Georgia – We made it to Georgia. Some road construction along the way really shows how much clay they have in this part of the country. Amazing how the world is made up of so many soil types and landscapes that go with them.
I heard a comic talking about the earth, something like this below.
Okay, folks, let’s take a moment to appreciate just how hilariously absurd our lives are! Here we are, trudging through our daily grind—stuck in traffic, scrolling through cat memes, and obsessing over whether we should order pizza or sushi for dinner. Meanwhile, we’re standing on a giant spinning rock, hurtling through the cosmos at a dizzying 67,000 miles per hour!
Seriously, 67,000 miles per hour! That’s faster than your last attempt to get out of a family dinner! And we’re doing all this while orbiting a massive ball of fire that’s about 93 million miles away. I mean, come on, talk about a cosmic game of dodgeball!
Free Overnight Parking – I keep certain places marked on my maps so I can find them easy if I ever need to. This is one of those spots.
A casino in Alabama with free parking for RVs. It is well lit and security cameras everywhere. A good place to stop when you need to take a break.
We got there just before sunset and as you can see, the hotel part of the casino is all glass. I looked out our window and the building was lit up like a giant outdoor movie screen. So I had to go out and snap a couple of photos.
Than the moon was rising over the building, I only used the camera on the phone, so this is the best it could do.
We had a good nights sleep and hit the road the next morning.
Some Fall Colors , We left a little earlier than usual this year. So we did not get to see much for fall colors. As we travel south, it seems like things are just turning brown. It is very dry through out the mid west.
The winding path through the woods is shrouded in an enchanting mystery, where sunlight dances through the leaves, casting playful shadows on the forest floor.
As you follow the path, the air thickens with the scent of pine and earth, and the world outside fades away.
November in Mississippi – The word “Mississippi” comes from the Ojibwe (Chippewa) word “misi-ziibi,” which means “great river.” It reflects the significance of the Mississippi River to the Native American tribes in the region. The name was adopted by French explorers in the 17th century and has remained ever since
The photos capture the serene backwaters of a campground we visited, accessible by a winding trail. The grass here is as vibrantly green as it appears in the images.
Just a Little Hiccup – Meaning as one travels the highways, one can meet up with debris falling from other vehicles. Things that can hit your vehicles windows and possibly creating chips in the glass.
We have had a few chips in the big RV window over the years. Chips that can be easily fixed by trained technicians.
But, not this one. I am not sure what hit us, but it was big and loud. I know I jumped when the window cracked. It was a big truck of some kind that went past us and then BAM. A nice fish eye in the window of the RV.
Come to find out, not many people like to replace RV windows these days. Especially when traveling. We were not able to find someone to fix the glass until we get down to Georgia. We hoped the glass wouldn’t crack more as we traveled on all the bumpy roads before then.
Husband did some research. He found out that putting super glue over the area on the outside might help keep it from getting worse. So he did that.
We made it to Georgia with no further damage.
Thanks to the internet, we found a team of guys that have their own business and all they do is replace windshields on RV and Semi Trucks.
Great guys and they did a fantastic job. It was a hard job, they said this glass weighed over 200 lbs. So they needed 3 to set the window in place. It takes about a week to cure and they did it right on site where we were camping.
So I put the cat in the bathroom and sat outside with the dogs and watched them do their thing. I will be keeping their phone number just in case.
Leaving Iowa for the Winter – I do love being in Iowa, the farm land, family and the wonderful people we always meet in Iowa. I am proud to call it my home state, where I grew up and went to high school.
Bridge Across the Cedar River – One of my favorite spots to visit in a small town in Iowa. This is a walking bridge for people to cross the river. Makes for a great landscape photo.
Birds – Starting to see some birds other than the blue jays from home.
First the Double Crested Cormorant known for those striking blue eyes. One of these days I would like to get a close up photo of this birds eye. So unique.
The Little Killdeer bird. Always fun to see in the spring time.
But very fast birds, it was very hard to get a shot of this one flying.
This photo below was from last spring, just cute as is. Two goslings.
Reflections of Divine Guidance -A Journey Through Creation
The Earth from a Drone
In this image, one might see the heavens and the earth as they coexist, reminiscent of Genesis 1:1-2, where God created the heavens and the earth. The vastness of space above symbolizes God’s divine realm, while the earth represents His creation.
Just as the drone captures a broader perspective, so too does Scripture remind us that God’s ways are higher than our ways, inviting us to consider the divine plan that spans beyond our immediate view.
Sunlight and Mist
This scene evokes Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” The mist represents the uncertainties of life, with the trees—akin to lost souls—yearning for direction.
Yet, the penetrating sunlight symbolizes God’s guidance and grace, illuminating the way through the darkness of doubt and confusion.
The Calm Lake
In the tranquil lake, we find a reflection reminiscent of James 1:23-24. Here, the Word of God serves as a mirror and invites introspection. The still waters echo Psalm 23:2, where God leads us beside still waters, restoring our souls.
This serene setting is a place for contemplation. It encourages us to reflect on our journey and the peace from resting in God’s presence. Philippians 4:7 notes that the peace of God guards our hearts and minds.
These scenes collectively invite us to contemplate our relationship with the Creator, our path in life, and the peace found in His presence.
Cat vs Dog – I have taken lots of pet photos over the years. Including my own pets. My dog Chloee has a thing about the camera, usually when I point it at her she turns around. Or she gets close trying to sniff the camera.
Which I think makes for fun photos, close up of a dogs nose.
But, cats can be just as funny at times. I took this photo below with a wide angle lens on a phone camera. It made her ear closest to the camera look cartoonist big.
Kit Kit enjoying the outdoors video below or click HERE
So then I took some photo up close to the cats fur. Quite the different colors when you look real close.
I am guessing it is the oils in the fur and the light shinning on it.
After pestering my cat with taking her photo over and over. She then gives me this look telling me that is enough. 🙂
Oh but it is never enough for me. 🙂 there will be more.
Glowing Eyes Cat Digital Art by Sandra J’s Photography
Kit Kit the Cat – when I don’t have a lot of things to photograph, my cat gets her picture taken a lot. I mean a lot. Mainly because she has so much more patience than the dogs. She will sit perfectly still, which makes for much better photos.
When the temperature starts to drop. I find her sitting like this. She wraps her tail around her little paws trying to keep them warm.
A cats tail seems to have a mind of its own and is quite flexible compared to a dogs.
Kit Kit and Red Light Game Video below or click HERE
Life often teaches us in the most unexpected ways, and sometimes, it takes the simplest moments to reveal profound truths. Recently, I experienced a beautiful metaphor for resilience and grace. I want to share this lesson from a little seed I planted and then forgot.
A few months ago, I planted a few sunflower seeds. I nurtured it for a while, watering and tending to it with hope and excitement. But as time went on, I grew disheartened. The seed showed no signs of life, and eventually, my attention waned. I stopped watering it, convinced that it had failed. I gave up on it completely.
Imagine my surprise when I returned to the garden weeks later. There, midst the weeds and the remnants of my neglect, stood a stunning flower, vibrant and full of life. The colors were brilliant, and its presence was nothing short of miraculous. How could something I had abandoned flourish in my absence?
In that moment, I couldn’t help but reflect on how similar this is to our own lives and faith journeys. We often plant seeds of hope, love, and dreams. However, we sometimes see them wither due to doubt. Despair or the daily grind can also cause them to wither.
We find ourselves overwhelmed, wondering if anything we’ve nurtured will ever bloom. Just like my neglected seed, we feel like our efforts have gone unnoticed, forgotten in the chaos of life.
This experience with the flower taught me a powerful truth. Even when we give up, God is still at work. There are times we feel our prayers are unanswered. We believe our efforts are fruitless. But, like that seed, growth often occurs beneath the surface. It remains unseen and unfelt.
God’s timing is perfect, and His plans are often beyond our comprehension. My flower emerged when I least expected it. Similarly, we find that our moments of struggle and doubt can lead to unexpected beauty. Sometimes, what seems like an end is merely a pause, allowing God to work in ways we can’t imagine.
As Dawn Breaks, the world begins to stir. From the vantage point of an old bridge, the river below lays perfectly still, a sheet of glass reflecting the sky above.
The water is a mirror, capturing fluffy clouds drifting lazily across the horizon. It’s a moment where time seems to pause, inviting deep breaths and quiet contemplation.
Standing on the bridge, the view is breathtaking. The river winds gracefully through the landscape, flanked by trees adorned in the vibrant greens of late summer.
The silence is soothing. It is broken only by the occasional rustle of a breeze. There is also the soft splash of a fish breaking the surface.
In this serene setting, worries drift away like the clouds above. Here, on this bridge, amidst the stillness, one can find clarity and tranquility. It’s a perfect morning, a fleeting glimpse of nature’s serenity, reminding us of the beauty that exists in quiet moments.
First Snow Up North, I wrote on my calendar that the first snow in 2023 was in November. But it isn’t anything that is going to collect on the ground, yet.
John Deere the company would not have been possible without the determination of John Deere the man. From the time he created the first steel plow in 1837, Deere worked hard. He was committed to helping farmers handle their daily tasks with ease.
Demand for these plows increased. Deere moved the business from Grand Detour to Moline, IL in 1848. He chose this new location due to the power and transportation benefits it offered.
Iowa isn’t just farmland, it is made up of beautiful rolling hills and lots of state parks and lakes.
Harvesting Beans in Iowa. Harvest was in full swing when we were in Iowa, it is hard to get a photo of combines in the field without some windmills in the background.
Husband has a quick mind for coming up with funny statements. He saw this photo and said, ” So that is how they dry beans in Iowa.” Get it, the big turbines, they are spinning and drying the bean fields. :0 Ha, Love his sense of humor.
I took these photos with a cell phone camera, so the windmills look kind of funny when the camera does not have a fast enough shutter speed.
Standard Long Hair Collie. Such a beautiful and unique looking dog. This dog is one of the smartest dogs I have been around. Very good dog around the family and he actually won grand champion at the dog show that my nieces daughter took him to.
Below is a photo of how much he has changed since his puppy picture from last year.
Beautiful Morning at one of the campgrounds as we head south. It is very dry here in Iowa, as most areas in the mid-west. Harvest season is in full motion. The combines are out everywhere. They are working on the bean fields first and then moving to the corn fields.
Finally some cool nights this month, long time coming I say. I like the evenings when they are in the 50’s.
Last of the Summer Flowers full of color. Bees and hummingbirds were enjoying them all month, but we have had a couple of frost already. So they are about done now.
Thanks to my husband, I had the best gardening year ever. Below is a photo of my old garden area.
This summer he built this for me. So much easier to work in and keep.
Who knew dill plants can grow as tall as corn. When I finally pulled them out they were almost 6 feet long.
This plant below is Eggplant. I have never grown them before. It is very interesting to watch this plant grow. But I have to start them much earlier in the season. They never produced completely because they take over 100 days to mature. There are dozens of fruit on each plant as well. Next year I will try again.
Overall it was a very productive garden. We were picking vegetables everyday, adding them to our meals. Such a delight to grow your own food. Can’t wait until spring.
We Learn From Nature. Look at this amazing dragon fly up close.
Awhile ago I mentioned something interesting. Engineers observed birds in flight to figure out the design of airplanes. Feathers on bird wings have different purposes that help them land and take off.
Well, I am going out on a limb here. I am thinking they may have gotten the design of pilots helmets from these little guys. Look at the next few photos and you will see what I mean. As I keep zooming in closer to the eyes of this one.
On pine tree needles, dew drops lie, In soft, glistening light beneath the sky. Each pearl of dawn, so pure and bright, Reflects the grace of morning light.
In their shimmer, a silent prayer, A testament to love and care. A whisper of our Savior’s grace, In nature’s touch, we see His face.
Graceful Pelican Landing A Mesmerizing Display of Nature’s Precision
Witnessing a white pelican land on water is a mesmerizing spectacle of nature’s artistry and precision. As the pelican descends, its majestic wings spread wide, creating a grand, sweeping arc against the sky. The powerful beats of its wings gradually soften, guiding the bird into a graceful and controlled descent
The air currents interact with the pelican’s wings. This creates a delicate balance. It allows the bird to approach the water with both elegance and precision.
The pelican in the water, glances to its right, clearly uncertain about the landing abilities of the other bird.
As the pelican touches down, the air currents from its landing ruffle the feathers of the second pelican nearby.
This graceful landing is marked by the pelican’s aerodynamic glide. It skillfully uses its feet as natural skis. This is a testament to the remarkable interplay of power and poise in nature.
It’s a moment where every element—from the sweeping wingspan to the delicate touch on the water—comes together. It results in a harmonious show of beauty and precision.
The white pelican is a majestic marvel of nature, embodying a blend of grace, power, and beauty in its wingspan. As it spreads its wings, the sheer expanse is nothing short of breathtaking. With a wingspan that can reach up to nine feet, the white pelican commands the sky. Its presence is almost regal.
The beauty of the white pelican’s wingspan is remarkable. The contrast of its pristine white feathers against the vast sky accentuates this beauty even more.
As sunlight filters through the feathers, they can shimmer with a soft, iridescent glow. When the pelican soars, it casts a striking silhouette against the horizon. Its wings form a dramatic, sweeping arc. This captures the eye.
Cooper’s Hawk – here it is. A small hawk, but he can move. He was chasing the blue jays in and out of the trees so fast. It was hard to get a photo of it.
He would chase one and then it would escape through the trees. It would wait for one to move and at it again.
The blue jays are just as fast and can zip in and out of the tree branches as well.
I never did see the hawk catch one bird. I did see the blue jays chase it off many times. But it would come back a few days later and try again.
Nature taking its course. Oh, and when the blue jays are warning everyone around that the hawk is here. All the bird species take cover. The chickadees stay hidden until the coast is clear.
Little Known Fact about the Blue Jays, or maybe others do know this about this colorful bird.
They work together when danger is close by. I have heard others say that blue jays are a pest. Mainly because they kind of hog the bird feeders. Well, they do that, yes. I have seen them, but other birds can be pushy as well, like the grackles and morning doves.
I saw for the first time a Coopers Hawk hanging around my bird feeders this year. It just doesn’t seem right that a bird will eat another bird. Coopers hawks do just that.
We knew when the hawk was in the area because all the blue jays give out warning calls. All of a sudden the hawk is flying after one, as the blue jay gets away. All the blue jays start chasing the hawk.
I will have photos of that tomorrow. I was pretty impressed how these blue jays stuck together to try and chase it off. More tomorrow.
There are 4 species of nuthatches found in North America. They are the red-breasted nuthatch, the white-breasted nuthatch, the brown-headed nuthatch, and the pygmy nuthatch.
While they have distinct physical features, these tree-climbing birds share habitat, food, nesting, and foraging behaviors in common.
I photographed two of them this fall here at my place. The white breasted and the red one.
Plus I included some more Chickadee photos. I can’t resist taking their photos when they practically come right up to me.
5 Ds of Dodge Ball – Dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge
These blue jays have the moves of the old Dodge Ball Game. Do you remember that game. I do, we played it in gym class. I don’t think they play that one anymore.
I just bought that old movie Dodge Ball, it is a classic for me.
Go Pro Photos. I was experimenting with the go pro camera at my bird feeding table last week. I normally just use the camera for videos. But I thought I would try the photo menus and see what happens.
It is not bad if the subject isn’t moving to much. Mainly because you can not control the shutter speed when you have the camera running on auto.
There is a little blur with wing movement, which I knew would happen. A fun little experiment though.
The Horse Show. My favorite class to watch at horse shows is the halter class. Where they mostly just show the composition of the horse compared to the others in the class.
The judge is in the pink shirt heading over to this 4 H girl showing her horse. I think her horse has done this a few times. Its eyes are closed, taking a nap I believe. 🙂
This next one has a bit more energy. But the girl has no problem with her horse and lets him warm up a bit before the class.
Short video below of the horse and riders at the beginning of the show carrying the flags.
Glowing Spots – I love this shot, as if this fawns white fur is glowing in the morning light. The sun is just coming up over the trees, and with a faster shutter speed. The white really stands out as the background is darker.
Discovering the New Bird Sanctuary near Paducah KN. I just looked at the map and saw a green area not far from us. So we took a drive to see what it was.
This area had a nice size man made lake with a road that you can drive all around it. Plenty of habitat for a lot of birds and people out fishing on the lake as well.
We discovered this new bird walking along the shore line.
Dozens of Egrets in the trees and on land. I will definitely be visiting this park again to see more birds.
Horses at the Fair. I have a couple more photos to share. They are from my visit to the small town fair in Iowa. I went to the fair recently.
I showed horses in my younger days. It was so much fun getting together with other like-minded people. We enjoyed a day or two of hanging around with some very beautiful horses.
They spent some time working on this horses mane below. Lots of rubber bands. Very pretty.
Just One Shot is all I get of these sand hill cranes. They landed in the field next to our place. You can hear them easily in the mornings, as they make their bird calls.
This particular morning they flew right over my head and landed the next field over. I went out there to get a photo of them and only snapped this one before they took off. They were quite far away as well.
I never realized they have red eyes like the black swans until I looked at this photo.
Next Generation. I am so excited, my oldest niece is interested in photography. I have been helping her learn how to use a DSLR camera and the camera on her phone. But she wants to learn with a camera which is so exciting to me.
I love talking photography and teaching her everything I know. Photography is fun and gets you to slow down a bit. It helps you look at everything around you more closely.
Even though I live 8 hours away from her, with today’s technology, she sends me photos that she takes. I give her advice on how to change the composition to make an eye catching photo. She likes to enter her photos into the fair in her town.
Take for example this photo below, She took this with her phone and sent it to me. As she was standing there by the river and it was getting close to sunset.
So I had just a couple of suggestions for her. First there is too much in the foreground with that cement pad there. I can tell the river curves to the left in front of her. The sun is dropping off to the right in the background.
I text her back. I said to go right down to the edge of the river. She needed to turn her cell phone upside down so that the camera was right at the water’s edge. Then put the camera on its widest angle, which is .6 with a Samsung. She said ok and give her a minute and she will try it.
This is what she sent me next. So much better. I love the clouds reflecting in the water and the trees on both sides. By the time she took the shot, the sun was adding a bit of color.
It looks like she is in the water and the viewer has a leading line to look down the river.
I edited it just a bit to straighten up the horizon and sent it back. Amazing that she and I can do this all through texting.
I gave her my old DSLR bridge camera that she will learn from. We will be working with that this fall when I get down there.
I took this photo on drift wood beach in Georgia, An example of using a wide angle lens. With the right landscape, I love how it elongates the scene. It draws the eye down to that tree in the middle of the shot.
When They Look right at you. I love shots like this. When it looks like I have made eye contact with the animals I photograph. As if the animal is posing just for the shot.
I also love the fact that this horses main is framing its face. Definitely going into my favorite folder and I am printing this one.
This one is just the opposite, they are all looking at something down the street. 🙂 Well, except for two who look like they are napping.
Blue Top Hat. Molting seems to be done with the blue jays. They have their crown of blue feathers back. There are always plenty of them to photograph this time of year.
I took this video below with my phone camera through a window. It is not the clearest video. I saw mother and fawn playing in a water puddle out in the yard.
On The Road Again. That is all for Paducah Kentucky, I am sure we will be back there. I do have a couple of new spots we are going to camp at this winter. So much to see, nature is calling.
The Old 1518. A Mikado steam engine, the last “Iron Horse” used by the I.C.R.R., serves as a memorial to the passage of the Steam Age.
Located on Water Street in Historic Downtown, the memorial and marker are dedicated to the Illinois Central Railroad Company. They emphasize the importance of the railroad to Paducah’s history and commerce.
I am truly fascinated with the old steam locomotives. The power of them, the sound and the engineering itself.
There is one locomotive that I would love to see one day, it is the Big Boy 4014. It does tour the states, the last couple of years it sat still during the covid. But this year it is back on tour.
I found the schedule. It is going through Iowa. I think it is next week. I just can’t make it there right now.
A Summer’s Warmth. Gently recedes, autumn steps in with its own distinct charm. It drapes the world in a stunning tapestry of golden hues.
There’s a certain magic in this season. Nature’s palette shifts from the vibrant greens of summer to a more mellow, sunlit symphony of golds, ambers, and ochres.
The leaves have started to turn in my neck of the woods.
CN’s Autonomous Track Inspection. CN’s ATIP is a fleet of fully automated rail cars. They use wireless communications to test and check real-time geometric track measurements. They also conduct track asset condition assessments without interrupting normal railroad operations.
With its ATIP cars powered by solar panels and a generator, CN achieves 24/7/365 track inspections. The cars travel at revenue service track speed. These completely self-sustaining and autonomous test platforms make it possible.
I had no idea what this train car was until I looked it up. We were sitting at a park and I looked up and it was crossing this bridge. I just assumed it was a passenger rail car but I noticed it did not have an engine.
Exploring the National Quilt Museum. A Visual Delight
Well, I never knew there was a museum for quilts. But a museum it should be because the quilts were amazing. I have never seen anything like them.
This museum is in Paducah Kentucky. Each quilt has a card next to it with a bar code. You can scan it and read all about the making of the quilt. You can see how long it took to make and where it was from.
This one below is my favorite quilt, the picture does not do it justice. It has hundreds of sequence on it that just sparkle no matter what angle you view the quilt at.
I am not a quilt maker, I do not have the patience for that at all. I truly enjoyed looking at these as did my husband. Amazing what people can make.
Murals Depicting Real Time. The painter picked photographs to paint on the wall of actual scenes from back in the day in Paducah Kentucky. You get to walk along the wall and see how the area changed from his murals.
Days Are Getting Shorter – As I sit at my computer on this serene early morning, I watch the daylight gradually stretch its arrival, casting a gentle glow through my window. I wait patiently, eager to see the birds make their appearance at the feeders.
The blue jays have arrived, bringing their young along to learn the art of foraging. The fledglings, fluttering around with eagerness, receive gentle guidance from their parents as they practice eating on their own.
I have been taking photos of these colorful birds, trying to get shots of them in flights to see their colorful feathers.
As most of you have probably heard, AI is here to stay and it is making an impact on our photography world as well.
Yes, I have been dabbling into the art of AI with my photos as I have extra time these days. Exploring this new technology to make greeting cards for the upcoming seasons apon us.
I only use photoshop and they have incorporated a new AI into its program this month. I quite enjoy using it and creating art by using my photos as the generative reference images.
I have two samples below showing the difference between using your own reference photos and using text to image program.
This first photo below I used my blue jay photos to make this wintery greeting card. It does pretty well I think. I also list on all of my work when it is AI generated or not and how I made the piece.
Now this print below is using the text to image system. Where you describe what you want the photo to look like. I do not prefer this type of imagery. But I can see where some folks might like to use this, for creating children’s books or something like that.
There is a place for art using this new technology I believe, it does not replace photography at all, but it is definitely here to stay and being used throughout industries of all kinds, from advertising to creating movies.
Right now I can still tell the difference between AI and Real, but that may change as the software keeps improving.
I believe there will always be a place for genuine photographs because computers can’t replicate the human touch. While technology can imitate creativity, it can never replace the authentic essence of human expression.
Night Sky Phenomena – I cannot explain these photos as all. I took some photos in the middle of last week as I noticed the night sky was clear and the stars were shinning bright.
I set my camera up for time lapse again, I then went inside and fell asleep for a couple of hours. Woke up and went outside to retrieve my camera and put the SD card in my computer and this is what I saw.
There were a few shooting stars mostly going south west. This light appears on the left side of the shot and it is moving NE with the two lights in the middle of the larger lights. All three were moving together north.
It took 10 consecutive shots as the light moved from the tree line and then went out of frame. It held the same shape the entire distance, Now I don’t know what it was, but my imagination says it could be angel wings, which is a hopeful thought for me. These lights are extremely large as well.
I have photographed many stars over the years and have never seen anything like this. I will never know probably what it is, but I know what I would like it to be. 🙂
Perseid Meteor Shower – you may have heard that last weekend was the highlight of the Perseid Meteor shower. I had my camera gear ready and we had a clear night for the even last Sunday.
I got up around 2 am and looked out the window first and noticed the sky seemed kind of bright for viewing stars. I went outside and low and behold the Northern lights were dancing across the sky as well, that is why it was brighter than normal.
Bad news, I saw a few shooting stars but not as many as they said there were because of the northern lights where I live.
This photo below shows the northern lights plus I stacked about 100 photos to show you the star trails. I had my camera set to time lapse photos, 15 sec shutter speed, WB 4500K, ISO 4000, F2.8 with a wide- angle lens.
This next photo, I was able to capture just a bit of the milky way with the northern lights, this photo was taken with a small little Go Pro Camera. Set to time lapse photos.
I did notice that these photos facing SW showed more pink and green lights
Whereas this photo below, I was facing north and the lights were greener and more vibrant. I have a lot of trees lining my driveway, so I had to walk down the driveway, which is very dark and kind of spooky because there are a lot of wolves, bears, fox, and coyotes, oh my, 🙂
So, I walked down the driveway, took 2 photos quick and hurried back to the cabin. But, not one photo with a shooting star. Maybe next time.
She is Sneaky this little fawn, she is just starting to come out of the woods with mom in this first photo, the minute I come out with the camera she high tails it back to the woods.
Everyday she is getting more brave to not run when she sees me, she is curious and mom keeps a close eye on her.
The Infinity Mirror – as the tour guide took us upstairs and by the way, the railing on this staircase is so short. Because people were shorter back then. It was only about 3 ft tall, my husband is 6’3″ and the railing came up just above his knee. The tour guide told us that because a lot of people trip on the stairs being the railing is misleading for support.
A beautiful hallway that holds a remake of the infinity mirror.
Which is 2 mirrors right across from each other so it goes on forever.
So this is it for this tour, if you are ever crossing the border by Paducah Kentucky, make sure to stop at this welcome center. They still have lots of pretty flowers growing all around the home as well. Wonderful place to take a break on your journey.
Some People Returned Items – some of the stolen items were returned when they found out they were restoring this home. A lot of it was also just donated that was not original to the home. But it fit the time period and looks amazing in there now.
There are constant repairs that need to be done, like cracks in the walls and ceilings. But overall they did an amazing job restoring this old place.
Kentucky Rest Area – This week I am going to show you a place that I have wanted to stop at for years and we finally did a few months ago. We drove by it so many times, it is a rest area in Kentucky, probably one of the best rest areas I have ever stopped at.
This unique historical rest area/welcome center is, Whitehaven. It is a Victorian home built in the 1860’s and has quite the story as to how it became a rest area.
This home is steeped in KY history from former Vice President Alben Barkley to many influential figures in the formation of Kentucky’s history.
This mansion was once destined to be destroyed, but was saved by the KY Transportation Cabinet.
The Sly Fox – I photographed this beautiful animal on the gulf coast. I don’t see fox very often, they are around where I live, but never see them during the day. I did catch one on my trail camera last week passing by.
Beautiful animals, have a wonderful weekend.
This is AI’s version of my fox photo painted. I kind of like it. In any of my digital work, I always list it as digital. I am a photographer before being a digital artist. But I always use photos I take to get this look with the help of technology.
Heading Out to Sea – what a job this must be. Staying out on the water for days or weeks. I know I could not do it. I am pretty sure I would get sea sick. I like to boat, but I have never been on really big boats or big waves.
Treasures on the Gulf Coast – The Gulf Coast is a treasure trove of vibrant seascapes, and the shrimp boats there add a special splash of color to the scene.
Picture a cluster of these boats lined up along the dock or gently bobbing on the water, each one a canvas of bold hues. Bright blues, vivid reds, sunny yellows, and deep greens paint a lively mosaic against the backdrop of the shimmering Gulf.
I love seeing the shrimp boats on the water when we visit the coast down south. I photographed these boats at Bayou La Batre in LA when we were there.
A Dazzling Jewel – The male cardinal’s brilliant red plumage is nothing short of breathtaking, resembling a vivid splash of crimson against the soft green foliage backdrop. His striking color radiates with an almost fiery intensity, making him a dazzling jewel amidst the muted tones of his surroundings.
The Eye of a Cat, this is my cat. Kit Kit is her name. I sit at my dinning room table to do all my computer work and this table is right by a nice large window. I like to watch the birds outdoors as I am doing my work.
My cat loves to sit right next to my computer, sometimes looking out the window and if it is a little cooler in the house. She likes to curl up on the transformer box that I use to charge the computer. It is like her own little warming station.
Anyway, on this day she was looking out the window and I was looking at her eyes. An amazing thing to see up close, a cats eye. So I had to take a few photos close up. I had my phone camera right next to her face and she just sat there perfectly still. Liking the attention.
The Storm Clouds Gather, dark and dense, A tumult roars, the heavens tense, Lightning cracks the twilight’s veil, A furious dance, a tempest’s wail.
The sky ignites with electric fire, Each flash a fierce, consuming pyre, Thunder’s voice, a booming cry, Echoes through the bruised night sky.
Yet in the chaos, midst the rage, A fleeting light begins to wage, As torrents drench the world below, A secret promise starts to show.
The storm, though wild, begins to fade, Its fierce embrace now softly swayed, And through the tears of shattered rain, A ribbon forms, a hopeful chain.
Colors break through, soft and bright, A spectral arc against the night, A rainbow blooms, a quiet cheer, A bridge of peace in storm’s austere.
Nature’s Fury: The Dramatic Beauty of Shelf Clouds
Last month brought some stormy weather where I live, two shelf clouds this year so far. They move very fast being pushed by some horrific winds. The clouds roll at you in so many different shapes.
The first one here, it was a big shelf cloud with some cloud movements like nothing I have ever seen. Video Below.
Video Below; or click this title here to see the video on my You Tube Channel, Natures Fury
The Second Shelf cloud storm was more straight lined right across, rolling like pie dough in a tight line. Both with winds and rain that almost made me run back into the house. 🙂
The Old Windmill – In the 18th century, the Great Plains were considered unfit for cultivation. The area was termed the “Great American Desert.” Droughts would follow rainy spells and the sun and wind would dry up surface moisture.
In 1854, Daniel Halladay developed the American-type windmill. It was smaller, less expensive and could be shipped and built easily. Its sails were held into the wind by a weight, which would rise slowing to reduce the area of the sails when the wind was too fast. Traditional cloth covered sails were soon replaced with smaller wooden blades.
These new windmills were ideal for settlers on the plains. They could pump water from great depths at a steady rate. They could shift into the prevailing winds and functioned well in fast and slow winds. And to top it off, they required little maintenance.
You can still find a few of these scattered across the states. Iowa still has a few, I took this photo from the RV window. There is just something nostalgic about these windmills.
I don’t know how many of these old windmills are in Iowa these days.
But it does say there are 6000 of these wind turbines in Iowa alone as of today. The giant thing in the background of the photo below. A big difference in windmills from the old days.
I won’t get into the efficiency of these or all the controversy about them all over the country. I know at this little horse show I went to, I photographed a lot of children with their horses and had to delete a lot of windmills from the background. Which is not that hard to do in photoshop these days.
In Twilight’s Hush, where whispers drift, The storm clouds weave a gentle shift, Like ghosts in realms of azure seas, They float with soft, enigmatic ease.
With edges brushed in shades of grey, They roam the sky in a fleeting ballet, Their wispy tendrils tease the night, An ethereal dance of shadowed light.
They gather slow with sighs of lore, A murmured tale of tempest’s core, Yet in their grace, a calm prevails, An artful play where calmness sails.
No thunder’s roar or lightning’s claim, Just drifting clouds with no ill aim, They kiss the heavens, drift and part, An endless play of storm and heart.
Their fleeting forms in twilight blend, A moment’s breath that does transcend, In wispy trails, their stories told, Of storms unbound and skies unrolled.
Silhouettes and Sunsets – In the quiet of dusk, where day meets night, Silhouettes dance in the fading light, Outlined figures against the golden blaze, A moment suspended in the sun’s last gaze.
Trees stretch their limbs like ink on the sky, Birds soar in patterns, bidding day goodbye, Silhouettes of wings, elegant and free, Caught in the hues of a painted reverie.
And when the night arrives, with stars aglow, Silhouettes fade where memories flow, But in the heart’s canvas, they remain, Silhouettes and sunsets, eternally framed.
Spring Bird Family Vacations – or lets call it the bird resort here at our place. This is the baby update of these 4 birds who have nested around our place.
The Raven is here every year all year. This couple had 2 babies this year. I have been trying to get a photo of all 4 of them together, but not easy to do. The 2 babies follow mom and dad everywhere still wanting to be fed by them. I just love watching how birds take care of their families.
I had mentioned in an earlier post that the Eastern Bluebirds had 4 babies. They have all left the nest and I am really going to miss these because they eat a lot of bugs. One baby somehow landed in a bucket I had outside, I took him over by the bird house and he wondered out of the bucket and than flew off.
I hope they come back next year.
The beautiful Tree Swallows had 4 or 5 babies. It is hard to count these because they fly so fast. They have all left as well. I looked up on the internet to find out where do they go after fledging. It said they usually find a group of their own and all hang out together until they fly south for the winter.
My northern Flicker residence are still here and they had 2 babies as well. I still see them flying around as a family for now.
If I can get any new photos of the kids, I will surely share them with you.
Love of Bird Photography – Some of my favorite shots this summer so far.
Eastern Bluebird on the Fly, update on these birds nesting in my purple martin house. They had 4 babies and I saw one fly out of the bird house with its parent. The other 3 would take turns coming out of the nesting box and sit on the little porch. That is a small space for 4 baby birds so they are all probably about ready to test their wings and fly to a tree.
Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird stopping by the feeder.
Shore bird after a dip in the water
Oh and my favorite, the White Pelican in flight. Nothing I love more than photographing these beautiful birds as they fly right over top of me. It is very hard to hold the camera in a complete vertical position but so worth the efforts. 🙂
Part of the Farm – My niece not only has horses, pigs are a part of the farm during the summer months. Her two children and their cousins show pigs, sheep and rabbits at their local fair. Which we are going to this year.
It is a great way for children to learn how to take care of animals and the importance of feeding and grooming them, even pigs. I don’t know much about pigs, but it is fun to watch the children work with them and take care of them.
They are a very curious animal, I was standing at their fence trying to get a photo and this one kept wanting to get close, looking for more food I reckon.
What Keeps You Busy in the summer months? Well, I love to work in the garden. But as I am getting older, it gets harder to weed the garden and plant it when it is at ground level. I have been reading a lot about raised garden beds. So this is what is going on here.
This photo is my garden from last year. It has to be fenced because of the deer. But imagine this spot covered with grass that is at least 4 ft tall and intertwined into the fence around it in the spring.
It is so discouraging to start a garden when you have to clean up the weeds first.
My husband is an amazing guy, he rototilled the garden for me and it looks ready, but I asked him if he could maybe build me a raised garden area in this spot. I showed him a picture of what I was thinking of, and by the way, he can build anything. I am quite impressed at what all he does for us, from fixing our cars to caring for our home and RV.
So he started with one box, than the dirt had to be moved.
Then he built another box, so on and so forth.
We did not have enough dirt to fill the boxes so husband cut up a bunch of dead trees to fill the boxes up half way.
We put a fence around the garden that the birds love to perch on.
Plus, they are helping me weed the garden I think and picking out bugs.
This is the final project. So much easier on my back when it comes to planting and weeding. The entire thing is planted and now I just have to maintain it. Thank you dear husband. 😉
Horse Art – nothing prettier than a team of draft horses in harness I think. I raised draft horses for years. But never did drive them. I only raised them just because they are beautiful animals. I had one that I rode which was a blast. He weighed in at almost 1 ton. His name was Big Mac.
Draft horses and mules seem to go together. They sometimes use mules to train young horses to lead. This mule below is a cutie, also belonging to my niece.
Whistle the Paint Horse – this is my niece’s horse, I made this first photo for her this year. Showing Whistle when she was just a youngster and how she has grown into a beautiful 3 year old mare this year. She does have one blue eye as well. Beautiful horse indeed.
The paint horse is a very popular breed, thanks to its flashy coloring, genial temperament, and versatility. In fact, the American Paint Horse Association counts around 100,000 members in roughly 40 countries around the world.
The Ruby’s – Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, Ruby, Emerald, Touch of Safire. This tiny bird has all the royal colors from creation. In such a small package, a tiny little heart that keeps this bird going. I am always amazed to watch hummingbirds, how fast they are and to know how many miles they fly a year is a wonderous thing. Truly a gift to witness the strength and tenacity of this living thing.
Portrait of a Hummingbird, the female Ruby throated hummingbird. Beautiful in its smallest form, creation.
A Colorful Surprise this year at home. Eastern Bluebirds have decided to use my bird house this year to raise their babies. I have never seen an eastern bluebird up here. Matter of fact I have only seen a couple of them over the years, so I feel that it is a treat to see them at all.
Their beautiful colors of blue and tan and a wonderful song they have as well.
I put two bird houses up to try and attract Purple Martins. Over the last couple of years, the only birds using this house are tree swallows. They are interesting birds because they will put nesting material in every spot so other birds think this home is occupied.
Come to find out, eastern bluebirds do the same thing. There was a slight battle between the bluebirds and tree swallows. But they seem to come to an agreement. Tree swallows took one house and bluebirds took the other.
This could have been a great shot of the tree swallow in flight, they are super fast birds. Very hard to photograph in flight. This couple had 3 or 4 babies this years. Yesterday they all came out of the house for a fly around the place. I counted 5 or 6 flying around.
Both birds eat lots of bugs, so they are a wonderful addition to our home this year.
Stormy Weather here lately. From Iowa and up where I live. Iowa is known for a lot of stormy weather. Seems like their tornado warnings go off quite often there during the summer months.
The Rose Garden – Not my rose garden, I have never actually planted a rose bush in my flower garden. Not sure why not, I guess I have heard they need a lot of care and I don’t have the greenest of thumbs. 🙂
But I love photographing roses, so many different kinds. Have a wonderful Wednesday.
Feathers From Heaven – In many spiritual traditions, feathers are also associated with the concept of spiritual ascension and the idea of rising above one’s earthly troubles. For example, in some traditions, feathers are thought to represent the connection between the physical world and the spiritual world and are seen as symbols of spiritual growth and enlightenment.
I do pick up feathers when I find them. On this particular day, I actually saw this fall out of the Northern Flicker bird as it flew overhead. Last week I posted a photo of the Flicker flying and showed what pretty yellow feathers it has. Than it flew over me and one landed right in front of me. So I had to pick it up.
Quite extraordinary it is. Such a beautiful yellow.
This is the tree the bird flew to, you can barely see him at the top of the pine tree.
