Michael, my Nature Photographer

Our new home with its beautiful surroundings has brought out a new side in my son Michael.  He has turned into a nature-photographer!  The other morning I took all the boys outside with me to weed the garden, and Michael asked if he could use my camera to take pictures while we worked.  As an animal-lover and wanna-be photographer myself, I was delighted by the request (even though it certainly slowed down his weeding progress).  Here are some of the best ones...

A male mountain bluebird bringing home breakfast for his babies

2nd breakfast

still more breakfast!

In flight!

Open wide!

Whose turn is it?

You can see a hungry baby crying out for more

Daddy is off to find more food to fill these hungry little beaks.

The beautiful mountain bluebird standing guard

A male Western Tanager...

So bright and beautiful it almost looks like a tropical bird to me.

We were so excited the first time we saw one of these in our yard.

The male Western Tanager perched in the sun

The male Tanager with a mouthful (I mean beak-full) to feed his hungry babies

The female Western Tanager---not a bright, but still very beautiful

The female Western Tanager staying near her nest to protect her chirping chicks

 a yellow swallowtail butterfly on our apple tree

One of the many noisy and cute squirrels on our property

A white-breasted Nuthatch about to fly away in search of food for his little ones

The Nuthatch is notorious for climbing down trees head-first.

He is bringing home a tasty and bright treat for his babies.

This one made me laugh :)

The caption could read:
"Ha-ha, not hunting season!"

I have to admit that I prefer my sons shooting these animals with a camera rather than a gun! :)