Mark Sheely’s Photoblog

…not anytime soon, at least. The animals and birds have been very active lately. Either they are responding to the recent warmer weather and increased daylight, or they are getting desperate for food. The first time I saw this raccoon, I thought she was sick and probably near death. I’ve seen her several times since then, weeks apart – maybe she has taken to foraging during the daytime. Unusual raccoon behavior. Possibly desperate raccoon behavior. I don’t know about that, though – they are extremely resourceful and I doubt that any raccoon in good health is ever that desperate.

After a while, winter stops being natural to me and instead just seems industrial. I don’t know how to explain that in a way that makes any sense.

The hawk in the middle shot above was very irritated that I was taking photos of him. He did a little dominance display to convince me to go away. The bird puffed his feathers out, spread his wings, and turned in a couple of circles while switching from one foot to the other (in order to display his talons). Here he is facing away from me during the display:

Those wings are amazing.

More photos here.

Jerry Lavan on guitar:

Two more long exposures.