First squirrel of the year

[Recty]

Well the first squirrel I've seen! It's still pretty cold here, it is still freezing at night, I was actually surprised to see this guy out because it was blowing and quite cold.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/squirrel001.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/squirrel002.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/squirrel003.jpg

[Rhizo]

400mm :thumbsup:

[Octoshark]

Cool squirrel, looks nothing like squirrels around here (San Francisco Bay Area).

Took this a few days ago:

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz104/TheSeaReef/Earl_the_Squirrel.jpg

[IPT]

Man, you just need a Squirrel, eh, I mean birdfeeder. These guys have been tearing it up around my place for weeks...if not a few months now!!

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk319/IPTalaska/1-14.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk319/IPTalaska/2-13.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk319/IPTalaska/3-10.jpg

The funniest thing was when he fell off this thing and grabbed on by one paw!! Seeds flying all over the place. Not sure if Iw as laughing or what but the shot was toally blurry. Serves me right from usign IS instead of the Tripod which was 10' away from me.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk319/IPTalaska/4-7.jpg

[Recty]

Nice shots :) Yeah, I need a feeder I guess.

[IPT]

:) the feeder as seen above now sits on the ground in two pieces. The wind here has been insane!! My g/f was watching him and gasped...guess he lost his balance as a gust hit and he fell off a branch! LOL, she was encouraging him though...."come on little guy your okay. You're tough :) ". It was quite entertaining, all aspects of it. Oh, and the little dude was in fact quite fine.

[edandsandy]

Love the 2nd pic picture! It looks like he is saying "what cha lookin at!"

[Octoshark]

A squirrel feeder will be even better than a bird feeder. Get one like the feeder in my picture and you will have families of squirrels living in your trees.

Get a feeder like this: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=9089+10468+20780+18097&pcatid=18097

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/detailed_image.cfm?pCatId=18097&large=/images/Categoryimages/larger/lg-31011-40826-wild-bird.jpg (the image isn't working so just look at my picture posted above (post #3)

And put in "food bricks/cakes" like this: http://www.petco.com/product/6477/Squirola-Premium-Blend-Squirrel-Feed.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch

http://www.petco.com/Assets/product_images/3/3249354330C.jpg

Some squirrels dont eat the corn so they just drop it on the ground and then the deer come and clean it up, lol.

[Rhizo]

Are you guys auto focusing? You should try focusing on the eyes. Here is my attempt at 300mm hand held (600mm on 35mm format).

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36945650@N07/4516733537/" title="Squirrel by Joe (Rhizo), on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2771/4516733537_26fe7880c2_o.jpg" width="525" height="700" alt="Squirrel" /></a>

[IPT]

I use auto focus...always have the focus point I set over the eye, always. I swear my camera front focuses, or back focuses all the time. Drives me nuts sometimes. Shooting at F4 doesn't give me a lot of DOF.

[Rhizo]

IPT could it be the lens? You don't lack the skill that's for sure. I've been having a hard time with my hopeful next lens, Sigma 30mm 1.4. Two copies arrived with focus issues. Waiting on my third copy. :sad2:

[Recty]

Are you guys auto focusing? You should try focusing on the eyes.Hmmmm, I thought the eyes were in focus for my shots and yeah, I did autofocus direct on the eyes.

[IPT]

yeah, I'd love to blame the lens, or even the body(ies). I know for an absolute 100% fact I would never even press the shutter unless the autofocus locked on the eye of any animal I would be shooting (unless for some odd reason I was looking for other DOF for effect or emphasis. Despite that I get way more shots than I would like with a nose, or an ear sharp only to find the eye a tad soft, ugh. I have had this experience with a 300
f4 L, 300 F2.8 L on both a 5D and 1DsMK3. I am not sure what percentage of error the pros get but it must be some.

I attribute it to user error...frustrating since I don't know how to solve it, or even what the error is. Just too remote it could be a consistant issue with the gear, though I sometimes get this even with the camera tripod mounted and the subject barely changing positions. I once tested with a ruler to see where it focused and it seemed to do okay.