The red on the back of the head is a good way to identify it. I have a pair that nest here in my yard. They also love taking dirt baths in my garden. So fun to watch.
Hanoverian and Thoroughbred – I just love horses. Most of you know I raised many of them in my younger years and now I love photographing them. I actually wasn’t into photography back when I had horses. That is when I should have started though, that would have been fun.
These two beautiful animals are from the Mobile Al mounted police department. I made a portrait of these two and sent it to the department. They loved it and said thank you, plus they told me the horse on the left is a Hanoverian, and his name is Avalon. He retired this year. The one on the right is named Papa and he is a thoroughbred Percheron mix.
They were in a parade where I took these photos. I was watching these two horses and they seemed like buddies and were just hanging out in line with the other horses and their police officers.
When it comes to getting just the right shot, I take a lot of photos waiting for just that right look, and these two gave it to me as they were touching noses in my last photo. That is the one I picked to make the portrait.
As if they have a language all their own, a moment of beauty.
Iowa Storm This Year – The day started out normal, the sun was shining. We
were in Iowa visiting my sister. I am one that checks the weather often on my
phone. There was mention of a storm brewing and heading our way. But that was
not until later in the day. So, in the morning, on this day, my sister and I got in the car and headed
to the grocery store. Wanting to get some errands done before the rain sets in
later in the day. We rounded the corner to turn into the parking lot and my sister stopped and
said, ” Well, there is a tornado”. I looked up and was startled to
see it right in front of us, about 1 mile away. We sat there for a moment and
watched it. I took a quick photo and then it touched down to the ground but did
not stay there long. It was moving quite fast eastward. More like a funnel cloud I think they
call them. Tornado sirens started and we headed back to her house. I quickly
left to go out to the campground where husband and our 2 dogs and cat are to
check on the situation and the weather updates. In the photo below, the first camper is ours, with the jeep behind it. The one next to us is my brothers, who came here from Montana to visit while we were there. A nice little family reunion. The weather said the storm was coming straight out of the south, which means it was going to come right at our rv, being my brother is on the north west side of us. Well, as I was watching the weather, I told my brother I think we might move to the other side of him, because there wasn’t any wind breaks on the south side of us. Thinking his trailer might break some of the winds heading our way. They were predicting 60 mile an hour wind gust starting by 5 pm. The clouds are starting to roll, the weather said the winds had changed and would be coming out of the south east. More behind us where there is a line of trees. So, we decided not to move our RV to the other side of my brother. But, 60 mph winds are a lot when you are in an RV, we have been in 40 mph winds and that was scary. I told my husband I am heading into town to go to my sister’s house who has a basement. He said he was going to stay there and my brother was holding out as well. I took our little dog with me and I told him to head over too their house if it gets to bad out. So off I went. The winds hit right on schedule, all of 60 mph. Husband kept calling and checking in. He was fine. We were all watching out the windows of my sister’s house. The rain is coming down in sheets, the wind keeps changing. Spinning round and round, going east and then west. My husband called, he heard a big crack outside the RV, he looked out the side window and branches were braking off of the trees. After about an hour, the storm was over. The sun came out, the river was raging and coming out of its banks. I drove back out to the camper to see the damage and check on everyone. For as long as I can remember, my intuitions have saved me many times. Intuitions or the small voice that has led me through many of hard times to a safer place. I never ignore these voices, I never ignore the nudges that I get, I believe they are from a higher place. I will show you why next.
For as I was saying earlier. We had talked about moving to this spot here, but at the last minute something told me to just stay where we were.
If we would have moved this branch, which was just as heavy as a tree itself, would have fallen right on top of our RV, I can imagine the damage it would have done, not to say what might have happened being my husband was in there as well. Gives me goose bumps looking at the photos to this day. By later in the day, the owner of the campground had the tree all cleaned up. He had his chainsaw out and one person helping him load all the wood onto it and the spot was level and ready for business again. Moral of this story, a gut feeling is worth listening to. A gut feeling to me is someone giving you a nudge. It’s a kind of inner voice, a nudge that seems to guide us towards a decision or away from danger. Have a great weekend. 🙂 Iowa Storm This Year Sandra J’s Into the Light AdventuresSandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts By Sandra J
Raindrops from Heaven – gentle reminders of His power and presence.
In the quiet of twilight, they begin to fall, Silver tears from heaven’s gentle call. Raindrops, soft and fleeting, grace the earth, A symphony of whispers, a timeless rebirth.
This is the last of our stops in Columbus Ms. This cemetery was founded in 1839.
This location is the burial site of four Confederate generals, more than two thousand Confederate soldiers, veterans from every war the United States has fought, as well as distinguished authors, legislators, and people from all walks of life. It is the site of America’s first Decoration Day (1866), inspiring the writing of the poem “The Blue and the Gray.” This site also represents the reconciliation after the Civil War, as the Ladies of Columbus put flowers on the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers who had been buried there.
Many of the tree roots have grown around the markers.
Every spring a group of high school students conduct a tales from the crypt program in the cemetery. We went to it one night as I have never been to one. The students had to choose a person who was buried in the cemetery and study the person and his or her life.
They gave a speech as that person and dressed in the proper clothing of the time. It was very informative and all the students did very well.
Blues Musicians playing in Catfish Alley, Columbus Ms. I don’t know a lot about blues music. I never listened to it much. But I have to say these bands were very good, it was a treat to sit and enjoy the talents of these musicians.
Mr. Sipp – Grammy award winning artist below
Terry Big T Williams
And Blind Mississippi Morris
Below is a snippet of the musicians playing, or click here; Blues Music
July Flowers and Gardens – July is known for being the hottest part of summer in some areas. Flowers are blooming, birds are nesting. Colors are bright and vibrant.
Here is to a wonderful month of July in your area, a time to enjoy the wonderful outdoors, along with quite a few mosquitos in our area. But the good news is, I have not found one wood tick yet this year on me or my dogs. That is so unusual, but I don’t mind that at all.
Inside the Home of Tennessee Williams. I love looking at antiques, the sad thing is, most of the stuff I grew up with, are antiques now as well. When did that happen. ☺️
He had a simple house with simple furnishings. I love the large windows in some of these older homes.
This was the entertainment room.
After leaving his house and having lunch on the lawn there. We listened to a gentleman named Blind Mississippi Morris, one of the country’s greatest blues harmonicist. He was exceptional, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to some live music.
Next we went over to Catfish Alley for more live music, which I will show you next week. Have a great weekend. 😉
Next Tennessee Williams Home – Who I thought was a singer, but I have him mixed up with someone else. This gentleman was one of the greatest American playwrights. I don’t know him that well, I have heard of some of his plays, like Street Car Named Desire. But I don’t know if I have ever seen it.
He had a regular old home, nothing like the antebellum homes. But unique by itself. The most interesting thing about going into this museum, which is free, was the woman we met that was volunteering there on that day.
She was the nicest lady who has lived in Columbus for many years and knew a lot of its history. She told us stories and historical facts for quite awhile. I sure appreciated her taking the time to share all of that with us.
Also the day we were there they were celebrating the start of Cat Fish Alley Music Festival. They had a pork roast on the lawn which we sat down and enjoyed with a lot of other folks. Listened to some wonderful blues music which I will show more of next week.
Such a fun little town, with lots of history and good people.
Antebellum Homes – meaning before a particular war, especially the American Civil War.
Columbus, Mississippi, boasts a rich heritage deeply rooted in the antebellum period, evidenced by its stunning architectural landscape. The city’s antebellum architecture provides a fascinating window into the past, reflecting the grandeur and cultural history of the American South before the Civil War.
Many of these historic homes have been meticulously restored and are open to the public, offering a glimpse into the past. The annual Columbus Spring Pilgrimage is a notable event where several antebellum homes open their doors to visitors, providing guided tours and insights into the historical and architectural significance of each property.
We happened to be camping near Columbus during the Spring Pilgrimage. We went down town to learn more about that while we were there.
We did not take the tour to go inside any of these homes this time. I will next time we visit. Everyone of these homes on the tour, people live in. But they open there homes up just during this pilgrimage to the public.
I can’t even imaging living in a home this large. The upkeep must be costly for sure. I live in a 400 sq ft cabin and that suits me just fine. But I still love seeing old homes like this. It is fun to imagine the life back then at places like this. Something right out of the history books before us. So fun.
Out For a Walk – We headed downtown Columbus to see what we could find next. Like most towns, they have the newer, shopping type areas. Which we try to avoid, it is the old part of town we like to see and Columbus has a beautiful area of old town.
The homes in this area are quite beautiful, with lots of flowers blooming everywhere.
With lots of historical homes, some of which you can go into on certain days that they are doing tours.
Of course a beautiful river walk that we came apon, with this old bridge that does not get used anymore according to the signs saying it may collapse.
Columbus Mississippi – One of the first things I do when I get to a new town that we are camping near, is to look up what there is to see in each town. Columbus has a lot of history and very unique homes, or should I say mansions.
I always check out google maps for historic areas of a town. The first thing that showed up was this old diesel locomotive. The actual first diesel locomotive, it ran for 38 years and retired in 1984. I do love trains and learning about them. They changed
From their start in England in 1830, railroads spread like kudzu across the globe. They unified countries, created great fortunes, enabled the growth of new industries, and thoroughly revolutionized life in every place they ran.
It is nice when they put signs up explaining what we are looking at. I will have more of my favorite trains on tomorrows post.
Rose Tinted Glasses – The idiom “rose-tinted glasses” signifies a perspective that is overly optimistic, highlighting the positive while often ignoring the negative aspects of a situation.
This phrase popped into my head when I look at this Rose Breasted Grosbeak bird and the flower below. I am a very positive person, for me it is because I trust in our Lord.
I hope this splash of color brightens your day and have a wonderful weekend. 🙂
Trying Something New with pet portraits. I love photographing animals, especially pets, horses, dogs, cats, pretty much anything someone needs done.
I always like trying new things with photo editing. I see samples in my feed on social media platforms showing some pretty cool ideas on editing techniques. So I have to try it when I see a new one, just to see if I can do it on the computer.
Below is the first thing I saw on a feed demonstration. This is a ruff draft, I had to make a table and try and make a photo frame. So nothing really matches or looks real of course. This type of art is called pop out.
Making the subject look like they are popping out of the picture, or picture frame.
This one she is popping out of another picture. I will have a couple more tomorrow of dog pop out photos.
A New Boat to Me – Not the first photo, I just thought that one was such a bright pretty red color.
I have not heard of these boats below, apparently called Mud Boats. I do know they are fast and loud. Good for going in swamp type areas. Interesting, I learned something new on this day.
River Locks and Dams – This is the small lock on the Tombigbee river, you will find locks on many rivers especially if there are Corp of Engineer parks in the area.
I have never seen a tug boat quite like this one, it was coming out of the locks here when I was taking photos of the dam.
Lock and Dam No. 15 below, is one of my favorite places to stop and watch pelicans on the Mississippi River.
Its dam is 1,203 feet (366.7 m) long and consists of nine 109 feet (33.2 m) non-submersible, non-overflow roller gates and two 109 feet (33.2 m) non-submersible overflow roller gates. It is unusual among the upper Mississippi River dams in that it has only roller gates
I took this photo below of the white pelican landing on the river when we stopped by there this spring.
Below is lock and dam 14 on the Mississippi river, another great place to watch birds and tug boats.
New Bird in Mississippi – this little one is named a Warbling Vireo. I have lost count exactly how many birds I have photographed. I do know it is over 250. I might have to start a new list.
Northern Flicker – capturing birds in flight photography is a way to see birds in a entire new light. I did not notice all the yellow on these birds until I saw this photo I took of this gorgeous bird.
The Back Waters of the Tombigbee river is where you can find some very peaceful landscapes. This campground called the Dewayne Hayes Campground has a very nice trail that leads to a viewing dock in the calm backwaters from the river.
The reflections are just gorgeous early in the morning and lots of wildlife.
This is a great campground, but it is also right next to the Columbus Air Force Base where they train pilots every day in these air craft below. So you do hear them going all day, but I didn’t not mind it. They were fun to see as well.
These training planes I see a lot down on the gulf coast, the only difference is, the ones down there go extremely fast compared to these here in Columbus. So the newbies must start in Columbus and then they graduate to flying over the ocean as fast as they can.
World of Maritime Enthusiasts – There’s something magical about watching a ship glide gracefully across the water, leaving a trail of gentle waves in its wake. For some people, this fascination goes beyond casual admiration and becomes a passionate hobby: shipspotting.
I don’t actually record ships like those hobbyist that are into shipspotting. I just like watching them and photographing them. Below are 3 different rivers with different tugboats.
Not Your Normal Barges on the river, most of the ones I see carry coal, or farm goods like corn. A couple on this river have barges of a different kind. Lots of gadgets and signs that say warning.
The two below are named Deborah and Corey. As I was doing some research on tug boats, I found out that shipspotting is a hobby for many people. I get that, because I do love being by the water and seeing ships and boats go by and finding out more about them and what they are hauling.
There are websites that track every ship on all the waters. Very interesting stuff.
The Tombigbee River- The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway is a 234-mile system of canals, locks, and dams that connect the Tennessee and Tombigbee rivers. It links commercial navigation from the nation’s midsection to the Gulf of Mexico and is administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
This river is commonly known as the Tenn-Tom, it was controversial from its inception, and optimistic predictions of its economic benefits by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers never materialized. Originally estimated to cost $323 million in 1970, the total cost at completion in 1984 was almost $2 billion.
They were not sure if creating a waterway consisting of 65 dams and lift locks was feasible. But, eventually the funding was approved.
The waterway was completed two years ahead of schedule on December 12, 1984, and on January 10, 1985, the towboat Eddie Wexler was the first commercial boat to sail upon it.
I did not know this history of the river when we were camping right next to it. But one morning I woke up to the sound of a loud motor coming towards us. I went outside and here coming down the river was a tug boat.
Well, I lived near the Mississippi river for years, and I loved watching the tug boats and barges cruising up and down the river. But the Mississippi river is so large, one can’t really get a close up look at the barges because they are so far away.
Not these. We pulled up our chairs and watched the boat traffic go by on and off everyday. Love this campground.
Corp of Engineer Campgrounds – As we left the south a few weeks ago, we decided to start exploring some new areas again on our travels. Sometimes one gets comfortable staying in a routine, the familiarity of it makes things simple and faster.
Especially when it comes to traveling. Finding new campgrounds can be a challenge, but if I plan far enough ahead, it usually results in finding new beautiful places that we have driven by so many times but never stopped because of the routine.
So Columbus Mississippi is our first stop off the beaten path. When you turn 62, you can get the Federal recreation pass that gives discounts on campgrounds, getting in free and discounts on overnight camping.
The Corp of Engineer campground are included with this pass. They have great recreational parks, with lots of room, similar to state parks.
While we often hear about the COE campgrounds, the Corps of Engineers has a much broader mission other than just providing beautiful camping spaces. The Corp’s true mission is “to deliver vital public and military engineering services; partnering in peace and war to strengthen our nation’s security, energize the economy and reduce risks from disasters.”
So, how did the Corps get into the business of building campgrounds? The Corps manages land along a number of lakes and rivers, as part of the mission to operate dams. This land is protected from private development. Luckily, the Corps opted to make it possible for our nation to use these prime landscapes for recreation.
Columbus MS is a very historic area, we love to explore places like this. The history of the people who have gone before us, living during times that are so different than today. These small towns have some wonderful folks who love to share this history, many museums with volunteers who take the time to teach anyone who wants to hear about the past.
Lighting and Pet Portraits – both of these photos are of the same mule. Lighting can make such a difference for your subject. Soft warm colors, or shinny bright colors.
Photography has a world of opportunities to create different looks. That is what I love about it. Everyday is a new challenge and new opportunities to create art with just one click.
Bokeh Lights Photography – Bokeh, also known as “Boke” is one of the most popular subjects in photography. The reason why it is so popular, is because Bokeh makes photographs visually appealing, forcing us to focus our attention on a particular area of the image.
Basically, bokeh is the quality of out-of-focus or “blurry” parts of the image rendered by a camera lens – it is NOT the blur itself or the amount of blur in the foreground or the background of a subject. The blur that you are so used to seeing in photography that separates a subject from the background is the result of shallow “depth of field” and is generally simply called “background blur”. The quality and feel of the background/foreground blur and reflected points of light, however, is what photographers call Bokeh. Confused yet? Take a look at the following image:
This flower stem covered with dew is in focus, (which means that it is inside the depth of field), while the background is out of focus (which means that the background is outside the depth of field). The small or “shallow” depth of field is the result of standing relatively close to the subject, while using a large aperture.
What is Aperture?
Aperture can be defined as the opening in a lens through which light passes to enter the camera. It is an easy concept to understand if you just think about how your eyes work. As you move between bright and dark environments, the iris in your eyes either expands or shrinks, controlling the size of your pupil.
In photography, the “pupil” of your lens is called aperture. You can shrink or enlarge the size of the aperture to allow more or less light to reach your camera sensor. The image below shows an aperture in a lens:
Just remember to put your subject between you and the light source and shoot away to get bright bokeh lights in the background.
Wisteria, a beautiful flowering hanging plant, similar to the lilac group. I love seeing these plants, and down south they look like they grow everywhere.
I planted one where I live, but it might just be a little cold up here. It has not bloomed yet and I have had it a couple of years.
Spring Art Wildflowers – in the spring you can find wild flowers growing in the strangest places. The earth is waking up and the plants rise to meet the sunshine.
This small flower below is growing right through a fire pit grate at a campground. It made for an interesting photo.
Dandelions are quite amazing when you look at them really close. Designed to fly in the wind, the seeds are like tiny fireworks busting with silk feathers.
What’s Up – with a little head tilt up as this heron fly’s by looking at me. I can just picture it doing the heads up nod that people do to say hay.
That is what I did to him. 🙂
You know what the head nod is? We do it a lot when driving out on country roads. When a car approaches and the person waves at you, you either raise your first finger up as a wave back or the head nod. The shorter version of a wave.
The Blob – did you ever see the movie, the Blob, I think it came out back in the 70’s. This first photo reminded me of that movie as these little birds are trying to run away from the foam in the water.
These little sand pipers are made for running, they are such a fast little bird running on the beach.
These feet are made for standing, knobby knees and all. The gulls don’t do a lot of running on the beach. They can stand for a long time, just watching and looking for a an opportunity to find some food.
Northern Lights, the northern lights are an atmospheric phenomenon that is regarded as the Holy Grail of skywatching. are beautiful dancing ribbons of light that have captivated people for millennia. But for all its beauty, this spectacular light show is a rather violent event.
The northern lights are created when energized particles from the sun slam into Earth’s upper atmosphere at speeds of up to 45 million mph (72 million kph), but our planet’s magnetic field protects us from the onslaught.
Northern Lights in Iowa – Is this Heaven? No, this is Iowa.
That phrase is from the movie Field of Dreams. I have been very busy lately visiting family in Iowa on our way back north. The one thing I was not expecting this trip was to see Aurora Borealis, Northern Lights in Iowa. People all over the country witnessed this sighting all the way down to Alabama.
I almost missed seeing them entirely. Just so happened my little dog had to go outside at 3 am. I took her out and looked up and saw that the northern lights were still visible, as I had gone to sleep early and missed them when everyone else was out looking at them.
Actually at 3 am, they were not very colorful at all, but I went back in and decided to get my camera out and set it up outside. It is mesmerizing to say the least, to witness this event.
About an hour later, all of a sudden, the colors started to show up and they were lighting up the night sky. Shooting stars along with dancing lights.
I stood in the middle of this country road, no traffic and only the sound of coyotes howling in the distance.
These photos are straight out of the camera, I could see the pinks and greens with the naked eye. But a camera set with a long shutter speed will pick up even more of the colors. I was using 3 to 5 second shutter speed. ISO 4000, f2.8, and a wide angle lens.
Patience is a Virtue, The Eastern Bluebird – this colorful bird seems to be all over the Midwest, but I have only recently started seeing it more and more.
This first photo I took of this colorful bird over 10 years ago as I was on a walk and it just happened to land on this sign. One takes a picture no matter what the background is or the perch the bird is sitting on, when you get to see a new bird like this one.
Well, over the years of practice and improving my photography skills. I have learned to be more patient and learned more about birds and their behaviors so I can work at getting just the right shot to highlight the species and not have to many distractions in the photo, when possible.
That is not always possible with wildlife. But we do get lucky now and then.
I kept an eye on this Eastern Bluebird as it went from branch to branch. It was perched deep in the tree at first, as new leaves on the branches were blocking my view from getting a nice clear photo.
UNTIL
It finally landed on a branch that was hanging low under the tree. This is what I was waiting for, a clear view of this beautiful bird on just one branch.
I love it when my patience gives way to a beautiful photo like this. Showcasing the beauty of this little bird. 🙂
Hooded Merganser – Last of the birds from the Mississippi Aquarium. I almost missed these two. The Hooded merganser you can find at many places throughout the states. Such an interesting duck, it is a fish eating duck.
This one is decked out in its breeding colors. The white areas are so bright, it really catches the eye of the females.
This one is the Speckled Mousebird.
This family was named for their soft fluffy, mousy grey-brown plumage and long, thin tails, and their mouse-like habit of scurrying around in brush as they search for food.
Due to their low-calorie, fruit-based diet, these birds go into torpor (temporary or semi-hibernation) on cold nights to conserve energy. During this time, their heart rate slows down, their body temperature decreases and they remain in a so-called “suspended animation” until it is time for them to wake up and feed again.
The only other groups of birds known to go into temporary hibernation are hummingbirds and nighthawks. These mousebirds generally roost in tight groups of 20 or more birds to prevent heat loss and also to deter nocturnal predators.
Speckled Mousebirds occur naturally in Africa – from Cameroon east through the Central African Republic, southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and south Somalia, south through Kenya (except for the arid northern and eastern lowland areas of Kenya), eastern Africa to southern South Africa.
Eastern Towhee Bird – this bird was fun to see here in the mid west. I have only seen one of these before and it was out west in Texas. So to see one in Missouri was so fun.
I only saw the one and it was staying put on this log as I looked out the door of the RV, so I quick went and got my camera and opened the door slowly and took the photo.
This one below is the one I photographed in Texas.
Pet Portraits – I took a lot of pet portraits for folks this past winter. Lots of dogs, a few cats and one bird. We are traveling now, so when I want to take pet photos, my pets are the models. I never get tired of adding photos of my own pets to my collection.
The one thing we all know is that our pets just don’t live long enough. So I love taking their photos and enjoying every minute with them.
Chloee is a great model for still shots. She loves to just sit and look around when we are outside. She has such a beautiful face and expression in her eyes. She is 11 years old this year.
This is my little dog named, D-0-G, let me review what her name is. Her name is d o g, not the word dog, the letters d o g. Say it like, d oooo g, a little longer sound on the 0. Or if this spelling helps. Deohgee, I use that spelling at the vets because they don’t understand, d o g. 🙂
They ask me, ” is her name dog?”, I say, ” no, d o g“. They say, ” I know how to spell it”, I say, ” There you go”,
They say, ” Ohhhh, now I get it”,
We got her from a shelter when she was 4 years old. She is 17 years old this year. She is still doing really well for that age. She does sleep a lot more, but she still eats great and loves going for walks.
Then there is our cat, her name is Kit Cat, 🙂
What can I say, she is a great cat, gets along great with the dogs and she loves to travel. She does like to punch the dogs now and then when they walk by her. She gives them a wack on the head and hisses at them and takes off running.
Chloee Having Fun – Last month my dog Chloee had some dental work done. She had a broken tooth in the back, one of those big teeth in the back. It needed to come out, it was loose. I called a made an appointment for her and the day before she was to go in, the tooth fell out.
But only part of it did, so she went in anyway and had a couple teeth pulled and all her teeth cleaned. She is like a new pup again, playing fetch and running around.
Dogs can get tooth aches as well as we do, never any fun with a tooth ache.
The Red Headed Woodpecker – I am still working on getting a good photo of this bird. I only see this one when I am in Illinois. They are a fast bird and easy to spot with the bright red and white feathers.
Of course, I was walking one morning, without a camera, which I have always told myself never to do. This woodpecker landed on a tree right in front of my at eye level. I can only shake my head at how that would have been a great shot.
Normally I am pointing my camera straight up into the trees to photograph this bird. Birding is always a challenge, a fun one at that.
All About the Birds – Spring migration, another thing to enjoy during this time of year. The flowers and trees are beginning to bud and the birds are right here to enjoy the bountiful harvest of seedlings and bugs as well.
The nut hatch bird, or as I like to call them, tree walkers. They are finding a feast of small bugs to eat as they need food for energy to start building nest and raising babies.
April Showers – Flowers are blooming and the smell of fresh cut lawns is in the air. May is a time of new birth in nature. The world is waking up after a long winters nap.
Below is the before photo, then I softened it up a little bit and blurred the background to make the photo print above.
The Ibis Group – There are a number of different birds belonging to the ibis group spread across the planet. In each place where they dwell, ibis make a lasting impression. Their distinctive decurved bill shape sets them apart from similar wading birds and makes them an instantly recognizable artistic motif.
Good Ole Song Birds, lets start the week with some good ole song birds from the mid west here. One can never go wrong with the cardinals. Spring time means bright red colors for these male cardinals. I have taken many, many photos of these birds, so what keeps me taking more of him?
Well, trying to find a different background to add to the photo. The bird looks about the same in every shot, but it is the background that can be a challenge to change up the photo.
There are lots of different trees these birds land in, so I look for a shot where the trees or branches will make for a new and interesting print.
The scarlet ibis, sometimes called red ibis (Eudocimus ruber), is a species of ibis in the bird family Threskiornithidae. It inhabits tropical South America and part of the Caribbean. In form, it resembles most of the other twenty-seven extant species of ibis, but its remarkably brilliant scarletcoloration makes it unmistakable.
This picture below is a photo that I took in Louisiana, the white Ibis. My first time seeing an Ibis bird.
The pied imperial pigeon (Ducula bicolor) is a relatively large, pied species of pigeon. It is found in forest, woodland, mangrove, plantations and scrub in Southeast Asia, ranging from Myanmar and Thailand, throughout Indonesia and east to the Philippines
Nicobar Pigeon – the most brilliant colors I think I have ever seen on a bird.
One of the most beautiful breeds of Columbidae, the Nicobar pigeon is the only remaining living member of the genus Caleonas.
This might not mean anything to a casual bird lover, but it means that the Nicobar pigeon is believed to be the closest living relative of the dodo, the extinct bird that has come to be a symbol of extinct animals all over the world.
These islands are a union territory of India along with the Andaman Islands (home of the rare Andaman wood pigeon) and lie in the eastern Indian Ocean.
The Nicobar pigeon is known not only in Nicobar but also Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
Guira Cuckoos are omnivores and groups will forage together for insects, frogs, eggs, large arthropods such as spiders, crabs, etc., and small mammals such as mice, as well as the nestlings of small birds. Their beak is thick and has a downward curve, which is designed for eating meat. They belong to the same family as the Roadrunner.
They are very noisy birds and make a wide variety of noises, including yodels, guttural calls, gargled trills, and whistles. And, like other cuckoos, they give off a very strong odor.
Unique Cool Birds – My first bird I am going to show you is from Australia, it is called a Masked Lapwing.
The Masked Lapwing gets its name from the bright yellow wattles (the fleshy bit of skin that roosters and turkeys also have) on its face and the ‘lapping’ sound its slow wing beats make.
The Masked Lapwing, also known as a plover, has an eerie call most often heard at night – ‘kekekekekekekek’.
I picked this bird first because I follow a blogger named, aussiebirder
I love reading is blogs. He is a birder with his wife and he shows the most colorful birds I have ever seen. We have a lot here in the states. But, I think they might have quite a few more over there. Check out his site to see his photos, creative writings and videos of birds from Australia.
These birds coming up next week are from the Mississippi Aquarium, they have an Aviary there, which means all the birds can fly around and swim in the pond, and forage in the grasses. They are not free of course, but they are well fed and taken care of so that they stay healthy and live long lives.
Birds in the wild have more risk of fatality these days with being hit by cars, windmills and bad weather. Migration routes are in danger because of all the light noise at night. The majority of birds fly at night when they migrate and all the lights on the earth make it harder for them to get where they are going.
Last year I noticed a huge decrease in song birds in the area where I live. Which is one of the farthest regions for a lot of birds to migrate. I hope this summer more song birds will come back to my area.
Well Cared For and well fed these dolphins at the Mississippi Aquarium. They get lots of attention from the trainers and lots of activities to keep them in great shape.
People are always excited to see dolphins. I am thinking because they look like they are smiling all the time and having fun in the water.
Here the only photo I took from inside the aquarium. Sometimes one has to put the camera down and just enjoy what it is front of us. Plus shooting through thick glass doesn’t make the best photos. 🙂
Dolphins in the Wild – I see dolphins a lot when I am on the gulf coast. But, never jumping out of the water when I am just walking on the beach. I mostly see their fin and part of the body is all.
Below is a quick video I took of a couple of dolphins rounding up fish next to the beach as a Blue Heron paced back and forth watching them, as if it was trying to tell the dolphins to move the fish just a little closer so he could have one also.
Mississippi Aquarium – Last week I ended with a post telling you about some very colorful birds coming up next. First I must show you where I saw these birds, because most of them are from other country’s.
I am talking about a fairly new Aquarium in Gulfport Mississippi, right next to the coast. A fellow camper told us about this place so we headed on over. It is a wonderful drive along the coast line to get to this aquarium.
Mississippi Aquarium is a nonprofit public aquarium located in Gulfport, Mississippi; it opened August 29, 2020. The 5.8-acre, complex incorporates both indoor and outdoor habitats with more than 200 species of animals and 50 species of native plants.
First the star of the aquarium is the dolphins for sure. They have lots of fish inside and these two beautiful guys outside.
Panorama Photos – sometimes I forget I have the panorama setting on my phone and cameras. They make for very interesting photos. The first photo was taken with that setting at sunset on the Gulf Coast.
I always want to try new things with photography. So much out there to see in so many different ways when it comes to the artist perspective.
One More New Bird – I wasn’t sure what this bird was. A duck or something else. It took awhile to find it in my bird book.
But it is a Clapper Rail, it looks half duck and half something else. Even when I looked up information on this bird, this is what it says.
This bird is a member of the rail family, Rallidae. The taxonomy for this species is confusing and still being determined. It is a large brown rail that is resident in wetlands along the Atlantic coasts of the eastern United States, eastern Mexico and some Caribbean islands.
Group Art Project – at a campground we stayed at this winter, one of the local artist ask me if I would help her with a project she wanted to do. Which would involve having a dozen people help with the project. I said sure, sounds like fun.
So, step one. She drew on a piece of paper her idea of a painting she wanted to do. The photo below shows her rough draft of a bridge in the background, some of the local birds, water, sand, sea grass. She asked me if I could put all these items onto a photos that can be printed.
I made the print below. It is just what she was thinking about. I used photos that I had taken and made a composite of all the images into one.
I then applied grid lines to the image and printed a 20×30 copy. She cut the image into the 6×6 squares I made and had the volunteers pick a square, they in turn painted that square onto a 6×6 piece of canvas.
They wanted me to paint one, and I am not a painter at all. So I chose the top left square that only had some clouds in it.
The top left square in this picture below is my attempt to paint the piece I chose. This was actually a very fun project. The idea is that the final art piece will look more like a mosaic piece of art. The teacher of the project said she did not want the painted pieces to be perfect. It was just for fun.
Below is the final piece of art. 24 different people painted the squares. This project is now hanging in the club house at the campground. I am glad I was able to make the template for the project to bring this idea to life.
Heat Distortion – this light house is about 5 miles out into the gulf, I took this photo from the beach, it almost looks like the light house is floating out there. That is what heat distortion does to a photo.
The further away from the subject of your photograph, the more heat distortion will be present. The further distance means the light travels through more air before reaching you. Therefore, it gets refracted more in areas where heat distortion is present.
A long zoom lens usually means photographing subjects at a greater distance. That greater distance increases the chance that heat distortion can ruin your images. Heat distortion is most prevalent at ground level.
We have a friend that has a smaller boat and has offered to give us a ride out to the light house. But, not for me. He would have to have a much bigger boat. The waves and the tide can change dramatically 5 miles out into the gulf of Mexico. I really don’t need a good picture of this light house that badly.
Besides, there are plenty of photos of this light house on the world wide web, here are a few below so you can see what it looks like.
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin — only a narrow connection to the Atlantic exists as the gulf is surrounded by North America and Cuba.
It is the ninth largest body of water in the world, covering about 600,000 square miles, and is bordered by five US states in the north, five Mexican states in the west, and Cuba in the southeast.
Almost half of the gulf basin is shallow waters over continental shelves, though it contains a trough that measures as deep as 14,383 feet.
Ship Traffic Density Map of GULF OF MEXICO
They estimate that over 4,000 shipwrecks rest on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico from its nearshore shallows to its deepest abyss.
Springtime With Birds – springtime means mating season and fighting for territory. It may look like they are just doing a dance according to these photos.
But, they are scraping and chasing each other trying to keep their spot on the river.
Spring has sprung in some areas, have a wonderful day.
Snow White Feathers – These birds are not hard to find with their snow white feathers, especially in a grassy marsh. I am sharing some of my favorite Egret photos this week.
The Egret – Snowy white feathers that can be seen all over the country. Well, except up in the north country. I have never seen one up in Michigan. Such beautiful birds.
Little Blue Heron – A new bird for the year. Someone had told me they saw this blue heron and today I went for a walk, and their it was high up in the tree. I wasn’t sure what it was until I got home and looked at the photos.
Adult Little Blue Herons are very dark all over. At close range or in good light, they have a rich purple-maroon head and neck and dark slaty-blue body.
Sheepshead Fish – One glance at the picture of a sheepshead fish might make you assume this fish has stolen a sailor’s lost pair of dentures from the seafloor! Yes, there is a fish whose teeth are eerily similar to humans.
The teeth are composed of highly mineralized enamel and dentin, two components that also make up human teeth.
There are two rows of molars on the lower jaw and three rows on the upper jaw. This heavy dentition allows sheepshead fish to crush and grind the shelled creatures that these fish prefer to feed on.
The Sheepshead fish are finally coming inland, so the fishermen are out. There is a limit of 10 of these fish per person.
Sand Dunes or Snow Piles, well the trees in the background might give it away. But, these are sand dunes, but when I am missing snow, just a little bit. I sure can picture that these are snow piles by a lake.
Today it is 45 degrees down here on the gulf coast. So I can easily picture snow.
Who Has the Longest Wingspan – well the longest wingspan of all birds goes to the Albatross, a wing span of 12 feet. But they fly over the southern oceans and breed on islands just to the north of the Antarctic Circle. So it is a bird I will probably never see.
So lets look at the birds that I have photographed here in the states. My favorite large bird of all is the White Pelican. It’s wingspan comes in at – drum roll please –
Sea Glass – I have only found a couple pieces of sea glass. I have added them to my collection and am always looking for more.
Sea glass are naturally weathered pieces of glass, which often have the appearance oftumbled stones. Sea glass is physically and chemically weathered glass found on beaches along bodies of salt water. These weathering processes produce natural frosted glass.
Imagination, photography lets one’s imagination go in all different directions. Take for example this photo here. I took this photo from the Jeep’s window as we were driving along the coast.
I saw this pier coming up on my right and the water is so calm around it, plus the clouds have a hint of blue in the background. But I thought right away, if the beach and the people and the logs were gone, it would really highlight the calm water and the tranquility of the lone pier.
Yes, I thought all of this as this pier was approaching, driving down a road. So I snapped a photo with my phone camera.
So then I had to change the vertical format of the photo to a horizontal format for composition with a horizontal pier. Next to remove the distractions in the foreground.
And this is what I saw in my mind when I saw this lone pier out in the calm water.
Artistry in Nature, The Wing, it never ceases to amaze me, the intricate detail and design of the wing on all of the birds. I count at least 10 different lengths of feathers on this white pelicans wing. But they look so perfectly in line and a master of art itself from our creator.
Each feather with a purpose that only the designer knows exactly why and how it works. If someone asked me to design a wing. I would just make all the feathers the same because I don’t actually know the true purpose of all the different lengths.
Ocean Vessels on the Gulf Coast. Shipping containers are spotted quite often heading south on the gulf coast. Occasional dredgers being pulled across the bay and barges going back and forth.
Always makes for some interesting sights when out walking on the beaches.
Mocha Latte is the name of this little dog. It is one of the cutest little dogs I have had the pleasure to photograph this past week. When it was a new born, it fit in the palm of your hand. Now it is a fiery ball of fur that is constantly on the go.
It is at the campground here and just another pup I have photographed this past month. Happy Monday. 🙂
My Pet Photography Board for February, and this is not all of them yet. I could not fit them all on one page.
These 3 cats are quite the buddies. I was watching these three for their owner while they were away. The owner was in the hospital and I took lots of pictures of her cats while she was recuperating. Yes, all 3 are one persons cats.
Well, I wanted to try and get all 3 together for one photo, but that is not easy with cats. So I did have to photoshop this one together. I happened to get each one to look up at me as I was holding some treats.
The owner loves this photo, she did ask how I got them all to sit together like that. I said it was impossible. But photoshop helped a lot. 🙂
Parade Horses Team Belgians, my second favorite photo from the parade. Northing pretty then a working team of Belgian horses. Their harness shimmering in the sunlight.
This is my most favorite photo that I took this winter.
There was a small parade where we were camping and a group of horses were headed my way as I stood on the side of the road with lots of other folks watching the procession of horses and festive floats.
When it comes to photographing animals, dogs, cats, or horses. I take a lot of shots because I am looking for that one photo that stands out from the rest. When the animal is moving, the more shots the better to get that right look.
Well, this shot below was exactly was I was looking for. The two horses in front both looked at me at the same time. The are draft horse mix breeds, the one on the right front is a Belgian mix and the one on the left is a Percheron Thoroughbred mix. Beautiful horses.
But the magic comes when I crop in to see only the horses face. I just love this shot. Both horses have their ears forward, which makes for a great shot as well. I have printed this one to hang on my wall. 🙂
Tiny Bird with Big Shrimp, Sand Pipers are just such cute birds. This winter the fishing was not good at all on the beach. We threw this piece of shrimp onto the beach when we were packing up to leave.
This little piper came over to see if it could grab a morsel of this shrimp for his meal. But, in the video below, it will show he had to scramble away as a Oystercatcher bird was coming to investigate what he had found. They are so cute when they run.
