Blog Posts - Liz Tyner

Fawn Memories

1/24/2021

Most countryside changes in the spring and summer are obvious, but you'll never see some of them just by driving along the road. In fact, seeing fawn can be difficult in a wooded area even when they're only a few yards from your house..

Before I moved to my current acreage, the trees were just woods and the occasional critter I saw pleased me. I never knew how many animals truly roamed until I moved near a pond.

For me, perhaps the most fascinating are the small deer.

Even while I'm striving to keep an eye open for them in the springtime, I usually don't see any until they've doubled or tripled in size from their birth. I would say in humans, it would be equal to discovering them at about five years old.

But even when they're in the pre-teen or teen size, I'm happy to see them. The one following was born in the spring, and I took the picture in September.

By the time December rolls around, they're getting difficult to distinguish from the older deer.

Then the next spring, they may be having little ones of their own.

Unless they have a strong distinguishing characteristic, it becomes difficult to keep up with them from year to year.

But it's a good guess to assume that the buck you see in the woods in the winter started out as the little guy having fun in the springtime.

Photos from my collection.

Explaining Enough or Not Enough

1/18/2021

Worried about describing too much in a book? Well, if you're worried about it, chances are you might be explaining too much.

You're writing a mental video...as well as a book.

The reader needs to see what is going on.

Sure you need to add a little explanation here and there. Usually, it's called backstory. With that, and character's thoughts and actions, depth is created.

But, would you rather have someone tell you about the movie they saw, or would your rather see it yourself?

The reader is the same way. Create the videos for them with your words.

How much is too much and how much is too little?

It's hard to say without reading the story. I was in a writing class once and the teacher said everyone needed to cut the extra explanations they were using in their stories. Except one person needed to add more. That was me.

But the difference in my writing and the others' stories could have been because I'd written poetry and non-fiction pieces for publication. I'd already learned to pare my writing way back, but not how to bring it into book length.

Thriving Bald Eagles in My Area

1/1/2021

At one time, wild bald eagles were never seen in the area where I live. Never. Their numbers had declined throughout the USA.

The thought was that a pesticide ingested through eating other critters which had also eaten the poison, was causing them to lay eggs with too thin shells.

This has been questioned..

And the suggestion was raised that people may have been the ones to hurt the population. I don't think this is up for debate.

Public awareness changed the path of their decline, however.

In the USA, they've now been moved from the category of Endangered Species to Protected Species, and they're thriving in my area.

For the first time ever, I've been able to see eagles regularly in wooded areas. I don't think they're thrilled to see me, but they ignore me gracefully. Seriously, if they were as ferocious as they look, I'd not be taking their picture because I'd be cowering from them. They can get angry. I've seen a local video of one of the young ones...maybe one pictured...knocking another eagle for a loop.

From a distance, the young ones look a little more like buzzards.

To put things in perspective, their nests can reach the approximate size of a twin bed.

I don't expect to see any hatchlings because they'll be hidden. That doesn't disappoint me. The youngest ones aren't cute and cuddly.

Coloration changes on the eagles' head as they mature, and around the age of five years, they become the bald eagles we are more used to seeing in photos.

A success story for the eagles, and for the fish they prey on, not so much. But the increased population of eagles meant I was able to see this one flying over me when I was taking a walk outside my house.

Christmas

12/19/2020

Most years I've tried to take photos for Christmas, and many years they've not been especially cheery. I cannot seem to help it.

I spent months waiting for snow, saved an old pair of boots, found a trap, and that's really a Santa hat on my leg. And yes, this is a selfie and it was a COLD day. Ah, the memories.

Photos From My World

11/28/2020

Putting up a hunting blind to use for animal photography is a good way to get pictures. As you approach, it's possible to see the animal you're hoping to capture. I've also stepped out of the blind and scared away animals who were quietly approaching at an angle I couldn't see from the window.

Or I've stepped out of the house and found a fawn in the yard.

And I've looked out my bedroom window and found a doe looking back at me.

I've decided the best way to increase your chances of taking pictures of any animal that you'd like to photograph is to find out where they live and move there.

That's what I did.

Thanksgiving

11/24/2020

Turkeys aren't going to win any beauty contests by conventional standards but I'm so thankful that they occasionally find their way near me.

I'd never seen so many birds until I moved to my current location, and I'm very thankful for the chance to share their space.

Blooming Where You're At

11/7/2020

In the western plains of Oklahoma, you can be driving along and see a gate like you've never seen before. Because, it's one of a kind. Well, one of a kind, but a similar one is across from it.

When you look closer, you see what the gate was made from. An old tractor seat, for instance. A wrench or two. Shears.

Creativity comes in many different forms. Watch for it, and you'll find it in unexpected places.

The Really Wide Web of Spiders

10/23/2020

Usually, I'm grumbling at spider webs because it seems like a majority of them are hard to see, face level, and in front of the trail I'm traipsing on. But, the symmetry of the spider web impressed me. Then I noticed the other ones and realized that not every web fits every situation.

The little crab spider doesn't make a web, but hides.

It’s up to us to find the environment that fits.

Instructions: Watch For Them

10/10/2020

Instructions can keep a person from getting hurt. The caution sign above didn't keep me from getting a tiny bump because the opening was truly low and I didn't kneel quite enough.

Following the sign instructing me not to climb on rocks was easy.

Following the instructions not to climb on the stagecoach was a little more difficult.

The photos were taken from my visit to the National Cowboy and Western History Museum in Oklahoma.

Finding Foxes

9/18/2020

Although foxes are native to the area where I live, I'd never seen one when I was a child.

They have a mystique about them, though, and they're thought to be cunning. I can believe that because they're very good at staying out of human sight.

One day I heard a barking "yip" and assumed I heard a dog bark. Seconds later, a fox ran across the field in front of me.

Photo of the two foxes taken at the zoo. The other was taken while looking out a window in my house.