I think the main part of getting good bird photos is just showing up. I see so many beautiful sights on my bird walks that it’s inevitable that I would want to capture them so I can remember them.
Here’s a nice adult Cooper’s Hawk in my backyard. @Greenfields that’s my oppressive gray wall I was complaining about. In front of it are hop bushes, so named because the early pioneers used them to brew beer. In the back is my neighbors jojoba.
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My iPad refused to take clear photos of those rascally Sulpher crested cockatoos…this morning they are in the tops of a big old apple tree eating the apples I can’t reach.
There was a visitor I haven’t seen in a while ,a cuckoo shrike. http://www.australianbushbirds.info/infc/coracina_papuensis.html
They like to nest in trees usually in a tree hollow if they can, but have been known to nest in holes in the ground, attics, and in this case my chimney. The nests are kind of like a large bird’s nest
They are pretty slick critters, and can be destructive.
Raccoons are cute but you don’t want to meet up with one of them because they’re not small and they will attack humans. They’re scary!
A few years ago I encountered one during the day in my driveway and fortunately for me, he ran away.
If seen in daylight, they’re often rabid and in fact, in my area a few weeks ago a raccoon with rabies attacked a dog during the day who has in his backyard. Both dog and owner survived but had to undergo treatment for rabies.
One night about 4 years ago I was looking out my dining room window and saw a neighbor’s beautiful cat being chased by a raccoon. I never saw the cat again and have never wanted to ask . . .
We had a family of racoons nest under our deck last year. They seem to have moved on, after I stapled screen around their point of entry, but they left an army of fleas where their nest had been.
Yesterday morning, we saw a skunk strolling through the backyard, probably house hunting .
I heard my shrieking from the back patio one night and a mother raccoon and two pups had somehow climbed over our wall. Mom didn’t have any trouble getting to the top but the little ones struggled for a while.
Here’s the newest batch of little ones on my front patio. This was taken three days ago.
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