Good Morning March 1st, Hello all, how was everyone’s month of February? I had a wonderful couple weeks off, visiting with friends and family. I look forward to catching up with all of your blogs over the next few weeks.
Spring is in the air, flowers are starting to bloom down here in the south. I have been so busy photographing pets the last couple of weeks. Word got out from folks sharing their pet portraits and I have them calling me everyday to do more. Which I love to do, I will be sharing some of those in the coming weeks.
We only have a few more weeks down here in the south, and then it is time to start traveling again. Heading north for the summer months. Have a great weekend. 🙂
Good Morning March 1st
Stay well, RJ. Blessings to you, may our Lord guide you in all your days. 🙂 thank you.
Taking a Break – It is time for a little break from the world wide web. Here are some of my favorite photos that I have taken this year so far.
I like to take time off from the internet now and then. It is so refreshing to not be connected for awhile. We are bombarded with advertising and news that never seems to be uplifting at all. Except for sites like all of ours here in the blogging world.
But, I remember the days before there was any internet. Days were filled with activities and being in nature. Connecting with humans face to face. Spring time is a beautiful time to turn the electronics off for me. There is a lot to explore out there, and I am ready to dive right in.
I will be back next month, have a great weekend and see you all soon. 🙂
Birds and Bright Colors – When it comes to bird mating and breeding, colors play a significant role in attracting a mate and establishing dominance. During the breeding season, male birds often display bright and bold colors to attract females. The brighter and more vibrant the colors, the more likely they are to catch the attention of a potential mate.
Like this Reddish Egret below. Their bill is quite colorful during the mating season.
The Road Runner – What an appropriate name for this bird. I mostly saw it running down the side of a road when we were out west.
I am posting this because someone the other day was asking if I had a photo of a road runner. Which I do, so I thought I would share it here. During the breeding season you will see a bright blue and orange patch behind the eyes.
Seeing Double – Well, this is my Chloee below. She is a mixed breed dog that we got over 10 years ago from a shelter. I just love her markings on her face. She is the best dog, she makes me smile and laugh and she leaves puppy glitter all over the place.
Puppy glitter is what we call her dog hair, it is everywhere at times like glitter can be.
Well, we were at a campground out for a walk and here comes another dog that is almost identical to our Chloee.
The dog on the left is named Georgia, and I just had to take some photos for the owner and for me to see the comparisons.
Georgia is only 3 years old, and Chloee was all white like that when she was that age. The left side of the face is a little different.
But here is their right side comparisons. How unique is this, maybe her long lost sister.
Image cropping is an integral part of photo retouching and product retouching services. It can change the look and feel of an image and its meaning.
Image cropping can be used to improve the composition of an image, remove distractions, or focus on a particular subject. It can also create a more powerful image by emphasizing certain elements.
This photo below is a wonderful illustration of the need for cropping. One might never guess that the background of this photo is a truck window. The bird is sitting on a truck mirror.
When I first look at the photo below, I see the orange light and the mirror and the bird poop on the mirror. So cropping was definitely needed on this photo.
Cropping is easy to do, but you also need a good photo to start with.
If your original image had a high resolution, cropping might not significantly impact the overall quality.
Interesting Wing Spans markings on these brown pelicans flying overhead. I noticed the white marks under the wings which looks like their bone structure. It was more prominent in the one pelican.
When you think you have seen it all, something new pops up when watching birds.
Little Birds Taking Cover where ever they can find it on the beach before a storm. As these little guys try and hide behind this rock as the winds blow sand and debris across the beach. They hover together and hide their faces in their feathers to protect their eyes.
They learn to adapt. Amazing birds. Have a great weekend.
Bird & Fishing Pole, beach fishing is a popular thing along the ocean waters. I looked at this photo and it looks like this gull is fishing with its own little fishing pole. See the little stick in front of the bird? Looks like his own personal fishing pole just like the people have.
Brother and Sister Pups – These two pups are so pretty with their long flowing hair. It was really fun taking their photos and making prints for their people.
I have talked before about one thing that I like to have in my pet portraits, and that is Specular Highlights in the eyes.
The specular highlight appears on shiny objects. It normally appears on a mirror-like surface. Its appearance is often found on the top of a rounded surface. The incident light hits the object and creates the specular highlight and the light is reflected off the object toward the viewers eye.
Some people think the light reflection in the eye can be distracting in a photo. But, I find it necessary to have to give the eye more life. A bright spot that draws the viewer to the eyes. Eyes are always my focal point with pet and people photography.
Example. The photo on the left, I have removed the specular highlight. I find the eye looks less cheery, darker, lifeless to be more accurate. But the photo on the right, when the light spot is visible gives a much better overall photo for me.
It is much harder to achieve specular highlights in bird photography, because the birds movements can put them in the shadows at times. But it makes a big difference with birds as well.
Water and Light – I found this Blue Heron doing some fishing the other morning. I found the light reflecting off of the water onto the bird was quite cool looking. Almost like strobe lights dancing across its feathers.
Southern Trees – I love looking at trees and plants. Just so many different kinds from state to state. Southern trees are just so unique compared to where I live in the north country.
From beautiful palm trees reaching high into the air.
To twisted and bumpy, branches going every which way.
Oh, the lemon trees. The fragrance alone is quite a nice addition to any garden.
Bamboo, I have never seen a grove of bamboo until we found these at a botanical garden.
Last but not least, the trees found on beaches. Parts and pieces, worn and weathered. But still standing for years to come.
St. Simons Island Light – Now this little island was just across the bridge from Jykell island. A wonderful festive little town surrounding this light house. Plenty of shops, board walks along the coast and plenty to see.
The beach community of St. Simon’s Island is home to the St. Simon’s Island Lighthouse, which was first built in 1810. It is one of five in the state with its restored Fresnel lens and still operates in guiding ships.
The island is an easy day trip from Savannah and other islands like Jekyll. Visitors can climb the 129 cast iron steps to the top. It’s also rumored to be haunted.
I just love porches on homes. They are so inviting I think. We have a porch on our cabin, nothing like these, but it is my favorite place to sit at home and enjoy the views.
We did not go into this museum, but I love the architecture and the gardens around the building.
Perfect Bird for January – The Snowy Egret, a beautiful display of flowing snow white feathers on this bird. Being there is a lot of cold and blizzard type weather moving across the states. Even down south here along the coast, the temps are cold and high winds.
Sydney Lanier Bridge – the longest bridge in Georgia. We crossed this bridge heading to Jykell Island.
Its outstretched arms linking Brunswick to the rest of the Golden Isles, the Sidney Lanier Bridge soars over the Brunswick River. This, the longest-spanning bridge in Georgia, stretches 7,779 feet across and reaches 480 feet at its highest point. The sleek design creates a sense of lightness that belies the 95,283 cubic yards of concrete and 14,810,095 pounds of reinforcing steel used to construct the massive structure.
Leaving Jykell Island – a unique place we visited and yet never to return. But my photographs are a way for us to remember this place, a place in passing, as we stood on this beach looking at the eerie shadows of the trees with no life. There lies our shadows as well, a moment in time, an eerie feeling that we left something behind.
Gus the Pup – another campground pup. A never ending array of colors and sizes of dogs to photograph. The little ones are fun to do, as long as I drop to one knee to get down to their level to take their photo.
Beach Bird Art – all my art work starts with a photograph. I use my own photos that I have taken when I decide to make a piece of art work for a composite or a digital painting.
This first photo is a composite of 3 different photos that I have taken. Blending them all in so that the colors are similar is the trick. Not always easy to find, but fun to make none the less.
Gulls in Flight – Gulls are a very unique bird, some may say they are pest and some may say they are extremely smart.
They are definitely good at finding food or stealing food. But, if you are new at photography and want to learn how to photography birds in flight. Gulls are the perfect subject.
I learned so many better techniques by photographing gulls, because they glide and hover which makes it easier to track them with your camera.
It is fun to get a photo with their maximum wingspan and tail feathers spread out.
Plus they sit still for long periods of time so you can practice your still shots as well.
You may not know this, but they do dive head first into the water to catch a fish now and then.
Hidden Gems in the Background – guess what. One cannot be on the pacific ocean without finding one Light House.
Look past the tree to the other shore line, there stands a light house on One of four barrier islands comprising the Golden Isles of Georgia,
St. Simons Island, the largest of the Golden Isles, captivates visitors with its fascinating blend of history and natural beauty. Steeped in a rich heritage, the island is home to historical sites like the St. Simons Lighthouse,
So Many Photo Opts – the driftwood itself is very interesting and artistic all on its own. But here at drift wood beach, you have so many different compositions you can pick for your photo.
The waves are never very big and the clouds can add some dramatic movement to your photo.
But the best thing to capture are the shadows of the trees on the beach. I will show that next week from the drone photos. Kind of eerie with the long limbs of the branches reaching out like they are arms moving in the shadows.
A photograph of now and then. They tell me life is a journey, that which we must all take. Moments like this is where I am in awe of creation.
As I stand before this vastness of water, where it seems like I can see forever into the unknown, it reminds me of the light of the future ahead of me, yet behind me is my past of many roads resembled by this tree. All of which brought me to this place in time, a teaching moment that only creation can explain.
Our paths take so many different twist and turns, but the light that shines before us is calling us to continue, even though the past is always right behind us, it slowly disappears and gets lost in time and buried by the sands of creation.
Jykell Island – the one thing the gentleman told us to see when visiting this island, is drift wood beach. I looked on the satellite image from google maps and it looks like a few branches and such scattered along the beach. So I thought, maybe it will look better when walking on the beach. So off we went.
Jykell island has a lot of history of who founded the island and how it has changed over the years. It is known for the secret meeting of 6 men who decided they needed to change the federal reserve system.
The Meeting at Jekyll Island
November 20, 1910–November 30, 1910
The state of Georgia purchased Jekyll Island from the Jekyll Island Club through condemnation proceedings for $675,000. Then it was opened to the public as a State Park
Now one must pay a daily fee to enter the island. It is $10.00 a day now.
Drift wood beach is at the far end of the island and we drove there first. Parking all along the main stretch of road. We chose a spot with a short walk to the beach. At first glance as we got closer to the beach, it was beginning to look very interesting.
According to my research, photographers love showing up here at sunrise or sunset and you will see why on my next couple of post. We arrived mid morning as it was a long drive from our campground.
Scattered with the sun-bleached remains of gnarled and weathered trees, stepping onto Driftwood Beach in Jekyll Island, is like stepping into an alternate reality. It feels like what you’d imagine a post-apocalyptic world to feel like – signs of a life that once was intertwined with a life that now is, all under the watchful and commanding eye of Mother Nature.
Over the last 120+ years, erosion has claimed more than 1,000 feet (305 meters) of Jekyll Island’s coastline, the consequences of which are no more evident or more visually dramatic than they are on Driftwood Beach.
Due to the effects of decades of erosion, what was once a lush, maritime forest has become a boneyard for ancient oak trees and pine trees that have fallen victim to Mother Nature. Over time, as the ocean crept its way into the forest and strong winds and saltwater ate away at tree roots, the soil cover needed to keep it alive became stripped away.
This caused the trees to uproot or to die, some of which miraculously remain standing while others lay half-buried in the sand. And because the tides along this part of the coastline aren’t strong enough to sweep them out to sea, the trees remain. Together forming the hauntingly beautiful landscape that Driftwood Beach is known for today.
A New Place – Happy New Year to everyone. May this year be bountiful and full of adventure and joy, I wish everyone a wonderful new year ahead of us. Full of opportunities, love, and a giving heart for all those we meet on our journey’s of this thing called life. A gift beyond all gifts.
So I start the year with crossing a new bridge. Literally and physically, as I get another year older and hopefully wiser as I make my way to that final chapter in life. My elder years makes me more aware of where I have been and where I am going. It is so much more clear than any other time in my life. Now is a time of adventure and wonderment as I seek to find all the beauty in this world that has been given to us, as I continue my path taking photos and sharing what I find for as long as I can, it starts with this trip across a new bridge. A wonderful way to start the new year.
We went to visit a new place, because of another camper that told us about this island not far from where we were staying. I really need to explore the maps more when we are visiting an area. I would never have thought to go here if they had not mentioned it.
First you have to cross the Sidney Lanier Bridge to get to this location.
The Sidney Lanier Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the Brunswick River in Brunswick, Georgia, carrying four lanes of U.S. Route 17. The current bridge was built as a replacement to the original vertical-lift bridge, which was twice struck by ships. It is currently the longest-spanning bridge in Georgia and is 480 feet (150 m) tall. It was named for poet Sidney Lanier.
I will have some better photos of the bridge as we leave the island
We are visiting Jekyll Island in Georgia. A place I have never heard of, except for the name Jekyll from that scary movie. This week I will be sharing what we found on this island and the beauty and history that it holds.
How Many Doodles in a Poodle – So cute, I was out for a walk and here comes this long legged beautiful black and white dog with his owner. So one has to ask what kind of dog it is and how old and may I take his picture.
Well, come to find out the owner was telling me that this Poodle Doodle has 4 or 5 different doodles in it. They did a DNA test to find out what exactly kind of dog it is.
It has Labradoodle of course, and some Doodleman, Golden Doodle and just a poodle doodle and one other doodle they were not sure of. Whew, that is a lot of doodles, but wait.
Come to find out there are as of now over 52 different kinds of doodle dogs.
Poodles are one of the most popular breeds in the world, coming in as the seventh most popular dog in the United States. These fantastically fluffy friends are known for often being best in show across all categories. And it’s no wonder why– Poodles are super dang cute with their curly low-shedding coats, sparkling eyes, and animated expressions. This is one of the reasons breeders started crossbreeding them for some of these awesome hybrid pups!
Here are just a few of the names they have; Foodle, Sheepadoodles, Bernedoodle, Ausiedoodles, Irish doodle, Yorkie Poo Doodle. That last one is a good one.
No this one is a great name, Schnoodles
Have yourselves a fun doodle day. 🙂 and a great weekend.
A Beautiful Setting – Southern Charm. I can just picture back in the day with this barn full of horses and lush pastures in the background with moss hanging on the trees as the horses stand in the shade on the hot summer days.
This is quite the horse barn for sure.
A horse persons dream to have stalls and a hay loft with a nice center walk way to bring your horses through the barn.
But, it is no longer a horse farm but a city park and the public restrooms are in this building. The city has grown up around this farm and the nice thing about it all is that the owners made it into a park instead of letting the city demolish it and put stores here instead. I like that and lots of people use this park.
This place is in Hinesville Georgia, a military town that we visited for awhile. It is about the only green space left in this town and we went here a lot as well to walk the dogs and enjoy the greenery.
Her Name is Cindy and she has what they call the brindle color. Her person’s name is Hunter, yes that is right. Seems like the names should be switched around, I thought I heard her wrong when she introduced herself to me. But I asked again, just to make sure. Hunter is the person and Cindy is her dog.
Brindle is caused by the accumulation of melanin in the hair shafts, which give the fur a reddish hue. Brindle can occur anywhere on the body, but is most commonly found on the head and hindquarters. The gene responsible for this color change is recessive, so it needs two copies of the mutant gene to be expressed for a dog to develop brindle.
It is a very unique and beautiful color pattern I think.
Love Live Oak Trees – every year I take new photos of these beautiful trees. Amazing how the branches grow horizontal to the ground. Some branches touch the ground and keep growing, these trees you will mostly find in the warmer climate areas.
The moss is like tinsel hangin on a Christmas tree. I don’t know if they make tinsel anymore, but my grandfather loved covering our Christmas tree with lots of tinsel after the other decorations were put on.
Pup Portraits – I have been taking a lot of photos of folks pets, mostly dogs. This is truly one of my favorite things to do. I can make a portrait out of any photo, some folks just send me one of their pets but when I can I like to take the photo myself and then make a portrait for the people that ask me to do this for them.
I take a lot of photos at a session just to get that right look. Any shots where the dog is looking up, like the second one. That is where the pup is looking at their person as they try to get them to sit or to get those ears to go forward. That makes for a great shot.
Unique Semi Truck – You all may know that I mostly take photos of nature, animals, wildlife. But, on occasion I see something like this that catches my attention. Modern marvels in engineering and building. Plus I drove a semi for a couple of years and there are some pretty cool looking tractor trailers out there.
We were driving down the interstate and husbands says to me, ” Look what is about to pass us”. This beautiful truck rolled on by. But I did not get the best look because it was passing us. Well I watched it disappear up ahead and a rest stop was coming up, so I said lets pull over because the dogs needed to get out.
And what do I see but this truck parked at the rest stop, so I had to take a couple of photos.
Video below of truck passing or click this link – Cool Truck
I am taking photos of folks dogs here at one of the campgrounds we are staying at and thought I would share some of the different breeds I am making portraits of for the pups owners.
This dog here is an Australian shepard, I had a couple of Australian Shepard’s many years ago. Wonderful dogs. They are known for having at least one blue eye, and this one here has two. Very unique.
Wide Angle Lens – I love shooting with my wide angle lens. It can give a landscape photo wonderful depth and if you have some fluffy clouds, it can give the appearance of movement.
I used the rule of thirds for this shot. I have the barn almost center and took the photo facing the corner of the barn. This allows for more depth, the barn angle makes my eye follow the line of the barn to the left of the photo and makes the barn look bigger then it is.
But I also left plenty of blank space on the right of the photo so you can see the clouds all the way back and gives the appearance of movement.
Blank space is important in many ways, if you are selling your work for commercial use, they want blank space for advertising.
Depending on the scene, it also gives you a glimpse of the background to the subject. This being farmland that goes with this old barn.
This photo below, I did not leave blank space on the right because I am on a hill taking this photo and with the corn field in the background, there is not enough open space to draw the eye to look all the way to the horizon. So the tree fits perfectly for this composition.
As the Light Shines – that simple head line I wrote sounds like a soap opera title. A beautiful orange butterfly enjoys the sweet nectar of a tiny flower in the morning light. But, little does it know, a camera lens keeps getting closer to it, trying to get that perfect shot.
Stay tuned to see what happens next, after this commercial break. dun, dun, dunnnnnn. 🙂
I am not sure how the ending music goes when it cuts to a commercial. We have not watched regular TV in many years. We gave up network television a long time ago, the only thing we have are DVD movies to watch on those rainy or cold days. It is so nice not to have to see commercials anymore.
Sepia Toned – Sepia is a reddish-brown color, named after the rich brown pigment derived from the ink sac of the common cuttlefish Sepia.
I like to use the sepia finish on some of my flower or insect photos, so I had to look up what the word actually means and surprised myself finding the answer.
Fun Facts
What is a cuttlefish you might ask 🙂 – Cuttlefish ink was formerly an important dye, called sepia. That is where the name of this color comes from. I did not know that myself.
I like how the white on the tip of the wings of this butterfly did not change much when changing this photo to sepia tones.
Unique Round Barn – This is Ryan’s Round Barn in Illinois, it is one of 42 round barns in existence. They have a great campground by this barn. We visited here quite a few years ago.
Nestled on a knoll near the entrance of the 1,361-acre Johnson Sauk Trail State Park, Ryan’s Round Barn was the brainstorm and pet project of a turn-of-the-century Chicago brain surgeon named Lawrence P. Ryan.
The industrious doctor deviated from the standard square barn design that dotted the countryside and built a round barn.
Ryan’s barn is a three-level, domed-ceiling structure built on a slope so that the first and second floors are easily accessible from the outside at ground level. Built by carpenters who specialized in round barn construction, it measures 80 feet tall and 85 feet in diameter.
Rainy Day in August – I almost missed this photo. It is such a picturesque spot and the leaves were just starting to turn color back in August up by Lake Superior.
It gives me the feeling of calmness and peace.
Video Below showing the light rain falling as I was standing there looking at this beautiful landscape in front of me.
Speaking of Clouds – from yesterday’s post. It reminded me of this place called White Cloud NM. A beautiful place one should stop and see if in the New Mexico area. We were here a couple of years ago right after they had a nice snow fall.
Mountain views with snow are a beautiful sight to see. I still have not been to Colorado, that is on the agenda though.
Clouds – Cloud watching is something I never get tired of. Remember back when you were a child and would see what kind of animal or something the clouds looked like. Well I still do that to this day.
What a fun cloud formation this one is. I looked up and was so surprised as to what the opening in the clouds looks like to me. Can you guess? What state is it?
The Unique Mule – my niece has a few mules as well. Such a unique animal.
They become extremely loyal and trustworthy and their personalities are so enjoyable. Their surefootedness and brains under saddle will ease you even in the trickiest of trails. They will keep you laughing and bring a smile to your face even if you’re having a terrible day. Plus, who can resist their ears.
Always take a photo of a mule with a wide angle lens, makes their ears really stand out. So cute.
Mule Facts
First, let’s clarify what a mule is. A mule is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). A horse has 64 chromosomes, and a donkey has 62. The mule ends up with 63. Mules can be either male or female, but, because of the odd number of chromosomes, they can’t reproduce.
The term “mule” is used for either the cross of male donkey on female horse, or the cross of female donkey on male horse, although the latter cross is more correctly known as a “hinny.” Mules and hinnies each have one horse and one donkey parent,
The Horse of Course – I don’t have horses any more, but I am so thankful one of my nieces loves them and she has a few on her farm in Iowa. So I can get my horse fix on when visiting family every year.
December is Here – time to say good bye to all the fall colors in some parts of the world. It is that time of year when the leaves have fallen and walking in the woods is one of my favorite things to do.
The sound of crunchy leaves beneath your feet and this is the time of year to get a good look at trees when the leaves are all gone. There are so many unique shaped trees that one doesn’t always notice in the summer when they are hidden by a forest of green leaves.
New Painting Style – I am working on perfecting a new type of painting that I do on the computer. Which always starts with a photograph. This is using the smudge tool and actually painting across the face of the subject.
I really like it, it is fun to do and I have a couple of orders for customers to make with this new look. It works great with dogs and cats. I am still perfecting the horse portrait with this technique.
I have my first Art Craft show coming up soon that I am participating in. I will let you know how that goes in a few weeks. I just love visiting with folks and talking about photography and pets. A craft show is the perfect place for that.
I do a very light painting with the horses, just to give it some soft edges here and there. I don’t want to soften the harness, I want to keep that sharp.
The horse above is taken from the photo below, the horse on the right. If I see an animal that would make a good portrait like this one, I separate the subject from the entire scene and change the background to get rid of the distracting green leaves behind the horse.
I like that the horse on the right was looking right at me, that is why I chose that horse over the other one for a portrait.
New Flag for the RV – We stopped at a camping world which is a store with all things about RV’s and camping. They are known for their giant flag. I got to the door of the store and turned around to look at the RV and that was the shot.
Trees and Composition – As I am looking through some of my landscapes photos and waterscape photos, I realize how often I have a tree placed in the shot. Normally to the left or right of the composition because I do like how it frames the shot.
I like to have a foreground, middle and background in landscape shots when possible. For example this first photo. The rocks are the foreground, then the water and then the land in the back. This shot could have been even better without the tree branches on the right.
I did not have that much room to move around to avoid those branches, the rocks were pretty tuff to navigate.
This photo below has a look that I am standing on top of a mountain above the clouds in the distance. I like the perspective of that, but actually that is Lake Superior in the distance. It was an amazing view from there.
For the Love of Draft Horses – Some of you may know that I have a special place in my heart for horses. I received my first horse when I was a young girl. It was my best friend and I spent a life time raising them and taking care of them.
But when I was out on my own, I decided to start raising draft horses. They are amazing animals, just the sheer size of them and the ability to have them and just watch them up close was one of the thrills of my lifetime.
So any chance I get now, I to to horse shows or visit draft horse farms. Now I can take their photos and enjoy their beauty without having to clean the barn every day. That is a plus. 🙂
This draft horse below was in a parade that I was watching, these are Belgians and so pretty under harness.
I sell a lot of my photography on different sites on the internet. The draft horse prints sell quite often.
Here are three of my favorite sites I use to sell Prints;
500 px – This site is a great one, you can sell licenses to your work or just a digital download. I sold a photo of a lightning strike to someone overseas for $65.00. One just never knows what might sell. It is always a surprise and just fun to see that my love for photography will be used by someone else.
Fine Art America – I like this site because you can sell merchandise that they make for you and they accept art work as well as photography. It is like having your own store.
Adobe Stock – Adobe stock is the most popular one. People use this one a lot for downloading photos.
Plus I started my own website, Sandra J’s Photography, so I could sell pet portraits to my customers. Much easier then going through a third party. Plus folks can communicate what their needs are when ordering portraits to be done.
So if you are looking for some sites for yourself to sell on. These are a few that I like. There are plenty of them out there now a days. I belonged to one site for many years, but they finally went out of business. They could not keep up with all the new technology cutting their sales in half. One just has to do some research as to what works for you.
Unusual Sighting – I went for a walk yesterday morning and noticed some turkey vultures flying low and this one in the first photo landed on this street pole and opened its wings up and stayed like this for quite awhile.
So I walked up to it as close as I could and snapped a couple of photos, he is just airing out his pits I think. 🙂
As I rounded the corner this is what I saw. Turkey vultures and stray cats sharing the cat food. They were eating out of the cat bowls right along with the cats.
Not one cat went after one, I imagine they know these birds would be quite a match to take down being they are so large. So they all just share the food and co-exist.
Snow Covered Barn – I love this one covered in beautiful white snow. On a sunny day after a fresh snow fall, this makes for a wonderful photo.
Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
I had a great barn on my horse farm back in the day, with a hay loft like this one. Nothing better then bringing in the horses on a cold winters day, putting fresh hay in their stalls and watching them as they enjoy their food, just sit there and take in the peacefulness of the moment. Great memories.
Old Barns – There is nothing better then seeing old barns still standing on farmsteads around the country. I love looking for them and taking photos of them. This first one here is in Iowa, there isn’t a house there and more, but I can just imagine what this old farmstead must have been like back in the day.
With its windmill pumping water and the barn full of cows or horses. Children running and playing outdoors. These old buildings can tell a story just by their appearance.
I wrote about this barn a long time ago, I found this one in Washington at the Nisqually National Wildlife refuge. One of the biggest barns I have every seen.
And there was two of them.
During the holidays I like to take the photo of a barn and make Christmas cards out of them by doing a little photo manipulation.
Swan Dive – Look at the size of those flippers. I took these photos in Iowa a couple of years ago. I just had to bring them back up being I have been posting about swans.
We were walking along the edge of a small lake surrounded by tall vegetation and we could here this loud noise and the sound of water splashing. We walked over to a clearing and looked across the water and found the source of all this commotion.
Seeing a swan taking a bath is quite something. They have a wing span of 6 to 10 feet long. The longest wingspan recorded is 10 feet 2 inches.
The trumpeter swan is the largest extant species of waterfowl, and both the heaviest and longest native bird of North America. They come in at 15 to 30 lbs.
These swans need at least a 100 meter-long “runway” of open water: running hard across the surface, they almost sound like galloping horses as they generate speed for take off. About as long as a soccer field.
Hopefully I will photograph that one day, landing and taking off.
The Black Swan – Normally it was only found in Australia, but with the transporting of rare birds, these swans can be found in the states as well.
This swan I photographed at a campground in New Mexico called Rusty’s RV Ranch where Rusty, who is a woman, had quite a few exotic birds that she took care of. Two black swans included with their own pond, which was nice.
Like most swans, this species has a characteristic “S” shaped neck and a large body. Black swans have one of the longest necks of all swan species relative to their size. They are large birds, with a wingspan of 6 feet or more, and a maximum weight of 20 pounds.
Photo Manipulation also called composites. which means two or more photos put together as one. I occasionally make composites, when my imagination seems to be sparking an idea.
Take for instance these two swans. When I look at a photo, I always crop in 100% to check the quality of the photo and check to see if there are any defects that need attention.
When I crop in on a photo, my mind will wonder off as I picture the subject in a different light
I cropped in even further on this photo so I can actually see how clear the face is and the eyes. I always want to see if the eyes are crisp sharp, in this case they are just to dark, but the feathers around the face look pretty sharp.
Then I crop in one more time and the water in the background makes my imagination start to turn, it looks as though the swan is sticking its head up out of the water as if its body is underwater.
So then I just have to see if I can make it look like it is peaking out of the water at me and because it appears that the swan is looking right at me, the words Navy Seal runs through my mind.
Well, all I could do is add some goggles that I found on the internet, just for a fun photo. Now I know why it takes me forever to edit photos, I can’t help but to try and create what my imagination is throwing at me. Then I just turn the computer off and go outside for awhile, laughing of course. 🙂
Have a great weekend.
Oh, on Monday I will show you the other swan I photographed when we were out west, a swan that is only suppose to be found in Australia.
The Trumpeter Swan – There are 6 swans species and I have photographed two of them. This one here being the trumpeter swan.
I went for years never seeing a swan anywhere, but now do to conservation efforts these swans have been taken off of the endangered species list and are found in many states including Iowa. Where I photographed these here.
I added the snow effect on this bottom photo.
This photo below has a soft white vignette.
This photo below has some sparkling water effects around the swans. I do like this one below.
Light House #5 is Copper Harbor Lighthouse in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We could not get to this light house as the road was closed by the owner. There are some lighthouses that people have bought and refurbished and actually live in them. I took this photo with my phone actually from a look out point west of the small island.
Copper Harbor Lighthouse, the second lighthouse to be built on Lake Superior, commenced operation in the spring of 1849, and on June 20, 1860, Congress appropriated $3,500 for range lights to better mark the entrance to Copper Harbor. To determine the necessity of these and other proposed lights, the Lighthouse Board assigned a committee to visit the Great Lakes during the summer of 1863. The following information on Copper Harbor was included in the committee’s report:
This is the finest harbor on this part of the coast. It possesses good water, affords a perfect protection, and has sufficient depth on the bar for all vessels navigating the lakes, fifteen feet.
Some history of Copper Harbor below. Copper mining in the Upper Peninsula boomed, and from 1845 until 1887 (when it was exceeded by Butte, Montana) the Michigan Copper Country was the nation’s leading producer of copper. In most years from 1850 through 1881,
During the summer of 1840, Douglass Houghton, Michigan’s first state geologist, led a small party on an expedition to explore that area of the Upper Peninsula bordered by Lake Superior. On July 3, the party reached Copper Harbor, where it spent several days exploring the surrounding country and blasting for ores. After discovering veins of copper that varied in width from a few inches to fourteen feet, Houghton wrote, “I hope to see the day when instead of importing the whole immense amount of copper and brass used in our country, we may become exporters of both.”
Houghton wouldn’t live to see that day, as he drowned when his boat capsized off Eagle River during a gale on October 13, 1845, but he rightly foretold that the rich mineral deposits of the Upper Peninsula would only be developed with “many difficulties and embarrassments.”
In 1842, the Ojibwe signed the Treaty of La Pointe, ceding their mineral-rich territory and triggering a land rush that saw miners and investors buying up what they hoped was copper-rich real estate. The following year, the federal government opened a Mineral Land Agency at Copper Harbor to issue exploration permits and land leases, and Fort Wilkins was built in 1844 to maintain law and order.
Eagle Harbor Light is an operational lighthouse at Eagle Harbor in Keweenaw County, in Michigan. It sits on the rocky entrance to Eagle Harbor and is one of several light stations that guide mariners on Lake Superior across the northern edge of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
This light house is a beautiful well maintained house. A wonderful museum and very picturesque to say the least. Especially looking at it from over the water of the great Lake Superior.
In 1999 the Congress of the United States transferred ownership of the Eagle Harbor Light Station to the Keweenaw County Historical Society. The Coast Guard continues to operate the light at the top of the tower.
Video of the Eagle Harbor Light house and its surrounding area below or click this link; Eagle Harbor Lighthouse Video
Farming at Sunset – I had a couple more photos to post from the evening that we went out and watched the corn being harvested in Iowa. It is a busy time of year for the farmers as they finish up the field work.
Leaving Our Forested Home – Well, we are on the road again. I grew up in this area of forest and lakes and it is where I am most at home and where I can go to relax within creation, with an abundance of solitude and beauty.
When I was younger, I never got to travel much at all. I started working at the age of 13 and after the age of 18, I never missed a day of work. The only time I took off was the 3 weeks I went to truck driving school to learn how to drive a Semi Truck.
I have to say, I was so nervous those 3 weeks, not having a paycheck coming in. Even though I had planned for it. It was so strange not being at a job.
I was fortunate enough to retire from working early in my life and we have been traveling ever since. I love that I can take photos of all these beautiful places and share them with anyone who happens to pass by on this thing called the internet.
We are living in some very strange and dangerous times right now, nothing like I have ever seen in my life time.
But, I will continue doing what I know how to do best. Living life to the fullest as best as possible, enjoying that which is created for us, the beauty of creation that surrounds us everyday. Life goes by so fast, I spent my entire life working and now I will relax and enjoy whatever time I have left, not to destroy but to create, photos that will float around the old internet way pass when I leave this earth.
For every click of a camera, history is being recorded of what was and what can be.
Turning Water into Electricity – Calm lakes surrounded by colorful forest only visible from above. These photos were taken mid September, just as the colors were starting to turn.
A beautiful lake surrounded by forest here at Victoria Dam in Michigan.
Side note: looks like a few bloggers including my site, are having issues with comments and the like button being blocked. So incase you are reading this and the comment sectioned is closed, word press is at fault for this. I have not turned them off. Hopefully it can be fixed, I will let you know if I find anything out about this situation. 😊
At Victoria, water from the diversion dam flows through the intake structure at the dam into wood-stave pipeline and steel penstock to the turbines. The force of the water passing through the blades of the 65-inch diameter cast steel wheels drives the turbine and generators to produce electricity.
The Victoria units operate at 300 rpm with a maximum operating head of 215 feet. (Head—the difference in water elevation at the dam and the tailrace or discharge elevation.) With maximum head, a pressure of 93 pounds per square inch (psi) exists at the turbine water wheels.
After the water passes through the turbines, it is discharged into the west branch of the Ontonagon River, then into the main Ontonagon River, and finally into Lake Superior at the Village of Ontonagon.
Rainfall and melting snow throughout the 801-square-mile watershed upstream of the Victoria eventually end up as water at Victoria Dam. Some of this water is held in storage at UPPCO’s Bond Falls Reservoir, Bergland Dam, or Cisco Dam, and flows as river-run directly to Victoria. (UPPCO refers to the Upper Peninsula Power Company.)
At Victoria, this water is used for power generation. However, if the river-run exceeds the storage capacity of the Victoria Dam and the 850 cubic feet per second utilized by the turbines while operating at a full load, it is necessary to spill the excess water through the radial spill gates. Normally the greatest amount of water is spilled during the spring snow-melt or runoff.
Because water can be stored upstream of Victoria for release and use during dry periods, UPPCO is able to operate the power station about 80 percent of the time during the average year. The least amount of generation occurs during July and August when the river-runs are sometimes down to 150 cubic feet per second.
Taking the Back Roads – Sometimes life takes us down back roads, for me, back roads are my way of life. They can take us on adventures we may have missed if we only take the roads everyone else travels on.
When we’re traveling down those back roads we can experience some of life’s greatest lessons and blessings.
See things that God intended for us to see. Things we might not have seen otherwise. Sure the Interstate that everyone else is taking looks much easier. It is faster and predictable. But those on the Interstate will experience the same thing that everyone else is.
They will not see the beauty that you see. They will not have a story to tell.
The excitement of taking the road less travelled resembles taking that narrow path that will lead us home.
AI Generated vs Digital Painting vs photography. Well, we are being submersed in the AI world, adds popping up and sites that you need to pay for to use the AI generated systems.
So I clicked on one sight that lets you have one free photo generated AI photograph. The complete image is below of my two dogs. I have to admit, the photo is as cute as it can be, especially my little dog down in the bottom corner. She isn’t as fuzzy as the image implies, but so cute I think. This would be great if I were into writing children’s books or animated movies.
This type of generation is photo generative, there is also word generative images that are actually quite beautiful as well. They look like something right our of a movie, an imaginative world of soft, gorgeous colors. All of which I believe is an expression of art. Art has no limitations.
This next one is what I like to do. Create a painting from one of my photographs. This I actually use my mouse and brush over the image one area at a time. Along with other editing layers that I apply to my liking. It is relaxing to do and just plain fun for me.
This is the photo I took of my Chloee to create the art print.
But, the photo print below is what I really like to do. We are camped at a spot with a lot of family’s stationed at the army base here. The woman next to us has this beautiful Great Dane, her husband has been deploy to Israel.
So I went out and photographed her dog and made a couple of paintings for her and gave them to her with out her knowing that I took the photos. It is a wonderful way to give back and I just love photographing pets, so I am glad I can do this. He is such a beautiful dog.
In Search Of Historical Bridges, I just happened to come across this one last month. As a photographer, shots like this is what makes being a photographer so much fun. I am always in search of scenic views when I am not out looking for wildlife to photograph.
Google maps has become my new source to help find lost treasures like this one. I was in an area and typed in the search bar on my phone, bridges and arched bridges. One showed up in this tiny little town not far from where I was at. So off I went in search of this little arched bridge.
It is called the Historic Ramsay Keystone Arched Bridge. The Ramsay Bridge is 130 feet long and was built over the Black River in 1922.
So we arrived at the bridge on a rainy morning, from this side of the bridge it did not look like much of a view, a lot of over growth surrounding the bridge and it was hard to get to and I thought, well the bridge itself is pretty cool looking.
So we left and thought we would go look at one more thing and on the way back, maybe the rain will have stopped and we will look one more time.
We went back to the bridge on our way home and the surprise to this location, was to go to the other side of the bridge. That is where the shot was, a perfect amount of shrubs and colored leaves surrounding the bridge as if it was framed right out of a story book.
With its babbling brook running slowly underneath the bridge, it is a true picturesque view.
Needless to say when I stumble apon an area like this, I am smiling.
At 57 feet, the height of this bridge is also quite impressive, but it is the impressive stonework’s ability to stand the test of time that truly wows.
And what is a keystone you might ask (or capstone) – it is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch or vault to bear weight.
Autumn and Thanksgiving – this first photo I made for all the young children in our family for them to try and find all the animals in the photo. This makes for a great puzzle as well. You can make a puzzle out of any photo you take these days.
This years fall colors were so different I think, they had a softer, almost pastel color to the leaves.
Like that old cereal called Captain Crunch, these colors remind me of that.
Eagles in the Corn Fields , this is a new sight for me to see eagles in a corn field after harvest. I have only seen eagles by water or where we live, if there is a carcass in the ditch, you will sometimes see an eagle there as well.
