Wildlife Appreciation

Intro

I love animals, man. One of the best parts of the weather warming up is the surge in wildlife activity that comes with it. Every region has its own bestiary of critters that varies with the seasons, but in New York we get a number of rodents, mammals, and birds. I try to keep my camera close by and charged in case I come across any of them so that I might be able to get a few shots. Below are some of the results.

Alvin, Simon, and the Green One

Chipmunks are always running around my yard; I think I see at least two every morning. It wasn't until recently that I learned these little guys can chirp rather loudly.

They're obviously very skiddish so it's difficult to get close without them running off, but thanks to my 70-200mm lens I'm able to get decent shots from far away.

Goose Babies

There are Canadian geese all over Long Island. They stop traffic to leisurely cross the street. They poop everywhere. It's less than ideal.

The part that I like is that in early May, the geese near me start to bring their young out to stroll. They look like little chickens with their youthful yellow feathers.

I took this photo sometime around the first week of May, so by the time this is being posted, they're more so in their adolescent phase; starting to gain their darker feathers and taller necks. They grow up so fast.

Plants are wildlife too, right?

Eastern Long Island is riddled with farmland where all sorts of produce, flowers, and animals are raised. I've always been a big fan of the farms out east; they've always got something going on, not unlike the Strawberry Festival I recently went to. It was more of a carnival than anything else, so our group wound up going to an actual strawberry farm to pick our own.

Not Pictured...

An unexpected game of golf at a local course had me run into several creatures that surprised me. Deer, rabbits, and squirrels all walked around the course grounds, cardinals swooped from above, and there was even a turtle at one point.

In case you were wondering, no, I'm not great at golf. Definitely a new thing for me but I have some good friends who are urging me to play more. The best reason, though, is that it'd bring me closer to my grandfather, who absolutely loves the game.

I've always been a huge fan of animals; of nature in general. There's something fascinating to me about the way life can generate and grow in so many different forms within our planet's set of parameters. It seems like the ultimate example of "right place right time" to consider that things like people and strawberries were created by the same world.

Really tends to make me stop and look at things, which I find to be important. Hence, stop and smell the roses.