This female goldfinch is a regular at the feeder. I recognize her because she has a cut on the back of her head. This shot was taken with a flash just as she moved in to get a snack.

This little guy returned today and I was able to shoot a couple of shots before he flew off. I’m not sure if I will be able to follow through but I would like to post a photo each day during this year. There aren’t many days that I don’t take at least one shot but I don’t always post what I shoot. With the trip to New York coming up hopefully I’ll be able to start the year off with some good shots.

JRVZ9524, originally uploaded by GvilleRick.

School’s out so I sat on the front porch this morning and watched the various animals in the front yard. Within a thirty minute period I saw thrashers and other birds, a hummingbird, a couple of hawks, and this squirrel. When I stepped down the steps he ran up the tree and sat on a branch watching me from a safe distance.

JRVZ8716, originally uploaded by GvilleRick.

I posted a photo back in April of a Ruby Throated Hummingbird. I’ve seen a couple more since then but only in the last couple of days have I seen then return regularly. This morning I shot one through the window in the living room and then went out and took several from the front porch. This afternoon I watched for quite a while and got shots from the porch and from behind the feeder. One even swooped down at me when I was adjusting the feeder. This shot was taken this morning. More are available on my Flickr site. Click on the image to jump there.

JRVZ1028, originally uploaded by GvilleRick.

As cold as it has been lately I’ve been surprised that we haven’t seen any squirrels in our yard. This afternoon there were a couple, however, so I took a few shots. There was one on the oak tree in our yard that I was able to photograph through the window. When I went outside he took off but I did see this guy across the street. He was a bit more cooperative and posed for me while safely out of reach on a high limb.

JRVZ0983, originally uploaded by GvilleRick.

This is one of my first shots with a new camera, the Pentax K20D. I’ve shot about 800 shots so far mostly at a wrestling match and basketball game at school. I am about to get used to it. It is quite similar to my K10D but between the new features and the changes in the menu items it is taking a little time to tweak it like I want. The extra resolution does allow a little more cropping so that is nice (although the 10.2 megapixels on the K10D never really restricted me much in cropping.) I’m looking forward to

IMGP1187, originally uploaded by GvilleRick.

I often wonder exactly what Socks is thinking about as he sits staring off into space. This shot was taken mainly to experiment with diffused flash and I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

dragonfly6, originally uploaded by GvilleRick.

I have tried for several days to get a photo of a dragonfly but they never seemed to land and moved too quickly to get a decent shot. Today I saw a couple in the front yard. I almost got a shot of one resting on a rail. Finally I saw one land on the japanese maple. I was able to get a few shots with my 70-300 lens. He would fly off but then return.

I went in to switch lenses and he even stayed on the leaf while I set my flash down in different locations. This shot was taken with the on camera flash and an off-camera flash set up below on the ground.

As always, I have several other shots on my Flickr page. Click on the photo above to go there.

IMGP5389, originally uploaded by GvilleRick.

I’ve seen these insects hovering in our butterfly bush lately. It is an odd creature resembling a bumblebee but it feeds like a hummingbird. I shot this photo using my DA* 50-135 with a fast shutter speed so I could see the wings (which are a blur when watching them live.) I also have photos of a female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on my Flickr page.

IMGP5124, originally uploaded by GvilleRick.

I saw this guy this evening on our butterfly bush in the front yard. While the Tiger Swallowtail that I photographed in the back yard was quite content to sit still and allow me to take multiple shots, this one was easily spooked and flew off and returned several times. I was able to get a few shots befire he flew away.