Uh oh.

That's what I said when I looked out and saw a big black shape at the edge of the woods - a shape that hadn't been there just a few minutes before when I was out there.  As any good blipper would, I grabbed my camera in one hand and air-horn in the other and went onto the deck.  I took three shots, before blasting the horn.  Happily, the bear ran as fast as he could into the woods, apparently suitably afraid of me and my air-horn.  

We have the distinction of living in an area that has the highest black bear population in the US, which means that we see them perhaps more often than we'd like.  Bears like this one don't concern me because he/she is clearly afraid of humans - it's the ones that don't run when you make a loud noise that are worrisome.  Anyway, took this at 300 mm full frame and then cropped it to equivalent of a crop-sensor; a bit of adjustment to exposure; blip in the bag.  

I was up early this morning and had my tea on the patio where I was serenaded by the most beautiful voice in the woods ... the Wood Thrush.  I seldom catch of glimpse of these rather plain brown thrushes but their song is unmistakable and glorious.  I also caught a glimpse of an Indigo Bunting as well as all the usual backyard birds, several chippies and a couple of squirrels.  A good morning.

Just came from a visit with MIL who was in good spirits.  She doesn't remember that I was gone, of course, but that's okay.  Hubs is leaving later this afternoon for his first big race of the season - hopefully the car will perform well and the team will get a couple of full days of racing in.  

xo
Debbi