mammal – David M's photoblog

CFFC: Animals.

02/08/2019 David M14 Comments

This is my contribution to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Animals.

After some thought I decided to go with a selection of animals covering a range of sizes, locations and decades.

A wet Racoon that wandered into the yard last summer.

Spiky wet Racoon.

A Red Deer stag with his harem at Lyme Park, Cheshire, England in the 1990s.

Red Deer stag and it's harem.

A Red Fox in a hay meadow in Cheshire, England in the 1990s.

Hunting Red Fox.

A Coyote watching the photographer. Taken in Saskatchewan, Canada in the 1990s.

A Coyote watches the photographer.

A young European Rabbit photographed at Brown Moss, Shropshire, England in the 1980s.

Rabbit.

Cosmic Photo Challenge: Living in the Light.

29/07/2019 David M14 Comments

This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge: Living in the Light.

As a photographer I pay attention to the light and had several ideas for the challenge. In the end I decided to make light the theme of my contribution. Here’s a few photos where the quality of light is a major part of the image.

A male Rose-breasted Grosbeak in the shade with sunlight illuminating the background. Last year I spent some time experimenting with different lighting conditions and had set up in the yard so that any birds landing on the branch in the shade would have sunlight illuminating the background.

Archaic bird photography of a Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Two backlit Sandhill Cranes soon after sunrise. I was heading home after going down to Colpoy’s Bay for the sunrise when I spotted the birds feeding in a hay field with the light behind them.

Sandhill Cranes at sunrise.

An American Red Squirrel in dappled sunlight. I deliberately set up in the yard where the birds and mammals would be moving in and out of the patches of sunlight.

Sunlit Squirrel.

Perspective.

16/06/2019 David M3 Comments

Eye level Perspective for One Word Sunday.

American Red Squirrel portrait.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Urban.

15/06/201927/06/2019 David M2 Comments

This is my contribution to the A Photo a Week Challenge: Urban.

My initial thought was that I don’t do urban before thinking of urban Red Foxes. At that point I started thinking about some of the flora and fauna I have photographed in urban areas.

An American Robin on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario. Canada.

A sign of spring.

An Eastern Chipmunk in an urban garden, Southampton, Ontario, Canada.

An Eastern Chipmunk posing for a photo.

Hoarfrost on Cotoneaster berries photographed in an urban Cheshire garden.

Hoarfrost on Cotoneaster berries.

A male Eurasian Siskin eating peanuts in an urban garden, Cheshire, England.

Eurasian Siskin on peanuts.

A Red Fox trotting along the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario.

Trotting Red Fox.

A Borage flower photographed in an urban Cheshire garden.

Borage plant.

Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: Comfort.

11/06/201911/06/2019 David M2 Comments

ThIs is my contribution to the Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: Comfort.

My initial idea was a selection of comfortable looking bird and wildlife subjects. Then I got thinking about some of the close encounters I have had. When birds and wildlife have been comfortable enough to ignore me and carry on doing what they were doing before a photographer pointed a lens at them.

Lying in the yard in Ontario, Canada I was trying to get shots of an uncooperative male Cardinal when this Eastern Chipmunk started posing for the camera.

An Eastern Chipmunk posing for a photo.

I was in the yard photographing Sparrow species one spring when this American Red Squirrel started feeding on seed under the bird feeders. Ontario, Canada.

American Red Squirrel feeding.

I had gone down to the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton for the sunrise when I found a couple of juvenile Red Knot on the shoreline. I spent some time with them, they fed, bathed, preened and even slept in front of me. Ontario, Canada.

having a nap

I was sitting on a bench at Dominion Lookout on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton when this Red Fox came trotting along the shoreline and continued on past me. Ontario, Canada.

Trotting Red Fox.

I was lying in a mix of sand and wildfowl poop photographing American White Pelicans when a small flock of Wilson’s Phalarope landed on the shoreline and proceeded to feed around me. This female posed for a portrait before walking so close to me that the lens couldn’t focus on her. Saskatchewan, Canada.

Female Wilson's Phalarope.

I was in the yard photographing birds when this Racoon appeared and started eyeing up the bird feeders. Ontario, Canada.

Raccoon with spiky wet fur.

I was photographing a plant in a ditch when this male Common Blackbird came over to investigate the strange behaviour of the human. Cheshire, England.

Male European Blackbird.

Squirrel in monochrome.

10/06/201913/06/2019 David MLeave a comment

Monochrome Monday travels back two days to Saturday morning.

I had set up outside trying for shots of the birds and small mammals in the yard. The light was very uneven as the sun was shining through trees that are only now coming into leaf.

This American Red Squirrel was in the shade with sunlight illuminating the grass behind it. I liked the detail in the shot, especially the claws, but didn’t like the lighting in the colour version so did a monochrome conversion to tone down the background.

American Red Squirrel portrait.