Dawn

This image of a deer sums up why I don't think the Gardepro T5CF #14 is a good general purpose camera. It was taken at 4:50 am today, and the camera does not do well in that twilight zone when there is too much light for the IR flash. That's why I'm getting another Browning. And also, here is this morning's flicker, snapped at 6:14 am. The position of the birdbath puts it behind a bush as the sun comes up. If I move it 20 feet to the right it would catch the morning light, but I wonder how the flicker would react to that. And then it would be behind the bush in the evening light. I could move it forward into the lawn, but I would have to move it back onto the rocks every Monday for the mowing crew. So it will probably stay where it is.

With the DSLR brought to bear for the autofocus test (see next post), the Gardepro has been moved over to the nearby rock just below the bird feeder. Rather than move the spike, I'm using another gadget I've had for a long time but haven't used much, a t-post attachment. I don't want to drive a giant t-post into the ground because that would take a long time and would look terrible, but with a wood spacer the gadget does attach to a tomato pole. I scattered a couple of sunflower seeds on top of the rock, which may attract something if the wind doesn't blow them away. I have seen the flicker on that rock, but not as often as at the birdbath.

Contrary to rumor, I am not changing the name of the blog to "Flickercam Central." But over the past nine days (it seems like longer), the flicker has been very reliable in showing up at the birdbath at least three times a day to get a drink.

One other little note. I'm not 100% sure, but I think there is a thin film of ice on the bath in the deer image. I don't know what the low was last night but the forecast was 35, and it is definitely chilly this morning. It is June 19 and the eastern part of the country is sweltering under a heat wave. Not us.