in the past week or so, i've had a squirrel that lounges on my front porch and sidewalk this very same way. multiple times i've had to look very closely and/or make a loud noise to make sure he is alive. squirrels these days keep getting more and more lazy.

Yeah, I think it's a musician squirrel. ;-)

He's not even hangin on with his claws! He's just kind of stuck there.

What fun!

That's an excellent photograph, by the way. Well composed, good depth of field, lots of character.

Brian, thanks...although I wasn't completely happy with it as it was the tiniest bit blurred. That big zoom lens is really too heavy to handle easily without a tripod at slower shutter speeds.

I watched the squirrel for several minutes, and he would sort of slide down the tree limb, like he was scratching his belly, and then just lay there with his feet dangling. I suspect he'd have stayed even longer if I hadn't annoyed him with my prying camera.

I love the photo also...great color contrast, great background (I like the blurriness) and of course, an adorable pose! ;-)

Gwynne, thanks. That's the advantage of having a fast lens. You can open up the aperture to get that shallow depth of field (blurry background) and still have the shutter fast enough to freeze the action. Not that this squirrel was providing a lot of action. ;-)

Oh, and the blurriness I was complaining about was not the background (which I like) but the squirrel itself. The blurred background comes from the camera setting; the blurred subject comes from the camera operator.

Is the squirrel blurred? I couldn't tell. Love the texture of the tail and the bark against the green of the background. What a great shot!

You could work for Reuters...

Seriously, that's just a PhotoShop job on the previous squirrel photo, no? :-)

Yeah, I wish I was that good with Photoshop...I'd have a lucrative career in politics!

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