A chubby little mockingbird.

Another tenant of the Blackacre Nature Preserve, near Louisville, KY, poses for a photo while his buddy watches.

A Bradford Pear tree offers some early blooms. I like the feeling of purity this photo conveys.

Ah, yes.. The first sign of Spring is when the Robins start eating the tennis balls. I have never seen such a round bird. Perhaps this is a "Round Robin"? :-)

Full size "download" version makes a nice desktop, if you like little birds on your desktop.

Let sleeping jaguars lie is what I always say...

Why are you standing out here in your long underwear you old coot? Put some clothes on! Looking just a bit disheveled today.

It's amazing how close you can get when they don't know you're there.

Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see!

Every time I go to the eye doctor he tells me that I don't see very well. That is probably true, but I guess I can see well enough to know when somebody is watching me. I had paused while hiking through the woods because I was tired and realized I was going to have to walk up yet another hill. About that time I started to get the feeling that I wasn't alone. I had been looking down at the settings on my camera so I raised my head slowly and saw this beautiful doe just staring at me. She let me take many photos, but I liked this one the best because it was difficult to focus through the bushes to get her eyes sharp. Look at the eyes on this beauty in the next photo.

Don't forget, you can click the photo to see a larger size or to download the full size image.

Such beautiful eyes.

Male cardinals really pop against the dead-brown background of the winter forest. Unfortunately, they are notorious for getting deep into the middle of a bunch of tangled branches/twigs and act very shy when photographers approach. Good luck using your autofocus here! At least this guy was nice enough to smile.

I believe this skull once belonged to a fox. Why it is hanging from a branch is a good question. I found it at eye-level as I was hiking through the woods. Don't know if it was a coincidence or not, but I had also discovered a dead red fox less than 100 yards away. They are beautiful animals that I'd much rather photograph while they are alive.

In 51 years I have never found an abandoned turtle shell. Now, in less than one month, I've found 2. Must be a sign. See the other one here

Found this little disturbing piece while hiking today. Best I can tell it used to belong to a deer though I would appreciate hearing other possible alternatives. It had quite the set of chompers.

Not a common bird in the Louisville area unless you happen to be at the Louisville Zoo.

In case you've never heard a flamingo, here's what a bunch of them sound like. Almost sounds like a sound effect from a Sci-Fi movie.

A male Eastern Bluebird perched atop a flagpole-like branch. First bluebird I've seen this year. There were about 5 or 6 of them out in a grassy field but they were very shy and difficult to get close to.

This little robin doesn't look like it has missed many meals this winter.

Poor guy has a broken horn. Sort of reminds me of my first car...

Today I decided to disable the beep on my camera, right after this shot. This deer, about 30 yards away at the time, is actually looking toward the sound of my auto-focus beep. There are 3 more deer outside of the frame and they all took off after they heard the camera's shutter actuate. I can't make that any quieter but, at least by silencing the beep, I will be a little more quiet. Although it did seem to get this deer to say, "cheese!"

I was at the local zoo yesterday and was walking by a large cage that contained some sort of rare bird. Since it was so cold out, the birds in the exhibit were all huddled near the back of the large, fenced cage where they had some heat lamps to keep them warm. The little bird in the photo, however, was front-and-center taking in the passers by.