Flowers, Bugs, Wee Birds & Squirrels (5N + 55-210 + TC)

Since I usually share my birds from the wetlands with the 5N, this time is back to my yard and around town.  I've been mostly shooting my DSLR and long lenses in the wetlands as weather has been forgiving and migration season is on, but my 5N sometimes comes along too, and always sits at poolside when I get back home to cool off in my backyard - as well as on trips down to the beach.  So here are some of the more local critters I've been shooting with the 5N the past month around home...

Cute the way this squirrel hangs upside down from the tree trunk!

This guy came around the tree trunk in my backyard to see if I had any peanuts on me

At the beach, these huge golden orb weavers are everywhere, by the thousands - it's mating season!

Closeups of one of these halloween specials, about the size of a human hand

Also at the beach are many butterflies hanging out in the flower gardens on the coastal ridge

Another butterfly from another angle

In my backyard, my hibiscus are attracting bees - this one is just arriving

Some butterflies are also attracted to my hibiscus

This excited me, as I've never seen a hummingbird in my yard - this one was shot from 50 feet away while in my pool

I thought it was a bug at first, then when I saw what it was I quickly fired off some shots from a great distance - these are cropped quite a bit

Finally, I noticed the early moon rising in the late afternoon, so I decided to see how the 55-210mm plus 1.7x extender could handle a moon shot...it was a nice closing scene to the day.

Comments, questions, critique always welcome.  Hope you enjoyed!

--
Justin
galleries: www.pbase.com/zackiedawg