This is not a new subject matter for me, your humble photography narrator. Not by a long shot, but it has been a while since I’ve encountered this particular gem of a let down…
You know what this is?
It's a tree
YES!
It is a tree.
Good job.
But do you know what makes this particular tree special?
No?
Well let me tell you…
This morning I was enjoying my breakfast in the t.v. room. I chanced to look out the sliding glass door towards this very tree and what did I see, but two juvenile squirrels playing. I don’t know if it was simply play or courting or what, but it was very, very cute. They would scamper around the tree and pounce upon each other just like kittens do. One or the other would often wind up upside down on the grass while it’s paws playfully coaxed the other to attack. They raced around the tree, up its base a bit… back and forth.
It was one of those moments which would melt the heart of the most jaded soul alive.
And so I watched them for about four or five minutes before I realized I should get up off my ass and grab my camera, which was at the time residing in my car. I put down my glass of milk, raced to the garage, grabbed the camera and began making settings adjustments on the way back to the television room. Upon completion of my task I reached for the handle to the sliding glass door so that I didn’t have to shoot through it when I noticed the squirrels… were… gone.
Shit.
I myself wasn’t gone but maybe 30-seconds and in that particular span of time the lovely squirrels had decided enough was enough and taken off for other squirrelly pursuits.
Some days I hate being the owner of a camera.
Forkboy's Photographic Travails 
Darn! I hate that you missed them.
Not sure if this is the right time and place to tell you but a few years back I got very lucky and was able to capture a few shots of two toddler squirrels (yes, toddlers). Their mom was in a tree about 50 feet away repairing her nest. We’d had some bad weather and I guess the wind messed up her nest a bit. Before she started the repairs, she brought the toddlers over to a very large holly bush. I saw what she was doing and ran inside for my camera. I got real lucky that day!
I was over at flickr earlier, the shots of the blue jays and Abbie are wonderful! Great job on them all.
For every 1 time I get the shot there are 10o times when the bird flies off, the deer ducks behind a bush, the wind blows the wildflower, the cloud hides the sun…Sometimes I feel persecuted.
I suppose had I not been so focused on breakfast I might have gotten off my butt more quickly, grabbed the camera, etc. Live and learn though.
Thanks Tamela. I’ve had decent luck with the squirrels and blue jays this year, but that’s in part because I’ve decided it’s alright to photograph them in their semi-captive nature as they come round for breakfast each day.
No doubt you’re right Kym. All folks shooting nature run into this problem, but I felt particularly jaded seeing how it was likely mostly my fault for not having gotten moving more quickly. My friends and I used to have a saying, “Nature conspires against us.” I never knew how true that would be when I started photographing nature!