Spring Means Squirrels!

Spring Means Squirrels!

Spring is almost officially here!

This weekend a harsh weather system came through causing most everyone and everything to hunker down for a few days. But yesterday the weather improved and the sun came out! And it wasn’t the only thing to come out of hiding. I think these guys knew my new lens arrived and wanted to help me out by being the perfect models for me to practice.

I have a bird feeder that sometimes attracts some other types of critters. Two of the usual suspects were having their pick of the seeds. The gray squirrel is too big to sit on top of the feeder and reach the seeds so he has to deal with what’s on the ground. Awhile back I watched him try to eat from the feeder – that was entertaining. The little brown cutie is a douglas squirrel. He is a little more persistent and I was reminded of that once when I forgot to put the bag of bird seed in it’s container… I found him sitting on the bag with holes all over just eating away.

 

Of course I wasn’t the only one watching

Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium Field Trip

Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium Field Trip

An afternoon photographing some beautiful animals

One of my favorite trips from the last few months was taking a photography field trip to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, WA. A good friend let me borrow one of his lenses and I was excited to get some different shots!

We got there just as the zoo opened on what looked like could be a rainy day. But as the sun moved over the sky the rain dissipated and the sky became a lighter grey. We couldn’t ask for much better in the Pacific Northwest in December!

Because we got there at opening the crowds were minimal and we were able to see the animals pretty well.

Peacock
Emerald Tree Boa
Peacock
Tiger
Tiger - Darn glass support got in the way!
Clown Fish
Jelly Fish
Jelly Fish
Arctic Fox
Arctic Fox
Arctic Fox

The hardest obstacle I had was glare and reflections! Many of the exhibits were glass which made it very hard to get clear pictures. I found out if I angled the camera just right I got better pictures. The animals themselves were the perfect models! Of course we were greeted by one of the zoos peacocks. He strutted his stuff and didn’t mind us being near to him while the tigers looked like they wanted to stay in bed a bit longer. The adorable arctic foxes were irresistible as they ran around and posed.

About noon the zoo started to get more crowded and the rising sun was causing the animals to go into hiding. It was a great day of shooting and I plan on going back!

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