WORLDWIDE PHOTO WEEK: PART 331 - Wildlife

^^^Lovely Stina.

John, Tim, Andy and Svizzerams...great wildlife shots...you guys have a wonderful variety of animals and birds. All I can find in the way of animals is sheep...and not even the most developed imagination could lay the epithet "wild" on them!

Nice shot of the young eagle, Stina. We don't see any of those up here.

I hear an owl sometimes at night, but have never seen him/her. We have a Cooper's Hawk and geese here frequently, but of course, they are no where to be seen this week.

Ricardo, I was hoping I'd get a glimpse of some of the Big Horn Sheep we have in the area but they have been elusive (but I still have until sundown tomorrow, right?).

Wonderful birds, John!

Loved the wild turkeys too - I had never seen them up close until about a 18 mo ago - I had no idea how subtly colorful they are. Our kingfishers are kinda drab compared to yours in the UK, Kystron.

Stina - we have a lot of bald eagles, and less commonly the golden eagles. I have a hard time distinguishing between the juvenile balds with the goldens (my raptor ID skills are still in their infancy).

Crawdad!!! Why was he on land??

Yeah, the crawdad is classic!

OK... There is still time to post for the Wildlife Theme,

...but, HERE you will find the coming week's theme

svizzerams wrote in post #17128752
Crawdad!!! Why was he on land??

The critter was three feet from the water. My best guess is that it walked up from the lake and got lost. Or maybe it was a pet that someone released there. Apparently they can breathe for a long time in air?

Ricardo222 wrote in post #17128571
^^^Lovely Stina.

Timphoto wrote in post #17128741
Nice shot of the young eagle, Stina. We don't see any of those up here.

Thanks, Tim and Ricardo.

svizzerams wrote in post #17128752
Stina - we have a lot of bald eagles, and less commonly the golden eagles. I have a hard time distinguishing between the juvenile balds with the goldens (my raptor ID skills are still in their infancy).

This is the first time I've noticed a juvenile eagle around here, but it's really easy for me to know what it is, because we don't have bald eagles.

I went out for a while this morning and saw two of these on a hillside. I was barely able to capture this one, the other one got away.

joayne wrote in post #17129525
Yeah, the crawdad is classic!

I liked your crawdad, OhLook. That's not something I ever get to see.

Must be a coyote? The ears look too long for a fox.

EastBayGirl wrote in post #17130322
I liked your crawdad, OhLook. That's not something I ever get to see.

Thanks, finding it was a stroke of luck. The week was almost over, and I didn't yet have any wildlife but the everyday ones.

When other people were shooting downward from eye level with their phones, standing up, and I was the only one who brought a real camera--well, okay, just a bridge camera, but still--and knew to get down on the pavement and check settings and aim at the animal's head, it made me feel so sophisticated! The old sin of pride, huh?

Yup, it's a coyote. The only fox around here are the little gray fox and they're hard to come by.

OhLook, I find that most people are blown away by how easy it is to improve your pictures by just changing your point of view. The problem is that most people are always in a hurry. They gotta grab the picture and go.

Well, I won't be posting more of the deer on our street. I just want to say that I have a new-found respect for wildlife shooters, especially those of birds. I spent hours in the backyard to capture images of birds. What a frustrating experience. My neck was hurting from looking high in the tree branches, and using a 300mm; what a joke. Even a 400mm wouldn't cut it. Shooting birds takes serious long lenses, with fast AF. Ah, and patience, patience, patience, which I don't have much of it. But all together, It was a fun week for me.