Furred, Feathered, and Local

Well, I was wrong about the bears. Not all of them have gone into winter quarters. Fortunately, this one is in Shenandoah National Park, not in my neighborhood. I've already put up bird feeders and a bear will take them down and destroy them! (I've had it happen.)

When I first spotted this guy, he was standing beside Skyline Drive, out in the open and looking perfect. But of course he went into the woods as I pulled over and turned on my camera.

I'm getting used to missing the best shots of bears. They are shy of humans, and it's just as well since they can be dangerous. The best shot that got away was a bear we saw in the fog on Skyline Drive. It was walking on a stone wall, and since the fog (actually a cloud) was thick, it appeared to us suddenly, like something magical. It would have been dangerous to stop to take a picture because visibility was only about 20 feet and there was no place to pull over, so getting rear-ended by another car was likely.

A squirrel is much easier to photograph. I took this pair of squirrel pictures through a window.

This spotted bird looked both familiar and strange to me. A friend pointed out that it's a starling; not the dark kind that I usually see but a juvenile, which is lighter in color.

I don't know what the bird in a tree is. It was across the yard and even zoomed and cropped, I can't see much detail.

And then there's this chicken! It showed up at our neighborhood entrance, hanging out with the ducks.

Here he looks like he belongs with the muscovy duck (far right), but of course they aren't related. Our muscovies are wild birds, probably descended from some farmer's flock. I think the chicken walked over from a nearby farm, or perhaps from a neighbor's backyard chickens. Sometimes we hear crowing, so I know they are kept nearby.

Sharing with Saturday's Critters and The Bird D'Pot.