My Family Grows

It’s not often I find myself at a loss for words yet lately I’m filled with deep emotion that surpasses words. What I am witnessing in our very backyard goes beyond comprehension. As I am witnessing these events, my humbleness and Gratitude expand exponentially. There is so much love radiating from our home, that birds and animals are coming unafraid, knowing they are welcomed and loved. I speak of birds and animals coming very close to our home that otherwise would not. I look, I see, and despite me seeing, the “feeling” of disbelief still resides. It’s surreal. These things just don’t happen, at least not in my experience. 

Not only that, it is an outright miracle that I was able to capture the natural phenomena as clearly as I did. In grabbing my camera, due to my astonished state, I never properly checked the settings on my camera, firstly not having the time to do so, and secondly, that thought just flew right out of my head when I saw what I did. I checked the exposure and that is about how far I got.

Now, however, my camera is set to TV (to control shutter speeds) for in hindsight when I realized I needed to have proper settings, this time when the next phenomena occurs, I’ll be more then ready! For those of you with photography know-how, my shutter speeds were 1/80th, 1/25th, and 1/5th. For those of you who don’t have a clue what I just said, those are very slow shutter speeds, not appropriate for either birds or animals. Yet when you see what I captured, perhaps then you will know a few facts. Yes, miracles happened. Yes, my shutter button finger and eye are lightening fast. My hands are super steady. And yes, I have been graced with a Gift that leaves me marveling at myself. 

So what am I jabbering about? Suspense be gone! I photographed a Red Fox about 35 feet (10.67M) from our house on our property looking out from a tangle of bushes and a second shot when he came out in a clearing. Shutter speed on him was 1/5th of a second.

Two days from then, my husband was snowplowing paths in our backyard when he “felt” a presence and in looking up, he spotted a Cooper’s Hawk perched on a branch of a tree about 12 feet (3.6M) from the ground, sound asleep. Now this snowplow is huge and LOUD and you would think a man with a very loud machine would have this bird out of there. No. He occasionally opened his eyes and immediately fell back to sleep. My husband estimates he made a path about 10 feet (3M) from that tree and still that bird trusted him. The picture below of this bird of prey with his eyes open is when he was looking straight at me, standing in my dining room window with my camera. That shutter speed was 1/80th of a second.

And then yesterday, a Northern Flicker alighted on my tree with the bird feeders on it. Still clueless my shutter speed was not appropriate I began to shoot. That bird looked right at me when I began to shoot through our dining room window and then very purposely posed for me. I kid you not. Shutter speed for him was 1/25th of a second. 

I really must learn how to shoot videos with my Canon camera for still pictures are not fully illustrating the surreal circumstances that have been happening in my life. Suffice it to say, seeing is believing, so with no further to-do, I shall show you. Be prepared to feel deep emotion straight to your heart. Then, I have a surprise for you at the end of my post, a video recorded on my cellphone. 

The Red Fox

Cooper’s Hawk

Northern Flicker

And in closing, I introduce to you Mr. Blackie-Do, the feral cat who lives in the barn next door to us who I love with all my heart and who I feed. It took 2 years for him to decide I am his human. He walks with me to the bird feeder tree from the barn, and then home. Too cute!! Enjoy!!

©2022 AmyRose Photography ….. all rights reserved.