This field had about 12 eagles on it, but this one below was the closest one. Amazing birds.
Old Grist Mills – A Gristmill is a facility where grain is ground into animal feed or flour. Gristmills were vital to the development of the Midwest. Without them the early settlers would not have been able to feed themselves or their livestock. Since every settler had to journey to the mill, they were a hub of many activities where families exchanged news and socialized. At one time Iowa had 500 gristmills.
We found this mill in Iowa in a town named Lime Springs. I took this photo last week when I was visiting my sister. We went for a drive, which I love to do. Never know what one might find in the small towns of Iowa.
Grist is grain that has been ground or is in the process of being ground. It may or not be bolted (sifted) into flour or ground further. Grist is any material that is being processed by a mill.
Below is Pine Creek Mill in Muscatine Iowa, I photographed this one years ago. They were such an important part of life back in the day. I find the history of how things were made so interesting now, amazing the innovative ideas people have come up with to make life easier in some ways.
Visiting the mid west in the fall, especially Iowa, you are bound to see the combines running as the corn and beans need to be harvested.
This individual in the video below is someone we know and I asked him if we could make a video and take a few photos as he was combining at sunset. I gave him the video and photos, he has never seen his hard work looking from a drones perspective. You can see the corn rows are very straight as well.
Years ago, I knew a farmer that always drove around the countryside, after he planted all his fields. Just to see if his neighbors’ rows were straight. Just a thing farmers do I guess.
I am trying something new here with this video. I will see if it works after this post is live. I entered my video right into a block here on word press, which should show up below, hopefully. So that you can see the video right from reader and not having to go to the web site itself.
I also imbedded the video from my you tube account below, which only shows up on my page site, just incase it did not work above. 🙂
Using External Lights for wildlife photography. I tried something different this year with the squirrel photography. I have a table set up along the tree line that I put bird food on.
I put this Queen Ann Lace flower on the table and sprinkled seed all around it. I couldn’t have asked for a better pose from this red squirrel as he jumped on the table and then made his way behind the flower to eat a few seeds.
But it is dark over by the trees, so I set up a light on a tri pod to brighten up the area for more detail. It worked perfectly.
Photography is a great way to let your creativity come to life. Sometimes wildlife goes along with it and makes it more fun. Have a great weekend. 😉
Reflection Photography – The best time for reflections is usually in the early hours of the day or in the evening. The mist and the colored clouds of the sunset are a great subject.
Or with an overcast sky, the reflection can help to make an otherwise boring sky interesting.
Horizontal lines make for great reflection photos of tree lines along a lake, but don’t forget to get that wide angle lens out especially on a river where you can capture the bank on both sides of the water. Gives your photo a wonderful sense of depth.
Quiet Morning Hours to calm ones spirit. It is my favorite time of day when the waters are calm and the light reflections on the water gives way to patterns of ethereal beauty.
Drone Photography, Autumn is the best time of year to get the drone up and flying. My husband does all the drone photos and it is a wonderful way to see all the trees turning color.
We only use the drone for landscape photography in designated areas. It provides for a wonderful view from above. Looking down on the world that was created for us.
Tree tops – Autumn Colors Short Video below. You have to visit the site to see this video, they don’t play on reader. I will add the link here, but sometimes that doesn’t work either. Or you can come on over to my You Tube channel and see all my videos over there. 🙂
Fall Garden Pollinators, the bumble bees are still hard at work. Bumble bees are keystone pollinators in the ecosystem. They pollinate food crops, trees, and of course, flowers. In my own yard, I realized that the more native plants I planted, the more pollinators visited my garden. Which has been beneficial for my food crops!
Amazing how all of creation has a purpose and it all works as designed, the pollinators being an example of such design.
Bees sleeping outside the nest will sleep under a flowerhead or inside a deep flower like a squash blossom where the temperature can be up to 18 degrees warmer close to the nectar source.
Do You See the Mustache on the black hawk helicopter in front there. I never noticed it until I zoomed in for this photo. 🙂 I saw these guys in Alabama last year. They flew in from Alaska to do some training exercises on the gulf coast.
On the road again Just can’t wait to get on the road again The life I love is making music with my friends
And I can’t wait to get on the road again On the road again Goin’ places that I’ve never been Seein’ things that I may never see again And I can’t wait to get on the road again
On the road again Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway We’re the best of friends Insisting that the world keep turning our way And our way Is on the road again I just can’t wait to get on the road again
Happy Winter Chickadees – I only took a couple of photos of these little ones this year. They always bring a smile to my face. Just so cute. I don’t see them down south, so I do enjoy their visits at home.
Landscape Photography or should I say waterscapes. Waterfalls and lakes a plenty this summer. Blue being my favorite color. Or is it green, yep it is blue and green.
The combination most often found in summer landscapes. Blue sky’s and lush green forest and add some water and it is an oasis of peace and solitude.
Lake Superior at Sunset, we made it up to the big lake a couple of times this past summer. Sunset is always beautiful across the lake. it is like the little ocean of the north to me.
The water is cold and clear with lots of forest lining the highway along the beaches.
Colored rocks galore.
But in the winter, this lake is amazing. With ice breaks piling up along the shore lines and of so cold when the wind is blowing across the lake.
Brrrrrr, I am glad we can go south for the winters these days.
Last of My Flower photos from my gardens. They are still blooming but we are in the process of heading south again. I want to say thank you to Beth for telling me about Zinnias. She said to let them stand all winter, they give great coverage for the birds, plus they can reseed themselves in the spring.
I did notice the birds would go under the flower plants in the heat of the summer. It was dark and cool in there. Like it was their own little forest.
It Likes the Camouflage – I was sitting on my porch with my camera on my tri pod, just waiting for something to photograph when this moth landed on my lens. Of course I have another camera to take a picture of this.
With its wings closed it blends right in with the camouflage cover on my lens.
Macro Flower Photography – Flowers are a great subject for getting up close macro shots. I use two different lenses for macro photography. My favorite lens is a 90mm macro lens. It gets clear up close shots even without a tripod.
It is like a new world when seeing nature this close.
Macro means you’re taking super close-ups of objects at 1:1. So the image size on your sensor is equal to the size of the subject in real life.
Do Bees See Colors – Bees do not see color the same way humans do, so they are attracted to certain flower colors. Plants on the blue and yellow end of the color spectrum attract bees because those are the colors they can easily perceive.
I am not sure how they have found this information, but I do know the bumble bees are busy at work this fall landing on pretty much all of the colors in my flower garden. I have noticed they really like the pink cosmos flowers and the marigolds.
Male bees do not actively collect pollen, only the queen does. They transfer the pollen they collect to the sacs or baskets on their hind legs to make it easier to transport back to the hive.
A queen has found a suitable habitat for her colony once she is seen with pollen on her hind legs
Unlike honeybees, the bumblebee colony dies in late fall. The queen (who rules the colony) is the only member of a bumblebee colony to survive the winter! She hibernates during the winter months underground and starts a new colony in the spring.
Autumn is Rich With Gold colors. Welcome to October, my favorite season is here. Autumn colors, cool crisp air and golden hues surround us.
Flower photography is a fun way to see all these colors up close. This little orange flower grows about 1 foot off of the ground. Sometimes it is just easier to pick the flower to photograph it and make an interesting composition with it, then crawling down on the ground to get a close up shot.
Pileated Woodpecker Speed – Pileated Woodpeckers are known for their speed, agility, and power. They are able to fly up to 30 miles per hour and sustain speeds of over 60 miles per hour when diving.
Additionally, Pileated Woodpeckers have been known to use their strong bills to chip away at tree trunks at a rate of up to 20 times per second. This combination of speed and strength makes Pileated Woodpeckers one of the most impressive birds in the Pileated woodpecker family.
I took a lot of photos to get these 4 good ones of this bird in flight. I am using a 600 mm lens and the weight of this camera is about 6 lbs. and moving it back and forth tilted up at the bird is a challenge by itself.
The Pileated Woodpecker is one of the biggest, most striking forest birds on the continent. It’s nearly the size of a crow, black with bold white stripes down the neck and a flaming-red crest.
Look (and listen) for Pileated Woodpeckers whacking at dead trees and fallen logs in search of their main prey, carpenter ants, leaving unique rectangular holes in the wood. The nest holes these birds make offer crucial shelter to many species including swifts, owls, ducks, bats, and pine martens.
I normally see 4 of these gorgeous birds around my place all summer long. They are easy to find because of their size and they are actually very fast birds in flight. I actually got a couple photos of them flying I will share on tomorrows post.
Such a Cool Looking Bird – Many people consider the loon a symbol of wilderness; its rich yodeling and moaning calls, heard by day or night, are characteristic sounds of early summer in the north woods. In winter, silent and more subtly marked.
Common Loons inhabit coastal waters and large southern lakes. In such places they are solitary while feeding, but may gather in loose flocks at night.
Loons are water birds, only going ashore to mate and incubate eggs. Their legs are placed far back on their bodies, allowing efficient swimming but only awkward movement on land.
Loons are like airplanes in that they need a runway for takeoff. In the case of loons, they need from 30 yards up to a quarter-mile (depending on the wind) for flapping their wings and running across the top of the water in order to gain enough speed for lift-off.
Like many young birds, juvenile loons are really on their own after mom and dad leave at about 12 weeks. The parents head off on migration in the fall, leaving juveniles to gather into flocks on northern lakes and make their own journey south a few weeks later. Once the juveniles reach coastal waters on the ocean, they stay there for the next two years. In the third year, young loons return north.
Boating This Summer – we bought an old boat years ago that we have never had time to use at all until this year. The motor that came with the boat was old and needed some attention. My husband proceeded to work on the boat when we got home last spring and the motor was definitely a challenge for him.
He has never worked on a boat motor before, but I have to say he is so good at fixing pretty much anything that I knew he would figure this one out as well. It took him a couple of months, after replacing many different parts on the motor, he decided to take the carburetor apart one more time. As he did he discovered one tiny little inlet hole that was still clogged with dirt and grime that he had not noticed before and just like that the motor runs like brand new.
I just realized I actually do not have a photo of the entire boat. I will have to get one taken. He has to paint parts of it yet, but now he has time for that with it running properly. So many lakes to explore, it isn’t a new fancy boat, it is a classic almost antique one would say. It is stable and reliable just like us.
Oh the fun we will have and the scenic views we will see together my husband and I. We are best friends and I love this man. A true relationship is like a boat, if you work on it, it will bring you such joy and happiness. Communication is like the motor, it keeps everything running smoothly. Lack of communication and the motor starts to sputter and quits eventually.
The boat stays afloat from a good foundation of trust and faith, not only in each other but for us, it is in our Father. With this combination, adventures await us around every corner. It will stay afloat for a lifetime until our time comes that we must leave each other to go on our last adventure.
The Cheerful Flower – Sunflowers grow large, tall, and cheerful flower heads that brighten and animate your yard—and though you most commonly see these aptly-named beauties in sunny yellow, the annuals can be red or orange, too. There are so many good reasons to grow them, beyond the fact that they make you happy: They’re easy to cultivate, attract beneficial pollinators like butterflies and native bees, and draw beautiful songbirds (many species love these blooms!)
Including deer, they love eating them when they are young plants. But I was able to keep them away from a couple of my sunflowers so I could see them bloom and provide seeds for the birds this year.
Short video below of my tallest sunflower, over 10 ft. this one. Like the sun looking right at you. Click here, Sunflower
Hummingbirds and Flowers -This was the best summer I have had with my flower gardens and seeing the hummingbirds, bees and butterflies using them was such a treat. I will be doing this again next year for sure. The hummingbirds are gone now for this year.
We have had a couple of frost already up here and some of the flowers did not do so well. Except these below and my sunflowers, the frost did not bother them.
I am not sure what to make of this photo below. Does it not look like the hummingbird on top is sticking its tongue out at the hummingbird below.
Crazy kids. 🙂
Until next year hummingbirds, can’t wait to see you in the spring again.
Best Buds, well this is the last of the fawn photos for 2023. They are grown up and now are playing out in the big field next to us. Until next year little ones. 🙂
Daron the Heron – I have just a couple of photos left of this beautiful bird that I took down south last winter. I actually took enough photos of them to be able to share with you all summer off and on. I never get tired of looking at their amazing colors and long flowing feathers.
One thing I noticed when I look at the videos I take of these birds is that they have a lot of patience and they can go along time without blinking. Yes they blink, they actually have 3 eyelids.
This video below is an example of one not blinking for 30 seconds. Click here, Heron Staring Contest
Happy Monday – I guess I really don’t pay attention to the days of the week anymore except to write my blog post. When you are retired, they all just kind of blend in.
Now that my sister has finally retired that has changed as I used to call her every Saturday, her day off. Now we can call each other whenever knowing I am not interrupting her work. Just love it when I go and visit and can visit with her all week when we are there.
Below is a cute video to start your week. A fawn playing and running during a cool morning start of the day. This is filmed with a trail camera so the quality is not as good as a camera, but it is a fun video that will make you smile. Or click this link here; Fawn Playing
Song Birds – this first picture is a bird called a song sparrow. It has a very pretty bird call. This was the only bird around our place last month. I am not sure where they all went, but it is was pretty quiet here for quite awhile, except for this one little bird who would sing every time I put some bird food out for it.
In the video below you can hear the sounds of the song sparrow and some bird sounds from earlier this spring. Song Bird Sounds
So I am adding some birds in red to give some color to this blog.
Does it Lean to the Left – those who take photos, do you notice if your shots lean one way or the other? Meaning are they level for you? I have noticed over the years all my photos lean to the left.
The middle photo I tried to fix but ended up going back to the left. When I set up the grid line in photoshop and make it level with that. Then it always looks like it is leaning to the right after fixing it, like the last photo.
I am left handed, maybe that has something to do with it. 🙂
This one below looks like it is leaning to the right after fixing it in photoshop.
Below is a video of the Shelf Cloud that went through my area a couple of weeks ago, along with some of my lightning photos. Or click here; Shelf Clouds
Nature is a Perfect Example teaching us about life and survival. I have always been fascinated by observing nature, learning from it, watching how animals survive. Photography has really enhanced this study as I have to be in nature and wait patiently as I watch everything from birds, animals and even flowers and trees, go about their daily task called life.
How does something as tiny as a hummingbird survive looking for food, raising babies? Let alone wondering how they migrate thousands of miles every year. Instinct, DNA, survival mechanism that were given to them.
I was walking past my garden and a shinny reflection caught my eye, tiny ruby colors glistening in the sunshine on a leaf. I moved to look closer and it was gone. I went around to the other side of the leaf and their it was, the most beautiful color, shinning bright as the sunlight caressed these 3 little feathers stuck on a leaf.
They are 3 of the smallest feathers I have ever picked up. They are from the throat area of the Ruby Throated Hummingbird. They are so small I could barely keep them in my hand as I took them inside to get a photo of these marvelous little shinny feathers.
I put them next to a penny so you can see the size comparison. The hummingbirds sit on my fence around my garden and groom themselves. So this tiny feather probably fell out, right below the fence on a leaf.
Watching and learning from birds makes me think about how they survive on a daily bases. They search for food, they feed their family’s and themselves. Plus they appear to be happy, they enjoy sitting on a fence in the sunshine watching what is going on around them. I do that as well, sitting on my porch, not a fence. 🙂
But, “𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕎𝕆ℝ𝕃𝔻 𝕚𝕤 increasingly 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 to 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐮𝐬. Happiness isn’t very good for the economy. If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more? How do you sell an anti-ageing moisturizer? You make someone worry about ageing. How do you get people to vote for a political party? You make them worry about immigration. How do you get them to buy insurance? By making them worry about everything. How do you get them to have plastic surgery? By highlighting their physical flaws.
To be calm becomes a kind of revolutionary act.
To be happy with your own non-upgraded existence. To be comfortable with our messy, human selves, would not be good for business.”
– Matt Haig,
Be the change! Learn how to be happy with what you have. Reprogram your mindset for positive outlook gratitude, calmness and most importantly 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.
Reprogram and remove programming/conditioning that no longer serves you, the self limiting beliefs that keep you from growing to your full potential.
Flower Garden – Well I planted lots of flowers two months ago and they are in full bloom. So many wonderful colors and I am happy to say the hummingbirds are still here. They appear to be having a blast going to all the flowers and chasing each other.
I have two flower gardens that way the hummingbirds have plenty of room to check out all the flowers.
Marigolds – marigolds symbolize purity, auspiciousness, and the divine. Their strong fragrance is believed to ward off negativity and evil spirits. Plus they are said to ward off mosquitos.
The vibrant colors of marigolds also represent the sun’s energy, signifying warmth, passion, and creativity.
I planted a lot of marigolds this year to test out the theory of keeping mosquitos away. But by the time they bloomed the mosquitos were already gone. So I can not testify that this theory is correct until next year. 🙂
This one is not a marigold, I just added it because of the color scheme and background.
Knowledge is Power – Autumn is upon us and it is always the time of year that brings me to reflect on the past summer as our travel plans get closer. But this weekend I was thinking about time, I was actually given a senior discount for something I purchased, it is my first senior discount and just the word senior made me think about time and all those who have gone before me.
I was thinking about my grandfather who has passed away now over 30 years ago. How is time for him. I thought about my mother who passed away only 3 years ago and I thought of all the time she spent cooking meals, cleaning house, taking care of family and friends. All that which is just gone now, but for a memory.
As I am approaching my 62 birthday, I thought about the lifetime I have had so far and how I am in a place of peace and happiness that I believe just comes with age. Maybe because I have a better sense of time now, knowing that my time here is very short. When we are young it seems like time will last forever.
As I was contemplating all these things about life, an article appeared before me that I found very relatable. I would like to share a part of it here.
In the year 2123, exactly 100 years from now, we shall all be laid to rest beside our loved ones.
Our homes, which we have fought so hard to create, will be occupied by total strangers, and they will possess all we have right now. Everything we own, even the expensive car we didn’t even buy yet, will eventually be scrapped and sold to a collector nobody has ever heard of.
Our offspring won’t recognise us or remember us for very long. How many of us can name the father of our grandfather?
A few years after our deaths, our history, photographs, and acts will fade into history’s oblivion, at which point we will be remembered only as a portrait on someone’s bookshelf. There won’t be any trace of us left.
Maybe if we took a day to reflect on these issues, we’d see how foolish and feeble the desire to have it all really is.
We would be different people with new perspectives and ways of thinking if only we could give this some serious thought.
The pursuit of more has left us with little time for the things that truly matter. Would people give it all up if it meant getting to experience the walks they never took, the hugs they never gave, the kisses they never got to offer to loved ones, and the jokes we never got to tell. Those would be the best times to reflect on, because they would bring us so much more wealth and happiness.
All Creatures Great and Small – I found this colorful bug in my marigold plants. It isn’t any bigger then the end of a pencil, the lead end of a pencil. But the bold red stripes caught my eye right away when I was about to water them. How unusual is this.
How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.. living things both large and small.
Along with this one below, it resembles a fly but again it is very very small and shined like gold on this leaf. Amazing what we might see when we look really close.
Percentage of Bad Photos – What is the percentage on average of photos that don’t make the cut and end up on the editing floor so to speak.
Well on average 2 out of 20 photos will be good when you are photographing a series or trying to follow a subject like wildlife.
Here are some perfect examples. I am trying to photograph this red squirrel, who by the way can move very fast.
Leaf in the way, no good
Not a fast enough shutter speed at all
Not fast enough yet
Below is a short video showing this squirrel moving so quickly, you can see why they are hard to photograph. I put the music from mission impossible movie with this clip. It fits pretty well 🙂 or click here; Mission Impossible Red Squirrel
Oh the expression, he seems a bit perturbed with me and would rather eat in peace. Bird seed doesn’t come free for these guys, the deal is they have to get their photos taken. I am pretty sure they signed a contract somewhere along the line. Maybe just in my mind. 🙂
Come back here
Who knows what happened here
The odds are right on, I had two good photos out of 18. I did not put all the bad ones on here. Just keep that in mind when you are out taking photos. They will never all be perfect, but photography is like playing golf to me. When you get that one awesome shot, it just makes me want to keep going and do more. Have a great weekend.
Wings Touching Water – Awhile back I had mentioned how I wanted to take more photo of birds in flight with their wings just grazing the water. Well, pelicans are a good one for doing this because they ride the updrafts along the water, so they can glide for long periods of time and then flap their wings and stay close to the water.
So when we went back north this past spring, we had to stop at the Mississippi river, where you will always find some white pelicans and I was able to add a couple more photos to the list.
At the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, a bold painting by Austrian artist Carl Kahler made a splash among critics. Entitled My Wife’s Lovers, the work drew tremendous attention for its lavish depictions of a wealthy socialite’s paramours.
Mother and Fawn – Well mom is finally bringing her baby out into the open with her. This female deer below is the oldest of the adults, she has seniority over all the others ones and lets them know it if they get to close to the feeders when she is around. I know her now because of her size and a dark spot on the side of her neck.
This fawn is a little older now and still has a few of its white spots across its body.
I snapped this photo just right, looks like she got a taste of some sour corn off of the ground.
Bumblebees are one of the most important pollinators in the world. They are hard at work right now in my gardens. They are covered in pollen and busy little bees. They are so round and plump looking. They don’t mind my camera being near them at all.
The Colors of Summer, I believe I mentioned awhile ago that the hummingbirds seems to have already left my area. Well, they are back, or they were just waiting for all my flowers to bloom so they could enjoy them.
I planted lots of zinnia’s and cosmos and a few other things to bring bright colors to my yard for the hummingbirds and butterfly’s.
They are buzzing all around the gardens, enjoying the warm weather and bountiful nectar found all around my yard. This has been the best year for flowers for me. I planted them all over 2 months ago and thought they were never going to make it for the birds, bees and butterflies, but they did.
So much fun out in the gardens this month.
Oh, and the little goldfinches are enjoying my bird bath as well.
Photographing Star Trail Circles – another goal of mine is to photograph a circle of star trails, a full circle with no obstructions in the foreground. Finding the spot and the right conditions is the challenge more so then actually taking the photo.
I live in dark sky country, so that makes it much easier to accomplish this task. Well, a couple of days ago I went to a lake that I knew had a clear view to the north and I though that would have plenty of space to photograph the circle of stars.
But what I did not think of, is that even after the sun went down behind the horizon, the glow of the sun would still linger way past sunset with no obstructions to hide the last bit of light. Which made it more difficult to find the north star.
I used a compass to find due north, but as you can see in this first photo I was off center and the north star is to the left. Plus the mist coming off the lake kept blurring the lens. But it sure was fun trying to get the shot.
Not this photo is from my yard, I know where the north star is and as you can see I have a lot of trees blocking the full circle effect. But I will find a location yet to accomplish this task.
On our way home at midnight, we stopped at a lake that I knew at a clear view to the south and photographed the milky way over the water.
I did a little photo light painting as I shined my flashlight on the water to light it up for this first photo. The second photo is without the extra light.
Adventures await everyday, sometimes right outside out own backdoors.
Snow in August – no, 🙂 these photos are from 2 years ago. I have not seen snow in 2 years and that is ok with me. But I do enjoy looking at the photos I have taken of snow and deer in the snow.
We are preparing to head south already, time to go visit family and put the lawn mowers away. I love the autumn season and traveling when it isn’t so hot out as well.
White Tailed Deer – Wildlife has been very scarce this year. Normally there are over a dozen deer around here and this year I have seen 2 adult female deer. This one has a fawn running around, I have seen it a couple of times, still has its spots on it.
But it is just starting to come out of the woods with mom, so hopefully I will get a few photos of the fawn soon to share here.
Below is a short video of mama deer looking for some food out of my feeder, or click here; White Tailed Deer Standing
Dream On Dream On – This month is a show above all shows in the heavens called the Perseid Meteor Shower. Over the weekend was suppose to be the highlight and I just had to go out and see what I could photograph. I have not photographed the milky way in awhile.
This is a photo of my yard at midnight, I can see the milky way every night without a camera. It is an amazing sight and worth staying up for. Does it not show us how small we really are here on this planet. Creation above all else.
The meteor shower was more noticeable right at dusk into the dark, around 10pm. Facing north one could see much more against the darker sky away from the Milky Way.
Shutter speed 20 sec, ISO 6400, f2.8, 17mm lens
Below is a short time lapse of Saturday nights Perseid Meteor shower and Milky way or click this link, Perseid Shower
To make a video takes all night, because I am shooting with a 15 to 20 sec shutter speed, I used a go pro camera for this short video.
“Dream On” is a power ballad by Aerosmith from their 1973 eponymous debut album. Written by lead singer Steven Tyler, this song was their first major hit and became a classic rock radio staple.
I then took my older go pro and set it to time lapse photo, facing the north. If you want to create a circle of the stars. Point your camera directly at the north star and then take anywhere from 200 to 600 photos and stacked them on top of each other.
Again at 15 to 20 sec shutter speed and ISO 3200 or 6400. The colors you see in the shot are not photoshopped. There actually different colored stars that one can only see with night photography.
I will be doing more this month as the weather permits.
Black Bear Trail Cam Video – here are a few more photos of last years younger black bear that came to visit with his mom and this years young bear.
I added a short clip from my trail camera of the bear that visited this year below. This clip is not on You Tube so there isn’t a link to it. You would probably have to click visit page in reader to see this clip. It shows the young bear and how it stands up to check out the empty feeder.
Below is what happened when the bear finally saw me. I did not know they could run that fast.
Mom Bear – now this is a good size bear. These two visited our place two years ago. I saw the little bear first and again stood outside my back door with a 600mm lens and was photographing away when all of a sudden, mom came out of the woods.
I have to admit, my heart rate went up a bit when I saw her. She was so big and quite beautiful. These two trashed the feeder and again I had already put everything away when I first figured out they were here.
I don’t want them staying around, one has to respect these giant animals and give them space. They stuck around for about 4 days and then were gone. Bears are always on the search for food, if there isn’t any available they will move on as these two did.
Standing Bear – They sure look strange when standing up. This black bear is actually a smaller one. Standing he is shorter then 6ft. Compared to the pole I measured behind him.
This bear is about 80 yards from my house. I was standing next to the backdoor of our cabin as I photographed him. Being very quiet to not get its attention. Plus being right by the door incase I have to go back in.
I also use a 600 mm lens so I can get a closer photo.
New Visitor the Black Bear – every couple of years I might get to see a black bear as it wanders through my yard. Last month this small black bear stopped for a visit.
I woke up to my bird feeding pole bent over to the ground which tells me a bear is in the yard. So I take down my bird feeders and put them away as I know he will keep coming back looking for food. Once I put the feeders away, he came back a couple days checking things out and now I have not seen him for a few weeks.
I put a trail camera out so I can monitor it as to what activity is going on at night while I am sleeping. He hasn’t been on the trail cam for a while now.
He sat down near my bird bath and just looked around for awhile. It was hot on this day and he wasn’t moving very fast. By the way, I am just guessing a he, I don’t really know for sure.
The Hummingbird – they travel over 2,000 miles twice a year. They winter in Central America or Mexico and migrate north to their breeding grounds in the U.S. during late winter and early spring.
When you see what amazing things this tiny little bird can do. It makes me realize there isn’t anything that I can not accomplish. Natures Little Wonders
My Favorite Hummingbird Photos – normally I always have 4 hummingbirds visiting my place. This year I have only see 2. I did not get a chance to photograph them this year and they are gone already. So, here are a few of last years photos.
Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird in a Dream World, abstract art work. Digital art.
Cross the Bridge into August, July has come and gone. How time fly’s. These bridges here are all crossing the Mighty Mississippi River taken from the Iowa side of the river.
This first bridge is actually gone now, they tore it down this past year. Well, last time I went by there they still had a small section of the bridge left to take down. It is replaced by a bigger more modern bridge now.
July Went out With a Bang as a shelf cloud came across the land a few days ago.
Shelf clouds are harmless themselves but typically indicate strong storms. Shelf clouds form at the leading edge of a thunderstorm. If you see a shelf cloud coming your way, it probably means you are about to get hit by a strong thunderstorm.
I have seen two in my lifetime and they are quite interesting cloud formations and make great photos if you are quick enough. Usually they are moving pretty fast.
This one below I took a couple of years ago, it was a much worse storm behind it then the one above. Even though the one last week did dump over 2 inches of rain and very high winds.
Bridges, I have photographed over 200 bridges, so I am picking some of my favorites going way back to bridges I photographed in Iowa when I lived there as well.
One More Bridge – one more bridge I did not cross is this first one here I photographed in Cloudcroft New Mexico. This one is just for looking at, it is not in use anymore.
I will finish this week off with more bridges, a view of the world around us, bridges that connect you and me.
Life is an adventure with many bridges that need to be crossed. Some bridges are hard to cross like this first one, literally and metaphorically.
We have to choose which bridges to cross to see what might be on the other side. This bridge in the first photo is the only one I have not crossed. But I can see the other side from here and I know it is just as beautiful as this side.
A Green Thumb means having a natural talent for growing plants. Well, I am not sure if I have a green thumb yet. I photographed these flowers down south using a faster shutter speed to give get the black background, which goes well with the purple flowers.
I have planted lots of flowers this year at home here, mostly for the hummingbirds, but by the time the flowers actually bloom the hummingbirds will be gone. It seems to be a slow year for me and growing flowers.
I have lots of green leaves everywhere but no color yet. So I guess I can say I have a green thumb. 🙂
Goslings Out for a Stroll, a clear bright morning down by the river as the goslings are out for a walk.
Short video below of Geese or Click here; Goslings
Parents are not to far away. These to were getting dive bombed by a small bird in the tree. The one kept turning its head sideways like a dog does with a loud noise.
Two New Birds – First the Great Crested Flycatcher. I love all the yellow on its belly, it blends so well with the brown wings. Such a pretty bird.
Great Crested Flycatchers are large flycatchers with fairly long and lean proportions. Like many flycatchers they have a powerful build with broad shoulders and a large head. Despite its name, this bird’s crest is not especially prominent. The bill is fairly wide at the base and straight; the tail is fairly long.
I have finally seen the Red Headed Woodpecker. I had seen one in a movie I think and figured they must be rare and that I probably would never see one.
Guess what, this one I spotted in Illinois. I was so surprised. It was very far away and did not let me get to close to take a good photo. Such striking bold colors, add this to the life list.
“George, are you going to jump? It says no jumping”
“But look at all those fish down there, I’m jumping”
Woo Hoo
“Look at George go, I’m going next”
Lunch is served
Short video below of Pelicans on the pier. There isn’t a link for this one, so you have to click visit to go to the web page to see it. Have a great weekend.
The Double Crested Cormorant – The double-crested cormorant gets its name because during breeding season adults sport two tufts of feathers, one above each eye; the rest of the year, these tufts do not appear.
But what I find so fascinating about this bird is its teal colored eyes. This is not a clear photo but look at the ring of teal color at the bottom of the eye. It almost looks like it is lit up. I will be trying to get a better photo of this next year.
During the high of the breeding season, a cormorant’s teal-blue eyes, bright yellow throat pouch, and tufts of feathers just above the eyes (for which the bird is named) cause this bird to stand out among the rest
Incredibly Complex – Our eyes are amazing machines that help us process life visually and provide us with a lifeline to everyday tasks and moments.
Cat eyes are so unique, it is like looking at a masterpiece of intricate detail and function with amazing colors.
Do Cats Blink? Well Cat eyelids don’t work like ours do, mainly because they have three of them.
“They have upper eyelids, lower eyelids and a third eyelid (also known as the nictitating membrane) that they use to protect and cover their eyes,”
Another unique quality of cat eyelids is that they don’t fully close.
A study done by the University of Portsmouth and the University of Sussex revealed that if your cat’s blinking really slowly at you, it’s his way of smiling at you
How often do cats blink?
Cats blink pretty regularly, but they don’t need to do it as frequently as people do. They usually will win a staring contest with you.
Sweet Color of Sunlight – Out of all of the colors, Yellow is the most noticeable to human eyes. This color is said to aid in analytical thinking. It also brings up feelings of happiness and optimism in those who see it.
Though too much yellow at one time can actually lead to annoyance and agitation from viewers and may also make you visually fatigued. Who knew one color held so much power!
Swallow Tailed Kites, I finally got to see some of these flying high. Some folks told me about this bird when I was down south. They said they only pass through the area and stay for just a few days. They actually look like kites gliding up above.
Swallow-tailed Kites spend most of their time in the air, capturing and swallowing their food in flight. Rarely flapping their wings, they soar and make tight turns, rotating their tail to steer.
A Little of Everything this first of July 2023. Summer is apon us and bright colors everywhere from architecture to flowers. Have a great month ahead. 🙂
Here is a video below with the sounds of frogs I recorded at my place this week along with some cloud time lapse and views of Montana. Or click this link; Nature Sounds Frogs
He Needs a Bigger Condo, a heron likes to perch up high just like a cat. This one was watching us fish down below. It is a purple martin house and that isn’t a real one laying at the feet of the heron. It is a fake purple martin to attract the real ones. Short video of the heron below or click this link; Heron on a Bird House
I have a fake one on my purple martin house, but I have never seen a purple martin up there yet. It is the end of June and here is wishing everyone a wonderful month of July.
The warm summer days are ahead of us, they remind of being a youngster, enjoying the fresh green grass between your toes, the warm breezes brushing up against your skin. Just love it.
I Took a Lot of Photos of this bird, the Indigo Bunting, I was under the impression that being in the far south was the only place you would see this bird. But come to find out I saw it all the way up into Illinois. Now I know they don’t come to Michigan, that is a little to far north for them. 🙂
We were out for a walk one day and looked over to the right and here sat this large unusual looking bird. I had to look it up when I got back. Plus I had the bridge camera on this walk and it just does not do very well when you max out the zoom lens on it.
Anything over 400 mm with this bridge camera the photos will not be clear. But I still was able to get a photo of it to write down in my bird book.
It is called a Bobolink, I have never heard of it but it is quite a fascinating bird.
The Bobolink is one of the world’s most impressive songbird migrants, traveling some 12,500 miles (20,000 kilometers) to and from southern South America every year. Throughout its lifetime, it may travel the equivalent of 4 or 5 times around the circumference of the earth.
The species name of the Bobolink, oryzivorus means “rice eating” and refers to this bird’s appetite for rice and other grains, especially during migration and in winter.
A migrating Bobolink can orient itself with the earth’s magnetic field, thanks to iron oxide in bristles of its nasal cavity and in tissues around the olfactory bulb and nerve. Bobolinks also use the starry night sky to guide their travels.
This picture below is from the internet, I did not take it, it is just to show you what it looks like.
Really Fast Birds the Foster Terns. Smaller than all the gulls, with thinner and more pointed bill. Distinguished from other terns by pale whitish wings and orange-based bill in summer, and isolated black ear patch in winter. Forages by circling and hovering over bays, ponds, and lakes, then dropping to snatch fish.
It was very difficult to follow these guys as they were diving. My camera was going all over the place.
They capture their food by plunge-diving from heights as low as a few feet to as high as 50 feet or more.
Hanging Out at the Beach Kind of Day, I still have a few photos from down south, so I will be going back and forth with post as I get a chance to edit my backlog of shots.
The first two photos are birds you almost always see at the beach. I don’t know the exact species name but they run in the family of plovers I believe.
Another Warbler, this one being the Hooded Warbler with its bold color of yellow and a black cap like a hood. This bird was very easy to spot in the trees. So many colors this spring.
Opposite of Blue is Orange, The sea is blue. From the color wheel, we can clearly see that the opposite of blue is orange, so orange is a contrasting color to blue.
Contrasting colors are colors that can be clearly distinguished, so when we are in danger at sea and need rescue, blue contrasting orange becomes the best choice.
The Palm Warbler – Warblers are a group of birds in the family Parulidae. There are 100species of warbler in North America.
Identifying warblers, indeed any bird comes down to knowing some basic facts about the species and then observing it closely. With about 111 species in the family, this can be a challenge. A few species don’t look very ‘warblerish’, like the Ovenbird, Waterthrush, and Yellow-breasted Chat, but for the others, you’ll need some additional help.
Color and plumage patterns, voice, behavior, and habitat are the most important characteristics. Armed with the additional knowledge of a species’ geographic range, you will likely be successful. A good field guide is also invaluable.
This one below I believe is a fly catcher of some sort. But it is also in the group of just another Brown bird for me.
Can you see what is in this tree?
I was surprised to see a dragon fly land in a tree. I was looking at birds and here came this guy with its big green eyes looking for his little bit of fame here on WordPress. 🙂
Close Up Macro Lens added to my Nikon Lens. I was given some 67 mm macro magnifying lens, up to plus 4 magnification to try out. I really like them, I picked this daisy and put it in a cup so I could place the flower on a table to photograph it with this added lens.
What a difference it makes, I did not use a tri pod but I think it still came out pretty clear. I sprayed some water onto the daisy so I could focus on that.
But an added bonus to this lens is the beautiful depth of field. I had my camera slightly below the flower pointing up with the clouds in the background. It made for a nice soft white color behind the flower.
The last photo is without the extra lens on and you can see how the background isn’t quit as soft. I will be trying this lens out more in the future.
The Quintessential Early Bird, American Robins are common sights on lawns across North America, where you often see them tugging earthworms out of the ground.
I am also an early bird, the best time of day for me to photograph wildlife is during the warm morning sunlight. It is what I call directional light.
It will add depth to a photo by casting shadows on certain parts of the subject as well as lighting up areas to brighten the focal point. In this case the wings of these two robins who are determined to chase each other over territory.
Of course it is a 50 50 chance that the photo will turn out the way I would like it to with light and shadows. But to me that is the exciting part of photography. Being in the right place at the right time to capture wildlife in motion.
This by far is my favorite photo this year. It is what gets me out every morning with my camera in hand, enjoying nature at its best.
The Longest Squirrel Tail I have ever seen. We camped at a spot in Illinois and went for a walk through this park that had the nicest trail. I looked up and there sat this squirrel with the longest tail I have ever seen on a squirrel.
I have never seen one quite like this, the squirrel looks normal and that tail has to be 3 times longer then a regular squirrels tail.
This photo below is one I took many years ago, he was a regular in my back yard and I named it Mittens because of the white feet. It has a normal length tail for a squirrel.
This is a Red Squirrel
Below is a White Red Squirrel I photographed last year.
The Giant Rock Squirrel below, it is the biggest of the squirrel family found in Texas.
Iowa Sunrise on the Farm – this is my nieces farm where we stay when visiting family in Iowa. She gets to see the best sunrises as it is completely open to the east. Farmland for miles.
