Kings of the Hill

Hello and welcome back. Today's news starts off with a short story that started Monday evening. On my way home from work on my bike I was climbing up a hill on my road, I seem to always be scanning the side yards and woods along the road for any signs of life that might present a great photo opportunity. So, I am riding a long and spot a few deer behind a house. I stopped along side of the road and shot a few blurry images ( It was getting late) One of the owners of the house (Jill) noticed me and must have thought , "what is this guy doing?". Fortunately I was able to tell Jill that I was a photographer/painter and thought that the 8 point buck was really nice. She basically said, "hey you think that nice, that NOTHING " So after a little more conversation Jill invited me to comeback any time. I am pretty sure she didn't know that 'anytime' would be the next day but there I was 6 pm and setting up the tripod on Jill and Francis's deck. After about 20 minutes I spotted some shadows lurking in the woods, within minutes these massive giants revealed themselves as the largest deer I have ever seen in Connecticut. Enjoy the photos and special thanks to my new friends Jill and Francis.

One more update, I have a poster for sale on the official String Cheese Incident Website have a look by flowing the link below.
Cheers for now
Bill

http://www.scigear.com/product.asp?0=200&1=280&3=746

Green Heron, White deer

Hello and welcome back to the site. This weeks adventures took me to one of my favorite locations. Tucked almost secretly down a back road a few miles from my house is a secret seldom used spot called The Bogus Brook Preserve. There is a tiny sign barley visible through the branches that points you in the directions of the heavily overgrown trails. I really like this place because 9 out of 10 times I am the only one there and it has a incredible array of wildlife. Many of my photographs on my site have come from here as well as the subject for the "Mute Swan" painting. This morning I headed over there before work for a 45 minute hike with the camera and was happy to finally get close enough to a few Green herons to get a crisp shot. Although they don't really look green they are quite fantastic creatures. easy to spook but they seem to come back fairly quickly if you stay hidden and still.

One other picture I wanted to share is a first for me as well. I have read about white tailed deer being seen with large white blotches, some time appearing to look all white. This is called a Piebald Deer In this case this yearling appears to have a white cast over all of its fur. I nearly drove off the road when I saw this. I took the picture and noticed the home owner walking down the drive way to get the mail. I talked to him quickly he was an older gentleman in his mid 80's and he reminded me a LOT of my grandfather. He told me these deer show up every night, sure enough the next night I checked again and there it was. He went on to tell me that he had lived there all his life (except when he was in World War 2) and built the house he lives in. A nice experience to meet some one who doesn't probably have a lot of interaction with people every day. As always click on image to see full size. That's it for this week, check back soon.
Bill

August Owl, 3 Kings, Egret

Welcome!
Had a great weekend of picture taking. Lately I have been curious as to why I never see any Owls. I was driving along a back road in Redding last night, just as I uttered those words " I want to see an owl!" to Jo. I swear not 20 seconds later this Barred owl (the first I have ever seen) flew up and landed in a branch right next to my truck. Sure its kind of blurry ( hand held I was shooting ASA 1600 F5.6 1/6th of a second) BUT I got a shot of an owl.
Now this is not the first time this has happened. Two other times recently I would be out with my camera, see a nice lighting situation, and think of an animal I want to photograph and within minutes it appears, very strange but something is definitely up! This morning I witnessed and captured a group of 3 bucks and a fawn. From what I can tell there is little to no interaction between males and fawns, I have even heard this from seasoned hunters. So this was a very enjoyable rare experience! Finally while traveling down route 58 near Putnam Park in Redding on the way to go Mt biking we spotted a Common Egret. Not so common to me, and very easy to spook enjoy the photos! Click on the image to see full size.