Baby Face ...

 “Baby face,

 you’ve got the cutest little baby face …”

           ~ “Baby Face”

            ~ popular Tin Pan Alley jazz song

        ~music by Harry Akst, lyrics by Benny Davis

                  ~ 1926

     ~ The first recording was by Jan Garber and his Orchestra, featuring lyricist Benny Davis singing the chorus only. The record was a number one hit in 1926.

      ~ The wonderful Bobby Darin, Bing Crosby, Mitch Miller & Little Richard are among the many artists who have recorded the song.

 

 A precious white-tailed deer fawn – approximately one to three weeks old and a honey of a summer sight – has the cutest little baby face!

 I spotted this sweetie nestled in the grass under July’s evening sun at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania, while its mama doe and other deer grazed nearby.

Great Horned Owl At Dusk ...

 

“If we cannot sing of faith and triumph, we will sing our despair. We will be that kind of bird. There are day owls, and there are night owls, and each is beautiful and even musical while about its business.”

                  ~ Henry David Thoreau

                           ~ 1817 ~ 1862

What a hoot!

A Great Horned Owl, the first I’ve ever captured in a photo, is perched in a tree as a summer dusk wraps around Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania, on a July evening.

It is known for its prominent ear tufts (“horns”). These are not ears, but rather tufts of feathers on the head – plumicrons - used for communication and camouflage, helping them blend into tree bark.  The ears are located on the sides of its head, directly behind their eyes, hidden under their feathers. Their large, forward-facing bright yellow eyes provide incredible night vision for hunting, as these raptors are nocturnal predators. They achieve near silent flight thanks to specialized feathers that disrupt and absorb aerodynamic noise. 

 “Hoot Owl” is a common nickname.

Try A Little Tenderness ...

 “… But it’s all so easy …

Just try a little tenderness …”

      ~ “Try a Little Tenderness”

            ~ 1932

       ~ song by the Ray Noble Orchestra

        ~ Renditions include those by Bing Crosby,  Frank Sinatra & Otis Redding 

  I spotted a honey of a summer sight ~ two beautiful white-tailed deer fawns, twice the joy of seeing just one! ~ sharing a tender moment as they enjoy their first summer on an early July evening along the Ironton Rail Trail, which loops more than nine miles through Whitehall Township, the Borough of Coplay and North Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania.

 The Ironton Railroad was a shortline railroad in Lehigh County. Originally built in 1861 to haul iron ore and limestone to blast furnaces along the Lehigh River, traffic later shifted to carrying Portland Cement when local iron mining declined in the early 20^th century. Much of the railroad had already been abandoned when it became part of Conrail in 1976, and the last of its trackage was removed in 1984.

In 1996, Whitehall Township purchased 9.2 miles of the right-of-way from Conrail, transforming it into the Ironton Rail Trail.

Spring Watch Of The Cooper's Hawk ...

 

“Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience.”

            ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

                 ~ 1803 ~ 1882

Basking in the evening sun, a Cooper’s Hawk peers from a high perch, gazing over the spring landscape in search of prey as sunset beckons in early April at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

The Apple Of Their Eyes ...

“You are the sunshine of my life

That’s why I’ll always be around

You are the apple of my eye,

Forever you’ll be in my heart …”

     ~ “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”

                         ~ Stevie Wonder

                     ~1974

My favorite white-tailed deer button buck – Buttons, as I call him, at left, – meets his apple at the same moment as his mama doe in mid-January at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania, a site to warm the heart on a winter’s evening.

I began photographing Buttons as a precious white-spotted fawn, then a sweet button buck and then a beautiful yearling until he migrated away in January 2020. Along the way I tossed him many apples, which he loved eating. It’s a true joy and blessing to me personally and as a photographer to have watched this white-tailed deer grow.