A Paradise In Lockdown

Every morning I wake up to the beautiful, lively chirps of birds. I look outside the window, and see Sparrows, Cardinals, Blue Jays, and many others. Right next to me lays my camera bag. I unzip it and take my camera out.




I gently grab it, and rush to the window. Snap, snap, goes my shutter, as I take a picture of the cute birds.  When I want to capture them in flight, I always use a fast shutter speed.



Next I go in bed, with my camera at my side, and look for more interesting animals. Up a tree sits a little squirrel, eating a delicious nut. YUM!!

But something bigger grabs my attention. Much bigger. A fox, who is silently leaning down. I know some action will happen so I get my camera ready. 1,2,3, and the fox goes for the catch. A long tailed creature in her mouth. I could not believe my eyes, "What?!" I jump in excitement. This must be a "National Geographic" picture.


Another little furry friend walks in front of me. The ever so slow, groundhog. This one is pretty far away, so I gently creek the door. But the groundhog is not so slow after all. His stellar hearing and eyesight makes me impossible to not be heard. He dashes across the yard, galloping like a horse.



I go back in my room, to upload my pictures, but, something moves next to the door window. I reach out the window to see what it is. I think it is just a squirrel, and so I shake the bush. Out of it comes out a hopping animal. Its two ears pop out like spears. A bunny! I run outside with my camera, knowing that the bunny hopped in by backyard. I creeped behind the corner of my house, careful not to scare it. There it was, a big bunny. I snapped away hoping to get a good shot. Coincidentally, this happened on Easter. I hope it left a chocolate behind too. But I haven't told you yet, this was only the middle of the day. True cool creatures come out at night.

This post isn't only about animals, though. The first star comes, fading in while the sky gets darker and darker. I try to get a picture of it, but my lens is not a telescope, and there is too much light outside. Instead, two lovebirds (literally) are having a nice romantic night together. Now the sky is dark and clear. There is an amazing bright moon. I always had a fascination for planets, and really just figuring out what lays beyond Earth. Maybe someday we will find aliens, or just simply never before seen plants. But anyway, I had to take a picture of the moon. So I rush to my room, and grab my tripod. When I reached the door, I set up my tripod and camera. The best settings for moon photography are, ISO 100, 1/250 f/11. A beautiful picture comes out using my telephoto lens, with lots of detail. After enjoying the amazing moon, I put my camera in my camera bag, and head to bed. But don't think I'll end this story like this, it must have a cooler ending. Right? 

As I approach my bed, I lean over and look in the window. A tall figure was perched up in the tree. "What could it be?" I asked myself. When I looked closer, I saw that it was actually a bird. A big bird. Then I realized, its big talons powerfully hugging the branch. It was a mighty hawk. I wish I could describe the adrenaline rush that I was feeling. I ran into the room with my camera bag as fast as my legs could keep up. I unzipped it and took out my camera. When I reached my room and looked out the window, nothing. The hawk was completely gone. A tear ran down my cheek. But I didn't give up. I looked out the window, pulled it up, and stuck my camera out. I held the shutter button down, with my eyes closed. After I opened my eyes, it was gone. I was really scared. Thousands of thoughts were running through my head. I pressed the play button on my camera, and there the first picture I saw, was the perfect one. I came to my computer, and uploaded the pictures. All were great, and I am very satisfied with them. 

For all the people who are bored during this lockdown, get outside your house, or at least look out your window and explore, take pictures. Notice things that you have not noticed before. But make sure you follow the social distancing rules. Have fun!!

(BTW, I took all these pictures in my yard!)