I can only say that white tail deer around here are generally orange color. They appear to be most orange when young and become more dull orange with age. This one looks young.
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Today was not to shabby.
Started with just a plain robin
I'm seeing Northern Flicker all the time now. I think some moved into my yard.
The resident Cottontail
On the driveway to the frog pond, I don't know my butterflies
An Eastern Phoebe
Painted turtle
A catbird with a berry
Damselfly?
Two
Eastern Phoebe grooming itself
A fortuitous capture of a humming bird
I went down to the other pond
The Mallards are there is the several dozens
Red wing blackbird making a racket
Female red wing blackbird
A pair of Kingbirds
I followed one to a new parch and took the photo and then noticed that by complete luck, something interesting in the background. A wood duck. I would never have seen it unless I had taken this photo at 100x zoom.
Yup a wood duck. And a chick to the left.
At least four chicks
I believe this is a juvenile redwing blackbird.
Finally, in the parking lot to the supermarket, a ring bill gull.
Started with just a plain robin
I'm seeing Northern Flicker all the time now. I think some moved into my yard.
The resident Cottontail
On the driveway to the frog pond, I don't know my butterflies
An Eastern Phoebe
Painted turtle
A catbird with a berry
Damselfly?
Two
Eastern Phoebe grooming itself
A fortuitous capture of a humming bird
I went down to the other pond
The Mallards are there is the several dozens
Red wing blackbird making a racket
Female red wing blackbird
A pair of Kingbirds
I followed one to a new parch and took the photo and then noticed that by complete luck, something interesting in the background. A wood duck. I would never have seen it unless I had taken this photo at 100x zoom.
Yup a wood duck. And a chick to the left.
At least four chicks
I believe this is a juvenile redwing blackbird.
Finally, in the parking lot to the supermarket, a ring bill gull.
Chipmunks are not great tree climbers but they can do it.
Especially when he wants the berries
Yummy berries
While I was trying to relocate the chipmunk a humming bird came by. It's on the right side more to the top than the bottom of the right side. The bush chipmunk is in is right there.
I watched the humming bird go off. It landed in my cedar tree.
It scratched itself
It got all fluffed up.
It gave a tweet. It have never occurred to me that a hummingbird tweets. It also can open that bill pretty well
Finally happy it sat for a while on it's tiny feet.
Especially when he wants the berries
Yummy berries
While I was trying to relocate the chipmunk a humming bird came by. It's on the right side more to the top than the bottom of the right side. The bush chipmunk is in is right there.
I watched the humming bird go off. It landed in my cedar tree.
It scratched itself
It got all fluffed up.
It gave a tweet. It have never occurred to me that a hummingbird tweets. It also can open that bill pretty well
Finally happy it sat for a while on it's tiny feet.
I tend not to take many photos of house sparrows because they infest my yard and are basically boring.
But these were interesting from yesterday.
Mother still feeds kid from time to time.
"Want to make something out of it?"
Young one has a funny clown mouth.
But these were interesting from yesterday.
Mother still feeds kid from time to time.
"Want to make something out of it?"
Young one has a funny clown mouth.
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I went to the old soccer field that has some interesting wildlife in the surrounding fields.
The cicada killers were there as expected. There were thousands of them. For some reason these were having a pig pile.
A pair of Eastern Kingbirds
One closer
My daughter found a tiny toad
A life first for me. Scarlet Tanager, female. There were two famales. Never saw the male.
A red tail hawk
A great blue heron taking off
After that I went to the state park. The pond there is now quite low and covered with Lilly pads.
Way out at max range was another great blue heron.
Also on the mud and lilly pads, a pair of Killdeer
And then a spotted sandpiper
Either the same or another great blue heron on the other side of the pond. And in the background I can't make out what those ducks are. Possibly wood ducks. I don't know. They are at extreme distance. EDIT: at 100x zoom and looking at Google Earth, I estimate that those unknown ducks are 1/4 mile away.
And while standing at the same spot where I took the photo above, a second great blue heron to the right side of the pond and a lot closer.
Either three or four different individual great blue herons today but the highlight of the day was the scarlet tanager.
The cicada killers were there as expected. There were thousands of them. For some reason these were having a pig pile.
A pair of Eastern Kingbirds
One closer
My daughter found a tiny toad
A life first for me. Scarlet Tanager, female. There were two famales. Never saw the male.
A red tail hawk
A great blue heron taking off
After that I went to the state park. The pond there is now quite low and covered with Lilly pads.
Way out at max range was another great blue heron.
Also on the mud and lilly pads, a pair of Killdeer
And then a spotted sandpiper
Either the same or another great blue heron on the other side of the pond. And in the background I can't make out what those ducks are. Possibly wood ducks. I don't know. They are at extreme distance. EDIT: at 100x zoom and looking at Google Earth, I estimate that those unknown ducks are 1/4 mile away.
And while standing at the same spot where I took the photo above, a second great blue heron to the right side of the pond and a lot closer.
Either three or four different individual great blue herons today but the highlight of the day was the scarlet tanager.
