded with tiny pink flowers. They like perches with a 360 degree view so they can see the competition coming. Sitting on the tip of a dead branch, the hummingbird looks left, right, and back twisting and turning his head above late May's food of choice - the wild wax currant flowers. Though they perch elsewhere, this little upward pointing twig is the spot they most often choose. The first image was taken last evening in the after glow of sunset. The next one, this morning, same place but from a slightly different angle to take advantage of the morning light.




1/640 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400, focal length 300mm





1/640 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200, focal length 300mm


For a look at a broadtail feeding on a currant flower, go to this page of my website: http://www.dailyphotography.net/hummingbird_gallery/pages/natural_food.htm

Looking for more fox kit photos? A new gallery of fox kit photos is on my website now. http://www.dailyphotography.net/redfoxgallery/index.htm

grooming

Tippy holds very still for ear cleaning. Mother has big teeth! Sometimes, Tippy squeals in protest at all the grooming his mother does to him. The first image is a crop to show a close up of the big tooth. The one below is the full image. Image capture at 1/160 sec at f/8, ISO 250, focal length 200 mm.

Tippy

1/640 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200, focal length 300mm, cropped

Here's Tippy, the runt of the litter of fox kits born under my friends' back porch. Watching through the windows as the three kits play, this little one has captured my friends' hearts and earned a name. He limps a bit, has a crooked nose, and shorter snout. Though he's the much loved favorite of the people who watch from the house, I have waited to introduce him here. I wanted to make sure he was going to survive, didn't want to have to post that he'd disappeared. Tippy caught a small bird resting on a low branch of a shrub a few days ago as I photographed the mother fox and her kits. He's been seen with a mouse in his mouth and is running, hunting, and playing with the others, so it's time to introduce him. Be assured, we do not feed these foxes. If we fed them, they might stop hunting and come to depend upon us. If we feed Tippy, he won't learn to hunt and survive. We watch them and they watch us from a comfortable distance.


1/800 sec at f/5, ISO 160, focal length 200mm, cropped

This Evening's Hummer, Yesterday's Fox

This broad-tail hummingbird's image was captured just after sunset this evening as he sat on a choke cherry branch with ponderosa boughs in the background. The late afternoon rain left everything dripping and the clouds reflected nice colors long after sunset. Shot at 1/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400, with 70-300mm lens at 300mm.



Yesterday morning I filled a couple of cf cards with fox images. I haven't had time to look at all of them, but this one is typical, mom cleaning behind her kit's ear. There are three kits, each with it's own look and personality. This image was shot in mid morning sunlight at 1/800 sec. f/4.5, ISO200, with 70-300 lens at 120mm.

Kits, Hummingbirds, and Spring

Spring has finally pushed winter aside. Fox kits are emerging from their dens, hummingbirds are fighting over feeders and wax currant flowers, and raindrops are replacing snowflakes. Just over a week ago, we had a foot of snow with phone and power outages (again!) and ice on the windshields last Monday morning. But now, the weather is warm and springs seems truly to be here.

Friends Cris and Glen invited me over to photograph the fox family living under their deck. The beautiful kits won't be this size for long. Startled by the sound of the camera, they would run back under the deck and bark for their mother who seemed bored and not at all concerned at the people watching from the window.