Sunrise Bird

Sometimes one of the trail cameras delivers something with an artistic flair. 

 

It’s all unintentional and unstaged - pure chance.

 

Like this turkey walking towards ‘the light’….

 

Serengeti

When I first uploaded this photo taken by trail camera #5 I thought - What the heck?  Is that animal a cross between a whitetail and a giraffe?  

If so, it was a monumental continental leap.

It is the result of a perfect combination of sunlight dappled through tree leaves and shadowed on a doe.

It's an interesting photographic result.

You never know what a trail camera will capture.  One day it might be alien spaceship thruster backwash; another day it is something found on the Serengeti.....

Practice Makes Perfect

Several of these people look confused. Or wretched. Or like ghosts. One of them looks like a serial killer straight out of central casting.

Donald Trump’s mugshot is picture-perfect.

If I had to hazard a guess, he practiced this in a studio beforehand. His makeup is precisely  suited to the light and camera.  His hair is coiffed a wee bit differently than we're accustomed-to.   That jaw-jut and downward tilt of the head hide his jowls and adds drama. 

Earlier today Trump's campaign spokesperson said the former president has raised $7.1 million since his mugshot was released Thursday evening after he was booked on thirteen felony counts related to an alleged scheme to overturn the results of the presidential election in Georgia.

The guy is masterful.

Whitetails

Who sez an inexpensive trail camera cannot take decent photos?

These are from last weekend's check on the trail camera trap line.

A solo doe and mama and her little one.

 And an artful early morning video composition.

It's all  in the positioning.

And a wee bit of luck...

Talking Turkey

From the trail camera trap line last week are some images of the local gobblers strutting their stuff...

 

 

 

 

Seeing Spots

Fawns are abundant.

Three 15 second short, silent, video vignettes of the spotted Class of 2021.

Same day.

Same location.

Morning and afternoon.

Nice, natural composition was free.....

 

 

Striking a pose

Decent trail camera composition.....

As my buddy Smokey Joe would say - Posing for a holy card......

Feel the Bern

In keeping with the the interweb explosion of the Bernie Sanders meme from yesterday's inaugural here is my contribution to everyone piling-on......

 

Posing for a Holy Card

As my pal Smokey Joe would say - posing for a holy card.

Nice composition from a trail camera...

Curious Deer

Fourth in the line of trail camera photos this week - The hairy eyeball.

Sometimes you cannot possibly get a better pose if you asked for it....

Happy Dog

Another trail camera photo that captures an action shot of a very happy dog....

Her Highness is smiling.......

The Big Stretch

Second of a handful of trail camera photos for this week.  

Sometimes you just have to stretch your wings....

Bird Dogs

One of the interesting things about Google photos is that from time-to-time the oracle sends me a notification on my device that I have photos to view.  It's like a this date in history feature since the photos are always one or more years in the past.

Like this... 

Twinkle Toes

click on image for a closer look

Not a poorly composed trail camera photo of a doe prancing across the field of view.

It would appear that she is scampering on the tips of her hooves.

Ballerina-like.

Do deer actually dance?

Money Shot

click on image for a closer look

 

As I’ve been saying the trail cameras have been serving-up some really nice digital content lately. I’ve been running my ‘trap line’ of trail cameras for a long time and on rare occasion something shows up that is what us wildlife enthusiasts call a ‘money shot’.  This is one is from June 30th at 6:33 AM.   

 

Early morning low light with a fawn and bird posing for a holy card. I was blissfully snoozing as a $99 Moultrie motion-activated camera did the heavy lifting.      

 

Walt Disney himself couldn’t have staged this with all the help from central casting and his animated studios.   

 

Raising a toast to the unpredictability of our natural world.

 

All photos posted here are the exclusive property of the publisher and are protected by copyright

Cuteness

The resident trail cameras have ben churning-out a steady inventory of nice wildlife photos. And as a consequence I wish to continue with a weekly dose of whitetail cuteness. 

 click on images to enlarge

 

I have no idea what spooked this fawn but there is absolutely no mistaking the athletic leap and characteristic flag of that white tail as an alarm response.  This photo is courtesy of our Snapshot Wisconsin DNR trail cam. 

 

 

We’re on the second of a double handful of cool wildlife shots.  I may be using them all at my own blogging peril.  

 

Stay tuned....

 

Ponder This

Soon we are going to recognize and celebrate the 50th anniversary of man setting foot on the moon.  

Photo - NASA

 

A photo of Apollo 11's lunar module ‘Eagle’ – approaching the command module after leaving the moon’s surface.  The date is July 21, 1969 and in the backdrop are both the moon and the earth.  

The Law of Conservation of Mass (or principle of mass conservation) states that for any system closed to all transfers of matter and energy, the mass of the system must remain constant over time.  A system's mass cannot change so quantity can neither be added nor be removed.  As a consequence – the stuff that makes up every human being, dead, alive or yet to be born, is in the frame of that photograph.  So, even if you hadn’t been born at the time this photo was taken you are technically in the photo as the matter that eventually made you was already on earth. 

Every last human who was dead, alive or yet to be born is in that photo. 

With one exception.  The man who snapped the photo - astronaut Michael Collins.   

Think about that….

Update From the Oriole Ranch

743 photos taken over four hours - mostly of nothing but the feeder.  Such is the challenge of a motion activated camera.

We're up to one 30 ounce jar of grape jelly a day.

Here's a handful of photos from late afternoon when the lighting is optimal.

Load 'em up, move 'em out......

Feeder Photography

I have embraced an experiment using a game camera to monitor one of the bird feeders. 

It is an intriguing theoretical notion however with the birds flitting and out and about along with the breeze moving a feeder from time-to-time the motion-activation feature is working overtime.  Case in point - 444 photos in roughly two hours!

The current fix is to power-up the camera for short intervals when the lighting is optimal and the winds are calm.  That keeps the sheer volume of photos manageable and allows for better photo composition. 

Some specimen photos are included in this post. 

Since the Orioles began arriving a week ago we’ve had to open another 30 ounce jar of grape jelly.

click on images for a closer look

 

Check-in periodically for updates.

Big Bird - Yikes!

This is not necessarily a migrator - nevertheless it is a randomly terrific photo of one of the larger predator/scavenger birds found on the Door Peninsula.

While I confirmed the photo ID this is an easy identification using field marks. Namely - a distinctive white head, yellow bill and talons and brown plumage.  

We're tickled to observe them regularly and with more frequency here at home - and I am further tickled to capture an image on a trail camera.  Head-on too.  You cannot purchase composition like this in a wild setting.  Saturday, April 13 at 9:21 AM.
 
Yup, it is a bald eagle.  Wheeling-in slow from the south to make a right turn over the camera at an exceedingly low altitude.  If you click on the photo you can enjoy a closer look.

Raising a toast to Snapshot Wisconsin and the ever-patient DNR Bushnell trail camera.  Citizen science and crowd-sourcing data too.

Cheers!