Eleven Pointer

I was driving around my property on my four wheeler with my trusty camera at my side when some does popped up along the edge of the woods. I immediately stopped and scanned the area and scanning back was this nice buck not more than 75 feet from me. I slowly pulled up my Canon and hit the shutter halfway to hit autofocus. However, the light was too low for autofocus to work so I had to shift to manual. I fired a couple of quick shots but the shutter speed was slow and since my aperture was wide open my only choice was to speed the ISO to 1600. This was better. I just hoped that the pictures wouldn't be to grainy but as you can see they really aren't that bad.

White Tails and White Deer

In the Fall in East Central Illinois male deer become more visible as they start their prerut. In an earlier blog I posted a picture of an Albino Deer. This post shows the same deer playing with some of his friends.

Rarely Seen Birds

Pictured are three birds rarely seen in Coles County. That being said they are not rare. First is the Yellow-billed Cuckoo feeding on a wooly worm. They are often heard but usually hide in the tree tops. Note the Eastern Phoebe coming in to check out the worm. Second is the female Summer Tanager. Tanagers are summer migrants and we are on their northern range. They are bee and wasp eaters and the one pictured had just taken a bee from a Hummingbird feeder on my deck. In fact I took the picture from inside my house through a window with a portrait lens. Last is the Eurasian-Collared Dove. This is an introduced species and was first seen in Florida in the early 80's. Since then it has been migrating north and just recently was seen in Coles County Illinois. I first saw them about a week ago. What impact this will have on native doves is yet to be seen. My advice is if you see one go ahead and shoot it.