1 Adventure

Backyard Critters

Liked the detail and texture of the face of this deer. Produces a kinda of stunning eye level shot. As for deer in photos. Let's face it, deer are kinda boring. No really boring. If you have seen one you have seen the eleventhbillion that run around here. They just sit there and munch and munch on whatever is in front of them. Then at the slightest breeze they run off in protest for being disturbed. So I usually don't shot deer except for baby deer, because people like those and they are fun to watch.

These are some pictures that didn't make the cut for one way or another. I decided to post them however because beyond not my favorites they aren't terrible. The below is a juvenile mockingbird.

I liked this shot a lot, but it didn't come out. I made the mistake of leaving my camera settings unchanged from the previous day with a big ole f/s 8 and it was bright outside. Result was a overexposed image. So I played with it a bit and it helped some. Thought it was still a need image of this terribly disheveled mockingbird. :-)

A visitor (Ron) from PhotoToPaint.com was kind enough to send me a photoshop edit of my mockingbird picture above. I told I would post it and I think he did a nice job improving the photo so it doesn't look so washed out. Thanks Ron!

Texas Roadrunner (Greater Roadrunner)

There has been a pair roadrunners that have been around my house for the last week or so. They have been carefully picking off sparrows from the back of the house and it has been fun watching them stalk and attack the clueless bunch of sparrows. They are not always lucky in their hunting though. This guy waited for about an hour and then got bored and moved on. Luckily I was able to get some good pictures as they are usually hard to shot up close otherwise.

The photo below was him waiting for something to come out. Thought he kinda looked like a chicken just sitting there.

Golden-fronted Woodpecker in Texas

So I believe that this is a female golden-fronted woodpecker. Possibly a juvenile? I am not 100% certain as the markings are not as diagnostic as most of the photos that you see of these bird. The closest resemblence I found was from this website. What a beautiful bird though, it posed very nicely for me on a mountain laurel branch as it fluffed its feathers and proceeded to clean itself. It first flew onto the bird feeder this morning and fished out a few left over grains of seed.

Here is another photo of the bird and why it made it hard to identify as the full head of the bird is a golden color and the markings not as vibrant or confined as other pictures of the golden-fronted woodpecker. Its possibly its a type of flicker, but that might be stretching it. If you can confirm what this bird is, leave me a comment or send me an email.