Figure 1 – Blue jay, Sudbury, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2017.
Figure 1 is a decent attempt at photographing the Blue jay – Cyanocitta cristata. I say a decent attempt because the jay despite its loud and gregarious bullying of other birds is, in general, pretty wary of humans, and I have found them photographically elusive. They are however quite beautiful, and I am envious of my California friends who have two species of blue jay: Steller’s jay (Cyanocitta stelleri), and the California scrub-jay (Aphelocoma californica). But anyway, I photographically caught this one with a seed held perfectly in its mouth in my backyard – again with my big lens through the windows.
I am a great lover of nature and feel blessed to be able to look out my window and see the woods. And I love it when the birds come to my bird feeder. It is fund to watch then and to occasionally photograph them. Watching birds is a joy that I share with my cat. I enjoy identifying species. She enjoys identifying an imagined lunch.
Right now the sun is setting and the snow is falling wildly. I have retreated to my computer and my blog and I am thinking about how these suburban settings are like a dividing line where humans encroach on nature, and nature fights back to regain the ground, opportunistically when it can.
Last night as I was pulling into my driveway, I realized that a very large canine face was staring back at me. There was a coyote (Canis latrans) in my backyard and he was sizing me up. I have seen this before. Who gets to run? I decided not to get out of my car to get the mail, choosing instead to retreat into the safety of my garage. Sometimes there is just too much nature! For a moment we stared each other down. For the coyote’s part, and fortunately for me, he decided that eating my Subaru was not an option. Perhaps he was an elitist and only ate Volvos. BMWs, and Mercedes, munching perhaps occasionally on a Lexus. He gave me one last arrogant glance and wandered off into the safety of the woods, I into the safety of my garage. The question of who was encroaching on whom remains open.
Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 200 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/2000 th sec at f/7.1 with -1 exposure compensation