The Queen Arrives

Love, love, love the red-bellied woodpeckers! I was sitting having my tea, watching the antics of the blue jays as they enjoyed the breakfast buffet at the Bistro ... when in swooped the undisputed Queen of the feeders, Mrs. RBW. Blue jays scattered like crumbs in the wind (I just made that up - you like it?) and the Queen cautiously descended. You know that royalty must always be on the lookout for assassins and evil-doers! I had crumbled some home-made suet in the basket which seemed to please her. I find that the RBWs are very hard to photograph - they are very spooky and take off at the slightest hint of movement. And, with all that black and white, they play havoc with the metering, at least for me. So, a few minor tweaks to this one to adjust some of the brightness.

I had another thoroughly engaging guest at the Bistro this morning - a Carolina wren! They aren't much bigger than a hummingbird and are in constant motion, flitting here and there, always in a big fat hurry. This one spent a lot of time at the buffet and before he was done, I think he'd sampled everything. At one point he was hanging upside down Look ma! No Hands!, then he did his imitation of a wren-football. Had me in stitches.

And then, I had to leave to go to The Bad Place...the dentist. And you know how I feel about that! Today wasn't actually too bad, if you don't count the evil smell and the godawful sound of the drilling... Okay, I'm done whining now.

I was surprised and humbled by all the comments and stars and hearts yesterday. I rarely ever attempt landscapes because, frankly, my attempts usually suck. I feel comfortable photographing that little stream because I don't think it is possible to really screw it up - it is a pretty much perfect scene, no matter the season. I look at some of the amazing landscapes I see here on blip, however, and it makes me want to learn more about composition, depth of field, colors. And then there are all those amazing long, slow exposures where water looks like silk ... I am definitely going to do some more fiddling around with the ND filters, maybe tomorrow...

Our beautiful snow is soggy and dingy now. It's been drizzling all day, gloomy and dreary. Hoping for sun tomorrow...

Happy Monday, blippers!