How to Take Pictures of Hummingbirds

Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird

I think most everyone who like to take pictures, wants to get a good picture of a hummingbird. That is not always an easy task! They are fast little birds and don't stay in one place for very long.

I can get pictures of them at the hummingbird feeder, but like most everyone else, we want something that is more natural. I found an easy solution!

I do have a hummingbird feeder hanging from the eve of the house, right outside my dining room window, so I have hummingbirds coming close to the window most of the day. Sometimes they will land in one of the trees close to the house, bit it just isn't close enough or its to high to really get a good picture.

Here is what I did.  I found a tall tree branch that had fallen from one of our trees and I stood it up against the house, close to the feeder and in front of the window. It has several small branches extending from it, so the hummers have lots of places to sit while waiting for the turn at the feeder.

Now, I just wait for the sun to shine on those branches and I break out my camera and snap away!

Funny Face Giraffe

Are you taking my picture?

A trip to the Arbuckle Wilderness Park is a great spring, summer or fall treat. There are so many different types of animals there, some that have been rescued from bad situations. This is everything there from lions, tigers, and even giraffe! 

This friendly giraffe had stuck his head inside the car window and we gave him some feed out of a large cup that we had purchased at the entry to the park. I don't remember how much it cost, but I know it was not expensive at all. We bought several cups of it! 

The giraffes are in an enclosure just tall enough to keep them inside, but low enough that they can stretch their long necks over and down to your car. The drive through the park is really a lot of fun.

Arbuckle Wilderness is located near Davis, Oklahoma and is right off of I-35. If you get the chance to stop by, you will have a great time! Be sure and take your camera as there will be lots of opportunities for some cool pictures!

This picture is for sale at my Pixels.com website or for you can find more giraffe art for sale  at Fine Art America.

Our First Rattlesnake of the Year

Well, hubby found our first rattlesnake for this year! This velvet tail rattler is about 4 feet long and had 7 segments to his rattle. He is not the largest rattler we have seen here, but he was pretty big!

Hubby was working down at his shop and walked around behind a flat bed trailer to be met by Mr. Rattlesnake. He came running through the living room and when I asked him what was going on, he said, "snake, big rattlesnake!" He grabbed his rifle and ran back out the door.

Now he knows that I am a little weird and I like to get pictures of the snakes we find BEFORE he shoots them, but he was afraid this one would get away, so had already shot him once before I got there with my camera. I got a couple of pictures before he finished him off with another shot.

Hubby has left some snakes alone, like bull snakes or garden snakes, but the rattlers have to go! I do keep their rattles and have quite a collection of them!

Tiny Little Tree Frogs Can Be Dangerous

Tiny Little Tree Frog 

Yes, I know....this tiny little tree frog is just so cute, right! Cute can be deceiving!  

As some of you know, I enjoy sitting out on my back porch early of a morning had having my coffee, watching the wildlife and working on my lap top. Little did I know, I was about to have a very unusual morning!

It was a very warm summer morning and I had on a tank top and shorts. As it was very early and the sun had not come up yet, I had the back porch light on, which attract many little flying insects that make a great breakfast for a little tree frog.

Well, as I am typing away I feel this cold, wet, "flop" feeling on the back of my shoulder! Yes, this tiny little tree frog had just jumped onto my back. I don't know here he came from, but his feet were cold and clammy!  

Needless to say, I jumped to my feet with a bit of a squeal and almost knocked over the patio table and succeeded in spilling my coffee. Now I and am flailing my arms like some kind of crazy person, trying to reach this little fellow with the cold feet.  Just as I think I have him, he jumps....right down my back! 

Now I am doing some kind of crazy dance thing, trying to get my shirt off as quickly as possible. I feel his little cold, wet body against the skin on my back and I can't get my shirt off quick enough! My dance leads me to the edge of the porch where I scrape my toe on a planter sitting there. After saying a few choice words, I get my shirt off and throw it to the ground. 

In the mean time, the frog has fallen to the ground and hopped away. Now I am left on my back porch with spilled coffee, shirtless and with a bleeding toe! I swear I heard that little tree frog laughing as I went in the house!

Don't let little and cute fool you! These tiny little tree frogs can be dangerous by just making YOU hurt YOURSELF!

This cute little guy is available on a greeting card on "My Zazzle Store" .

A Herd of Turkey

A Large Rafter of Wild Turkey

Actually, a group of turkey is called a “rafter”, but when I called hubby to the window yesterday I told him there was a whole “herd” of turkey in the front yard. For some reason, that just sounds more appropriate to me! From what I could tell, this is a group of “jakes”, which are young male turkey.

