Memorial Lake

 With the ridiculously low temperatures of the last several days I wasn't masochistic enough to venture further than filling up the bird feeders several times a day. This afternoon in the balmy 48F (8.8C) temperatures I took myself off up to Memorial Lake to see what it was like after the lows of  2F (-16.6C) the other night and the days way below freezing point. I wasn't disappointed. 

Heidi

She's called Heidi because when I caught her as a kitten from the yard she would disappear for hours at a time. 

Heidi

What do you do when it's -16C Outside?

You stay inside and photograph the cats. I've been out a couple of time to feed the birds and top up the birdbath and it's a biting cold with silly windchill temperatures in the 15mph wind. As the wind is blowing from the West there's no way I'm going to be photographing birds out of the open window today.

Max and Mischief ordering stuff from Amazon.

 

Poinsettia

 As I was passing my local garden center this morning I stopped to buy Kelly a couple of Poinsettia. I just found out they're poisonous to pets so they've been relegated to the large bathroom!

A few regular visitors.

Not bad lighting, a few birds and no frigid air blowing through the open window so I got set up to take a few photos. Damn Coopers Hawk showed up and there was not a sight or sound anywhere for about 45 minutes until he pissed off. Here's a few I got before heading out shopping. A good comparison between Downy and Hairy.

Carolina Wren

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Tufted Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse

White-breasted Nuthatch

Bad Max

 It's been pretty cold outside recently so I've not been out birding much so that usually means I'm tormenting the cats who don't want to be photographed. You've heard of Mad Max I'm sure, well this is Bad Max. He might look all sweet and innocent but trust me...... he's bad!

Not Mischief

 

No it's not more of poser Mischief, this is Willow, nice placid Willow who rarely gets yelled at.

Quittie Creek Nature Park

I took myself off for a little walk Sunday afternoon and as I haven't been for a while I stopped at the Quittie Creek Nature Park just up the road.  

Read All About It

Little overgrown lake.

One of the old Lime Kilns.

This must have been a quarry for the limestone.

Quittapahilla Creek

Site of the old Mill.

Quittapahilla Creek

Nice Path

Lemon Blossom

It's still pissing down with rain for the second day in succession and I'm inside but this Lemon Blossom looked nice to photograph. It was taken with a Zeiss 120mm f/4 Makro-Planar Lens manufactured between 1971 and 1975 so getting on for nearly half a century and it's still pretty good. The light wasn't brilliant so 1/5 second shutter speed, not bad for a 1st attempt

Lemon Blossom

.

Mischief

 He's cute, but bad.

Mischief

Mischief

I want a cookie.........give me a cookie.........give me a cookie now!

I'm being very good ... can I have a cookie now?

Conowingo Dam, Part 2

Part 2 of Mondays trip down to Conowingo.

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

intense concentration

Generating Turbulence

Ring-billed Gull

Conowingo Damn! Part 1

Yes Conowingo Damn, I got some great shots yesterday. I was not so eager today to get every eagle in sight, I was much more discerning and as such this morning I only have 4030 images to filter out the keepers. There's so many good ones.

Here's Part 1. Things to do people to see.

Early Morning
Nowhere near as many Eagle photographers as last Friday

Early Afternoon
They started generating at 1pm on the smaller units.

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle "I'm gonna eat you little fishy"

Largemouth Bass "Fuck! I just missed that low flying Eagle"

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle 

Shad for Lunch

Bald Eagle