Rare Sighting according to the information on this bird which is called a Bay Breasted Warbler. I spotted this one in Illinois when we stopped at a campground this spring.
This one is very common in the south, The Brown Thrasher, it literally trashes around on the ground foraging for food. Good name on this one. It is a very pretty brown as well.
One Eagle This Year, I did get to photograph this beauty down by the ocean this past winter. On our way back north this spring we stopped near the Mississippi river where we usually see a lot of eagles. But the river was flooding so we could not get to the hot spots for eagle watching. Maybe in the fall when we head back that way.
New Puppy Portraits, nothing makes me smile more than dogs. I have had a dog for as long as I can remember. Making portraits of them is a joy of mine, sometimes it is just about their eyes. So many expressions.
This first dog I photographed at a campground. He was looking back at his people, I don’t know the folks at all but random photos of dogs are a fun way to just show all the different kinds of dogs there are.
This one below is a friend of ours, a Golden Labrador. Thought I would try my hand at pencil art. On the computer though. I make all these portraits on the computer.
Tiny Birds With a Touch of Color, here are 3 more birds I was able to add to my list. Thanks to the Merlin app to help me identify them. Sometimes these little brown birds all look like sparrows until you spot just that little bit of color that sets them apart from the rest.
I am not an expert on finding the names of these birds. So if it is not the right name, feel free to add what you know it to be.
Lots of Colorful Birds, I still have a few photos to go through that I took from our visit to the gulf coast, we stayed long enough to see the spring migration of birds coming across the ocean. At first I was just not seeing anything, we drove all over the place looking at the hotspots where other birders said to go in this area.
The last couple of weeks we were there, all of a sudden flocks of the most colorful birds were landing in the trees right in our campground. Eating all these dried seeds on this tree in the photos below.
Grosbeaks, orioles, tanagers and lots of warblers, it was a thrill to see them all.
The hummingbirds made it as well, such a long flight for all the birds. There are always stories of how the birds land on boats and gas rigs out in the gulf waters. So they can rest for a bit before making it to land.
The Snowshoe Hare is wandering around my yard enjoying the new spring grasses and weeds. There are two things very unique about this rabbit. One being it turns white in the winter, which I have never been able to get a photo of one that is white. Well, that means I would have to be here in the winter as well. 🙂
The other is the size of their back feet. This size helps to keep them on top of the snow during the winter. Hence the name snowshoes. 🙂
My Art From the Island, we spent a few months at one of my favorite places last winter. Dauphin Island Alabama. The weather is mostly in the 70’s all winter and some humidity. But come April the song birds and water birds start to arrive.
My bird count went up to 217. I may have mentioned this before, I took some of my art work down to the art gallery on Dauphin Island to see if they would like to have some of my work to sell there. I am very pleased to say they like my work and took quite a few samples to showcase in the gallery.
This is a photo I took of the gallery there on Dauphin Island. I only have 5×7 prints on sale there and they are all digital oil paintings. Of some of the iconic places on the island and birds. People really like the Blue Herons on the island.
This is a sample print of mine hanging on a wall as a display.
I also made some postcards for the art gallery, this is something new for them. But they are doing very well in the store.
There are a lot of stores out there that are happy to hang your art work up for free as well. I just add my business card onto the print and it is a fun way to show your work besides just on the internet. A little footwork required. 🙂
In Defense of the Grackle – In North America three grackle species occur: Common, Great-tailed, and Boat-tailed. All are generally similar in appearance, with males glossy iridescent black and females brownish.
Grackles, it turns out, do more than weigh down power lines, steal tortilla chips off your dinner plate and squawk in really loud voices. The gleaming black birds actually play a beneficial role in our society. (Well, besides cleaning up those food crumbs you dropped on the sidewalk.)
Grackles eat insects, for one. And that includes those you might not like crawling on you, such as wasps and spiders, and ones that damage crops, including moths, grasshoppers and beetles.
I get why people don’t necessarily like them, but I think they’re fascinating. They do eat insects, so that means fewer insects that are eating plants — or us. There’s also the argument that they’re part of a web of life — they’re part of the system.”
Along with the most amazing colors when they are in the sunlight. Just some of the reasons to like these birds as I do.
The Colors of Spring we see in wildlife as well as flowers. Males of many species take on brighter, more eye-catching plumage in spring for a single purpose: to attract females.
This the Reddish Egret is a conspicuously long-legged, long-necked wader of coastal regions, more tied to salt water than any of our other herons or egrets.
Often draws attention by its feeding behavior: running through shallows with long strides, staggering sideways, leaping in air, raising one or both wings, and abruptly stabbing at fish.
This is the first year I have seen this bird in the spring and its bill is the most colorful with blue, pink and black. Quite beautiful.
I like this photo below as if he is looking under their and thinking; ” It is so hard to clean my feathers way under here.”
Artificial Intelligence Photography, well it has arrived. AI is popping up everywhere in photo editing software.
I edit all my photos in Photoshop, they now have AI in Beta so we can all see how it is going to work in the future. AI with photography is very similar to making composite photos, which I have done when I am making a piece of art work to sell. But I also list my photo as a composite.
AI is making it much simpler, as far as trying to blend the object you are adding to your photo a little better so as we don’t have to do as much work. But, here is what it is doing, you have to have the internet on when using AI because it is searching the world wide web for the image you are asking for and taking it from that.
For example, which one of these horses below is the real deal?
The horse on the right is my photo of a paint pony in a pasture. I then asked AI to add a horse and lighting. The horse on the left is one it picked from the internet. It has skewed the horses face, but it did put the shadow in to mimic the real horse.
AI is here to stay because when it comes to big business and making advertisements, they will be able to make what ever they want and not have to hire photographers or models for that matter.
But as far as I am concerned, I will always go out into the field to photograph the real thing. If I am in the mood to create art I will list it as a composite. I do sell a lot of photos on Adobe stock and they like AI generated photos. So one has to pick and choose what you like to create.
Art is generated by your imagination and that still makes it an original idea.
We Made It Home – we are back home and enjoying the warm weather. The robins are scraping for territory. I just happened to have my camera with and these two just kept chasing each other around. So I upped my shutter speed to catch them dueling in flight.
Capturing birds in action like this is what makes photography so much fun. It is that one awesome shot that makes me want to go out and get more.
Camera settings are; 1/2500 sec, ISO 6400, f6.3 500 mm.
Needless to say, I have a backlog of photos to go through yet, which is good because I am in the middle of planting flowers for the hummingbirds and butterfly’s. Planting some garden as well. I will definitely enjoy going through the photos and sharing them with you here.
Time Keeps on Slippin – Into the Future, these are words to a song that I like by the Steve Miller Band – Fly Like an Eagle.
Fly like an eagle – let my spirit carry me. The video is below, for this song, if you click on the visit to go to the web site. It shows up there. It is an old song but I tend to think the songs from my younger days are the best. We probably all do that.
Well, I am going to let my spirit carry me, it is calling me to take a break from the World Wide Web. You know when I was growing up there wasn’t any internet. Younger folks probably can’t imagine not having any internet. Just like when my grand parents told me they did not have electricity or running water. It is hard for each generation to comprehend these things.
I went for a walk by myself today and just had the feeling that it is time to turn off electronics for awhile. It is probably the spring weather and seeing the world come back to life all around me.
There are a lot of distractions in this world because of technology and I must step back from it now and then to reconnect with our Father in Heaven, to reenergize, to sit back and just marvel at the beauty around us as if nothing else exist for just a moment in time.
The older I get the more I realize how precious time is. Reality sets in more and more for me with age, when we are young we think we might live forever. But as the years fly by, I know more of who I am and where I want to be when this life on earth ends.
But I also want to experience as much as possible while I am here, nature, wildlife. Creation itself is magnificent and photography helps me to see it in a way I never thought I would.
I wish you all a wonderful spring time and may our Father bless you with the wonderment of His creation, that which is around each and everyone of us. Immerse yourself in it and be joyous.
I will be back, we are headed out west again soon. I look forward to visiting with you all again. Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments and kind words. 💕💕
Anything With Wings is allowed at the airport. I think this bird was watching the big planes with me here at this small airport. Maybe dreaming of flying high and fast like they do or thinking they need to get off his airport runway. 🙂
I don’t know what kind of plane this one is below. But they put on a great show for me on this day. They landed and took off so many times and the pilot waved at me here as I took his photo. Video below of this airport or click this link; Dauphin Island Airport
Plus a coast guard helicopter made a quick stop and then took off.
I was able to stand right next to the runway to get these shots as they flew right over me. I was using my 600 mm lens which makes them look very close.
We are travelling north again and spending time with family along the way. I have not had time to read all my favorite bloggers post as of late. But I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful spring weather so far and thank you again for all your wonderful comments. I appreciate it very much.
Fish River Alabama, we actually were able to see this beautiful sunset along the fish river here in Alabama. Along with a short video to bring the photos to life. Have a wonderful day.
The Osprey Nest – the osprey birds are picking out their nesting boxes. I photographed this one below at sunrise, as the osprey was perched on top of the man made nesting box.
It must be exhausting making their nest. I was watching these two one morning, the one bird is going back and forth bringing one branch at a time. But when I looked closer at the bird perched on top, its eyes are closed.
Trying to get a nap in while its mate is bringing in housing material. He is just going to rest a minute. Needs a quick cat nap. 🙂
Video below of the osprey hovering or click here; Osprey Hovering
Unusual Critters I have seen this week. I was walking across a board walk early in the morning when this snail was slowly making its way across the path. What a strange little creature this is and such a long journey it must be for them when they move. Being it is at such a snails pace. 🙂
The next morning I went out onto the beach when it was still very dark outside. I had my flashlight with and in front of me I could see things moving very fast in the shadows of the soft light. One such creature stopped when my light shined on it. So I took a quick photo of this crab, another strange looking creature of the seas. Creation never ceases to amaze.
A Touch of Green and the sounds of spring await us as the earth awakens to new life after a long winter.
I love seeing things turn green this time of year, spring is such an encouraging month as the flowers emerge from the ground or ponds like these lilies.
The dried grasses in the fields return to their lush green colors, full of life for all.
Nothing says spring more than hearing the sounds of the Red Winged Black Birds.
A Beam of Light like no other. When there are clouds at sunrise you will probably witness sun beams like these as if a giant flashlight has been turned on to wake up the world and bring everything to life.
Shore Birds Enjoying a Sunrise, spring is in the air. Multiple birds hanging out on the sea shore. Such a fun sight to see as they all are just enjoying a stroll on the beach together.
I came across these cute little sanderlings searching for food in a huge pile of broken sea shells. It looks like they are trying to climb a mountain but keep sliding back down all the shells. Video below or click here; Sanderlings and Sea Shells
Amazing Wings, big wings, little wings, man made wings. Wings in nature are a symbol of freedom. I often dream that I can fly, I have most of my life and that is probably from watching birds all the time.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Video of an Osprey Hovering in mid air below or click this link; Osprey Hovering
Train Tracks Moving up and down as this train passed us at a crossing. I have never noticed this happening before. We were parked at the crosswalk as this train went by and it was a very long train, so we were looking at the tracks right in front of us and that is when I noticed them moving up and down.
I don’t know if that is normal or not. I would assume there has to be some movement from the weight of the train. Fascinating things we see when we stop and look really close at what is in front of us. 🙂
External Light Source for small subjects. Someone asked awhile ago about using separate light source in dark areas, like in the forest. So I went out into the woods and found these pine cones to photograph for an example.
This first shot is natural light in the forest that works fine, but you might have to increase your ISO a lot to get the proper exposure.
But for this photo below, I used an external light source because I wanted to bring out more of the detail on the pine cone. Which is much easier to do with directional light that I add to a subject. My source of light is a small flashlight. I always carry one with me just for this type of photo.
If my light is to bright for the subject I will put something in front of my flashlight like a piece of paper or plastic. What ever I have in my camera bag. There are all sorts of ways to change the softness of your light source.
I typically do not use the flash on my bridge camera, even though there are settings on it to make a softer light. It still tends to blow out the scene because the flash is mounted on top of the camera.
This is a fun way to change up your photos when taking shots of items in dark areas. Just remember to take a flash light with you on your outings.
This blue jay looks like he wants to hear what I have to say 🙂
Spring Time Out Doors, lots of birds and more fishing for the husband this week. Nest are being built and the migration of birds is underway. I will have more new birds coming up the next couple of weeks.
The Early Bird catches the worm, as the old saying goes. I am defiantly an early bird and sometimes I go out and about without brushing my hair either.
Eyes of Blue, I think this bird is a cormorant, But I am not sure which one. As I type this I am adding the Merlin bird finding app to my phone. So now it should be easier to identify all these birds.
Someone was showing me the app and it will actually tell you the bird by listening to its call as well. Technology is amazing. So much better then having to get an encyclopedia out like the old days. 🙂
In the Arms of an Angel, this photo reminded me of this song by Sarah Mclachian.
In the arms of an Angel, fly away from here, From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie You’re in the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here
I have shared some poems in the past, written by a very talented writer named Daryl Madden. He has a blog page here on word press where he writes the most beautiful poems inspired by other folks post. I treasure the words he writes when he chooses one of my post to create a poem with. https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/23196989
I then like to add his words to one of my videos. The result is below or click this link here; IF I
You can’t see the forest for the trees! It’s a widely known saying that is accepted by many as truth whether they are talking about issues in the workplace or about life in general. You-can’t-see-the-forest-for-the-trees means that we sometimes cannot see situations as they really are while we are in the midst of them.
The forest hold so many hidden gems. Tiny creatures to unusual leaves and trees.
I was walking past this tree that has all these gorgeous green leaves shinning in the morning light. So I stopped to take a photo as the green color was very eye catching.
I did not even see all these spots on the leaves until I looked at the photo later. They are not bugs, my guess is they are seeds for new life of some kind.
Nature Provides plenty of food for all species. Birds have a wonderful diet that includes some very healthy options
Fruit being at the top of the list, or at the top of the tree if you will. This Cedar Wax wing is enjoying some fresh mulberry’s to replenish its system after a long migration flight.
This beautiful Summer Tanager is eating some sort of bug, which I am happy about. There are always plenty of bugs that provide a great source of protein.
Along with some nuts and seeds for fiber, they are a great food source to keep the system running smoothly. This Brown Thrasher is enjoying his fill of these today.
Of course we cannot leave out the best choice of food for a lot of species, its fish. I have seen a lot of birds doing pretty good at fishing the last few weeks.
This Belted King Fisher is an expert fishermen when it comes to diving into the water to catch a tiny little fish like this one.
This gull picked up a fish floating on top of the water after a fishermen through it back in.
The Great Blue Heron loves fish. They can eat up to a pound of fish a day. We have helped them get their fill this month. When we catch small fish we will sometimes throw them to the herons who are always hanging about looking for a good meal.
Color of Springtime is the morning light. Clouds at sunrise filter the suns light to a golden hue. A warm color after a long winter to warm our minds and spirits.
It radiates light and heat, which makes it possible for life to exist on Earth. Plants need sunlight to grow. Animals, including humans, need plants for food and the oxygen they produce. Without heat from the sun, Earth would freeze. A true metaphor to life. 🙂
The Laughing Gulls, a very befitting name for these boisterous birds. They really do sound like they are laughing. They banded one of these gulls and it lived to be 22 years old. There is a video of these birds laughing away below or link here; Laughing Gulls
The Last Piece, bird is looking intently at the other bird with a piece of food. Just willing it to drop so he can grab it.
This Jay looks like he is jumping off of a diving board into a pool to me. There is a small bowl of water on the ground I put out for the birds. That would have made a better picture if I showed that as well 🙂
Birds Eye View, birds and fishing go hand in hand. Husband fishes and I photograph the birds coming around for a free meal. This blue heron was looking right at me as I took this photo. It is such a fun photo to have a bird look directly at the camera I think.
The Magnificent Great Blue Heron, The great blue heron grows to 4 feet tall with a 6 to 7 foot wingspan. Despite its large size, its hollow bones allow it to weigh only 5 to 6 pounds.
You wouldn’t think this small bird would have wings this beautiful. They always take my breath away, especially when you hear them fly by.
Wildlife’s Picnic Table, This blue jay is stretching way up there to see what is on the table. Checking to see if maybe there is a better morsel of food than the one he already has.
Symmetry in Nature involves parts that are similar or balanced in some way.
When you look closely at a birds wings, one would be in awe as I am to see the symmetrical design of each feather and how it all fits together. It is truly a piece of art created with a purpose, each and every feather.
Coolest Cat at the Campground, most campgrounds we go to have stray cats running around and kind folks feed them. I saw this one and had to take his picture, what a face. So cute.
Come to find out this particular cat is not a stray, he belongs to a gentlemen that works at the park. So I asked him if I could take his photo and make a painting for him. He said he would love one.
The first two are the photo I took and then the paintings below. This cat is 3 years old and so fluffy. His body fur is brownish but that face is quite something.
So now I am taking photos of all the stray cats when I can like this one below. This campground does catch each one and takes them to the vet to be spade or neutered. Which is a good thing.
Spring Has Sprung in some parts of the world. Down south we had a couple of good rains with warmer temperatures and that is all it took for the wild flowers to emerge from the earth.
Purple being my favorite color is the first thing I saw this week with these dainty little flowers here. Don’t forget to print some of your own photos if you take them to hang on your walls to enjoy every day. I do, I change my photos in my frames every month.
Wings and Water, my goal this year is to photograph birds flying over water with their wings as close to the water as possible.
I love seeing photos where the wing tips just graze the water, this one was a little to high off the water but I do love the calmness and the texture of the water below the bird.
New Pet Portraits, I have been busy creating some fun custom pet portraits the last couple of weeks and I always have to do a couple of my own cat and dogs as well.
My cat and her crazy eyes I like to call them. She is a tuff one to photograph because she usually doesn’t want to sit still.
This ones name is Kit Kit
This is Chloee
This one is my little dog Deohgee or DOG for short, remember her name is not the word dog, you say each letter and that is her name. 🙂 She is 15 years old this year.
This one is a dog called Good Boy Chevy from a You Tube channel that I know
This is a cute little dog named Max, with some bottom teeth that stick out like that all the time. But he is still cute.
This is a stray cat at the campground.
Well, these are not pets of course. But I made them for my web site under the wildlife category.
Make Flower Photos Bloom with the right camera settings. The wild flowers are in full bloom after the last couple of rains we have had. I do love photographing flowers. Creating a beautiful depth of field makes the photos more interesting, meaning a nice blurred background with the right camera settings.
Flower photography is all about sharp details, bright colors, and finding the right depth of field. Here’s how to get it right:
ISO — Use a low ISO between 100 and 200 to maintain a sharp picture. If your ISO gets too high, it could make the picture grainy.
Shutter speed — Use a fast shutter speed of around 1/125 or higher to reduce blur from camera shake, if you’re either shooting with a handheld camera or outside on a windy day. If you’re using a tripod with a still subject, shutter speed isn’t an important consideration.
Aperture — The right aperture setting depends on your subject and preferences. For small subjects, a wide aperture between f/1.8 and f/7 will give you a shallow depth of field with lots of background blur. Narrow apertures of around f/11 or higher are best for large subjects like bouquets and big flowers, when you want the entire subject in focus.
Since aperture is the most important camera setting for flower photography, I always shoot in aperture priority. This way, I can quickly adjust the aperture to find the perfect depth of field without worrying about ISO or shutter speed.
This was a nice surprise as I was doing my morning walk along the shore line. I had no idea what it was until I got home and looked into my bird book.
Oystercatchers A boldly patterned shorebird with red-yellow eyes and a vivid red-orange bill, American Oystercatchers survive almost exclusively on shellfish—clams, oysters, and other saltwater mollusks. Because of this specialized diet, oystercatchers live only in a narrow ecological zone of saltmarshes and barrier beaches.
William Bartram Trail, another park we stopped at not far from Savannah GA, a wonderful place to walk and see all the cool trees and some historical areas though out the forest. Old homestead grounds. We like visiting places like this. I enjoy reading all about the history of places now, never cared for it much back in school.
The trees are a piece of art even when they are blown over laying on the ground like this one.
I like this first photo painting, it was pretty far away so I had to crop a lot of the photo out so you could see the ship closer. It looks like I am standing right in front of it. But there is a curve in the river and eventually it goes right by us.
This ship below I could not find much information about it except they call it a general cargo ship. It was coming up behind the container ship.
And this guy was behind all of them. Making head way as it caught up to the other two as we were leaving.
Lots of Containers, they make for a cool looking photo up close. That would make a great puzzle to put together.
We did a day trip to Tybee Island and on the way back I saw this container ship traveling back the way we came. So I checked the map and found a place we could drive right up to the waters edge and made it there just as the ship was about to pass by.
You Find it in the Sand, Legend of the Sand Dollar
Sand dollars are actually burrowing sea urchins. When they wash up on the beach and are bleached by the sun, they look like a large silver coin, hence the moniker.
A legend about these creatures says they represent the story of Christ:
On the top of the shell is a symbol that looks like a star, a reminder of the Star of Bethlehem that led wise men to the Christ Child. Around the star is an outline of an Easter lily, a reminder of the Lord’s resurrection.
There are five holes in a sand dollar – four around the ends of the star and one in the center. According to the religious legend, the four holes represent the four wounds of Christ when his hands and feet were nailed to the cross. The center hole represents the wound made from a soldier’s spear.
When you turn over the sand dollar, you see the outline of a poinsettia, the Christmas flower. And if you break open a sand dollar, five dove-shaped pieces emerge. Doves are often used in art and literature as a symbol of peace and goodwill.
Now you know the legend of the sand dollar, a story of hope and peace. See if you can find one on your next visit to Alabama beaches.
Star Trails Over the Atlantic, I have always wanted to try and photograph the milky way over the ocean. So while we were here, one night the sky was clear and I could see the stars. So I grabbed my gear and headed out.
It isn’t wide open ocean here but it is still salt water. The problem was finding a spot with as little light pollution as possible. I had checked the star map and knew where the milky way was suppose to be.
I set up my time lapse first and took about 100 photos so I could stack them later. The results is the first photos here. The white line going all the way across the photo is two boats that were going back and forth.
The milky way was very hard to find. I could not see it with the naked eye like I can up home. But I knew where it was so I took a few photos in the general direction.
With the help of photoshop, I was able to edit the the photo just enough so you can make out the milky way. The brighter area on the left side. It just wasn’t dark enough to get a good photo.
I will take some again when I get back home where you can see the milky way every night.
Light House Photography, Well we made it to Georgia and made our way to a place called Tybee Island where I photographed my first Light House. It was in a perfect location not far from the beach.
I definitely would like to find more of these to photograph. There is so much you can do with the photo, they make excellent paintings and look good as black and white as well.
Now I learned how to make the light flash on my photo, as I am writing this we will see if it works when it is posted. Oh, and now we have seen the Atlantic Ocean. 🙂
Look At the Colors, I have a bird feeder outside the RV window at most parks when I can and yesterday I looked out the window as the sun was shinning right on this bird. The colors are amazing, without the sunlight this bird looks like a regular black bird.
It is called the common grackle. They have an iridescent bluish head and bronzy body in good light.
The Blue Jay has its turn at the feeder along with the grackles.
Hidden in the Forest of trees is where you will find the secret life of the spiders. Not to be seen in the bright of the day, but in the early morning light with a touch of dew all around. Their cobwebs are shinning like a beautiful tapestry of art work that catches anything that tries to pass by.
The Horse of Course, the Paint Horse. A horse of a breed that combines the conformational characteristics of a western stock horse with a pinto spotting pattern of white and dark coat colors.
My family raised pinto horses when I was young. We had a lot of them. I was given my very own horse at the age of 12. Let me tell you, those days with my very own horse were the best days of my young life.
I did not have time for shopping, boys or anything else really. It was just me and my horse riding the trails for hours on end. I guess that is where I get my love for the outdoors and animals as well.
Back in the day when the weekends would roll around, our mother gave me two choices. I either help clean the house or go shovel manure in the barn. I spent all day out in that barn. 🙂
Pet Portraits, I have been busy making pet portraits for the folks that are camping near us and thought I would share a couple of them.
These are photos that folks have taken with their phones and text them to me. I then edit the photos and use several techniques to turn them into paintings. Now there was a few photos people sent to me that I just could not fix. Those photos that are way out of focus don’t work to well. But for the most part I can work with a lot of them.
This cat below is our cat. What a difference it makes in a photo depending on if the cats eyes are dilated or not.
Check out the link below if you would like me to make a portrait of your pet. It is simple as sending me a photo from your phone and I will do my best to make a painting for you. 🙂
Kootenai Falls Swinging Bridge, now this is the one place I took a few photos as we visited this beautiful river. I have walked across a few swinging bridges, but nothing like this one.
I have to admit , I could not do it. I could not walk across this one. With the rushing water below and the movement of the bridge under my feet. My heart started racing right away. My head was spinning.
I have had vertigo in the past and I had a tumor taken out of my head that was pressing on the nerves that control ones balance. So nope, I could not walk more than a couple of feet and I went back.
It is quite the bridge, but I will have to stay on this side of the river on this one.
The bridge was originally created to help the forest service get across to fight fires. But now it is a tourist attraction and a good challenge for anyone like my self.
Well, this is all from our trip out west. When we left here we pretty much traveled straight home without a lot of sight seeing. It did take us 5 days to get home, but it sure was a trip to remember.
We drove over 8000 miles in 8 months, give or take. We were home for 4 months and are now on the road again. I just don’t want to shovel snow again. 🙂
Vehicle Chain Up Area, never a shortage of these signs out in the NW. Snow and ice on the mountain roads.
Which reminds me of a story when I was driving semi back in the day. I was actually driving in southern Montana and of course I ran into some bad weather as I was starting to go down a steep grade. I was already in a low gear and started to descend at a slow pace.
But a semi farther ahead of me was going slower and slower, his break lights finally came on. Luckily I was going slow enough as I was getting closer to him and the road was all ice.
He got on the CB, ( do they even have CB’s anymore?:), he called out he lost his gear and was having to down shift and start over. That is never a good thing on a steep grade with ice.
I was able to go around him and never did see in my mirror if he started moving again. I can only imagine he did.
I truly appreciate all the truck drivers out there. It is a hard job but it was fun as well. I am glad I did it for a couple of years. The strange thing about this entire experience for me is that my father was a truck driver. I had only met my dad once when I was about 5 years old and never saw him again. He had pulled up in front of our house in a semi. Funny that I always wanted to drive one and I got the chance to do it for awhile. 🙂
Here is the video for a previous post I did on that Historic Brookport bridge that goes across the Ohio River, It is over 5000 feet long and only 19 feet wide. I made a video of us crossing it. Link to Brookport Bridge Here;
Kootenai Campground Montana, we were in Montana last June. This is basically the end of our trip from last winter. My brother and his wife live here and we stayed at this campground while we were visiting.
I actually did not take a lot of photos while visiting because we spent a lot of time just hanging out together and catching up on old times. We did go sight seeing, but sometimes spending time with family is more important then taking photos for me.
Yesterday a reader commented on the eagle photo. Mentioning that the bird in this photo below looks like an osprey instead of an eagle. So I thought I would share today a photo of each bird to show the differences between these magnificent birds.
I cropped the photo so we could have a closer look. From a distance the two birds can look similar and hard to identify for sure. But, the 3 things I look for are the color of the feet, the size of the beak and then the body size.
The osprey beak is much smaller and thinner, plus the osprey has a definite color difference with the one stipe that leads away from the eyes.
With body size, even a young eagle is quite a bit larger than an adult osprey.
Both birds are beautiful and majestic in their own ways. A sight to see in nature for sure.
I did find a few small flowers blooming here and there. I tell you, I am ready to see more flowers now. Spring time is always so uplifting as the grass starts to grow and the colorful flowers replace all the brown of the long winter months.
For the Love of Shore Birds, now when it comes to shore birds. Pelicans are my favorite. They are so unique looking and have this cute little waddle as they walk.
Gulls are a dime a dozen, there are lots of them but each one seems to be so unique as well with their color patterns and markings.
Herons are my next favorite, they just have such an elegant look to them with their flowing feathers and beautiful markings.
The King of the Hunting Birds, Time spent in nature makes me realize how little I know about the world around us. The eagle is by far my most favorite bird. They have this majestic look about them.
Their wing spans are beautiful as well as their hunting skills when out catching fish. I don’t see eagles as often as I used to. I lived along the Mississippi river for awhile which was a wonderful place to see these mighty birds.
But I am always looking for them during our travels. This young eagle here we saw when we were in Montana. It was snowing out that day, but I was able to get a couple of photos.
Another New Bird, yep this is the Brown headed nuthatch. I never even think to look up how many species of one kind of bird there are until I see something new like this one. There are 4 kind of nut hatches in North America.
The Brown headed, Red Breasted, White breasted and the Pygmy nuthatch.
Red breasted nuthatch below. Looks more golden then red in my photo.
These two photos below I just grabbed off of the internet. I don’t have a photo of these yet. The one on the right is the Pygmy nuthatch which is found out west.
I may have a photo of the one on the left, the white breasted nuthatch. But I have not found it yet.
Amongst the Silence, there is light. The waves are silent as the clouds slowly drift by. In the early morning light is when I can see clearly, what my heart already knows.
Have a Wonderful Day, 5 am yesterday morning I went for my walk and turned back to see the sun rising over the horizon. A reminder of how small we really are with the vastness before me.
Nictitating Membrane, Have you ever seen one? Well if you take enough photos of birds, eventually you will see it in your photo like this one below.
One of the great things about photographing wildlife is the opportunity to see aspects of the animals you might not normally see.
An example of this is the nictitating membrane on birds. The nictitating membrane is a third eyelid under the typical two eye lids we all have. It’s a translucent eyelid that can be closed while the other eyelids are open to clean and protect the eye.
How incredible is this, especially since some of these birds hang out at the beaches. This really comes in handy to keep the sand out of its eye.
New Bird to the Count, 155 birds photographed. This is not the best picture, they were pretty far away and it was early morning light. But the bird in the back with the wings out is the new bird. I am not positive, it is either a Bonaparte Gull, or perhaps a laughing gull.
But I did not even notice it until I saw this photo. But I bet Brian from Wildlife Intrigued will know. He is my go to person for bird names. Plus he writes some excellent post with humor and lots of great photos.
One can never take enough photos of these little plovers. They are just so darn cute.
Its Almost the Weekend, hope you have a great one full of good food, laughter and good weather. These pelicans are enjoying the morning, everyday is a Friday for them. 🙂
Here is the link to visit my video of the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in Washington. Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. 🙂
Police Horse, another beautiful Belgian horse who’s name is Murphy I found out. There are a lot of pretty horses in this parade, but I take the photos as they are passing by and I choose the best ones to make a painting out of. I don’t usually post photos that have people in them.
But I like this one with the gentlemen on the ground with his hand over his heart as the flag goes by.
I sent this photo to the police department where they are stationed out of. They loved it and said thank you and that is where they told me the horses name is Murphy. Very fitting I think.
The Loggerhead Shrike is a gray bird with a black mask and white flashes in the black wings. They have large, blocky heads and a thick bill with a small hook.
I am starting to see some new birds again. I am continuing my bird count for this new year. I am not starting over for the count, I am doing a life time count. So this bird brings me up to 154 birds photographed.
Navy Flying High, even the Navy is out training in these super fast planes. These guys go so fast, you can defiantly hear them before you see them.
This pretty plane just coming in for a landing.
I have never been in a plane this small, it looks kind of cramped in there.
I had an interesting job as a child that involved this air plane called an Air Tractor. My uncle flew a plane similar to this and I was the flag person for him. He would give me the coordinates of the field he was going to spray fertilizer on and I would have to hurry up and drive there before he got there.
Then I would have to just stand there as a marker for him, after he flew by I would have to step off the length of his air craft so he could use me as a marker on the next pass. He was quite the pilot.
Now they invented a flag that falls out of the end of the wing, so my job was eliminated. I sure enjoyed it back then.
Modern Marvels in Aircrafts, I have always been fascinated with aircraft, mostly helicopters. But all aircraft are modern marvels to me. The fact that something that large as an airplane or helicopter, that can fly and fly really fast is truly some engineering genius.
So when ever I see or hear aircraft, I grab my camera and hope I can get to where ever they are flying and take a few shots.
Just happened to be in the right place at the right time for these shots. Black Hawk helicopter doing a few flybys and training runs at a small air field we were near.
I took videos as well and I will share those when I get to them.
The Twin Barns at Nisqually, They were built in 1932 and used as dairy barns. Later, the tidelands that the farm had been built upon were returned to an estuarial state and became the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in 1974.
The barns were used as an environmental education center, but were damaged in the 6.8 magnitude 2001 Nisqually Earthquake and have been closed since then. In December 2015, the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge was resdesignated the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge to honor the Nisqually Tribe Leader Billy Frank Jr.
These are probably two of the largest barns I have ever seen. I can just imagine how many bales of hay fit in the lofts of both of these.
Birding in Washington, This cute little warbler found a tasty morsel for its lunch. Even though some of these bugs can bug us when we are out and about. They do supply nutrients to so many other animals and birds.
This young eagle was flying by and I snapped a quick photo of it. The photo is a bit blurry but I never throw away a photo if I can make a painting out of it as the next photo shows.
Imagination helps us to create art, I can picture it and it then comes to life on my digital canvas.
Lots of Eagles Nisqually, we continue our hike along the boardwalks at the Nisqually National Wildlife refuge. Where the walkway goes way out into the sound. The tide was out when we were there and the people were out as well enjoying all the eagles, young and old ones. People and birds, 🙂
The eagles were quite far away, but the best part of seeing all these eagles, was actually hearing them as they called back and forth. Nothing prettier then the sound of eagles calling I think.
Nisqually National Wildlife Area, Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is located on the Interstate 5 corridor, 20 miles south of Tacoma Washington and 8 miles east of Olympia in the Nisqually Valley.
The area is not easily missed when driving on the highway – the vista opens up and the estuary leading to South Puget Sound is visible on the north side of the interstate.
We were camping not to far this wildlife refuge. This is one of the first things we look for when we are in a new area and this was only 10 min from our campsite.
An amazing place for sure, board walks throughout the area and photographers every where. It was so much fun to see so many people carrying tri pods and cameras. Everyone being quiet so we don’t spook the birds.
This is where I photographed this Red Breasted Sap Sucker below.
A fox hiding in the grass.
This big old barn was on the refuge, maybe it was a farm at one point. This barn is huge and there are two of them here. I do like the old barns. They just don’t build them like that anymore.
This was the location I spotted my first Rufous Hummingbird as well. This park is over 3000 acres and we walked a lot of it. But I do hope to go there again to see more of the 200 species of birds that stop there during migration.
The Kingfisher, I am getting closer to taking a good photo of this beautiful bird. I take my chair and camera and just sit still where it likes to fish. One has to have lots of patience and sit very still for these birds to not take off. This is the fun part of wildlife photography for me.
Photos Taken with Bridge Camera through the RV window. This photo surprised me as it turned out pretty well for taking it inside of a moving vehicle. I looked out my window and this beautiful lake was right there. Sometimes this little camera surprises me on how well it can work.
I have two cameras that I use for my photography. One of them is this Lumix FZ 1000 bridge camera. The phrase “bridge camera” has been in use at least since the 1980s, and continues to be used with digital cameras. The term was originally used to refer to film cameras which “bridged the gap” between point-and-shoot cameras and SLRs.
It is basically a camera that has a zoom lens built right in. This is the camera I use the most when out for a hike or when traveling. The bad thing about these cameras, they have a small sensor inside. Which means that each pixel is smaller and can capture less light, resulting in poor high-ISO/low-light performance.
But for something quick and easy it works just fine and for the most part the photos are pretty clear when there is enough sun light. This camera is already outdated and there are new bridge cameras on the market that I may be trading in for some day.
For example, this photo was taken on a cloudy day with this camera. Settings are 1/2500 sec shutter speed, ISO 500, f8, 146mm lens. It is not a sharp photo at all, but not bad for a cloudy day with this Panasonic camera.
This photo below is better, there is a little more sunshine. Camera settings are; f4.5, 1/4000 ss, ISO 125. More of the details are visible in this photo of the birds feathers. Post processing will help to sharpen the photo just a bit. This bridge camera has 20 megapixels, with 1 ” sensor.
The difference is clear when changing to a full frame camera that has a bigger sensor on it. My Nikon is a FX-format full-frame CMOS image sensor with 45.7 megapixels. Technology is quite something when it comes to cameras these days.
Sony actually has a camera that has 61 megapixels, but it does coast a mere $4000 dollars. 🙂
Beautiful Scenic Drive in WA, continuing across White Pass the views are amazing. Traces of snow here and there along the way.
A wall made out of rocks to help stop rocks from rolling across the highway as they slide down the mountain sides. We did drive by a huge pile of glass on the side of the road. One can only imagine a rock might have hit a car window. I was watching for that after I saw the glass.
You can see Mount Rainier from this drive as well.
White Pass Scenic Byway travels along US-12 from I-5 (between Chehalis and Castle Rock) to Naches exploring the majestic Cascade Mountains and central Washington. The road travels to an elevation of 4,500 feet, revealing expansive mountain views, some tree-covered, some jagged rock and some snow-capped. Add in lush forest, sparkling lakes and streams and you have a picture perfect drive.
But, we were going to cross at the end of May last year and during this time of year White Pass can have rain/snow and or ice storms everyday anytime of day. So I was checking the weather every day as we got closer not wanting to drive the pass if the temperatures were going to be at freezing with rain.
We had 2 choices to get over to Olympia from Yakima, Hwy 12 white pass or the other hwy going out of Yakima which is hwy 410. Well I always zoom in on the map when making our routes and the photo on the right is Hwy 410, See how the road zig zag’s at Naches Peak, we really did not want to do that in an RV. 🙂
I can’t imagine planning this trip with a paper map, even though I drove a Semi for a couple of years, many years ago and had to use a paper map back then. That says how old I am. Don’t tell anyone. 🙂
Needless to say, the weather was perfect for crossing over this mountain. It is a scenic road worth taking and it has plenty of places to pull off and take photos. Along with plenty of campgrounds along the route. We did not stop on this trip, so all the photos here are taken through the RV window.
Trucks tend to hug the center line going through this tunnel.
Plymouth Washington, another fun place we found to camp at right along the Columbia river bordering Washington and Oregon. We stopped for gas just before the park back in May as you can see the sign says $4.65 for regular. Our cat and smaller dog always jump up into the window when we stop so they can look around and sit in the sun when it is cold outside.
