Tag Archives: wildlife

Rabbit Rescue

A slightly sad tale for this post.  We get plenty of wildlife in our backyard including loads of rabbits.  They come in to much the grass all the time.  They are a combination of cute and inconvenient since they tend to spread a lot of seeds for things we don’t want in our grass.  Such is the way of nature of course.  Most days we will see one or more of them out there but they disappear quickly if we go outside.

One weekend morning Nancy looked out and saw one on the grass but not looking normal.  We went out to check what was going on and the rabbit seemed to have some injury which was preventing it from moving properly.  Without the ability to examine it, I thought its leg was hurt.  We pondered what to do.  Meanwhile, a bunch of crows started gathering on the fence sensing a meal.  They flew off when we went outside but the rabbit had moved itself somehow behind the aircon unit.  We know that nature has a course in these things but figured, if there was something we could do for the little thing, we should at least make an effort.  If it wasn’t going to make it, so be it.

A call to a rescue service told us that we should bring it to them and they would assess it.  Despite its injuries, the flight mentality was strong and it was not easy to scoop up.  However, I managed to get it wrapped up in a towel and into a box on another towel and off to PAWS in Lynnwood.  They did an evaluation and confirmed that this was definitely a fixable issue but not by them.  Off to Sarvey in Granite Falls.  This bun was getting quite a road trip.  We dropped it off with them which is when I took the picture above.  I hadn’t wanted to photograph it if it wasn’t going to make it since that seemed wrong somehow but, with someone taking care of it, I decided a photo was okay.

All this effort for one rabbit might seem strange when so many must die every day but it seemed like the right thing to do and it introduced us to two good organizations that deserve support.

Domed Spider Webs

Anyone out there a specialist in spiders?  I know plenty of people who absolutely hate spiders.  They are not going to be much use to me here.  Besides, a lot of them are from the UK and I never saw anything like this when I lived there.  As we were walking around the grounds at Bloedel Reserve, we saw a lot of spiders’ webs that were a domed structure.  They didn’t look like webs that I had seen before.  They seem to have a lot of web material above them and then a dome structure to the main web itself.  I think the spider sits underneath the dome awaiting its prey.  Anyone know anything more about this and how it works?

Eagles Versus Hornets(ish)

The Growlers weren’t the only things flying at Coupeville while I was there.  A bunch of bald eagles were also flying in the vicinity.  They were crossing the approach path for the FCLP training which had me a little concerned.  I thought they would get lost when the jets showed up but they clearly weren’t very concerned and were used the the jets.  They might have got close but they seemed to stay just far enough away to avoid any conflict.  A bird strike with a bald eagle would probably be messy for all concerned.

Shadows of a Hummingbird

I have shot endless hummingbird photos in the backyard at home.  There was one shot that eluded me for a while.  At a certain time of day, if a hummingbird is at the feeder, its shadow will fall on the post on the corner of our deck.  I have seen it a few times when I didn’t have a camera handy and have had a camera when none came or the light moved around too quickly.  However, I did finally get the combination I was after.  I like the hint of the hummingbird without the actual bird in shot that it delivers.

Backyard Wildlife Addition of a Frog

How many different animals have I photographed in our backyard?  In a time when we haven’t been able to travel to see much, having stuff come to us has been quite a benefit.  This addition was a total surprise.  I had taken the sun shade out from where it was stored beside the house and, when I put it up, I realized it was pretty grubby and needed a clean.  I moved it to an open patch of grass and washed it down.  When I got back to the table, I realized it had been housing a frog that had dropped on to the table when I opened the shade up.  I grabbed the camera quickly before it disappeared.  It actually hung around longer than I expected and I even tried to start focus stacking but it then got a little mobile and I gave up on that.

It leapt off the table and on to the grass where I got a couple more shots before letting it head off to wherever it felt like taking cover.  The green and gold colors were really pretty vibrant.  I am not a frog expert but I did Google it.  I think there is a fair chance that it is a Pacific Tree Frog.  Anyone know anything better?

A Casual Passerby in the Backyard

While sitting on the deck one afternoon, I was fortunate to have the camera to hand.  As I looked across to our back fence, I saw a raccoon walking along the top of the fence between the two houses behind us.  He seemed totally uninterested in our presence and walked to our fence and then turned left to wander across the back our our house and our neighbors’ houses.  I had a long lens on and he was too close for a while to fit him all in.  Along the fence he went and then disappeared from view.  First time I have seen a raccoon around here but probably not the last.  What other wildlife will visit us?

Foxgloves and Other Wildflowers

Just around the corner from our street is a wilder section of the road which currently has a lot of Foxgloves in bloom.  I wandered around with camera in hand to take some photos.  The bees were busy doing there thing but much patience was required because, whichever flower I decided to focus on, the bees concluded another one was what they wanted.  I spent a lot of time only for them to choose the flowers either side of mine!

The bees were not only interested in the foxgloves.  One particularly large looking bee was really going to town on another flower and I wondered whether he had had so much that he might not be able to get airborne again.  I guess rolling off the edge of the flower gained him so airspeed – enough to stagger back into the air!

Rufous Versus Anna’s Hummingbirds

We have plenty of hummingbirds visiting our back yard.  They may look different depending on the angle the light hits their feathers but up until recently I had thought that they were all the same species – the Anna’s hummingbird.  Then we got a visitor that seemed different.  First, instead of having a grey look to the feathers, it was a lot more brown.  The other difference was the sound of the wingbeats.  Instead of the whirring noise we were used to, this one had a higher pitched sound almost like a click as the wings were hitting each other.  It sounded quite distinctive.  I trip to my big book of birds suggests that these may be Rufous hummingbirds.  For the birders amongst you, I hope you will advise if I am mistaken.

Backyard Rabbits Are My Current Wildlife Photography Subject

When looking for wildlife photography opportunities, the one thing I have close to home at the moment is the local rabbit population.  We get a steady stream of these guys coming through the back yard and eating what could loosely pass for grass in my yard.  We get some bigger buns and there are some tiny looking ones that I assume are young rather than a different breed.  They are usually pretty jumpy so getting shots is not always easy but a couple of them seem pretty relaxed with me showing up.

Stranger to Our Backyard

We have plenty of wildlife in our backyard.  We get a variety of birds visiting.  Recently, while sitting out on the deck, we had a new visitor.  I am not an expert on birds but I do have a very big book with lots of pictures of them.  There are so many that it is easy to pick the wrong one but I think this one was a Steller’s Jay.  It stayed around for a couple of minutes before flying off.  If you are knowledgeable about birds and I am wrong, please feel free to let me know what it actually is.