I am however guilty at times of getting wrapped up in the moment and counting too much on IS, shooting too slow of a shutter speed and getting some soft shots sometimes.

I remember reading something by a pro who had a bird shot with the bird carrying an insect. The one with the antenae perfect he said the autofocus hadn't locked yet and he missed the shot. All the other shots were tack on. I don't know, I shake my head sometimes. Glad that I am not a pro. Now it just frustrates me, if it ws really costing me money I'd be ****ed. COme to think of it it is making me mad. I really should do more testing and figure out what the heck I am doing, the gear is doing, or what beyond generally good shooting technique I could do to improve my tack sharo capture rate. When I get that tack sharp image it is unreal. I get them, but not as often as I'd like. I even have shots at 1/2500th of a second that lack that tack sharp look depsite a locked on focus point, IS, and using a panning head! I am more than open to others suggestions and experiences. I would like to have more keepers.

[calvinkaren]

A squirrel feeder will be even better than a bird feeder. Get one like the feeder in my picture and you will have families of squirrels living in your trees.

Get a feeder like this: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=9089+10468+20780+18097&pcatid=18097

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/detailed_image.cfm?pCatId=18097&large=/images/Categoryimages/larger/lg-31011-40826-wild-bird.jpg (the image isn't working so just look at my picture posted above (post #3)

And put in "food bricks/cakes" like this: http://www.petco.com/product/6477/Squirola-Premium-Blend-Squirrel-Feed.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch

http://www.petco.com/Assets/product_images/3/3249354330C.jpg

Some squirrels dont eat the corn so they just drop it on the ground and then the deer come and clean it up, lol.


If I have the squirel feeder, will it still eat the fruit of my garden? Does anybody know how to prevent it to eat the fruit or vegie?

[calvinkaren]

Well the first squirrel I've seen! It's still pretty cold here, it is still freezing at night, I was actually surprised to see this guy out because it was blowing and quite cold.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/squirrel001.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/squirrel002.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/squirrel003.jpg

What kind of camera do you use?

[Recty]

I'm using the Canon 50D and these shots were taken with a 100-400 while at 400mm.

[calvinkaren]

I'm using the Canon 50D and these shots were taken with a 100-400 while at 400mm.

I have Nikon. I believe that Canon is better one. The pictures are very nice. Good work.

[Recty]

I'm not sure what Nikon has in their lens lineup for this range, but Canon has quite a few options, including image stabilized or not and mine is, which helps in lower light conditions like these were taken.

[IPT]

400 x 1.6 = 640mm .... WOW :)

[Misled]

I have Nikon. I believe that Canon is better one. The pictures are very nice. Good work.

Don't know which camera you have, but Nikon can get there also.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/300488-USA/Nikon_2146_200_400mm_f_4_G_AFS_ED_IF.html

[Misled]

The squirrel doesn't care which camera it is either.

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q68/jllndmb/DSC_1467.jpg

[Recty]

It's weird seeing all your guys squirrels that dont have all the extra hair... your pansy squirrels all look like they would die if they saw frost ;)

Ours have all these extra tuffs and long hair, yours look almost naked.

[IPT]

Your squirrels seem smaller than the ones around here. They will raid a bird feeder too. Darn near impossible to keep them out.

Less body to have to keep warm. Sort of like an Arctic fox. Those things are just tiny!

[IPT]

he wasn't the first, he won't be the last, but he sure was a cute little dude!

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk319/IPTalaska/5-7.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk319/IPTalaska/6-3.jpg

[keith20]

Your squirrels are alot smaller than the ones around here.

[TitusvileSurfer]

You Alaskans have such strange looking squirrels. I suppose the ears is what really sets apart the rodents with fancy tails of the far north west with those of the far south east. Ours never go away either, we feed them 2 tall plastic drinking cups of sunflower seeds 365 days a year. I'll have to shoot some soon. *EDIT: with my camera :)

My neighbor 3 doors down does shoot them daily with a pellet gun though :/