We looked on the map and saw that there is a lock and dam on this river called the McNary Lock and Dam. This dam is built on the Columbia river which is full of Pacific Salmon.
So we noticed there is a bike path going all the way to the dam, so we headed that way. We came across this giant tunnel that you have to ride through to get to the dam. It looked pretty spooky at first because it is quite long and pitch black in their when you first enter it.
I will have a video of it next week, I am always ahead on photos and the videos come out later. Come to find out this tunnel used to have train tracks in it as the trains would have to pass through here.
But they changed that and rerouted the train to go over the hill instead of through it.
The interesting thing about this dam is that they built a salmon run so the salmon can still go up stream during spawning. It runs up hill and around the dam back into the lake on the other side.
They also built a viewing area inside of a building so you can go in there and watch the salmon swim by. It is like a little tunnel in there for them with lights on you can see them.
If you look close you can see the outline of a huge salmon swimming by the window.
I found this so interesting, because I have never seen a salmon before until now.
The Land of Irrigation, Idaho and Oregon by far has the most beautiful pasture land I have ever seen. We cam across a lot of pastures that were being watered by high pressure irrigation systems, not only for their crops but also on the pastures even with animals like horses and cows in the pastures with the sprinklers going.
Here is the link to my video for yesterdays post on my You Tube Channel, I do like making videos of where we have been along with taking photos. Link; Idaho’s Grand Canyon Here
I grew up raising horses and my pastures never looked liked these. They are so lush and green and not one manure brown spot anywhere to be seen and no weeds anywhere as well. I was quite impressed.
What Crop is This in Idaho, About 95% of this product grown in the United States comes from Washington, Idaho and Oregon.
The 2020 USDA report shows 9,268 acres in Idaho, more than 17.1 million pounds of it harvested, and a crop value of nearly $100 million.
Do you know what this is? I had no idea when we first saw all these sticks in the field, so I had to look it up my self.
Hoppin’ Hops: Idaho at the Center of Beer Culture. These are hop fields.
What are hops?
Hops are the green cone-shaped flowers, or “inflorescence,” of the Humulus lupulus plant. They’re a climbing perennial with a distinct jackpot for craft brewers. Hidden inside each cone are tiny yellow pods or glands called lupulin—the source of bitterness, aroma, and flavor in beer.
In addition to beer, hops are used in herbal teas and in soft drinks. These soft drinks include Julmust (a carbonated beverage similar to soda that is popular in Sweden during December), Malta (a Latin American soft drink) and kvass. Hops can be eaten; the young shoots of the bine are edible and can be cooked like asparagus.
Exploring Idaho ,back to the end of last winters trip. I get carried away with putting photos on that I am taking now, but I still have 3 states to go from the previous trip. So Idaho is next, a state that we have never been to.
As we first entered into the state at the SW corner, you can see that the view goes on for ever. This first photo shows some water in the background which is the snake river. We camped there for about a week. This was back in May of 2022, so the temperatures were not all that warm yet.
We were making a slow trek towards Washington and Montana, knowing we were going to go over White Pass. White Pass (elev. 4,500 feet (1,372 m)) is a mountain pass in the northwest United States, in the Cascade Range of Washington, southeast of Mount Rainier and north of Goat Rocks. We did not want to get there to soon because they can have snow and ice storms everyday at any time of day. We were waiting for it to warm up a little at the pass.
As we were camping here for a week, we found on the map a place called Bruneau Canyon, a short drive from where we were staying. Well this road makes it look like a very long drive. 🙂
This area below in the photo had a sign at the start of the road that said, WARNING; This road crosses US Air Force bombing range for the next 12 miles, Objects may fall from air craft.
Well, nothing fell on us. But we did see a runway off in the distance surrounded by fence.
Anyway, back to the story. We made it to the canyon. This canyon is referred to as Idaho’s Mini Grand Canyon. It is quite something to see. Almost as if the earth split open for miles and a river flowing down at the bottom.
Unusual Nesting Material, we were driving down the backroads in Idaho when I notice this blob of stuff on top of a electric poll. So we pulled over and I had to zoom in with my camera and that is when I saw the Osprey Birds head amongst the sticks and realized it is a nest.
Birds have adapted to the loss of habitat for their nest and are now fortifying their construction with man made material. It is not a pretty nest but I imaging it is a bit stronger with all that twine holding the twigs together.
We stopped at this lake and camped for a week here on the snake river in the lower corner of Idaho last winter.
Bird Art Tells a Story, As I look at all the photos I take, I am looking for a certain pose when it comes to bird photography. On average one or two photos out of 20 will be good when photographing wildlife, especially if you are using burst on your camera.
When it comes to bird photography, I like to save the shots where the bird is looking away or looking down. Almost as if it is thinking about something or daydreaming.
With Blue Herons, it is easy to get a shot like this because they are normally looking down at the water for food. I love the light in this photo, just enough shadow and light to create a nice piece of art work for me.
If you are a beginner in photography and want to practice photographing birds. Pick birds like the Blue Heron or Egrets and even Pelicans. They are a little slower which gives you plenty of time to practice focusing your camera, even in flight, they are fun birds to photograph.
Fog and Sunshine Photography, this time of year there are a lot of foggy days in the south. Which I love for photography. This blue heron is perched on a pole with some heavy fog behind him that gives a wonderful blurred background to this photo.
But, sunshine is a photographers best friend when it comes to enhancing detail in your subjects. We have taken up fishing here, well I shouldn’t say we, husband has taken up fishing and I go along with my camera. Because birds and fishing go hand in hand. They like to be close to the people fishing just in case they can catch a free meal.
This allows me to have some great photo opportunities of these birds close up and personal.
Birding Adventures, one of my goals for this year is to get a really nice photo of the King Fisher Bird. In my area there is the Belted King Fisher. I know where this one below hangs out, I just have to get there early enough and sit patiently waiting for it to land in a nice sunny spot.
I was able to capture this photo as the king fisher was hovering over water looking for some food down below. It was quite far away and the sun caught its wing a bit, but the head was still in the shadows. I will keep working on it and let you know when I finally get that shot I am looking for.
I see these red berries everywhere this time of year, I am not sure what they are or if a bird even eats them. But they add a nice contrasting color to the winter browns.
A Parallel Realm, A parallel realm where everything operates according to His will.
Night photography is a challenge but fun as well, going out in the dark of the night and looking up into the heavens. My camera picks up more than what my eye can see most of the time.
I went out yesterday morning, as I new there is a full moon out right now, to see what possible photo I might find to take that would be a little different. I was walking back to my jeep and this puddle of water caught my eye as the moon is reflecting in it.
So I set up my camera with an aperture setting of f/22 and a long exposure of 10 sec shutter speed. f22 point sources of light become these bright, multi-pointed stars. The result is below, it was an empty parking lot with some buildings in the background as well. Something a little different.
This photo below I was using my bridge camera and it only has an Aperture of f8, so I was not able to get the star effect of the moon over this parking lot, which is actually a truck stop we spent the night at when we were out west.
A parallel realm where everything operates according to His will.
Lightning Photography, the other morning I woke up to the sound of thunder and rain. I got up and looked outside and off to the east I saw a lot of lightning. So I quick checked the weather station as to where the storm was from my location.
It was way off to the east so I quickly grabbed my camera gear and headed out to find a spot to set up my camera. I was almost to late, I was able to get a short video and about 8 photos as the storm raced across the morning sky.
I actually only used my Go Pro camera for this series of photos. I attached the go pro to the front bumper on my jeep. There is actually a hitch on the front of the jeep that sticks up high and I attached the go pro to the end of it and went back inside the jeep and watched the lightning show.
My settings for these shots are; 20 second intervals with a 15 sec shutter speed and ISO of 100.
I then took all the good photos I had and stacked them on top each other to get the final results of the photo below. It combined all the lightning strikes together.
Red Shouldered Hawk, I finally photographed a hawk. Well, I photographed one flying quite a while ago. Not sure what kind it was. But these two sat so nice for me as I was walking along the road underneath them.
At first I went out without my camera for my morning walk. Which I had told myself many times to not do that. So these two landed in a tree in front of me first when I did not have a camera. I continued my walk and they landed in another tree above me.
So I stopped and said, “Fine, I am going to go get my camera and you two better still be here when I get back. ” As I was saying it to them.
Usually they don’t do what I ask them to do, but this time they were still there. It is early morning so they have a warm glow to them from the sun just coming up and then to get a pair of them is quite a treat for me to add to my bird count.
My Favorite Bird of Birds, The Pelican. When in the south, one must go see the brown pelicans. Not only are they amazing to watch catching fish and landing on water. They can have a comical look to them as well, especially when they look right at you.
I was down by the water and these to characters were following me as I walked along the dock. They are looking for a hand out in the way of free fish. Which I did not have.
So I actually laid down on the dock and put my camera right above the water as they inched closer to see what it was. Which enabled me to get this nice photo of them at their level. I just love photographing these guys.
Natural Southern Charm on the rot iron fence. Warm humid weather and iron fences can create some artistic floral designs. In the sense of moss and ivy growing all over it. I think it looks artistic my self.
Fun fact, I used the term rot iron and had to look up what it means. Because there is rot iron and cast iron. I am not sure exactly what this gate is made of but it looks cool.
Wrought Iron is iron that has been heated and then worked with tools. Cast Iron is iron that has been melted, poured into a mold, and allowed to solidify. The fundamental distinction between cast iron and wrought iron is in how they are produced
Merrehope is a stately, 20-room Neoclassical Revival mansion, restored and furnished by the town of Meridian Restorations Foundation, Inc. It features unusual woodwork and a handsome stairway, columns. and mantels.
I love exploring places like this during our travels. The architecture alone is quite beautiful I think. We did not go into this home at the time of our visit. But we did get a chance to visit with one of the tour guides as he was just pulling up to the house when we were looking around.
He mentioned Christmas time is their most popular time as it is decorated from head to toe inside. But the sad news is, the state of Mississippi won’t give any money to keep this estate up, as far as grants and such.
He was telling us that it does cost a lot to keep it maintained, like painting it and finding folks to just mow the lawn in the summer months. It is all volunteers that keep it going now. It is the last home of its kind standing in the area.
He also mentioned that they rarely see young folk come by anymore to learn the history of the home. He said they are just not interested in stuff like this. I do thank the kind gentleman for taking time to talk to us here. A beautiful place for sure.
Close the Door on 2022 and let the new year begin. Happy New Year
Video below of my rendition of celebrating a new year. Immersed in nature at sunset. Or click here; New Year Celebration with Nature
May your new year be filled with love, family, friends and new adventures. Where ever they may take you, get out and explore. Live as if tomorrow may never come and as if today will last forever. Live in the moment and take in every bit of the great outdoors when you can.
Wormsloe Mile Long Entrance avenue lined with live oaks is a classic image from the moonlight and magnolias Old South. Found here in Savannah GA.
In the 1890s, Wymberley Jones De Renne laid out the live oak avenue, to celebrate the birth of his son.
A breathtaking avenue sheltered by live oaks and Spanish moss leads to the tabby ruins of Wormsloe, the colonial estate of Noble Jones (1702–1775). Jones was a humble carpenter who arrived in Georgia in 1733 with James Oglethorpe and the first group of settlers from England.
If you enjoy seeing Live Oak trees, make sure to visit this beautiful place. Wormsloe occupies the southern portion of the Isle of Hope, a peninsula four miles long and as much as a mile wide near Savannah Ga.
The name live oak came from the fact that they remain green and “alive” throughout the winter when other oak trees are dormant and leafless.
While many species of oak trees are found throughout the world’s temperate zones, live oaks are native only from Virginia south to Florida and west to central Texas, especially thriving in the heat and humidity.
Mixture of Unexpected Colors from nature to man made. We are camping at a spot in Georgia that has a mixture of color during this month of December. This little bug landed on a board that was covered with raindrops. I do not know what kind of bug it is, but I found the colors to be interesting with its orange stripes and red legs.
This rv campground is also a mixture of trailer houses and spots for your rv. But they made it very colorful by painting all the trailer homes bright colors. Definitely a southern feel to it. We are in the midst of the cold weather down here in Georgia as well as all over the country.
Rhythmic Sounds of Steam Engine, video below. The steam locomotives have a rhythmic sound as they sit idling at a station as this one does below, the #81 in Ely Nevada. I marvel at the engineering of such things as this.
You can see the video by visiting my home page. The videos don’t show up in reader just to let you know.
May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
I heard this song the other day by Alan Jackson, I found the lyrics to be very fitting.
The older I get The more I think You only get a minute, better live while you’re in it ‘Cause it’s gone in a blink And the older I get The truer it is It’s the people you love, not the money and stuff That makes you rich (video below)The Older I Get Video Here
The older I get The longer I pray I don’t know why, I guess that I’ve Got more to say And the older I get The more thankful I feel For the life I’ve had and all the life I’m living still
The Back Roads in Nevada, we did a lot of exploring when we were camping in Nevada last winter. Every corner we turned was a surprising new landscape to see, something most unexpected at times.
We headed out one morning from the little town of Pioche and saw mountains off in the distance. As the drive started it was flat barren land and not much to look at.
We drove to the base of Horse thief Mountain and as we turned around the last bend these beautiful rock cliffs were surrounding us on all sides.
This part of Nevada has lots of natural springs where water is coming out of the ground on its own and flowing down some of the dirt roads. As you can see here we were driving the back country as fresh water just flowed down the road.
We also came across some old gold mines off on some of these roads, I looked it up and Nevada still has nearly 180,000 active mines. We will be visiting this area again one day.
Here in Georgia cotton is being harvested and baled up. Plus it is Pecan harvest time here as well.
Georgia ranked 2nd in the U.S. in cotton planted acres and 4th in number of bales produced. ● Cotton is the most widely grown row crop in Georgia. ● Georgia had 1.29 million cotton acres planted and produced an average yield of 675 lb/A. ● Georgia produced 1.8 million bales of cotton. ● Market value of production reached $406.08 million in.
Texas is the #1 producer of cotton, about 40% of the product grown there.
We camped at a spot here in Georgia where the owner had dozens of pecan trees around the campground. They had already been harvested but there were still hundreds of them on the ground and he said we can have all we wanted of those. So we picked a grocery bag full of them to take with us. They are so good.
This campground is near Glenville Georgia and if you are ever in that area they have a pecan factory right in town where folks can sell there pecans no matter what size bag you bring in, they will buy them. But they also roast them here and cover them with chocolate, Carmel. You name it they make it and sell it at a little store in front of the factory.
This is a cotton ball, when it is ripe it splits open and the cotton emerges.
South for the Winter, we are still finding areas with green leaves on them here in December. This was one of our campsites down in southern Illinois last month.
We have made it far enough south to see the moss hanging on the most beautiful trees called live oak trees.
Along with it is harvest season for two things here in the south. Can you guess what this is below? I will post it tomorrow.
The Lone Wolf Print I talked about this a few post back, about how you can refurbish some of your photos that may not turn out that well, into digital paintings if you want to save them.
This is the original photo below and it is a photo of a wolf in a nature park that I took. Oh, I only make paintings from photos that I have taken, it means a lot more to me as I create a piece of art work.
But this photo is not that good, the lighting was bad, but he is in his natural environment of lots of trees and thick brush. But I did like his expression, how he is looking at something in the grass. Then it comes down to changing the background and adding textures with the help of photoshop.
Now art work is an acquired taste of what each individual likes. For example, I have been to a few art galleries of famous painters with art exhibits of paintings I just don’t get. Like this photo I copied off of the internet of a painting by Vincent Van Gogh. It is wonderful art, with colors and movement. I can appreciate it for sure and it is done by hand not on a computer. Much more work involved at a level that I cannot create at all.
What is This? What does it look like to you. It reminds me of sponge candy or thick marshmallows. It looks very creamy to me but it is nothing close to that actually.
It is Tuff and Tuffaceous
It is one of the largest geologic formations within Spring Valley, located in Nevada, it is volcanic tuff and tuffaceous sediment of Tertiary age.
Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock containing 25% to 75% ash is described as tuffaceous (for example, tuffaceous sandstone). Tuff composed of sandy volcanic material can be referred to as volcanic sandstone.
Located near the town of Pioche in Nevada, we just happened to go for a drive and ended up here. What a beautiful place. It is loaded with natural springs all through out this valley. Hot in the summers and very cold in the winter.
The Mocking Bird, I am not sure how they came up with this name. Except the fact this bird here is in a small tree outside of our camper every morning. I don’t always think to look in the tree when I take my dogs outside in the morning, but when I get to close this tree, it lets out a shriek of a sound that makes me jump every time.
I believe this tree is hers and she doesn’t like me getting to close, maybe just with the dogs. I took my camera out and stood right under her and took these photos and it kind of looks like she is eyeballing me.
Print Your Photos, as you may realize, I take a lot of photos, I mean a lot. But what do I do with all these photos you might ask. Well, besides sharing them with all of you here on blogging, I do sell photos across the internet on different websites.
Adobe photos is a great place to sell photos and a lot of my art work I create as well. Sometimes the photos go for less then a dollar and sometimes I get surprised when one sells for much more than a dollar. That is part of the fun, seeing the sales pop up.
But I don’t just put photos on the web, I do like to print some of my own to hang on the wall to be enjoyed by us everyday without having to look at the computer.
I print mine at the store called Walgreens, they do a very nice job and pretty cheap, I print some to go in frames but like this one below I printed it to a 30×17 and stuck it to a print board you can buy at any craft store. I hung this one in our RV.
My image sizes to print on average is 5500×3800 pixels with resolution of 300 px. For larger prints I use 6000 x 4145. There is an entire mathematical formula when trying to decide how to print your photos from the web. For example;
How to calculate image size – Quick summary
And that’s really all there is to it! To figure out the image size, just follow these simple steps:
1. Multiply the width and height of the image, in pixels, to get the total pixel count. 2. Multiply the total pixel count by 3 to get the image size in bytes. 3. Divide the number of bytes by 1024 to get the image size in kilobytes. 4. Divide the number of kilobytes by 1024 to get the image size in megabytes.
It can be confusing, but the new cameras take such high quality photos these days. One just has to print some out from what ever camera you have and see what results you get.
So I highly recommend everyone to print some of your own photos if you take them. Why let them just sit on the world wide web. Have fun with your photography.
Merry Christmas, there are a lot of stray cats running around this RV park we are staying at and I was out for a walk this morning and took a photo of this one here. He looked a little grumpy so I added some holiday cheer to his portrait.
Some kind folks feed all the strays here, they won’t let you get close to them but they sit still sometimes long enough for a photo.
Young Turkey Vulture, we are at a campground this weekend that has plenty of turkey vultures hanging about. Mainly because people feed the stray cats here and then these hungry birds come down from the trees and eat the left over cat food.
Nothing goes unnoticed by these birds, I even saw 3 young ones grab a empty bag of cat food off the top of a garbage can to see if there was anything left for them. Pretty smart 🙂
Update on this post, thank you to Andrew who left a comment on this post mentioning that this first photo of a turkey vulture could be a black turkey vulture and after looking it up, I agree. So I added this bird to my over all bird list bringing it up to 153 birds photographed. Thank you Andrew,
Not I nor anyone else can travel that road you are on. You must travel it by yourself to find where your heart is telling you to go.
It is not far, it is in reach. Perhaps you have been on it since the day you were born and did not know it, for the path that leads us to Him, has always been there.
We just need to follow our heart and the rest will fall into place.
On Top of Highland Peak, this was a long drive to the top of this mountain here in Nevada, narrow roads and luckily we never met another car coming from the other direction. There were a few places with snow up here, extremely windy at the top.
There is a short video below showing where I got out of the jeep and walked towards the towers there. Until I saw the signs stating warning, the warning was for high radiation. So I immediately said lets go.
This was the highest mountain we traveled on during the adventure out west. So if you want to travel to the top of Highland peak, well now you can see what is up there just incase you change your mind. The view was spectacular though.
Nevada Landscapes, I will be going back and forth with some photos that I took out west that I have not gotten to yet along with where we are traveling now. Adds a little more variety to this blog here.
This is our first time visiting the state of Nevada and I have to say I was quite impressed with the change of scenery and the diverse landscape out west has to offer.
We stopped in a little town called Pioche, a quaint old western town with lots of history in the mining field. Here is the link to the video that describes more of the town and the museums it has; Pioche Nevada Video by Sandra J
To the north is a state park called Cathedral Gorge, with an unusual landscape formed from volcanic ash that has eroded into what they call Bentonite clay spires.
This is a close up of the Bentonite clay itself, it is like hardened mud and if you tap on it, it sounds hollow inside.
Then travel to the west of Pioche and you have Highland Peak Mountain range, that we drove up to the top of one day, nearly 10,000 ft elevation. I will have a video of that coming out next week. At the top the views are fantastic but it also had radio towers all over the top with high voltage signs everywhere. We did not stay long as there was cables and wires everywhere.
I guess not to many people go all the way to the top, the road was only a service maintenance road and I probably would not go up there twice. But I am glad I took a couple of photos to remember the view.
Sunrise on Ohio River, I arrived early enough to view the blue hour today during sunrise on the river as the lights shined across the calm water from a dredger doing its work.
In a more general sense, a ship equipped with an excavation tool that is capable of weeding off depositions such as sand, gravel, sediments, etc. from the seabed is referred to as a dredger ship or more commonly just a dredger.
Dredgers are of great importance, as they serve the purpose of ensuring the necessary safe bottom clearance for safer voyages and it added a little extra to this sunrise photo today.
Tug Boats and Barges on the Ohio River, we were camping by the Ohio river as we are heading south again, one of our favorite places in Metropolis Illinois.
The tug boats are still running on this river in November where as I heard that the mighty Mississippi river is drying up in some places farther south where the barges are sitting still because there is not enough water to go down stream.
This barge here is loaded with coal and moves down every morning at sunrise.
Earth Speaks to Us, Flowers are the earth’s endless effort to speak to us of the beauty that surrounds us everyday. To grab our attention with bright colors and unique designs. To remind us that creation is a wonderous thing.
The Meadowlark, well I finally got a photo of this colorful bird. I didn’t think I was going to get a shot of one when we were out west. We were actually starting to head back east when I thought I had ran out of time to see one of these birds.
We stopped at a rest area and I heard this beautiful bird sound at the back of the rest area and low and behold it was this bird here. I went back in and grabbed my camera just as it was flying away and was able to get these few shots.
Longest Simple Truss Bridge, This is the Brookport Bridge over the Ohio River, one of the longest simple truss spans in existence. It may be one of the longest simple truss spans ever built, at least in the first half of the 20th Century. Video Below
I was taking photos down by the river at sunrise and a car pulled up next to me. A woman got out and introduced herself, she was a local in the area and was excited that someone was taking pictures in her little town. This spot is one of her favorite spots to sit and enjoy a sunrise before she heads off to work.
Well, she continued to tell me about the area and mentioned this bridge here, that it is a historic bridge that you can still drive across and that most people don’t because it is very narrow and old. But thanks to her telling me about it, we had to go investigate.
It is by far the coolest bridge I have yet to cross and take photos of. There is a short video below and yes it was a little unnerving to go across it. Mainly because it is so long, one would hate to get a flat tire in the middle of this bridge.
One of the unusual details of this bridge, is that the largest span is at the southern end of the bridge, not in the middle. The navigation channel was located at the south side of the river. However, there was an additional navigation channel in the more traditional middle of the river, and to accommodate this second navigation channel there is a truss span which at 514 feet long is larger than adjacent spans (measuring 396 feet), but not as large as the 716 foot span.
Video Crossing the Bridge;
The 716 foot span has some additional unusual details. While the roadway maintains the same narrow 19.7 foot width, the 716 foot span is notably wider (distance between trusses) so on this span there is a gap between the edge of the roadway and the truss lines. The reason for this is presumably for stability reasons. The trusses of the bridge are incredibly deep (tall) due to the span length, and the extra width probably helps keep the bridge from becoming top heavy and tipping over in high winds.
Visually this is a spectacular bridge. A must see if you are ever in the area of Metropolis Illinois.
Artistic Bridges, during our visit to my sisters home town, we did a photo shoot of all the children and grandchildren while we were there. We took a day to scope out a location for the shoot and came across this beautiful walking bridge.
I do love the design of bridges, this one with the nice straight lines and white rails and post. I have been to this town many times but this is my first time seeing this bridge.
Horses on the Farm, I grew up with horses so I have a special place in my heart for these beautiful animals. It has been years since I have had horses, but I do get to enjoy them at my nieces farm now as she has 4 of them.
This first photo is her horse and she has some smaller ponies for her daughters to work with, that allows them to learn the responsibilities of caring for animals. Horses are a lot of work, but very rewarding I think to be able to take care of them and see how such a large beautiful animal can be so calming to ones spirit.
This one is her newest yearling filly. I just love her one blue eye.
The youngest child is already taking riding lessons and learning how to be safe around horses and have fun going out on rides. She has a trainer that works with her, which is a great idea f
Intelligent and Adaptable At first glance, the coyote resembles a small German shepherd dog, yet its color can vary from animal to animal. Shades include black, brown, gray, yellow, rust, and tan.
We were walking in a bird sanctuary out west and this little guy was just minding his own business walking along in the tall grass next to us, appeared to be just looking for something to eat. Just living life.
Always take some time to stop and smell the flowers Don’t hurry past the things that make life beautiful Before your life runs down to a few precious hours
Remember to share life with the people you love There’s always someone special, watching how you live
So with those around you, be sure to share your time There’s always someone needing what you have to give
You’re sure to be remembered by the love you leave behind. By Chris Embrick
Red Bellied Sap Sucker, this colorful bird I photographed when I was out west. I have not taken many bird photos this past summer after we got home. We were to busy preparing for winter and just enjoying being home and not moving.
I can’t wait to start photographing wildlife again, I just haven’t seen much the last few weeks. A lot of beautiful landscapes for now.
Harvest Time, “Give thanks for a little, and you will find a lot.”
This is a sample of my digital oil painting below, I picked up these acorns and set them on a picnic table and took a few photos. Adding a warm texture for the background.
Pet Photography, autumn is the best time to take photos of your pets I think. With all the warm colors and crunchy leaves all around. So my Chloee is the subject of today’s post because she poses so well for photos.
I have two dogs and I got them both at a shelter, Chloee is 11 years old now.
This little one below is Deohgee, she doesn’t pose as well because she is a bit on the twitchy side. She can’t sit still, always on the go and she is 15 years old.
I have been learning a new technique in the digital painting world and love how it allows my imagination to come to life when it comes to my photography. I am always wanting to learn new things and enjoy letting my creativity expand beyond just taking a photo.
Hello Again, well I am back to taking photos again. We have had the best time the last few weeks visiting with family and seeing how much all the children have grown in my sisters family. It reminds me of a saying I heard just the other day.
Days are long but weeks are short. One should live in the moment as time goes by so fast. Which I can attest to after seeing how much all the little ones have grown this past year.
My sister and I were talking one day and she said; ” I can’t believe how the generations are changing in our family”, She said her grandchildren asked the other day, ” What is a mall?”. They have never been to a shopping mall, which isn’t a bad thing, but makes her and I realize the changing of the times.
Autumn is being prolonged as we travel south again. My Chloee sits so well for photos, with a little help from husband to keep her attention as I take the photographs.
Winter will be here soon enough so I am enjoying the last of the fall colors here.
We are snow birds along with millions of other baby boomers (those born between the years of 1946 and 1964) who head south each year to reap the benefits of a seasonal migration.
The RV is packed and we are heading south, we have lots of family to visit and spend time with, so I will be taking a few weeks off from writing post to visit and be with all of them.
Not only are we visiting family, but we have a wonderful thing happening next month, my husbands son is coming home from being stationed in Italy for the past 4 years in the Air Force. I have not seen him in so long, I am so blessed to be able to call him my son as well, as some of you may know I never had children of my own. But I am proud to call him my son.
Thank you to all of you for your wonderful comments, I do appreciate it and enjoy visiting with all of you through this thing called blogging. I wish everyone a wonderful season of thanks giving and peace. May our Father shower us with love and may we pass this love on to all others.
I will be back next month around Nov 7th, see you all again soon. Blessings to you and yours.
Rustic Warm Colors – There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of creation—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and Autumn after Summer
Autumn Has Arrived – The fawns are growing up, the leaves are changing color, soon to be falling all around us as winter temperatures begin to settle in.
September and October are my favorite months of the year. I have been posting photos of our trip from last winter and I can’t hardly believe the next winter is apon us already.
We went for a hike the other day and came across this gentlemen painting the landscape in front of him. I am always amazed to see someone do this, to be able to just paint what the eye sees.
This is the landscape he is looking at. A place I have been coming to visit since I was about 4 years old. I never get tired of it.
Fourth Largest Lake – Lake Superior is the fourth largest lake in the world by water volume.
The average underwater visibility of Lake Superior is 27 feet, making it easily the cleanest and clearest of the Great Lakes. Underwater visibility in places reaches 100 feet. Lake Superior has been described as “the most oligotrophic lake in the world.”
Lake Superior freezes at least in part every year and less frequently in its entirety. The last year that it froze completely was in February 1994. It almost froze completely in March 2003
We took this photo in January of 2022. That was a cold year and snow will be coming soon again.
Being Immersed in Nature – Whether it is a walk in the forest or hearing birds chirping in a luscious forest, there is something so remarkable and beautiful about being immersed in nature. It’s easy to be swept away with today’s technology and fast-paced living, but no matter where you are, nature always has a way of bringing peace of mind and grounding a person.
So, as you venture out to see the fall foliage, it’s important to be mindful of how we take care of nature as we enjoy the great outdoors and how we take care of our selves, physically and spiritually.
The noise around us can be upsetting, the news seems to get worse everyday of war and rumors of war.
See how nature, trees, flowers, grass-grows in silence;
See the stars, moon and sun how they move in silence;
We need silence to be able to touch our hearts and souls.
Before and After Art Work – I talked a bit last week about imagination and photography. How I look at a photo and decide weather it is a keeper or not. Because I take a lot of photos and not always is the lighting right or the scene itself may be to busy with background noise like telephone poles and buildings.
It is always up to the artist on what makes a photo to them. For example, this first photo below, I had the exposure correct for the train itself but the background is completely blown out. Now one can take multiple photos and then stack them to put the entire scene together.
Or work a little magic in post processing, what ever is most suitable for the situation.
What I noticed first when I look at this photo is the reflection of blue along the side of the engine and that is when my mind starts seeing a different photo. There is a process to changing a photo to art work in photoshop, I won’t go into it because I just start working and every photo is different.
The main part is to get rid of the wires and telephone pole and the gentleman working on switching the track next to the train. Adding a blue sky from a different photo of mine and then let my imagination begin to fill in the area to what I see.
And this is the result below. Now I still create art the old fashion way with photoshop and lots of cutting, pasting, coloring, paint brushes, the whole thing.
Technology is changing even more now with something called AI, artificial intelligent with photography. Where you don’t have to do all the little steps like I do, there are programs where you just type in what you want and the computer will create it. I am not a fan of that, even though it is still art work in the end.
What ever your style, art work is an individual decision. Sometimes if you think your photo doesn’t look so good at first glance. Don’t just throw it away, look closer at it and let your imagination go.
Don’t just go by first impressions, because hidden behind every thing we see is something more beautiful and precious then one might expect.
Animated video below; it only works if you visit the website. They don’t show up in reader format.
Shelby Copper Mining – Ely was settled in the fall of 1878 when the Selby Copper Mining & Smelting Company established a small smelter at the site. A post office was established in November of that year.
At the time there wasn’t much interest in copper mining, and Ely remained a camp of little significance well into the 1880s. The settlement was little more than a stage station and post office – no business district had developed.
Ely finally got the boost it needed in 1887, when the state legislature designated Ely as White Pine County’s seat of government.
By 1900 the copper deposits near Ely were attracting new attention. In 1902 approximately $500,000 in copper was produced in the district. In 1903 many of the claims were consolidated under the ownership of the White Pine Copper Company. A second company, The Giroux Consolidated Mining Company, made promising copper ore discoveries in one its shafts.
In late 1905 construction started on the 140-mile Nevada Northern Railway, linking Ely to Cobre on the Southern Pacific main line.
With the railroad on the way, smelters being constructed, and millions of tons of ore in reserve, Ely became a boom town in 1906.
This is what the mining area looks like today. With the technology of todays mining equipment, this area looks like a piece of art from above. With the different layers and colors. Precise piling of material as they dig into the earth.
Standard Gauge Short Line – The Nevada Northern Railway was built over a century ago to service what would become one of the largest copper mines in North America.
Today, several of the original coal-fired standard-gauge steam locomotives that were ordered and delivered new to the railroad over 110 years ago are still in operation! The Nevada Northern Railway is the best-preserved example of a standard-gauge short-line left in North America.
Rail Towns – Ely’s importance as a rail town during the 1900s is showcased on the Nevada Northern Railway, which offers a twisty ride in an open-air car through the mountains of the Egan Range. Originally built to transport copper from nearby mines, today this National Historic Landmark is one of the last operating steam locomotives of its kind.
We were here back in May of this year and it did snow a few days which made the mountains in the background look so nice behind this locomotive.
The Nevada Northern Railway arrived in 1906 . Now, this well preserved short-line railway draws visitors from all over the world to ride on its queens of steam and historic diesel engines.
The first day we went down to see the locomotive it just happened to be down by the shop getting fine tuned for the weekend rides. It runs all year long, taking passengers on a short trip around the area. There is nothing like hearing the whistle of a steam engine and the rhythm of the engine chugging along
I placed a video below straight from my library, so I am not sure if it will work here on word press, usually I put videos on from my you tube channel, but I thought I would try it this way. If you would like to see more of my videos on my You Tube channel, here is a link to that; Adventures Outdoors, by Sandra J
Murals, art galleries and a sculpture garden decorate the historic downtown. Rugged mountains rise up in all directions with amazing year-round recreation opportunities in places like Great Basin National Park, Cave Lake State Park, Ward Charcoal Ovens State Park and Ward Mountain Recreation Area.
Four Season Mountain Town – Ely Nevada is a remote mountain town where history, art and outdoor adventure thrive. Ely was founded in the 1870s as a stagecoach stop and trading post called Murray Station, but it would become one of the country’s major copper mining regions.
When I was researching this little town the first thing that popped up was that it has a working steam locomotive. So we had to stop because I just love trains, especially the older ones.
More train photos coming next week, have a great weekend.
On our way to Ely was my first sighting of an elk crossing the road. The only elk I saw on this trip.
Spring Valley Nevada – If you drive east of Pioche Nevada you will find a very interesting place with a history that one might not think about these days.
This area is still considered desert, but here in spring valley the water flows continuously from natural springs. It is said to have at least 150 springs through out the valley.
But the interesting thing about this area is how folks made a living here. They tried growing crops like wheat, barley and oats. But the freezing temperatures, grasshoppers and animals would ruin their harvest. But a few people realized a new crop could be had in the form of ICE.
This valley would flood every summer during the monsoon rains and then freeze. So the settlers made special tools to cut the ice into blocks. They built ice houses under ground and sold the ice blocks the next summer to the town folks and kept a lot for themselves to keep their food cold all summer.
People have always found a way to survive and provide for their families. Good hard working folks learning to live off of the land that is provided to them.
The Journey Continues – As you may know from my blog post, we travelled the SW last winter. We spent 4 months of that winter in the south from Texas to Arizona and headed north from there. But during those 4 months it was all desert. Dry dry desert and not green anywhere.
By April we had finally reached Nevada where our first sight of green grass and dandelions was a very special treat for me. Some people don’t care for dandelions, but after 4 months of seeing only dirt, the beautiful color of yellow amongst the green grass was a sight for sore eyes.
We stopped at a little town called Pioche NV, a quaint little town nestled at the base of the Highland Peak Mountains. A mining town from back in the day that has a wonderful community of folks who are very nice and a small RV park right in town that was free to park at.
We stayed here for a week and enjoyed visiting their museum and driving up into the mountain.
Highland peak sits at an elevation of 9,337 feet. To say the least it was a narrow dirt road all the way to the top, but the view was worth the journey.
Miles and Miles – This is the time of year I like to get a new calendar and add items from this year to the new year coming up. For example I came across the month and year we bought this jeep and it made me think of all the places we have been with it.
We got it 8 years ago, there are no fancy bells or whistles on it, it has crank down windows, not electric. I do like the older vehicles, where one can still fix things them self without having to take it to a shop if needed.
What I See – A look inside of my imagination. Photography is a way to express ones imagination, it isn’t always about just taking a regular photo of landscapes or wildlife to me.
When I look at one of my photos, I can picture something more, I picture a world with more color, a giant moon, things that dreams are made of and I create it with photoshop from combining 2 or 3 of my own photos into one.
My camera is my paint brush and the world is my canvas. Have a wonderful day.
Cathedral Gorge Maze – This area is full of walkways though the clay spires that you can walk in just like a maze. You can see towards the back of this photo there are little green trees on the valley floor. These are actually juniper trees, they are the only kind that will grow in this area.
A lot of the trails going into this area are short trails or they just keep getting so small you can’t go any farther.
This photo below is me walking through the narrow passageway with a camera up over my head. Some areas you have to turn sideways and suck in your gut if possible. 😉
Next Stop Cathedral Gorge State Park – Made of bentonite clay. We just happened to stumble apon this state park as we arrived in Nevada. A must see place if you are ever in the area.
A beautiful landscape of spires and buff-colored cliffs. The beauty enjoyed today had violent beginnings, starting with explosive volcanic activity that, with each eruption, deposited layers of ash hundreds of feet thick.
after the eruptions ceased, block faulting, a fracture in the bedrock that allows the two sides to move opposite each other, shaped the mountains and valleys prevalent in Nevada today. This faulting formed a depression, now known as Meadow Valley.
Over time the depression filled with water creating a freshwater lake. Continual rains eroded the exposed ash and pumice left from the volcanic activity, and the streams carried the eroded sediment into the newly formed lake.
The formations, made of silt, clay and volcanic ash, are the remnants of that lake. As the landscape changed and more block faulting occurred, water drained from the lake exposing the volcanic ash sediments to the wind and rain, causing erosion of the soft material called bentonite clay.
Wind and water erode rocks and soils at a rapid rate and vegetation cannot grow on the outcroppings. The vegetation-free slopes stand in stark contrast to the valley floor where primrose and Indian ricegrass hold small sand dunes in place.
These mountains of clay are so unique, if you tap on the side of them they sound hollow inside.