The light wasn’t very good for taking pictures of them and you can’t see the beautiful colors of their feathers, but they were really quite colorful. Females don’t have the coloring that males do, the females are a rather dull brown.

These turkey were on the move and there were so many of them, they were hard to count. Several of them would take off running, chasing bugs or each other. They best we could count, there were 32 of them passing through the yard. That is a lot of Thanksgiving dinners!

Too Many Coyotes?

Photo source:  sgbrown aka Rockcreek Photography

This picture was taken several years ago, but it is the best picture of a coyote that I have. As I'm sure most people know that coyotes are very shy creature and are mainly seen either early in the mornings or late in the evenings.

Coyotes tend to hunt at night and usually hunt in packs. Coyotes can be heard "yapping" and "howling" at night in many part of North America. They hunt mainly smaller mammals, such as rabbits, squirrels, mice and sometimes small deer or even small dogs and cats.

I have been noticing that there are not very many squirrels, rabbits or even deer around out place lately, but I have been seeing more coyotes than usual. I am wondering if we have too many coyotes in our area and they are killing all our squirrels, rabbits and other small animals.

Names of Baby Animals and Groups of Animals That Will Make You Smile!

Hummingbird in Flight

Did you know that a group of hummingbirds is called a "charm"? Find out more about names of baby animals, what females and males are called and what they call a group of certain animals.

If you want a chuckle today, or to scratch your head in wonder, read this article on amusing names of animals. Some of them are just down right funny, but you understand where the name came from. Others, you do have to scratch your head and wonder how in the world they got this name!

Funny Names of Animals is an interesting and educational article that you may want to share with your children.

You may also enjoy:

 

The Beautiful and Graceful White-Tail Deer

The American Bison or Buffalo

The Caracal - An Elusive Wild Cat

 

 

Kissing Deer and a Photo Bomb

Are these deer actually kissing?

I couldn’t resist posting this picture. This came from hubby’s field camera he has put up at the back of our place. I downloaded it to my computer, cropped and enhanced it just a bit as field camera usually don’t take very good pictures.

Kissing deer, who couldn’t resist this picture! What looks like an 8 point buck “nose to nose” with a doe. Are they really kissing? It looks like it to me! Perhaps Mr. Deer is saying “Good morning.” To Ms. Deer, or maybe he is introducing himself as the “rut” or mating season should be beginning. In all actuality, he is probably licking the rice bran off of her nose.

While Mr. and Ms. Deer are getting to know each other, another young buck decides to step in and gets “photo bombed”. Still, I thought it was too good a picture to pass up posting!

You may also enjoy:

http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Beautiful-and-Graceful-White-Tailed-Deer

Photo of the Day – A Young White Tail Deer

The Last Signs of Summer

Orange-barred Sulphur on Red Impatiens

It won’t officially be fall for another week, but the weather has cooled off, the days are shorter and the leaves are beginning to turn their beautiful hues of red, orange, yellow and gold. Spring and summer are full bright colors and warm days. Fall does let me rest from watering flower beds and mowing the grass but I will miss the beautiful flowers and butterflies as they disappear for the long months of winter.

As I walked out on my back porch, I saw this beautiful yellow butterfly as he flew from plant to plant. As far as I can tell, he is an orange-barred sulphur. They favor plants with red flowers, which was rather obvious as he only visited the red impatiens I had in pots on the back porch.

Beautiful yellow flowers of the goldenrod.

The bright yellow flowers of the goldenrod which is often blamed for hay fever in many humans. The pollen causing the hay fever is actually produced by ragweed, which blooms at the same time. The goldenrod pollen is actually too heavy and sticky to be blown very far from the flowers and the plant is mainly pollinated by insects.

Leavenworth's Eryngo look like little purple pineapples.

Leavenworth’s Eryngo is also a late summer blooming plant found mainly in the central parts of the US. It is a prickly plant with a beautiful purple hue. It stands tall over the dried grasses and is broadly branched. Its flower resembles a pineapple with a small tuft of purple spikes at the top of each flower head. I like to combine these with some goldenrod and bring into the house for some last of summer color.

Snow on the Mountain

I can’t leave out the Snow on the Mountain. This is a common late summer blooming wildflower that is native from Minnesota to Colorado and Texas. It is also a tall growing plant with oblong light green leaves with broad white margins.  The flowers are actually small white blooms in the center top of the plant and don’t really compare to the color and beauty of the leaves.

As the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, these are all beginning to disappear for this year, but I wanted to appreciate them before they took their rest for another season. 

If you have enjoyed my pictures, you can find these and many more in "My Zazzle Store".