As well as flying coyotes, the winter sunshine brought out the birds. Which meant I spent a lot of time out in the cold. I really need to invest in a pair of gloves. It gets pretty cold out there, even in England, at this time of year. :smurf:
The first shot of the day was a herring gull.
The little dunnock was back at the feeder.
A collared dove was making the best of the weak sunshine.
A male chaffinch paused for a few moments.
As did a rather severe looking greenfinch.
There are more of the birds in the December Birds album, including the ubiquitous wood pigeon and starlings.
No sign of the foxes, though at night I can hear them in the distance. I've no doubt they're around but for the moment our clocks are out of synch, and there's a limit to how much time I can spend outside. Warm September evenings are much more conducive! But I did get to see the little wood mouse again, and unusually it was down at ground level.
Wood mouse peeking out from the pond surround.
Later in the evening it was back to its more usual haunt.
There are several more shots of the mouse in The Wood Mouse Files.
Including the one that got away!
Camera note: Birds all taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens; the first wood mouse with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM; and the close-ups with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro.
CedarFox
17 Dec 2007Another great selection of photos! :up: Maybe next time he won't get away. 😆
Flying Red Fox Blog
17 Dec 2007Wow the seagull inflight is perfect:D The woodmouse is really cute:heart:
SittingFox
17 Dec 2007That chaffinch looks cold too, with all his feathers ruffed up :smurf: I got really chilled when photographing the Old Dogfox yesterday morning. Brrr!
Your mouse (or presumably mice!) certainly have a comfortable life! I love seeing the details of their vibrissae! 😀
Words
17 Dec 2007Adele, yes I'm sure it's 'mice' not 'mouse'. They're great in the tree. I'm beginning to learn their route up in the branches. Almost impossible to photograph the run as they are so quick and the beech is so thick, but they charge around around up there if they get startled. Usually I just wait a couple of minutes and it'll come back for more food.
Words
17 Dec 2007Mark, I was really happy with that seagull. It makes a change to get some background in as it gives the photo a bit more depth to it.
Words
17 Dec 2007Eric, thanks. I'm sure he'll be back 🙂
Words
17 Dec 2007We've had a couple of lovely clear bright skies recently, but it clouded over again today 🙁 But so far, not a bad winter. 🙂
ALLY_G
17 Dec 2007It seems, the training of the wood mouse (mice) is well. 😀
Wonderful photos! The late autumn (winter) light is great.
Mickeyjoe-Irl
20 Dec 2007It probably a good thing he is a little dunnock. If he was any bigger he wouldn't fit on the perch. 😀
Words
20 Dec 2007LOL! And I didn't even use the shot where it's really plumped up, pretending to be a Xmas turkey 🙂
Mickeyjoe-Irl
20 Dec 2007I thought it would be the other way round.
Words
20 Dec 2007They're not the brightest of birds :doh: