the birds and the bees... Ohhh deer.

[Tony S]

A group of images from the last two days. I love my yard with all the critters I get.

Anna's hummingbird with it's duller summer plumage in the shade last evening.

This morning another with a little sunlight on his shoulders...

A honey bee at the clover in the grass while I was waiting for humming birds..

He can't hide in the deep shade from me...

The nice blacktail buck looking for a new hiding spot...

 

[leighthal]

The background on that 1st one is beautiful. it looks like a watercolour painting.

 

[Stevepwns]

Great photos, we have white tail deer where I live.

 

[DarkShadow]

Nice shots! #3 The bee in flight is a really nice capture.

 

[Tony S]

Thanks for the looks and comments. On the first shot the evening light was better for that great background, the same angle today the light behind was just too much and over powered every thing so I changed the angle to include the lilac leaves. I'm working on trying to get those hummers flying, but when I go out and sit they just sit in the branches waiting for me to move on.

My biggest problem with shooting the bees is that I was right at the minimum focus distance shooting the 400 2.8 with 1.4 TC so the dof was very shallow. On a lot of the shots the bee would be just off to the front or back side of the clover and be out of focus. This one it was in just the right spot.

Anyone familiar with blacktailed deer would know that even though he is only a 3x3, he's a big guy with a wide antler spread well beyond the ears, good antler mass and body size. It really shows when he's out there with my other 3x3 and the 2x2 bucks. He is just much larger and more muscular than the others. Hadn't seen him till Saturday, the big guys are pretty nocturnal, so I suspect the fireworks on the Fourth pushed him out of his normal hiding spots and pattern.

 

[ronlane]

Those last two, I really like a lot.

 

[ktan7]

Beautiful clear pictures!