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I don't know. It was in far western panhandle of Oklahoma, just a couple of miles from that pretty lizard. I'll post some more soon, got some great elephant seals and whales.
edited to clarify - the whales and seals are not in the panhandle of Oklahoma. Just sayin'.
Mageth
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It's a Red-headed Woodpecker. Melanerpes erythrocephalus
A great photo of one, I must add.
We've had a pair in our neighborhood this year. Love 'em. Woodpeckers are bat-shit crazy. One morning one of them landed on our roof and hammered on the flashing around our chimney for a few minutes. Quite a racket.
I had a pretty exciting 10 seconds down at the frog pond after work today.
This. I had never seen one before but got off 2 good shots and one poor shot before it left.
A green Heron. I'm told it is rare to see it puff it' tuft like that.
This. I had never seen one before but got off 2 good shots and one poor shot before it left.
A green Heron. I'm told it is rare to see it puff it' tuft like that.
Whenever I get a new critter I try to learn more about it. Green Heron are among a few few number of birds that use tools. They toss insects, worms, twigs onto the water surface to lure in fish.
I went to the frog pond this morning and the green heron was back. It flew from the pond into the tree.
It flew off...
This is the frog pond.
Later I went to the state park and the same place as the killdeer and all last weekend, this weekend swarms of tree swallows. Six in the top of this tree.
By the way, the tree in the center of the photo below is the tree with the six swallows. Gotta love a strong zoom!
Where the killdeer were last week there were both Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers
Later a white tail deer across a field. It appears to see me.
With a doe.
Finally, a juvenile common yellowthroat.
It flew off...
This is the frog pond.
Later I went to the state park and the same place as the killdeer and all last weekend, this weekend swarms of tree swallows. Six in the top of this tree.
By the way, the tree in the center of the photo below is the tree with the six swallows. Gotta love a strong zoom!
Where the killdeer were last week there were both Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers
Later a white tail deer across a field. It appears to see me.
With a doe.
Finally, a juvenile common yellowthroat.
Forgot one. A song sparrow by some interesting flowers.
Under the Rose
Veteran Member
You are a prolific and proficient photographer, crazyfingers. Have you published or sold any of your work? It's really very candid and informative and I feel privileged that you are sharing it with all who view this forum. I greatly appreciate your talent. 
The following photo was taken on March 8th of 2013 and shows you just how comfortable the foxes are around the homestead. They like to hunt mice in the hay sheds and that's quite alright with me. Mice and voles are not an endangered species in this part of the world and our cat cannot patrol the entire acreage, least of all in winter. Of course, after all that hunting and a full stomach, a nap seems only proper.
The following photo was taken on March 8th of 2013 and shows you just how comfortable the foxes are around the homestead. They like to hunt mice in the hay sheds and that's quite alright with me. Mice and voles are not an endangered species in this part of the world and our cat cannot patrol the entire acreage, least of all in winter. Of course, after all that hunting and a full stomach, a nap seems only proper.
That fox photo is a seriously excellent photo. I would prize it!
I went down to the frog pond at lunch today to see if the green heron was back again. It was. But it was at the small pond that's down a hollow and inaccessible to people with all the growth.
Here he is. He stuck around only a minute and then hid in the overhanging growth.
This is that small pond and it was on the opposite side by the growth before it hid inside.
After waiting around 10 minutes to see if it would come out again I went the 30 yards over to the regular frog pond to see what might be going on there. After a few minutes I looked back and guess who had just shown up on top of the shrubs by the small pond. It wasn't there before. It arrived while my back was turned.
I was able to get closer. Great Blues are not as timid as greens obviously.
I don't know why it has it's beak open but that tongue looks deadly. The better for skewering fish I expect. it looks more like a sward than a tongue.
It flew off to one of the trees lining the shrubby pond area.
It landed in a tree and fluffed itself.
It's that gray smudge halfway up in the center of those trees that line the edge of the shrubby field.
I went down to the frog pond at lunch today to see if the green heron was back again. It was. But it was at the small pond that's down a hollow and inaccessible to people with all the growth.
Here he is. He stuck around only a minute and then hid in the overhanging growth.
This is that small pond and it was on the opposite side by the growth before it hid inside.
After waiting around 10 minutes to see if it would come out again I went the 30 yards over to the regular frog pond to see what might be going on there. After a few minutes I looked back and guess who had just shown up on top of the shrubs by the small pond. It wasn't there before. It arrived while my back was turned.
I was able to get closer. Great Blues are not as timid as greens obviously.
I don't know why it has it's beak open but that tongue looks deadly. The better for skewering fish I expect. it looks more like a sward than a tongue.
It flew off to one of the trees lining the shrubby pond area.
It landed in a tree and fluffed itself.
It's that gray smudge halfway up in the center of those trees that line the edge of the shrubby field.
Great fox photo Under the rose!
Love the herons, crazyfingers. Reminds me of one I took some years ago, we had a great blue heron spending the summer at our place. I went to get a photo of it one day as it was walking, kind of late in day, but I wanted a pic. So I stalked it and got a photo as it walked past a fence post... completely unaware as I snapped the picture that our red-tailed hawk was sitting on that same fencepost, watching the heron. Never saw the twofer until later on the computer.
