My Favorites

During my trip, I had a chance to stop at my son and daughter-in-law's house. They have the most amazing yard and there are so many photo opps there, it's hard to figure out what I want to photograph first. So, I photograph everything. They have many little gardens in different areas. They're yard is shaped like the state of CT. The previous owners originally had 47 acres, which they sold off smaller parcels so they'd be left with a yard shaped like their state.

This little Tufted Titmouse is my favorite backyard bird. I like the way they sound like a car starter (at least to me). They're also cute with their little little crests. This one is eating berries or nuts from a tree. I miss seeing these little birds in my yard.

They also have a lot of flowering bushes and trees including my favorite, a Tulip tree. Tulip trees are more suitable for down south, but for some reason, this one thrives in their yard. It's a very old tree, but when it's in bloom it's just gorgeous! Unfortunately, I got there just as the flowers were done. Oh well, maybe next year. It seems I always go there too soon or too late by only a couple of weeks. I can never get the timing right to see everything in bloom.

I did get to see one of my favorite flowering bushes, though; the Mountain-laurel. I've loved these since I was a young child. Maybe I'm so fond of them because my grandmother loved them so much and they remind me of her. These are just starting to pass, but still beautiful. Mountain-laurels are the Connecticut and Pennsylvania's state flower, and they are protected in Connecticut.

Well, there you have it; my favorite flowering bush and my favorite backyard bird.

Both images were shot with my Canon 40-D, a Canon 55-250mm lens at about the same time of day. Both in Aperture Priority mode with partial metering at ISO 400, the Titmouse at F5.6 and 1/60 sec with +1 Ev (exposure compensation). I used a wide aperture (F stop) to blur the background which brought attention to the bird. The Mountain-laurel was shot at F5.6 at 1/500 sec, +1 Ev to bring out the white flowers and blur the background.