Rainy day squirrels

This was a pretty dreary week-end but there were a few sunny breaks on Saturday afternoon so I grabbed my camera and dashed over to a near-by college campus hoping to find some interesting subjects. Well the squirrels cooperated!

Sap sipping squirrels success

Well, after my previous attempts at photographing squirrels where my auto-focus feature seemed to malfunction, today it was back to normal. The squirrels cooperated too!

Fuzzy sap sipping squirrels

This glorious, sunny week-end afforded great photo ops of squirrels (no foxes alas) but it has been very frustrating! I found two occasions where squirrels were sipping sap (a sure sign of spring) and then just sitting contentedly as they savoured their treat. Ah ... a perfectly motionless animal in bright sunshine! Ideal for photography right? Well ... no. At least not for my camera. For some reason my auto-focus would not work. The animal's eye (critical for focus) was not sharp. I tried over and over! I do not understand this unless my equipment has become defective. Having just viewed my final fuzzy focused photo I am going to post older squirrel shots to console myself!

Winter birds

Being blessed with a beautiful sunny week-end, I went to my favorite hang-outs to see what wildlife might be about. No foxes to report this time but I did see many lovely birds. Among other species I saw Chickadees, a Hairy Woodpecker and a Pileated Woodpecker.

Oh, and I don't know what got into the squirrels but some of them were dashing about, tossing sticks in the air and doing back-flips!

Here are some pictures of the birds and a squirrel (who was one of the more sedate ones).