Here are some more vacation photos
cool ant-like thing
they weren't roaming free, but they were certainly wondering why WE were!
blue - who?
Pelicans on the beach
Elephant seal trumpeting
and seal jumping
Whales
gull? tern?
Seals and birds
Dinosaur - well it WAS roaming free? Until that one day.
Turkey buzzard over the Mississippi
Love the herons, crazyfingers. Reminds me of one I took some years ago, we had a great blue heron spending the summer at our place. I went to get a photo of it one day as it was walking, kind of late in day, but I wanted a pic. So I stalked it and got a photo as it walked past a fence post... completely unaware as I snapped the picture that our red-tailed hawk was sitting on that same fencepost, watching the heron. Never saw the twofer until later on the computer.
Here are some more vacation photos
cool ant-like thing
they weren't roaming free, but they were certainly wondering why WE were!
blue - who?
Pelicans on the beach
Elephant seal trumpeting
and seal jumping
Whales
gull? tern?
Seals and birds
Dinosaur - well it WAS roaming free? Until that one day.
Turkey buzzard over the Mississippi
Great photos! I don't know the birds in your region. That blue something bird is quite nice.
Nice to get both in one shot!
Since posting that heron and his sward tongue I've been doing some more reading up on great blues and whether they have predictors. That beak and tongue are serious defense weapons and most of the typical predictors don't bother great blues. There was a short story about how a golden eagle, which is a lot bigger than a red-tail, made a try at a great blue and the great blue killed the eagle. Unfortunately the heron also eventually died of the wounds that the eagle gave it.
I expect that in most cases predictors know when the odds are good that they will get hurt or killed too. Your red-tail would have to have been nuts or starving to try for your heron.
Nice to get both in one shot!
Since posting that heron and his sward tongue I've been doing some more reading up on great blues and whether they have predictors. That beak and tongue are serious defense weapons and most of the typical predictors don't bother great blues. There was a short story about how a golden eagle, which is a lot bigger than a red-tail, made a try at a great blue and the great blue killed the eagle. Unfortunately the heron also eventually died of the wounds that the eagle gave it.
I expect that in most cases predictors know when the odds are good that they will get hurt or killed too. Your red-tail would have to have been nuts or starving to try for your heron.
Valjean
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Good photos, Rhea.
The "ant like thing" looks like a velvet ant, which is not really an ant but a wingless wasp. You'd probably have discovered this had you try to pick it up.
The "blue who" I'd guess is a scrub jay.
The seal jumping actually looks more like a sea lion.
The "turkey buzzard" is really a vulture. "Buzzard" more properly refers to Buteos, a genus of hawk. The common red tailed hawk is a buzzard/buteo.
Those strange black animals, though... puzzling....
The "ant like thing" looks like a velvet ant, which is not really an ant but a wingless wasp. You'd probably have discovered this had you try to pick it up.
The "blue who" I'd guess is a scrub jay.
The seal jumping actually looks more like a sea lion.
The "turkey buzzard" is really a vulture. "Buzzard" more properly refers to Buteos, a genus of hawk. The common red tailed hawk is a buzzard/buteo.
Those strange black animals, though... puzzling....
I did not know that about buzzards! We have lots of red-tailed hawks here. That'll be fun to learn more about.
Crazyfingers, none of those are from "my area" they were all vacation photos (we took a little 8,800 mile tour last month)
They were:
Missouri - The "ant like thing" glad we didn't pick that up!
Southern California high desert - The "blue who"
Coastal (Big Sur) California - The seal jumping actually looks more like a sea lion <= lots of variety out there that day, then!
Wisconsin @ Mississippi river - The "turkey buzzard" is really a vulture.
Panhandle Oklahoma - Those strange black animals, though... puzzling.... <= yes, and the strange ear-markings!
I went to look and found that old photo. It was a fun one. Didn't have my big lens yet and it was getting dark, but here's the two birds posing for me. Hawk on the rear post, Heron at the near one.
Crazyfingers, none of those are from "my area" they were all vacation photos (we took a little 8,800 mile tour last month)
They were:
Missouri - The "ant like thing" glad we didn't pick that up!
Southern California high desert - The "blue who"
Coastal (Big Sur) California - The seal jumping actually looks more like a sea lion <= lots of variety out there that day, then!
Wisconsin @ Mississippi river - The "turkey buzzard" is really a vulture.
Panhandle Oklahoma - Those strange black animals, though... puzzling.... <= yes, and the strange ear-markings!
I went to look and found that old photo. It was a fun one. Didn't have my big lens yet and it was getting dark, but here's the two birds posing for me. Hawk on the rear post, Heron at the near one.
I used to get Green Heron's in my back yard pond eating my fish LOL
http://www.miamidailyphoto.com/2014/animals/the-song-of-the-green-heron/
While people don't usually call them turkey buzzards, but turkey vultures, the term buzzard is commonly used to mean vulture in North America.
In Europe the term buzzard is commonly used to mean hawk.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzzard#New_World
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/turkey_vulture/lifehistory
Remember "Old Mr. Buzzard" in the Thornton Burgess books. He's a turkey vulture.
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