Do you want to pose for me?

One more toy jumped into my camera bag this week, a Kenko 1.5x Tele-converter, for use with my new telephoto zoom lens. Adding the teleconverter to my 70-300mm lens gives me a one and a half times boost, allowing me to get closer to the wonderful creatures I encounter without stepping closer and invading their territory.

I headed out seeking birds, and hoping to capture some of those fast moving chipmunks and red squirrels too. I could hear the birds, but most chose to stay hidden. Most, but not the bird posing below, who was scampering across a field, shrieking, following its partner, scurrying. At first I didn't know who this was, but it didn't stay a mystery for too long. (An email from Stephen from Australia pointed me in the right direction, to the plovers page of a bird book.) It appears that my mystery bird is a Killdeer. Here's the description from my bird book:

KILLDEER

The common noisy breeding plover of the farm country. Note the two black breastbands.

Voice: Noisy; a loud insistent kill-deeah, repeated; a plaintive dee-ee (rising). Also a low trill

No chipmunks, no squirrels, but the rabbits were happy to pose. Fun!

I'm having a great time playing with my camera. I hope that the wonder of capturing beautiful but fleeting moments never goes away.