hawk owl and red fox

Wonderful sunny day today for a country winter picnic. We drive around the back roads looking for birds. Today we came across a Northern Hawk Owl (my first) and luck would have it that others had been previously to view it as a trail of footprints led in through the pasture closer to where it perched. So there I am with the necessary leg braces holding both knees together attempting to step into large sinkhole footsteps that come up to the knees and deeper in places. I was determined though and half way there as my legs got heavier I thought, what if I fall, I glance back, Gerald was following behind me, he is such a sweetheart.
Now I'm in my recliner really really tired, was it worth it, you betcha.

 All these photos are cropped to enable you to see the owl better. The first two images were taken at the end of the sinkhole path and the last two were taken from the road way. We glanced up when we got back to the car and there he was posing. I believe he spotted some small birds and was thinking about flight, or else he was just stretching a wing. The last shot I washed out the exposure of the sky as I was shooting towards the sun, it worked as the owl is clear, yahoo.

 This beautiful fox was racing along the tree line, it stopped, looked, then turned tail. We went up the next road and saw a farmer ploughing his equipment yard so the tractor most likely frightened the fox as we again spotted it, this time on the roadway ahead of us. Then once again it spun round and headed back to the farm. I have been wanting to see a fox up close, this is the closest I have gotten. Both these images are cropped to show the fox better.

I was shooting out of the car window and hoped for a good shot as man-o-man can foxes run, and they are so light on their feet as though flying, I like this shot as foxy is air-born. We watched a coyote cross a field and it was sinking and stumbling continually, surely not as graceful as Red on the snow. We saw a few snow buntings fly past us and a grouse walked across the road while we were having our picnic.

 See the dark spot on the right of the road? 

Of course with my boots loudly crunching on the snow the grouse headed further into the brush where I could not get a clear shot, but oh well that the way of bird photography.

all in all a wonderful day, hugs to all!

2 more mini paintings

"Morning Star Fox"

There is a den under a patio in Camrose. When I got out early for a walk around the lake one day an older fella told me to walk at  5am and I would see a fox and kits. Well I can barley move at 5am let alone venture outdoors. Wonderfully one day I was graced with this young upstart who refused momma fox heeding and sat outside the den in the morning sun long enough for me to get a few fuzzy shots.  I was quite a distance away on the opposite side of the lake when I spotted him and by the time I got close he had vanished under the decking. 

"The wind through the forest" Pileated Woodpecker

I have been wanting to paint the Pileated woodpecker for some time now. It was difficult deciding on the background as my canvas base color is a bold cadmium yellow which although did not take away from the bird, did nothing for it either. After a few tries at backgrounds that did not satisfy I finally decided on warming it up with azo yellow and cad orange, underneath is also cad red which helps with the warmth.  Now I believe it works.