Difference Between Bill & Beak – Not a thing—the words are synonymous. Ornithologists tend to use the word “bill” more often than “beak.” Some people use “beak” when referring to songbirds with pointed bills, and “bill” when discussing birds like ducks with more fleshy beaks. However, both words are used in reference to a wide variety of species.
They do serve an important purpose for each species from;
short thin bills for insect eaters,
short thick bills for seed eaters,
long thin bills can be for probing flowers for nectar or probing soft mud for worms and shellfish,
strong hooked bills for tearing meat.
Or they can be used to just goose the bird in front to get off the post.
Trees of the South – Trees contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife. During the process of photosynthesis, trees take in carbon dioxide and produce the oxygen we breathe.
I do love photographing and studying trees. They are designed with a purpose and each one is so unique.
Utah’s Red Rock Country – Of all the common colorful minerals found in Earth’s crust, few are as abundant, dynamic, and multi-colored as iron. Depending on how it combines with other elements, iron can form a veritable rainbow of colors. When iron combines with oxygen it becomes iron oxide, and its degree of oxidation largely determines its color.
Hence the multi colors found at Zion National Park, we only drove the scenic route at Zion, but if we ever get back there one must take the hiking route into the canyon where you will find pools of emerald colored water and lush garden plants. Amazing the world we live on.
Zion Canyon Red Cliffs – It started out as Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909, but was granted national park status by the U.S. Congress in 1919.
The highlight of Zion National Park is an expansive canyon. Averaging 2,000 feet deep,
As we were leaving Arizona last April we crossed into Utah for a week as we were making our way to Nevada. Not realizing we were so close to Zion national park until we found a campground just south of this national treasure and looked at the map and noticed it was just a short drive to get there.
So we headed out early one morning and entered the park at the east end. Traffic was minimal and the scenery is just gorgeous.
We stopped at a few places along the drive through the park where you can get out and do some hiking and see some of the beautiful rock formations and caves.
These two photos below are taken with the drone from above this beautiful area showing you the top of Zion National Park. Drones are not allowed in the park, but we were on the outside of the park when we took this photo.
It is like a glimpse of the past, can you imagine being the first people to come across this land, what a sight it is.
Glen Canyon Bridge – Just east of the Grand Canyon. It is like a miniature version of the grand canyon as the Colorado river flows through the red rocks of Northern Arizona.
The bridge’s central arch is 680 feet over the Colorado River, and at the time of its construction it was the tallest bridge in the world.
We went over this bridge back in April as we were heading out of Arizona. We stayed at a campground in Utah for one week and then headed to Nevada.
Fall Harvest – Well, fall harvest of photos. My tomato plants are full of green tomatoes that have been turning red very slowly. But I have been taking photos of the beautiful blooms drenched in the morning dew, like dressed in diamonds in the morning light.
So this fall I may harvest more photos than actual food. Either way I do enjoy gardening.
Desert Flowers – When we were in Arizona a few months ago, some of the cactus finally started to bloom. I don’t know what these are but the Gila woodpecker sure enjoyed them.
We have a bit of color starting to show up in my neck of the woods this week, I do love the month of September, for me it is usually the start of fall colors and this year it has begun. Hope everyone gets out and enjoys nature’s color wheel called Autumn.
Photography is about using your imagination, it’s about creating ideas that speak to people and create interest from a viewer’s standpoint.
What do these photos say to you, what do you see?
Photography has helped me to see things differently, it has opened my imagination to another level. When I see movement, light and colors as I am out looking at the world around me. I think about how to capture these moments within a photo. What angle to shoot at, how to stop motion, how to create art out of what I see and bring my imagination to life.
For example these photos, I was sitting outside enjoying a beautiful warm day looking at my bird bath that has a water fountain in it. The water looked as if it is dancing, almost like it has come to life in movement.
So I took a few photos and video to help your imagination see something completely different then what you might expect to see today. Video below or click on this link; Dancing Waters.
Just Look Up – Sometimes we can get to focused on only what is right in front of us and miss the big picture of what surrounds us.
The never ending, what seems to be bad news, pushed on us from all angles can be overwhelming at times. But for me, there is always one constant, one source of Light that shines every minute of every day that is breathtaking, encouraging and beyond anything our minds and hearts can comprehend at times.
Just look up and see the beauty of creation, see how small we really are and how important life is. Day or night the Light is there, within the stars, the clouds. It is always there.
Her Favorite Time of Year – Her eyes almost match the background. Our little cat is 7 years old this year. We were not looking to have a cat as a part of our family. This one was a stray and found as a kitten in the middle of winter years ago.
I could not say no to her and she has grown into a wonderful cat who gets along with dogs very well and loves to travel with us. But her favorite thing to do is go outside and sit on the porch railing and watch the birds and enjoy the sunshine on these cooler fall mornings.
I forgot to put the video on yesterday of the Blue Jays until later in the morning. So here is the link to it again, which includes footage of the White Squirrel as well. Blue Jay and White Squirrel
Two New Birds – we went to a nature preserve in the state of Washington and I was able to photograph these two little beauties. Now I would love to be able to tell you what kind of birds they are. But I do not have my bird book in front of me and I wrote the names down in a notebook a while ago, but can’t find that.
So if anyone knows you can leave a comment below.
I have been taking videos of the birds at my feeder this month and these 3 are a family. The one in the middle is equivalent to a teenager and it kept trying to ask the other two to feed it. So I am going to say it is mom and pop, but they ignored junior and flew off to let him figure it out. You can see his reaction in the video. White Squirrel and Blue Jay
While I was filming the bird stand, this beautiful bird decided to take a break on my camera as it was filming the birds above.
Frogs – Two frogs in my area that I know of and see regularly. The first being the Tree Frog. Such unusual eyes they have and very sticky feet. They can cling to anything, I only see these in the fall and usually hiding under something.
This frog below is called a Peeper, it is most visible in the spring as they emerge from their winter hibernation. I love the sound these frogs make in the spring, music to my ears as it means the snow is gone.
Shooting Stars Milky Way – August has been a good month for getting outside in the middle of the night. They say the northern lights are making a show in the north but they could be seen down as far as Iowa this week.
So I have been going outside every night, when ever I wake up and taking a few photos if the clouds are not to thick. I have not seen the northern lights yet, but there are a lot of shooting stars.
My camera settings for photographing the Milky Way are; 17mm lens, 6400 ISO, f 2.8 and shutter speed any where from 10 to 30 sec.
It is so fun to look at your photos later, because I don’t see any of these shooting stars with my eyes. Only the camera picks them up.
This photo below is a shooting star and I believe the star link satellites. Star link used to have 20 some satellites but every photo just about picks up only 6 in a row now.
Why Arizona – Let me rephrase, these photos today were taken around the small town named Why. Just north of the Organ Pipe National Monument in southern Arizona.
This is my first time seeing the Saguaro Cactus and there are so many of them in this area. When we got to this area we were going to camp at Organ Pipe, but it was dry camping there, meaning no electricity or water and it was 90 plus degrees F when we arrived.
But we found this campground in the little town of Why, full hookups so we could use the air-conditioning. They also have lots of trails behind the campground that you can hike all day on.
O Sole Mio, translated as – my own sunshine. Some of you may have never heard O sole mio, it is a song from a long time ago. But when I saw these photos, it looks like these Saguaro Cactus are singing.
This photo is not photoshopped. It is exactly how they look when I took the photo. The holes are in just the right places to look like a face.
Most holes are caused by Gila woodpeckers and gilded flickers. They make their nests in the trunks of saguaros by hollowing out a space in which they will raise their young. In response to the birds’ activity, the wound created will dry out and harden off, forming a callus.
Now I did add to dark spots on the photo below to make it look like it has eyes.
An Incredible Journey is the flight of the Monarch Butterfly. Each fall, North American monarchs travel from their summer breeding grounds to overwintering locations. East of the Rocky Mountains, monarchs travel up to an astonishing 3,000 miles to central Mexico, whereas the shorter migration west of the Rockies is to the California coast.
Decreasing day length and temperatures, along with aging milkweed and fewer nectar sources trigger a change in monarchs; this change signifies the beginning of the migratory generation.
Similar to the Hummingbird as I mentioned last week. Amazing how these tiny little creatures both travel farther then most giant birds.
Orientation is not well understood in insects. In monarchs, orientation is especially mysterious. How do millions of monarchs start their southbound journey from all over eastern and central North America and end up in a very small area in the mountains of central Mexico?
From across the eastern U.S. and southern Canada, monarchs funnel toward Mexico. Along the way, they find refuge in stopover sites with abundant nectar sources and shelter from harsh weather. Upon reaching their destination in central Mexico beginning in early November.
Scientist say they do not learn the route from their parents since only about every fourth to fifth generation of North American monarch migrates. Therefore, it is certain that monarchs rely on their instincts rather than learning to find overwintering sites.
What kind of instincts might they rely on? Other animals use celestial cues like the sun, moon, or stars), the earth’s magnetic field, landmarks, mountain ranges or bodies of water.
Of these, the first two are considered to be the most likely cues that monarchs use, and consequently have been studied the most.
So when I see a monarch like this one who just stopped by my yard for one day, I imagine the incredible journey this little one is on. They have no worries about anything except survival, getting to their destination and continuing life as is written.
When the Night Has Come and the land is dark. The moon is the only light we will see. No I won’t be afraid, just as long as you stand by me.
I love these lyrics to the song stand by me by Ben King, video and music below.
Photos have a way of speaking to each one of us in a different way. That is the beauty of photography and one does not have to be a professional photographer for this to happen.
They provoke a feeling, a memory and a change in our spirit I believe. When I looked at these silhouettes of the hummingbird the song Stand by Me came to mind right away.
It was late in the evening as I was watching these two hummingbirds dancing around me, but the feeling did not arise until I saw this photo as if it is saying stand by me and I won’t be afraid.
For in the dark of the night, I know His presence, as He stands by me in the window pains of my heart.
Importance of Oil Rigs for Hummingbirds, I was doing some research about the migration of the Ruby Throated Hummingbird and found some new information I had not read before.
Ruby-throats do not travel in flocks during hummingbird migration. Instead, each bird follows its own instincts on appropriate departure times and routes.
Scientists believe that each hummingbird begins its migration in response to environmental triggers. One trigger is the changing level and angle of sunlight. Another trigger is believed to be a drop in available natural food. As these signals continue to activate, the hummingbird makes its preparations and eventually departs.
On their northward trip, most have reached Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula by February. In this lush jungle, they begin to feast on insects as they prepare for one of the toughest migrations for any bird. Each year, thousands of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds fly over the open water of the Gulf of Mexico rather than follow the longer shoreline route.
These brave little birds will fly non-stop up to 500 miles to reach U.S. shores. It takes approximately 18-22 hours to complete this amazing solitary flight.
Some hummingbirds aren’t strong enough, though, as many oil riggers and fishing boat crews can attest.
Every year, exhausted Ruby-throated Hummingbirds take temporary refuge on offshore oil rigs and boats floating in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. These birds rest a while before bravely launching back into their flight across the open water.
When they return south, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds will follow the same daring migration route in reverse. They’ll charge up their energy reserves in the southern U.S. and then zip across the gulf toward their winter home. That’s two big, non-stop trips each year for Ruby-throats – you have to admire their tenacity!
How I Edit Bird Photos, these Ruby Throated Hummingbirds have been very active this past weekend. I have been sitting on my porch with my camera set on continuous high speed trying to get some good photos of these fast little birds in flight before they leave here and head south for the winter.
But because they are so fast, one can’t really get great compositions without doing a little post processing in the editing room.
So here are a couple of examples of how I crop a photo of these hummingbirds. The first photo is the original, the bird is off center and there are to many distractions with the wood post and the feeder to really see the bird itself.
I love the detail of its tail feathers in this shot, so I cropped everything out and brought up the exposure a bit because its body is in the shadow and now you can see a bit of its green color around the wings.
The sun is off to my right in these photos, so the bird is facing me and you can’t really see its beautiful throat colors without the sun shinning directly on them.
So again, I raised the exposure a bit in photoshop and used a vertical format for cropping to showcase the bird itself, now the one thing this composition is missing is its other wing. But, like I said they are so fast, we can’t see the wing movements to shoot at the exact time. Only high speed camera settings can do this and we can only take what we get.
If you notice the tail feathers are clear but the wings have a little motion blur, the average wing beat is around 53 beats per second and I have the camera set up at 1/4000 of a sec shutter speed.
It is so fun trying to get good shots of these beautiful little birds.
This photo below, I wasn’t sure I could isolate the bird from the feeder because it is so close to it. It is quite the challenge to photograph these birds flying away from you and to be able to see the tail feathers from the top like this photo.
Photoshop is a great tool for editing, along with light room. Again, I used a vertical format and really like the diamond shape light spot behind the bird. All these photos are taken with my camera set to 1/4000 sec shutter speed, f8, ISO 1200 and 600 mm lens.
Flower Art, the weather this past weekend was just perfect. Cool mornings, fire in the house stove in the mornings. I just love this time of year.
I was doing some flower arrangements as well. You may not know this, but I was actually a florist at one time, many years ago. I arranged these wildflowers with some of the sea shells and rocks I found during our trip. Plus some drift wood I had from Lake Superior as well.
I have done a few different jobs over the course of my life, from driving a Semi truck across country for a couple of years. Working in a flower shop and back then I made $100 dollars a week. After a couple of years my boss gave me a $50.00 a week raise. I felt as if I was rich at the time.
I have always lived a very simple life, I have never been much of a shopper or collecting things. Being out in nature was always more important and enjoyable for me. I would rather be outside then be anywhere in a building.
I accomplished everything on my bucket list from raising Draft Horses to riding a motorcycle, driving a Semi truck and climbing the highest mountain I dare climb this past year.
When the world seems so crazy around us, I just stop and remember that time is precious. What we do now, today is so important. I choose to enjoy each and every moment I have, not worrying about tomorrow. For we know not if it will even come.
There isn’t anything on this earth that we will take with us when our time here ends. Why try to build up so much more than what each individual needs. Why is it the rich seem to never have enough. Power and money changes people, they forget what is truly important in life.
I have had such a full life, yes I had many ups and downs. But through out it all, my constant has been, for me, my faith in our Father who will hold out His hand one day and say; ” child take my hand and come with me”. So that I may go home. For this place here is not home, I am just passing through.
Thank you to all that visit me here. I so appreciate the time that you take to look at my photos and to leave such wonderful comments. I am feeling grateful today and just wanted to say thank you. 🙂
Trees in the Chiricahua Mountains, the rock formations in these mountains are amazing to see, but the trees are what caught my eye as well, as we made our way to Echo Canyon hiking trail.
Here is a link to Pancho Villa State park in Columbus New Mexico, with a bit of a time lapse. I am always a little ahead on these post compared to the video’s I put of these areas on my You Tube channel.
I have always been fascinated with trees and all the different kinds across the country. These here in the mountains of Arizona are quite unique as they grow out from the rocks in many forms. Twisted and curved, they are an artistic display of nature.
Sulphur Canyon Road Tank in Arizona, what is a Tank you might be asking? A tank is a man-made reservoir and this one was built in 1950 as a holding tank to flood the surrounding cotton fields back in the day.
There came a time when the fields around the tank no longer were planted and the area became a pasture for cattle. The owner of this tank decided to keep this oasis going as he discovered how important this water is to the wild life that would stop here to quench their thirst in this dry desert environment.
They installed solar panels back in 2016 to keep the pumps running adding water to this tank. The owner fenced off the area from the cattle and built bird blinds around the water so folks can stop here and see the wildlife up close and not disturb them.
It is now home to a variety of birds who stop here during their migration. This tank provides an oasis in this dry and dusty land and the most reliable source of water on the east side of the Chiricahua Mountains.
Someone at the campground told us about this place and to take the drive across the mountain where you will end up at Chiricahua National Monument. A must see place if you are ever in eastern Arizona.
By far the most noticeable natural features in the park are the rhyolite rock pinnacles for which the monument was created to protect. Rising sometimes hundreds of feet into the air, many of these pinnacles are balancing on a small base, seemingly ready to topple over at any time.
Hop Skip and a Jump to Arizona, we were in Texas for the entire month of March, Texas is a big state. But by April we skipped on over to Arizona, not a long drive from El Paso Texas. This is where I found a wonderful campground called Rusty’s Rv Park.
What a beautiful area this is, most people travel a little farther north to the big national park called Gila national forest. I had checked it out but it was completely booked when we were passing through the area.
I tend to look closer at the smaller green areas on the map like the area with the arrow on the picture below. This is where I found Rusty’s rv park and a wonderful surprise called the Chiricahua Mountains.
Someone told us at the park to take a drive over this mountain in the photo below and you will end up at one of the most interesting landscapes hidden in the hills of Arizona called, Bonita Canyon and Echo Canyon Trail head.
It is a 5 hour drive over the mountain to get to the other side, pictured below is the road that takes one on this beautiful journey. One lane in most places and yes I was a little nervous about what one does if another car is coming from the other way.
Luckily we left very early in the morning and did not meet anyone on the road.
If you ever find your self in eastern Arizona down by the border, be sure to stop by this place. In the middle of a hot desert, this is a true oasis for people and animals alike. Nothing like I have ever seen before.
I will have more photos and video coming this week of the drive into the mountains.
Plus at this RV park, like many others, we met a wonderful group of genuinely kind folks. A shout out to Kathy whom we met that is a photographer and writer. We had a wonderful time visiting with her.
Pretty in Blue, One of the most defining features of a bird is its plumage. But as complex and capable as feathers are, they don’t last forever: They begin to break down after some time, forcing its owner to replace them. Which is the process of molting.
Which usually starts around July and August, depending on the species.
As a result, a bird’s appearance may radically change through the molting period, or just look odd and patchy.
The blue jays are back in my area and some of them are still missing their crown feathers. This one in the picture is a young blue jay and its blue feathers are a color all onto themselves. Such a pretty blue.
Molting is a fascinating behavior, just like migration and breeding, and it’s one of the vital parts of a bird’s life. So if you see some song birds and they appear to be missing a few feathers this time of year. Don’t worry, they are probably molting and growing some new ones soon.
August and Golden Colors, after a hot summer I always look forward to the golden hues of fall. Now technically autumn doesn’t start until September 22nd. But warm colors of gold, yellow and browns are pleasing to the eye and warms the heart.
If you would like to see the video of Cloudcroft and White Sands National park, Link is Here; Cloudcroft and White Sands.
We only stayed a week at this park and then moved farther west to one of the best parks all along the southern border. We had been in the desert for a couple months at this point. Dry, dusty and not much for trees at all.
But what a surprise we found at the next stop, birds, mountain, forest and water. The Chiricahua National Wilderness, just across the border of Arizona.
Pancho Villa State Park New Mexico, after leaving El Paso Texas, we headed west to our first stop right along the US and Mexican border in a little town named Columbus. Now this is back in April when we were here. This little town is home to 1,118 people.
This historical park features an exhibit hall and structures that capture the rich history of the Pancho Villa Raid and Camp Furlong.
The exhibit hall also showcases the Punitive Expedition, which was led by John “Black Jack” Pershing in 1916-1917. This military expedition to chase down Pancho Villa threatened to bring the United States and Mexico into direct conflict with one another during the height of the Mexican Revolution in Mexico itself.
Below is the campground we stayed at for about a week. It was a very nice place, wonderful people running the park and lots of space.
When the wind blows the air is full of dust and dust tornadoes. Very seldom is it a clear day.
Just behind the park is the wall between the two countries. The road going to Mexico past the park is always busy. Lots of trucks bringing produce from south to the north. It seemed to be a constant flow of traffic and it was the off season.
But with all this open space, the sunsets are beautiful.
Gypsum Sand in New Mexico, The “sand” in these miles of shifting dunes is not composed of silica, like most inland sand. Interestingly, the sand at White Sands is almost pure gypsum. Gypsum is different from many other rocks because it is readily soluble.
That means it will dissolve in water, just like sugar or salt. When rain falls on the mountains, the layers of gypsum start to dissolve, and the gypsum runs down the mountains as fast as the water can carry it.
Since the Tularosa Basin and the dunes are fully enclosed, there is no outlet to water of any kind, so the gypsum stays in the monument.
Gypsum is actually a clear substance; the dunes appear white like snow because the gypsum grains are constantly banging into each other. The scratches then reflect the sun’s rays making them appear white.
Also, unlike silica sand, gypsum doesn’t absorb heat from the sun. So even on the hottest day of the year, the dunes are cool and comfortable to walk on, making White Sands a nice stop in the summer. Just visit when the sunrays are not at their peak, and remember to bring plenty of water to drink.
The gypsum dunes are home to a unique ecosystem of plants and wildlife, many of which only exist here in the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert.
Cloudcroft, New Mexico gets 30 inches of rain, on average, per year. The US average is 38 inches of rain per year.
Cloudcroft averages 69 inches of snow per year. The US average is 28 inches of snow per year.
On average, there are 289 sunny days per year in Cloudcroft. The US average is 205 sunny days.
Cloudcroft gets some kind of precipitation, on average, 98 days per year. Precipitation is rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to the ground. In order for precipitation to be counted you have to get at least .01 inches on the ground to measure.
Cloud Croft New Mexico, I don’t know about you but when I look at photos of snow like these, I can almost feel the cold air, even when it is hot outside now in July. This is the only moisture we saw during our month visiting Texas and New Mexico area back in March.
Established as a vacation getaway and logging town in the late 1890s by the developers of the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad, tiny Cloudcroft (pop. 688) sits in the heart of the Sacramento Mountains at nearly 8,700 feet above sea level. The railroad chugged away in the late 1940s, but this easygoing village, with its unpretentious Western vibe, continues to draw tourists from all around the country.
Cloudcroft Trestle Bridge
The trestle was regularly used and maintained by the railroad until about 1947, when the line was abandoned. By the 1980s, a dip had formed in the center of the trestle, and Lincoln National Forest personnel had become concerned about its condition.
The trestle was built in 1899 as a part of the A&SM’s efforts to access timber in the forest, and after that, the line was used for nearly half a century to transport tourists to Cloudcroft, the picturesque little village located nearby. At 8,675-feet in elevation, Cloudcroft is among the highest-elevation communities in the United States—hence, the numerous references to the clouds.
Desert to Snow to Gypsum Sand, all within 100 miles of each other near El Paso Texas. I have never seen anything like this, all in one area. When we were camping at Franklin Mountains by El Paso back in March, we had one day that had sleet and snow.
Video Link to a short clip of Snow and Sand; Snow to Sand
It was March 22nd, so the next day we figured it was a good day to drive up to Cloudcroft New Mexico, about 112 miles NE from where we were camping, to an elevation of 9000 ft.
From the warm desert to this beautiful scenery high in the mountains, was a welcome sight. We were traveling last winter to avoid snow. But I sure liked seeing this snow when we got up there.
This photo below is from the top of Cloudcroft looking towards the White Sands National Park in the distance.
But, after the cold and snow we were ready to head back to warmer weather and drove back down the mountain and headed SW to White Sands National Park where it immediately went back to 80 deg weather. With the most beautiful white sand dunes every where.
Situated in the Tularosa Basin, between Alamogordo (northeast) and Las Cruces (southwest), the White Sands National Monument is a vast, natural playground of brilliant particles that reflect the sun – making the crystals shine “white” to the human gaze.
I will have more photos this week of these two areas. A must see if you are ever visiting Texas and New Mexico.
The Rubies are Back, now I am still posting photos from our trip around the states from this last winter. But we are home now so I have to throw in some photos from here, like my favorite little Ruby Throated Hummingbirds that visit my flowers here every summer.
They are hard to photograph, they are constantly chasing each other.
On occasion I can find them sitting almost still on my garden fence. But the camera still has to be set at a very high shutter speed to get a glance at those wings that move so fast.
The Light of the Nights When we accept that there is only One Father, we have no ethnicity to any group. By that we are different just by the virtue we accepted one thought, One Father, One Creator One Creation
Time Lapse Video from Day to Evening to Lighting Storm at Night; Time Lapse Clouds
In whatever condition each was called, there let them remain with the Father
While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened.
Life is a teaching experience we are either taught or we mimic back.
Flower Art with a Flashlight, there are some beautiful wild flowers growing around our place this summer. So I was feeling a little artsy today and decided to try something new.
I picked this one flower and put it in a vase and brought it inside. Grabbed a flashlight and pointed it directly at the flower and if you hold the light close enough it will create a dark background as well.
Light always brings out the details of any object and lets you see the extraordinary creation in front of you so much clearer. 🙂
But, my cat decided to get in on the photo shoot. She stuck her nose in just as I clicked the shutter button. She is good for wanting to be up front and getting more attention from me.
Downtown El Paso Texas, we do not go into big cities very often. But we were camping here for 2 weeks and had to run in for supplies so decided to go down town and walk around a bit. I do love architecture as well and taking photos of buildings when I see some I like.
I like the older ones that have been restored or just kept up nice.
This is an overlook area facing south looking over the city of El Paso, everyday there was a bit of a haze over the city. Somedays we could not see the mountains in the background at all.
Songs and Sounds of Desert Birds, I just posted a video on my you tube channel highlighting all these wonderful birds and the sounds they make. The bird one hears the most is the White Winged Dove, but the most interesting one I think is the Gambel’s Quail.
Tree Frog Bird Frog or Just a Frog, it is extremely hot here today and I was out walking along the tree line and I looked up at a bird house on a tree. I had to squint a bit as I saw something in the entrance hole of this bird house.
I wasn’t quite sure, so I went and got my camera and sure enough it is a frog sitting in a bird house. Well, if the birds don’t want it, I guess the frog can make it his home. He definitely has a great view from way up there.
I don’t know what kind of frog it is, if any one knows please leave a comment below.
I took a picture of this frog below down by the water.
Texas is Big Sky Country, well they say Montana is Big Sky also, but Texas can give it a run for its money on that title. I think anywhere that is pretty flat when you can see the horizon can be considered big sky.
Birds and Bunnies in Soft Light, what is soft light you might ask? Well it is considered to be diffused light, which I have the best luck finding in the early morning hours of a day. But you can always use the shade of a tree or the soft shadows of any structure.
One doesn’t always have a chance to place our wildlife in the right lighting for that, so the rule of thumb, depending on where you live of course, is to not photograph between 11am and 2pm. That is usually when the sun is straight over head and it is like shinning a giant flashlight right on your subject.
So for me, early morning is my favorite time of day to photograph outdoors..
Franklin Mountain State Park, our next stop as we travelled this past winter. A beautiful state park just north of El Paso Texas. We were here once before when my husbands son was stationed here for the Air Force.
So as we are traveling west we decided to stop here again. The park itself is a great place to camp, it is dry camping here, meaning they do not have water or electrical hookups. When I went to check in, I told the ranger we will be here for 2 weeks. He said, ” What?”, no one usually stays that long. 🙂
We have learned to become pretty resourceful with water and as long as the sun comes out, we have electricity or use the generator.
They have wonderful hiking trails here and when you get to the top of any of the mountains around the park the view is spectacular.
The photo below is the campground, it only has 5 sites. I would like to go back when the flowers are in bloom, they were just starting to come out when we were there.
Wild Horses in Big Bend, now I am not positive these are wild horses but they were out in the middle of no where with no fences or anything. What I find fascinating about this first photo, is that the horse in the back ground, which I am pretty sure it is a mule, looks gigantic compared to the horse in the for ground.
This is the last of the photos from Big Bend National park. It was quite the trip, I had never heard of this place until we went to it. I am glad we had the chance to visit and be a part of a landscape that seems like time forgot.
Smaller horses are probably ideal for desert life. Mules are even better, they are a cross between a male donkey and a female horse. I grew up with horses so I still have a love for them and enjoy being around them when I can.
Below we were wandering down by the Rio Grande river when this gentleman came around the corner to let his pony get a drink of water.
My brother and his wife have had mules for years, when I was visiting them this year I took a few photos of both of their mules and created a frame around them so they would have something to hang on their walls. A nice portrait, which took quite a few photos to get them to look up with their ears forward.
Beautiful animals with the sweetest eyes.
The eyes can tell a story all on their own, right now you can see my camera and I in the reflection of Mac’s eye. 🙂
Its the Simple Things that make me smile the most. Like this first photo, I did not have the camera prepared for this shot, but this little hummingbird showed up out of the blue and I just clicked away. Capturing a bit of light illuminating its beautiful colors.
Life can be a long bumpy road at times, but a journey worth taking, as it is a gift. The idea that any of us are here at all is worth thinking about. The true miracle of birth is something that I think about often, for I have never had children of my own. But, when you stop and remember how we are even here, that we all started from a tiny little cell.
Why is it Called Big Bend, The region was named Big Bend for the drastic change in course of the river from a southeastern to a northeastern flow. As the Rio Grande flows through the Chihuahuan Desert, it carves not only majestic canyons, but also a political boundary.
4 Most popular places to see in Big Bend Video here; 4 Most Popular Places in Big Bend
Big Bend includes massive canyons, vast desert expanses, forested mountains, and an ever-changing river. Here you can explore one of the last remaining wild corners of the United States.
Chisos Basin is Next on the List, The Chisos Basin Campground is nestled in an open woodland within a scenic mountain basin. Campers enjoy the iconic views of Casa Grande and Emory Peak. The sunset through the nearby “Window” is a Big Bend highlight. Some of the park’s most popular trails begin nearby. Elevation is 5,400 feet.
This area here was quite a surprise. We were camping down below at 1800 ft. elevation and it was very hot down there. We begin the drive up to the Chisos Basin and the temperature cooled off right away and the landscape was completely different.
Pine trees and lush green grasses and signs everywhere that this is the home to mountain lions and bear. Obviously they like the higher elevation as well.
So, Big Bend has such a variety of landscapes, wildlife and activity. I highly recommend this place if you have not been here.
These are the top three places people like to see, Chisos Basin, Santa Elena Canyon and Ernst Tinaja. But there is so much more to this 800,000 acre park that one will never see all of it in one visit. I have more photos coming up of this beautiful place to come.
Ernst Tinaja in Big Bend, now this spot here was a fun road to travel on just to get to this area. It was highly recommended to have a high clearance vehicle and I will be having a video soon that shows the off roading here in Big Bend National Park.
Once you get to the end of this long, bumpy dirt road, it is about a mile hike to reach this beautiful area named Ernst Tinaja.
This popular feature at the mouth of a limestone canyon is noted for three things: vibrant orange swirling striations in the rocks, fossils of giant oysters, and the Ernst Tinaja itself – a 13-foot natural rock pool. The word tinaja (pronounced “tin-AH-ha”) is Spanish for “large earthen jar” and in Big Bend refers to natural water holes, usually formed by erosion.
You don’t want to hike down here if there is any chance of rain, because it floods very quickly and you would be trapped in here. Luckily in March it was completely dry and you can walk all the way through the canyon.
The rock formations are so unique and beautiful, very picturesque.
The Most Scenic Areas at Big Bend, When you enter Big Bend National Park they give you a map and a guide of the most scenic areas to visit in the park. You can visit all these areas in one day by vehicle, they have a loop that travels around the park to each one of these spots. Make sure to go early because this first one draws a crowd.
It is Santa Elena Canyon, an experience of nature that is beyond ones imagination and a photographer’s dream to photograph in the right conditions.
This narrow canyon is cut by the Rio Grande River. Texas is on the right side of the picture and Mexico on the left. Here the Rio Grande separates the limestone outcrops of the Mesa de Anquila, on the Texas side, from the Sierra Ponce, on the Mexican side. In places, the canyon walls tower 1,500 ft (457 m) above the river.
The photos do not do the canyon walls justice, if I was standing next to the wall in this photo I would look like a speck of dust.
Santa Elena Canyon is 8 miles (13km) long and 1,500 feet (450 m) deep. In some places the canyon walls are only 30 feet (9 meters) wide. The Rio Grande established its present course on basin-filling sediments that covered the rocks and faults we see exposed today. The river eroded through the surface layers and cut steep-sided canyons in the more resistant Lower Cretaceous limestones.
Today you can see those ancient limestone formations exposed in the canyon walls. A popular way to explore the length of Santa Elena Canyon is on a two or three-day river rafting trip that begins in the town of Lajitas,
Big Bend National Park, getting back to our travels through Texas. Now I had never even heard of Big Bend National park until this past winter when someone mentioned we should visit there as we drove along the southern border of Texas.
So we looked it up and made reservations for the first of March this past winter. One has to reserve early because this park is full all the time. We were able to book 11 days at their largest campground and I have to say the terrain of this part of Texas is just breathtaking.
Here is the link to my video if you want to see all the campgrounds that are available to use in this park and some of the wildlife and landscapes; Big Bend National Park
The largest campground is Rio Grande Village campground sitting at 1800 ft. elevation. So it get pretty warm down there even in March. We had a couple days in the 100 degrees and where we were at you can not use generators for your air conditioning. We had to go for a drive in the Jeep just to stay cool, but only a couple of days.
Then the highest elevation is Chisos Basin, a world onto itself. Completely different with lots of trees and green grass and much cooler temperatures sitting at 5400 ft. elevation.
Big Bend spans over 800,000 acres. I will be showing more of the beautiful landscapes in the next few post.
Wildlife at the campground consist of Javelinas, shown below. They would just wonder by all the campers munching on the grass.
One morning we woke to the sound of cows mooing, as a small heard was enjoying the green grass as well as they passed through the campground.
You can also find this little beauty of a bird here, the Vermillion Flycatcher, there were quite a few of them as the park would flood the center of the park, using water from the Rio Grande River. It kept the trees green and the grass, hence the wild life and birds enjoying this park as well.
A New Hummingbird From Washington, Well I finally photographed a new hummingbird. I have only ever seen one species of hummingbird and that is the Ruby Throated. We just happened across another nature preserve in Washington when we were there and found two new birds, no 3 new ones, including this hummingbird. Bird count is 152.
One of the feistiest hummingbird in North America. The brilliant orange male and the green-and-orange female Rufous Hummingbird are relentless attackers at flowers and feeders, going after (if not always defeating) even the large hummingbirds of the Southwest, which can be double their weight.
Rufous Hummingbirds are wide-ranging, and breed farther north than any other hummingbird. Look for them in spring in California, summer in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and fall in the Rocky Mountains as they make their annual circuit of the West.
Evening Rains, last nights storms brought 2 inches of rain that was very much needed in my area. As the rain stopped late into the evening, the sky turned to a beautiful pink and blue and my one flowering plant that survived the winter was in full bloom as the sun begin to set.
We Made it Home, what a journey it has been for us and so many others this past year. I still have plenty of photos to share of all the beautiful states we travelled in.
The thing I remember the most from the past 10 months is all the wonderful people we met along the way. Folks who would just stop by and say hello, who would share their travels and give advice on places to see. For the most part, I remember all the smiles from others, even though so much is going on in the world around us, it never stopped folks from just living.
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps
The Enchanted Highway, we travelled along Interstate 94 into the Dakotas, which by the way the blue sky’s and lush green prairie grass fields are picturesque all on their own.
But, all of a sudden large pieces of art work started to appear on the sides of the road.
Thirty-two miles south of the nearest major highway is the town of Regent, North Dakota. It was dying, and Gary Greff decided that someone had to do something about it.
Gary Greff and Geese In Flight (2003).
Inspired, he later said, by the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, and its misremembered catchphrase “Build it, and they will come,” Gary began building giant artworks to entice travelers off of the interstate and into town.
A metal sculptor and retired Regent schoolteacher, Gary’s plan was to create ten huge sculptures, paired with pullouts and picnic areas, every few miles along Regency-Gladstone Road — which he christened The Enchanted Highway. All of the sculptures would face north, toward the oncoming traffic from Interstate 94.
I took these photos from inside the RV, looking out a windshield that was covered with bugs. I had to photoshop the bugs out of the photos. 🙂 I think it is pretty impressive when someone can create art of any type but to make sculptures as big as these is pretty cool.
Spring Birds, I am seeing a lot of Orioles this year, I believe this one below is a female oriole. Not sure which one, there are a few different species of them.
The Pileated Woodpecker is one of the biggest, most striking forest birds on the continent. It’s nearly the size of a crow, black with bold white stripes down the neck and a flaming-red crest.
Look (and listen) for Pileated Woodpeckers whacking at dead trees and fallen logs in search of their main prey, carpenter ants, leaving unique rectangular holes in the wood. The nest holes these birds make offer crucial shelter to many species including swifts, owls, ducks, bats, and pine martens.
Dark Sky’s of Texas, there are a lot of areas in North America that are still considered dark sky areas. Meaning no light noise from cities, where you can see the stars clearly at night. Texas has quite a few of these places all along the southern edge.
I have to say, we have been meeting some amazing folks on this journey this year. The most memorable place so far is Marathon Texas. Our first place we camped at where astrophotographer’s come together with the most beautiful telescopic equipment I have ever seen. This is my first time ever hearing of this type of equipment and seeing how it works is very exciting to say the least.
This photo below is one of the telescopes I am talking about, we met a young man at this campground and started talking about dark sky’s and photography and he asked us if we have ever seen astrophotography equipment. No, we said. He said come with me and I will show you what it does.
This is his telescopic equipment. He was kind enough to explain the entire thing, how this scope is connected to his laptop and he programs what he wants it to do and the scope will follow what ever nebula he is trying to photograph for hours at night. They have cement pads on the ground for these scopes so there isn’t any motion blur when filming.
He asked what kind of camera I had, I told him a Nikon. He said bring it over tonight and he will put my camera on the telescope and take some photos. This is the first shot he took with my camera connected.
This is, the Orion Nebula, it is the nearest star-forming region to Earth, located approximately 1,350 light-years away. Just amazing to see something like this photographed right in front of us.
Now, I don’t have the right editing software to edit a clear shot of this nebula. Like the photo below, this is the Orion Nebula as well that I copied from the internet taken with more precise equipment. There are people from all over the country that set their scopes up here and have them in locked building who can control them from their homes in other states.
Some of these professional photos like below, need a least a 3 hour timed exposure or more.
Below are two gentlemen that have a place right here in Marathon Texas and the equipment they use, in a building with a retractable roof that they can operate from home. Here is the link for more on this; Space for Everybody
Below; the Cigar Galaxy from my camera
Cigar Galaxy
Bode Galaxy, my camera. 12 million light years away
Bode galaxy from a bigger telescope.
Oh how small we really are in this beautiful place.
The Yaak River in Montana, we are eastward bound, leaving the great state of Montana. We will be traveling on Interstate 90 and today we are under a winter storm watch here in Montana. They have been getting a lot of rain and snow this year.
