Favorite Photos: Animals

Here are more of the favorite photos I’ve taken for this blog.

Today we’ll look at animals.

You’ll notice that there is no picture of a deer. It’s not that I don’t see deer when I am hiking—in fact, I keep accidentally sneaking up on them, since my bare feet are so much quieter than boots or shoes. It’s just that I never manage to have my camera out when I happen to run across one.

[Don’t forget that for all these picture, clicking on it will bring up a larger version.]

Here is a great blue heron I spotted as I was walking/wading along the Licking River near Newark. I kept thinking he was going to take off, but he just got closer and closer. This is what you get with a telephoto from about 8 feet. This is from the blog post Salisbury Hill — Follow the LiDAR (Part 2).

Hiding . . . and not Succeeding

Next one is a five-lined skink from Zaleski State Forest. Maybe I’m just more sensitive to them at Zaleski, but that’s the only place I’ve seen them. It’s the juveniles that have the vividly blue tail. This is from Mudfooting at Zaleski.

Five-lined Skink (click for really good detail)

I get a lot of birds at my bird feeder. All I feed are sunflower seeds (the oil variety). Those are guaranteed to get finches. Here is a pair (goldfinch and house finch) that did a nice job of “posing” for me. This appeared in the entry Tuppence A Bag. (Hope you get the reference.)

Goldfinch and House Finch (click to enlarge)

Here’s another finch: a male cardinal. This is from the post Beak Performance.

Male Cardinal

Let’s jump to Cantwell Cliffs in Hocking Hills. This little guy, a northern red salamander, was just climbing up a wall and was an easy photograph. I only figured out later that it would have been a better photograph to get him at more of an angle. Anyways, he appears in Goss Hollow in Cantwell Cliffs.

Northern Red Salamander at Cantwell Cliffs

When I was at Mesa Verde on my trip Out West I came across this collared lizard. Spectacular colors. It’s from the blog entry On (and In) the Mesa.

Lizard

Also when I was out west, I came across this other lizard on a day trip into the Grand Canyon at Grandview Point. Notice that he managed to catch a grasshopper (and he was not about to let go of it just because he was being harassed by a would-be photographer). This appeared in Well, That Certainly is a Grand Canyon.

Live Lizard; Dead Grasshopper

My bird feeder attracts more than finches. Here is a red-bellied woodpecker that keeps coming back year after year. This also appeared in the blog entry Tuppence A Bag.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker (click to enlarge)

Back in 2006 my sons and I went on a Boy Scout trip to Yellowstone. This was before I got my good camera; fortunately, most of the other scouts had one with them. This is what we encountered on the trail between Mystic Falls and Old Faithful. The picture was taken by Scout Braden Powell. It’s from the post Elk and . . ..

I’m Ready for my Close-up, Mr. DeMille

The bird feeder also gets nuthatches. Instead of sitting there eating the seeds, the nuthatch flies away to eat the seed elsewhere, and then when finishes it comes back. I got lucky to catch this one when I did. This photo is also from Beak Performance.

Nuthatch (click for larger picture)

As summer winds down, the big spiders come out an build webs. Here’s an orb weaver that was up against one of our screens. It appeared in the blog post Another Spider. (I love the way that the web threads show up.)

Orb Weaver

Here’s another critter from Zaleski State Forest (actually, Lake Hope, just north of the lake). This is a black rat snake. I blogged it at Textures.

Black Rat Snake

Let me end up with one more visitor to my bird feeder. All of the birds there don’t necessarily go for the seeds. This one went for the birds . . . and succeeded. It’s a red-tailed hawk. It’s not just part of the Cycle of Life, it’s a Sickle of Life.

Hawk with Prey

More pictures to come later.