Our Back Yard Animals - 5/2/2020

We are in day 50 since the CDC recommended that people limit contact with others and like so many, we look for alternative ways to enjoy life during this time. We always enjoyed sitting on our back patio. Now, it is a daily destination in the mornings and late afternoons when weather permits.


The first two days of May have been particularly beautiful. We have spent hours enjoying the newly arrived leaves, flowers and wildlife. We are fortunate to have a home that backs up to Fleming Park in the Park Ridge Subdivision. The park covers nearly 9,000 acres including about 2,000 acres of lake.  I decided to keep my camera by my side as we relaxed so I could document the beauty that surrounds us. Here are some of the photos.A little motherly grooming.

This Blue Bird occupies a house in our back yard but seems to enjoy the view from our neighbor's roof.

This is a Cow Bird.

Our Blue Bird exiting the house.

One of several turkeys that visit our back yard on a regular basis.  Sigrid named him"Dinner".

He must have known I was taking photos so he wanted to put on a good show.

I believe this is a Hermit Thrush.

Female Cardinals at our feeder.

A Blue Jay.

A Male Cardinal.

A Gold Finch or possibly a Western Tanger.

Our first Ruby Throated Hummingbird.

Most of the photos were taken from the comfort of my patio lounge chair without a tripod.  The Hummingbird was shot with a 400mm lens at 1/5,000th of a second to stop the motion of its wings.

We also see rabbits, raccoons, coyotes, and other small animals.  There have been reports of a Bobcat in the subdivision.  In the Fall, we see the Buck deer as they chase the does.  I expect to see some Fauns before too long.  It is that time of year.

Having Fun With A New Lens

No particular reason for these photos other than to play with my new telephoto lens. I need to get comfortable with it before we start taking serious vacation photos in Peru later this month. The lens is a Canon 70-200mm L IS USM zoom lens. The "IS" is for image stabilization, the "L" is for low dispersion glass, and the "USM" is for Ultra Sonic Motor (focusing). The lens has all kinds of switches on it for various settings so I have to know what I am doing so I don't mess up a good photo opportunity. All the photos were taken in our back yard from our deck. We have lots of deer and other wildlife parade through each day.

Mom & Babies Relaxing - July 9, 2010

Mother deer and her babies took a break in our backyard. I had the same challenges here as in the turkey photos with triple pane windows plus looking into the sun (tons of glare). I don't get many opportunities for this kind of photo so I had to take what I could get. Again, if I opened the window or went outside, all I would see is white tail.

Honey....the animals are eating our Christmas tree

It isn't uncommon for us to see 8 to 10 deer roaming through our yard every day. We love seeing them, but they eat everything Sigrid tries to grow. I guess I would do the same if I were a hungry deer.



Sigrid has a fond spot in her heart for a scruffy little fir tree that is growing wild at the back of our lot near a limestone bluff. This year she decided it would be neat to decorate the little tree with some ornaments.

At sunrise this morning, I saw the deer making their way through the trees and I thought it would make a good photo if they stopped by the tree. And they did.

They kept a pretty good eye on me, but the tree was facinating and probably smelled different.

Oh well.......I guess that after knocking several ornaments off the tree, they might as well eat it too.

Nothing is safe from the deer.