The interstate runs all along the Yellowstone river and if you have not heard, the Yellowstone river is flooding. They actually had to close Yellowstone National Park because the river has washed out the roads in the park. So I hope the road we are traveling on won’t be washed out either.
Spring is in the Air, the sun shine really brings out the colors to some of our song birds. Where in the shade they may look like plain old black birds. But when the Sun shines, the vibrant colors do as well.
I think this one is checking out his toe nails, might be wanting a little pedicure. 🙂
Colorful World With Ducks, nothing more colorful then ducks in the spring. I am not sure what is up with these ducks that look like they are wearing top hats. But the vibrant green colors are always so beautiful in the spring.
Here is a fun little video of these ducks swimming at this natural spring pond. Called; Synchronized Diving
150 Birds Photographed, what a fun year for me photographing birds. So many I have never even heard of as well. That is what I like most about birding, like this bird below, the Avocet, I get home and have to get my bird book out right away to see what the name is.
Video of a Beautiful Peacock below or click on this link here; The Peacock, I came across this bird at a mercantile store strutting his stuff. Beautiful birds.
We were camping by a lake and I was just sitting there enjoying the view and this bird below popped up out of the water. It is called Clarks Grebe. Such unusual names for some of these birds.
Plus, I have spotted my first magpie. This bird is hard to photograph, they are fast and don’t sit around to long and always seem to be very far away. They are actually a lot bigger than I thought they would be.
The King Bird, these are great little fly catching birds. You normally find them perched low on something and then they swoop down and catch a bug. I think the soft yellow on this bird is so pretty.
Pecos River New Mexico & Texas The Pecos River, one of the major tributaries of the Rio Grande, runs through New Mexico and Texas before it empties into the Rio Grande near Del Rio Texas. The river flows out of the Pecos Wilderness, through rugged granite canyons and waterfalls, and passes small, high-mountain meadows along its 926-mile journey
The Pecos has figured in many tall tales over the years. Fans of frontier lore have heard the phrase “West of the Pecos,” is the region where the Wild West is said to have begun.
These two photos below are not mine, I found them on the internet to show how high the water used to be here on the Pecos river. This area was very popular with boating a few years back, big boats used to travel down this river.
But today, you might only be able to get a canoe down parts of the river, I will show you what it looks like and who occupies the canyon floor now in the animal kingdom world tomorrow.
Leaving Seminole Canyon Texas, this area of Texas is our first look at the vastness of the south west. A terrain that is so different than anything I have ever seen.
Here is a video of the Pecos river and all the goats; Sometimes my videos go on after I make the post but I will add the link the next day. Wild Goats on the Pecos River
It is a place that has changed over the years, where people used to live and provide for themselves and others. When water was flowing high in the Pecos River.
As we were standing at the bottom of the canyon, I looked up and squinted as I tried to see what these 4 rock type things are. So I zoomed in on them with my camera and it appears to be cement braces trying to hold up the two giant rocks on the side of this cliff.
My main thought is, how did they get those up there. Hmmmm, 🙂
Goats Lots of Goats, we discovered this canyon on a drive we took one day. We parked the jeep at the top of the canyon and as we walked closer to the edge to see the view, we could hear faint noises coming up from the canyon floor. At first, I did not recognize what the noise was.
Then we looked over the edge and here we saw dozens of goats all along the canyon. Not just on the bottom, they were all over the sides of the canyon as well. In yesterday’s post, I showed you a photo of this canyon half full of water. Now the goats run all over this area, I am not sure what they are eating, there sure wasn’t much for vegetation.
We drove down to the bottom of the canyon over on the right side of this photo below. The goats were all over on the left side of the river. So, some of my photos were a little blurry. The goats were very far away from my 400 mm lens.
They did look healthy and pregnant for some of them. So, they learned to adapt to this environment and find food. It was fun to hear all the baby goats singing away, as their voices echoed in the canyon.
2022 A Year to Remember for us, We started this journey back in September of 2021 and what a trip it has been. Even during these trying times for everyone, we are so thankful to have traveled around the states to see what beauty awaits all of us when we step away from the noise of the world around us. Creation has a way of keeping things in balance, it is alive and thrives no matter what.
We have made it to Washington and will be heading east again soon. We have travelled over 8000 miles in 11 months. Seeing things beyond my wildest dreams, a place that is a true gift to our eyes when we slow down and really see what is around us.
This journey was also a trip to try and avoid snow for the first time in my life. It was so nice not having to shovel snow this past winter. We were able to stay in some mild temperatures most of the way, a few 90 degree F days, but overall not to bad. This map shows the route we took, it wasn’t a planned route, we just knew to go west and then north.
We did want to see the Red Wood forest, but California seems to have to much going on, like higher gas prices then what was in our budget. But, we did come across some amazing pine trees in the mountains of Nevada that towered over anything I have ever seen. So that was good for me.
Washington this time of year is just gorgeous, I have never seen so much green, the Norway spruce trees are amazing. The smell of flowers is everywhere and so many new birds I have seen here as well. I will definitely come back to this state for sure.
Overall, what might be my favorite place? Well, Nevada was at the top of my list until I saw Oregon and Washington. I grew up in the north country and I have a love for forest over desert. But, Montana is next and I am thinking I will love that as well.
Folks have asked us many times on this trip if we miss our home.
Over my 60 years of living on this planet, I have discovered that home is not just a place for me. Home is a place in my heart where I know I am going. But, life is to be lived no matter where you are, this beauty around us was made for us to enjoy and marvel at the craftmanship of our creator.
Our time here is very short and when you see the vastness of this earth and the heavens above, it makes me not want to miss a moment of this precious thing called life. To love, laugh and smile and help others do the same.
Thank you for coming along on this journey with us. We still have more to come. I love sharing what I see through the lens of my camera and taking photographs of this beautiful place, creating a moment in time that can not be duplicated. A photograph becomes history the moment you snap the picture.
What lies ahead is just as exciting, faith, love and trust in our Father, that is what I believe in. 🙂
Seminole Canyon Big Bend Country About ten miles northwest of Comstock is Seminole Canyon State Park. Sitting on more than 2,000 acres, the historic site displays jagged canyons cut through the Chihuahuan Desert, where the Pecos River flows into the Rio Grande.
We were here back at the end of February; we had made reservations to Big Bend National Park for the first of March. So, we camped here for a week as we continued our journey into Texas
The extreme dry climate has set in here in southern Texas, very low humidity and 90 degrees F for this part of our trip. This is the dry heat people are always talking about in the south, as long as there is a breeze, I did not mind it.
This is our first-time camping with no electrical hookups. We had to rely on a portable solar panel that we have to keep the batteries charged. We overestimated how much power we use after a couple of days. We woke up one morning and the refrigerator light was blinking, the batteries were dead.
So, we made sure everything was un plugged the next night, like the DVD player, that blinks a red light all night long, We learned to stop using battery power by midafternoon so that the batteries had enough juice in them to keep the food cold at night. It was a learning curve, but we figured it out right away.
There is a lot of history in this rugged part of the world, where people who lived here back in the day, lived in the carved-out caves along the canyon walls. There is a big difference in our house on wheels and the home below in the canyon wall.
But, amazing how we figure out how to use what is provided to us in nature/creation. The sun is a very powerful tool that provides energy, warmth and the ability for everything to grow.
Below is a photo of the Pecos River, we had not even heard of this river until we went out for a drive and came across this beautiful canyon just a few miles west of Seminole canyon.
Driving up U.S. Highway 90 from Del Rio, who would imagine the sight of the Pecos River and the Pecos High Bridge appearing suddenly in view? Soaring 322 feet above the water, the High Bridge is the tallest railroad bridge in Texas.
It flows into the Rio Grande River, to view the Rio Grande from Seminole canyon park, it is a short 7-mile hike or bike ride across the rocky terrain to the north canyon rim. These photos are being shared because husband rode his bike down there to take a photo for you and for me. 🙂
I like to ride my bike-on-bike paths, payment sort of terrain. He loves to go off roading with his. 7 miles was a bit to far for me, I did go about 2 miles on the path, it was so bumpy and lots of rocks. So, I went back.
The Rio Grande water is very low, like a lot of places all along Texas. I will be showing more of these photos of the river as we make our way west.
Have Jeep Must Travel, this old jeep has taken us down a lot of dirt roads this year. What a fun way to see the roads less travelled. It sure needs a good wash and wax though. 🙂
End May With a New Bird Count, 142 birds photographed. Remember, there are over 900 birds species in North America. So I have a long ways to go.
This first new bird to my eyes is the Western Tanager. What a bright colored bird, orange and yellows. We were camped at a small campground and I went for a walk and saw all these bright colored birds. I went over to the fence where they were all flying about to see what was attracting them all to this area and come to find out the owner had taken the honey comb trays out of his bee hives and these birds were loving that.
Next is the Bullocks Oriole, it was getting in on the action of the honey as well.
New Bird From the Bahamas, this is the Eurasian Collared Dove, with very bright red eyes. This chunky relative of the Mourning Dove gets its name from the black half-collar at the nape of the neck. A few Eurasian Collared-Doves were introduced to the Bahamas in the 1970s. They made their way to Florida by the 1980s and then rapidly colonized most of North America.
One of the things I like to use if available when I am out looking to photograph birds, is to use a bird blind. Some of the campgrounds have them built in the wooded areas, plus you can make one your self at home if you want to. Here is a link to LLano State Park in Texas, that actually had 4 bird blinds to use when you visit this park.
Another New Bird, the Yellow Warbler. I finally have a warbler photograph. This one did not want to look at me, so I only got a couple of photos as it was very fast and did not stick around long. They really liked this tree with the yellow seed type things growing on it.
These yellow flowers on this tree smell so good. I could smell the floral scent before I got to the grove of trees out walking in the desert. It is like nothing I have ever seen or smelled before. It was beautiful and these warblers loved these trees as well.
Hot Air Balloons Means Spring is here and no wind finally. It is a nice calm morning as I step outside of our camper to enjoy the early morning fresh air and I could hear a strange sound off in the distance. I walked to the front of our camper and here flying across the sky are the most colorful hot air balloons, coming right at us and one floating right over us.
They landed just on the other side of our camper. As the company that gives the rides pulled up next to the balloons to deflate them and give the customers a ride back to the starting point.
The photo below is a composite where I added all the balloons onto one photo to see all the bright colors together.
The World of Finches, Finches are a colorful addition to any back yard and to our bird list if we have one. Which I am up to 137 now. There is one bird on this post that I don’t know what it is, mostly black with a bit of yellow under the bill.
Plus a video link to my You Tube channel showing a Green Heron hunting fish, I think I forgot to add this one a few days ago, Link Here; Green Heron
Lesser Goldfinch
Gold Finch
I don’t know what this one is. If anyone has a guess let me know and I will add it to my list.
Blue Eyed White Pelican, well I am back in my element of birding today. I have jumped ahead a bit to share these photos. We are in Idaho right now and camping next to a lake. It is so nice to be by water after all the dry months of traveling in the south. But I still have plenty of photos to share from down there as well.
We set up camp at this lake near Boise Idaho and right away I noticed white pelicans off in the distance. So I got the camera out and pulled up a chair and here they came flying right over top of me. What a wonderful sight after all these months on the road.
There is just something magical about watching these large birds glide in the air.
I noticed this ones eye is such a pretty blue. Maybe they are all that color. I will have to find out this week.
Below a group of them were flying by and I have never taken a photo of them flying with their bills open like the second one from the front. You suppose they like to fly like that catching the wind like a dog does when they put their heads out the car window? 😊
Just Doing Some Birding Today, these birds give me goose bumps when they fly this close. We are camped near an air force base. My favorite kind of camping as the air force is doing practice runs everyday.
Best seats in town, I just pull up my chair grab the camera and watch them do their maneuvers. Amazing technology.
Are you wondering how I got this first shot, being it looks like I am in a plane right next to them. 🙂
They were flying pretty close and banking right around us on my right side, so with a telephoto lens and cropping the photo a bit, it looks like we are right there with them. 🙂 Have a great weekend.
The Color Red Attracts Birds, I am not sure if it is the color or is there an aroma that attracts birds to flowers. Like the hummingbirds, if we have anything red out in the yard they will go and check it out. Even if my husband has his red hat on, they will buzz around him.
But today it is another new bird to show you. The Gila Woodpecker, it says they eat bugs and I saw them perched on these cactus every morning and evening.
This one below is the female, this ups my bird count to 138.
This photo below is the male, it is not a great photo, he was pretty far away, but it showed the nice red patch of feathers on top of his head.
What a Smart Bird the Raven, I was watching these ravens at one of the campgrounds we were at for about a week. They kept an eye on all the campsites. As soon as a camper left there spot, the ravens would come in and inspect the area, looking for scraps.
This one actually checked out the charcoal grill and seemed to be telling the others that there is nothing left here. Then he jumped down to the ground to make sure he did not miss anything.
Armadillos (meaning “little armored ones” in Spanish),
Armadillos are prolific diggers. They dig many burrows, as well as dig for food. The animal will not survive in areas where the soil is too hard to dig. Many other wildlife species use and benefit from abandoned armadillo burrows.
Cows in the Desert, the desert is an amazing place I have found out. I see cattle here and there grazing the dried up desert landscapes. Wondering how do they get any nutrition from all this dry grass. We have not seen rain in months down south as we are traveling, yet there are a few flowers here and there and some plants stay green also.
We were driving some back roads and came across this small heard of cattle. This black one here was standing so perfectly still even as I walked up to the fence to take its photo. He posed very well with the mountains in the background. You can see the video of these beautiful cows Here; Long Horn Cattle
Spring is the time for calving no matter where you live.
Nevada Northern Railway, one of my favorite things next to photographing nature and birds, is photographing trains. Especially steam locomotives. This is my first one I have taken a photo of and the beautiful depot that they have maintained for folks to visit here in Ely NV.
Even their railroad crossing signs are unique.
Have a Great Weekend
Thank you David for asking about photographing something architectural, I just happen to have taken these photos a couple of weeks ago. 🙂
From the Mountains of No Names comes faith as small as a mustard seed, where nothing is impossible.
I have lived in the mid west my entire life and never ventured west until this year. I have always wanted to see the mountains and it is truly a sight to behold. To be able to climb to the highest peak that I can climb to and then look out over this vast landscape for miles and miles.
Not only is it breathtaking but it makes me see how small we really are, like standing next to the ocean. Areas that are bigger than my imagination and more beautiful then I could ever dream of. Creation is truly a gift.
The mountains started in southern Texas, below we climbed to the top of Franklyn Mountains in El Paso Texas.
This photo below is Seminole Canyon in Texas, taken with the drone looking at the Rio Grande river which is very low water levels. We have noticed the lack of water all through out the south.
Below is the wide open spaces of Arizona, BLM land, that is our camper in the photo. BLM land is free to camp on. You just find an empty spot and stay there up to 14 days. The dust was blowing here all the time.
Utah is amazing, the red rocks and canyons are amazing to see. This photo below is Zion National Park, it was taken with the drone outside of the park. Looking west. It is quite something how on top of the mountains it looks flat almost everywhere.
This mountains range below and valley is quite the place. Its location speaks of much history on how folks lived back in the day. It is called Spring Valley in eastern Nevada, it is full of natural springs all along the valley. The water is flowing even now as we visited this place.
The green valley floods with the monsoon rains in the spring and summer and many many years ago, people lived along the valley and all this water would freeze in the winter. Cutting ice out of the frozen water was a way to make a living here. I will have more information on these places as I get to them individually.
Another mountain in Nevada below, we drove to the top of this one which was nearly 10,000 ft elevation. It is quite the road to get to the top. There is snow up there and you definitely want 4 wheel drive going up this back country road. But what a view from the top.
We continue our travels north, thank you so much for following along. I appreciate all your wonderful comments you leave on these post and enjoy being able to talk to each and everyone of you when I can. The internet is not always the best in some of these places we have been to. But thank you very much, I appreciate it. Have a wonderful day.
Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird, I have seen my first hummingbirds today. I always enjoy watching these beautiful little birds. We are in Nevada right now and it is cold here, last night it got down to 28 degrees F. But as soon as the sun comes out these little birds are flying all over the place.
We are heading farther north tomorrow, we have been watching the weather and staying put for a few days here trying to avoid the snow that is falling in Oregon. I still have plenty of photos to go through from Texas, NM and AR. I will be sharing those as we go along.
We are finally seeing some green grass, but the winds are still extreme here in eastern Nevada. Not as much dust blowing and that is a nice change. We are headed towards a rainier climate and that might help wash the outside of the RV and Jeep. They really need it.
Below are some of my favorite Hummingbird shots from last summer. 🙂
Starting to See Cactus Now, I always love seeing cactus when in the south. So many different kinds, but we are traveling through this area in February and March, so a lot of the cactus do not look so good this time of year, as it is colder temperatures even in Texas.
We did find this bridge on the map and drove over to see it, I find the construction of older bridges fascinating as well. This is actually a historic bridge named Buchanan Dam Bridge, built in 1937. It was a perfect location at the time below the dam on the Colorado River.
It is a pedestrian bridge now. You can walk across it and when you do there is a constant humming sound, like music almost. From the wind or the traffic going across the newer bridge up river.
Inks Lake State Park Texas, after our stay at the last park I found this state park that was only an hours drive away. We really like not driving more than a couple of hours between parks when possible and we are only staying at this park for 2 nights.
The Colorado river runs through this area and it is the largest river within the state of Texas. It travels 862 miles, almost 600 billion gallons of water flow in a typical year.
Back in the day the river was as much a danger as a blessing for the residents around this area. So they decided to build a dam, a series of six dams to try and control the Colorado river and Inks Lake Dam was the second one built in the series.
In 1940 the state acquired about 1200 acres to make this park here. It has colorful rocks all around the lake, lots of hiking and really good fishing they say.
I love to learn the history of all these places we are visiting. It isn’t about just camping, I find this trip we are on is a walk down the real history of this country. How did all of these places come about? We have been finding a lot of these parks have great museums near by as well and we try to stop at all of them.
So much better than reading it in a book, to get out there and see how everything has changed over the years is quite remarkable to me.
What I Have Learned, This trip we are on has shown me a world I knew existed but was afraid to walk into. Traveling away from the physical world that I grew up in, has made me realize that my safety net is not where I am but knowing I am in His world where ever I am.
Next Stop Granger Texas, our next stop in eastern Texas is at Willis Creek Campground, a Corp of Engineer Lake. If you love camping in national parks and Corp of Engineer parks, I highly recommend getting the America the Beautiful pass, it cost $80 dollars for the year and gets you 50% off your campground fee.
So this campground cost us 11 dollars a night with water and electricity included. This pass has saved us a lot of money on this trip.
We entered the park and there are deer every where. I am not sure if this one works here and wants us to pay her or she is just adding to the scenic view of the park.
Mr and Mrs Stilt, more new birds to my list. I believe the first photo is a female stilt because the second photo is the male and he was sure guarding this first bird as if it is his mate.
Black-necked Stilts are among the most stately of the shorebirds, with long rose-pink legs, a long thin black bill, and elegant black-and-white plumage that make them unmistakable at a glance. They move deliberately when foraging, walking slowly through wetlands in search of tiny aquatic prey. When disturbed, stilts are vociferous, to put it mildly, and their high, yapping calls carry for some distance.
Of course Texas is a great place to see the the Greater Roadrunner. They actually have some color along the side of their face and wings and tail feather. Which I did not know and yes they do run very fast. Video of the Greater Roadrunner below or click HERE; The Greater Roadrunner
Davy Crockett National Park, this park in Texas has the most beautiful pine trees called Loblolly Trees. They grow up to 100 ft. tall. Amazing to stand there and look up and watch them sway in the wind.
I just posted a video of this beautiful park on my You Tube channel, Click Here to Visit; Davy Crockett National Forest. It is a longer video so I will leave it over on You Tube instead of posting it here.
May Brings a Variety of Photos, starting the month off with a variety of photos from a Cardinal sitting in the spot light.
To a White Winged dove photo in a frame I created in photoshop. I love trying to create new looks to my photos via technology.
This photo below is a shot from the Drone camera, how high did it really go to get this shot? Using the Asteroid effect, the camera goes straight up above the controller 131 feet . The little spot at the end of the road off to the left of center is us standing by some mountains in Texas.
I took this photo last night of the Milky Way at our campground, there was some light pollution in the area but it still turned out ok.
From the Land of Texas, I am back to posting our journey from the state of Texas during February and March. Lots of new birds yet to come and landscapes of places I have never been to before.
Texas is a very big state and our first stop is Davy Crockett National Forest in Eastern Texas. It is nice to see pine trees again after the long stay along the gulf coast. During our stay here in February the day time temperatures are not to bad, but it did get down below freezing a few times at night.
This map below shows the journey we took across the state of Texas. From Al to Western Texas we traveled 3210 miles. We were in Texas for 2 months during February and March. Our initial plan was to slowly drop down to Big Bend National park, Texas is a long state, so each red dot is a park we stayed at along the way.
I have to say Texas has some beautiful parks and if you get the America the Beautiful National park pass, it gives you 50% off all national parks and Core of Engineer parks. So this park we are at today only cost 10 dollars a night and that includes electricity and water.
The Sky’s the Limit, normally it does not work to take photos with a clear blue sky background. Most photographers like to have some clouds or something in the background. But, depending on the subject, I kind of like the blue background. It can really highlight the subject like a bird.
The first two photos are similar in color with two different birds, grayish birds on a gray post. Photographed in two different areas. I thought it was interesting how they look similar. The first bird is a Curved billed thrasher and the second one is a Mocking Bird.
Plus photographing birds in flight against a blue sky can bring out the detail in the feathers in flight at the right angle.
Animal Kingdom, faces we all can love. From the cute little baby goat, to the beautiful Long Horn Texas Steer. Big and small, they each have a place in this world. Video below or click Link Here; Baby Goat
Javelina, Javelina also known as collared peccary, are medium-sized animals that look similar to a wild boar. They have mainly short coarse salt and pepper colored hair, short legs, and a pig-like nose.
The Cedar Wax Wing Bird A treat to find in your binocular view field, the Cedar Waxwing is a silky, shiny collection of brown, gray, and lemon-yellow, accented with a subdued crest, rakish black mask, and brilliant-red wax droplets on the wing feathers.
We were sitting at a bird blind watching birds come and go, and all of a sudden this small group of Wax Wings flew in to get a drink of water. They are so colorful and yes waxy looking.
In fall these birds gather by the hundreds to eat berries, filling the air with their high, thin, whistles. In summer you’re as likely to find them flitting about over rivers in pursuit of flying insects, where they show off dazzling aeronautics for a forest bird.
It is hard to believe it is the end of April all ready. See you next month and have a wonderful weekend.
2 or 3 New Birds to the List, 133 birds photographed.
This first bird here is part of the Jay family, this one is a Scrub Jay that we saw in Texas. There are 8 species of Jay’s and the blue is pretty on all of them.
This one below, we saw in the mountain area and I think it is a Mexican Jay. But, hard to say for sure, but we know it is a jay because of the size and the blue colors. It was pretty high up in the tree, so could not get a good look at it.
I believe this bird below is called the Hooded Oriole. Such a bright color and like all orioles they like to eat oranges.
Had to Evacuate Tunnel Fire AZ, I am jumping ahead on my blog post to what happened last week. Let me tell you, my nerves were on high alert as we were camping in the Coconino Mountains when all of a sudden smoke is gaining ground just south of us.
Let me start at the beginning. We have been on the road for 8 months now and I have a lot of photos still to go through from back in February. But I am jumping ahead to just last week on April 19th, we decided to head to some BLM land, (Bureau of Land Management), which is free camping just north of Flagstaff AZ, we were camping south of Flagstaff the week before.
Arizona and Texas are very dry, we have not seen rain for almost 3 months on this journey. The dust is so bad everywhere in the south when the wind blows and we decided to head north to get away from it. Even though the weather warned of high winds on this particular day. But the BLM land was only 1 1/2 hour drive north, so we figured we could get there before the winds picked up to bad.
This photo below is our drive right before the Coconino Mountains, we will be stopping just on the other side. As we pass the mountains on the left, we noticed some smoke near the mountain. I thought that can’t be good to have any kind of smoke on such a windy day.
We found a campsite not to far from the main road, one other camper was on that road as well. A beautiful spot with tall Pondarosa pine trees and lots of dry grass. There is a lot of burnt trees there already I noticed, as if a fire had gone through there not to long ago.
We set up camp and I made some lunch, as we were eating a strange looking bird landed on our jeep, it was really interested in the red brake lights on top and the red can on top of the jeep.
I have no idea what kind of bird this is, if any one does let me know.
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Then my husband looked out the door and said, ” Is that dust or smoke?”. I went outside and I said this is smoke. Our phone’s started to alert of danger, I quick got into the jeep and drove down to the other campers to see what they might know of the situation. They said the fire from way over there by the west mountains had spread and it just jumped the road to where we are and they were leaving.
So I quickly went back to the RV and said we need to go now. We got to the main road and the police were already helping people to leave on the west side of the road and were blocking traffic from going south.
The map below shows a red dot, that is where we are camping and the pink and green area is the fire spreading across that area.
The winds are now gusting over 50 miles an hour, which is not safe to drive a high profile vehicle in. So I found a spot about 30 min north of the fire to stop and wait out the wind before going any farther. This is where I took the photos from shown below.
They ended up blocking traffic right where we were parked at and we ended up staying there all night. Exhausted and stressed to say the least, 2 other campers stayed the night there as well.
I looked out the window a lot that night, checking to see that the fire did not start to spread north towards us. By morning the smoke was still heavy across the landscape and the fire as of today has burned over 20,000 acres. I have not heard the source of this fire yet.
This could be a bad year for fires, we all need to take care and be mindful of our environment around us. One gentleman we talked to that lives around here said, ” This place used to be paradise when he was growing up here and now it is a rat race”.
Water Gives Life, as winter disappears and the spring rains start to come back to quench the thirst of this earth. Those standing alone who thirst for this water of life will come back to life in full beauty, that which is given to everything under the Sun as is designed.
Video of Black Swans in a Pond Below or click Here, Swans
And the earth she became chaos and vacancy and darkness over the surfaces of the abyss.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Waters is an idiomatic expression for our spiritual nature
Water Gives Life, Nature/Creation speaks to us everyday.
He gives us life in the Garden of Trees
The One who moves over the face of waters In the Garden of Trees
Will never destroy us.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of the Father, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
New Bird to the List, this is a new bird I have never seen in this first photo. It was at this park in Louisiana high in the trees. It stayed pretty far away from us so I could only see a silhouette of this bird except for this one photo.
It is called a Black Crowned Night Heron
Black-crowned Night-Herons are stocky birds compared to many of their long-limbed heron relatives. They’re most active at night or at dusk, when you may see their ghostly forms flapping out from daytime roosts to forage in wetlands.
Another beautiful heron is the Green Heron shown below. There are about 60 different species of herons.
You can always spot some Egret in wetlands. We were to early to see their mating plumage but still pretty birds.
Specular Highlight The specular highlight appears on shiny objects. It normally appears on a mirror-like surface. Its appearance is often found on the top of a rounded surface. The incident light hits the object and creates the specular highlight and the light is reflected off the object toward the viewers eye.
Also called catch lights in photography, Without catch lights, “light in the eye” viewers perceive the eye (and thus the bird) to be lifeless.
It takes patience and sunlight, but I like to try and photograph a bird with that touch of catch light on the eye. I think it brightens the eye, even though this Black Swan has such bright eyes even without the spec of light.
Louisiana Wet Lands, we stopped at a beautiful little park in southern Louisiana back in January. This campground only had 8 campsites and no one was there when we arrived. So we had the whole park to ourselves for a couple of days.
I always look for Wildlife Refuge locations everywhere we go, because they are usually wet lands and home for a lot of wildlife depending on the time of year. So, we found this one here shown above. We drove clear out to the east side of the park and not one bird we found anywhere.
The green icon is the park we were at and the Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge in dark green below it.
I thought that maybe we were a little early to see birds migrating through in January. The photo below is the farmland around the campground. It is close to Lake Charles Louisiana.
A couple days later some folks came to camp that were from the area and we got to talking about birding and the wet lands. Come to find out, we were on the wrong side of the wet lands. The gentlemen told us where to go to get to the hot spot and we went there the next day.
Below is part of the wet lands to this refuge and we were not disappointed on what we found. So many birds and new birds I had never heard of.
Talking to folks that live in the area is the best way to get to know some wonderful people and to learn all about their state. This area was hit pretty hard by 2 hurricanes over the last couple of years and when we drove into Lake Charles you could still see all the damage.
Folks were still fighting with their insurance company’s on getting their roofs rebuilt. There was a lot of blue tarps on 80% of the homes waiting to get the shingles or metal roofs put on. Plus they just have a shortage of workers to get it done as well. But the folks were in good spirits and so helpful to us as we were asking questions and enjoying their parks.
As we are chasing 70 degree weather this year, the temperatures stayed in the 50’s f. for the most part and 30’s at night. We did have a few campfires as the park also provided the wood at each campsite.
This is the park where I photographed my first sighting of the Ibis and this bird below is called the white faced Ibis, even though it does not have a white face. It is very colorful with the sunlight shinning on it.
Spring Colors, another camper had this colorful flower basket hanging from a tree at their campsite, so I had to take a photo. A wonderful sign that spring is close.
Desert Animals, I thought this little guy in the first photos was a chipmunk, but it is actually a squirrel called the Antelope Squirrel. One of the smaller ones in the species. Found in the desert regions.
Despite the hot desert weather, you will often see these squirrels dashing about in the middle of the day. They will stay out in the heat collecting food until their body reaches its maximum temperature and then they will rest in the shade until that temperature has lowered. Their tail is often held over their head like an umbrella helping to shade their bodies.
You will see a lot of these in southern Texas, the Javelina’s. These were wondering around the campground in the early mornings or evening right by the tents people were sleeping in.
Rock squirrels, below, are one of the largest members of the Scuridae family, growing to nearly a foot in length, not including their long, bushy tails which are nearly as long as their bodies.
Some of the Texas ranches have a variety of exotic deer. Like the two below. You will see them quite often as you drive through the state.
Whistle as You Fly, yes these ducks are called Whistling Ducks, I have never heard of them and this first picture, that is what they actually look like when they are all trying to land at the same time. They look like they are going to crash.
This place where I photographed these ducks and the huge flock of snow geese is located in southern Louisiana at a Wildlife Refuge called, Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge. We were here in January and I was shocked as to how many birds we were able to see and photograph this time of year. I uploaded a video yesterday showing the wet lands of this area and some of the backroads we traveled on to find this place. Video Link Here; Louisiana Wet Lands.
I will have one more video this week showing the thousands of Snow Geese we saw in this area and then we are moving on to Texas.
The Black-bellied Whistling-Duck is a boisterous duck with a brilliant pink bill and an unusual, long-legged silhouette. In places like Texas and Louisiana, watch for noisy flocks of these gaudy ducks dropping into fields to forage on seeds, or loafing on golf course ponds. Listen for them, too—these ducks really do have a whistle for their call.
Is it a Mule Deer , Well I am not sure now. I thought this first photo was a mule deer because it is so much smaller then the white tailed deer up north and the ears are so huge. Video below or click this Link Here, Mule Deer
As I was researching the difference between the Mule deer and the white tailed deer. It said the ears are placed farther apart on the Mule deer. The two photos below shows the difference in the ears placement.
The left photo is the new deer I photographed and the right photo is a White Tailed deer from up north. I am not sure, but the photo on the right was taken clear up by Lake Superior and the photo on the left was taken near the Mexican border in the south. Almost worlds apart for them.
The Turkey Vulture, If you’ve gone looking for raptors on a clear day, your heart has probably leaped at the sight of a large, soaring bird in the distance– perhaps an eagle or osprey.
But if it’s soaring with its wings raised in a V and making wobbly circles, it’s likely a Turkey Vulture. These birds ride thermals in the sky and use their keen sense of smell to find fresh carcasses. They are a consummate scavenger, cleaning up the countryside one bite of their sharply hooked bill at a time, and never mussing a feather on their bald heads.
Vultures lack feathers on their heads so that they can more easily keep themselves clean when eating.
Who’s Feathers Are These, they are the back of a Peacock Bird, these are the most colorful birds and I have not seen one in awhile. But I sure love looking at them.
When I was very young on my parents farm we had a few of these beautiful birds. When his tail feathers fell out we collected them and put them in a large vase. I wish I still had those feathers, I don’t know what ever happened to them.
Some Unique Animals Along the Route, well I love all animals not just birds and we stumbled apon a Mercantile store in the desert that provided everything you need for animals, like feed and farming equipment. But they also had an assortment of beautiful animals that folks can see up close.
They are all well taken care off also. Plenty of fresh green hay and water here in the desert.
The next two photos below I will let you guess what it is and who it belongs to. I will show those photos tomorrow.
This of course is a white Camel, very friendly and look very healthy.
Lots of goats, they are always fun to see along with baby goats.
In the Garden of Trees is where you will find the spring bees. Nature is waking up after its long winters nap, a time to see bees working their magic as they pollinate the earth going from tree to tree. Video Link to see pollen falling from all these bees, Link Here; In the Garden of Trees
We were camping under a tree and one morning I woke up and went outside and could hear a loud humming noise but could not see anything. Until I looked very closely at the tree hanging over me, it was filled with bees. Video below of pollen falling from the bees in trees or click on this link here; In the Garden of Tree
I got my camera out and to my eyes surprise, through the morning light, a glow appeared around the bees and pollen was falling ever so lightly all around me.
The White Ibis When we left the state of Mississippi, I found a small campground in southern Louisiana that was our next stop. On this trip we are doing this year, we try not to travel more than 3 hours on travel day. That way we don’t get so tired when we get to the next spot.
We have been meeting so many nice people this year, everyone is very friendly at the campgrounds, it is such a joy to visit with folks. Plus getting to know some of the campers that live in the areas we are visiting has been so helpful with finding the hot spots for birding and they also share where the good restaurants are and sightseeing locations.
That is what happened here in Louisiana, I was looking on google maps around the area we are camping in and found a National Wildlife Refuge, I am always looking for these. So off we went traveling on a road I found that goes to this park. Well, there was not one bird there and this is back in January, so I thought maybe we were to early to see birds in migration here.
Two days later we got to visiting with some other folks that just pulled into the campground and they were from the area. So, we told them about our lack of birds found at their wildlife refuge. They proceeded to tell us that we were at the wrong side of it. He gave us directions to a road that was very hard to see on the map and we headed out there the next day.
What a surprise for us, this is where I got to see the Ibis for the first time and lots of them. Not only this strange looking bird, but as we entered the Wildlife Refuge, my heart skipped a beat I think, there are so many birds here, many that I have never heard of and the best part is the flock of snow geese we came upon out in a field. I will be showing those photos soon.
As we continue this journey around America, I am so thankful for the people that we are meeting. The kindness from others is a wonderful thing to experience and it gives hope that this world is still a beautiful place.
So much has happened over the last couple of years for everyone. But for me the one constant in my life and in my heart is the faith that I have in our Father and His children.
Sometimes we need to just turn off the news, Go Outside and Breathe, you were not meant to carry the burdens of the whole world.
The Northern Shoveler, I put one photo of this bird on a few weeks ago and I got to see them again last week at a small swampy kind of lake where they love to hang out. Now it says the males have an iridescent green color on their necks this time of year. But this one here looked purple to blueish color in the sun.
Either way it is very colorful this time of year.
One of these photos below is a digital painting and the other is a regular photo. It is really hard to tell the difference unless you zoom in, but the one on the left is digital oil painting. Gives it softer lines, I like using that feature on certain photos when I can.
The Desert Cardinal, Dapper in looks and cheerful in song, the Pyrrhuloxia is a tough-as-nails songbird of baking hot deserts in the American Southwest and northern Mexico.
I finally got a photo of this Desert Cardinal, it was a hard one to find, but it stopped by the bird feeders here at this park. Its beak is thick like a parrots.
They’re closely related to Northern Cardinals, but they are a crisp gray and red, with a longer, elegant crest and a stubby, parrotlike yellow bill. During breeding season Pyrrhuloxias are fiercely and vocally territorial, but in the winter they forget their disputes and join together in large foraging flocks.
Desert Surprises, it has been very dry in the desert this past month, I was beginning to think we were to early to see any flowers on this trip. But, we walked down to the Rio Grande river one morning right at sunrise and this lone yellow flower was blooming right in the middle of rocks and dry dirt.
A lovely surprise for sure.
Along with this one growing at the base of more rocks.
Even the cactus has just a touch of color with their red pointy needles.
Now this plant below, I believe is in the Agave family, you definitely would not want to trip and fall on one of these. Those things do not bend at all. They are as hard as a rock.
The Vermillion Flycatcher, I had heard about this bird when we were in Louisiana. A fellow birder told me about this brilliant red bird, but he said we were to early to see it. When I got back to the RV, I had to look it up and thought how colorful this little bird is.
Well, when we got to southern Texas to Big Bend National park, to my surprise, they were all over the place. Anywhere there was water you could see one of these beautiful birds perched on the small branches over water. They swoop down and catch a bug and go back to their branch.
Purple and Blue, the light makes all the difference. I have photographed this White winged dove a few times now and this is the first time I noticed the purple color of the feathers around its neck. I made it down to the bird blind just as the sun was coming up.
Amazing what we can see if we sit still long enough to really see things. Having the patience to wait until the Light shows up makes all the difference.
My Grandparents Loved to Travel, they always stopped at the welcome signs that are posted on the side of the road as you enter a new state. I have a lot of photos they took on their vacations when they were very young. I see my self in them as we travel now across the country. (video below)
I picture them getting out at every sign we see to take a picture. We don’t do that because those roads are usually so busy, you would not want to pull over especially with an RV.
Taking our trusty jeep is always a fun way to see the back roads of this country. Nice thing about the older jeeps, husband can fix anything on it and it goes just about everywhere. Dirt roads are our preferred travel in the jeep.
This video is a look at Scenic Hwy 170 in Texas, at Warp Speed. I quick ride along a mountainous road with lots of curves and hills. It follows along the Rio Grande and is a beautiful drive if you ever get down that way.
Spring Is Coming Soon, the left overs of last fall are still intact around the country side. But the seeds are holding strong after the long winter and soon will be drifting off into the spring winds and rain to replant and grow into new flowers and lush green grasses.
That is always a refreshing time of year, when I can smell the green grass after a rain. We have been traveling in the south all winter and everything is brown and very dry where we have been, just no snow is all. We did not go far enough south to enjoy winter flowers and green grass.
After the Rain , After rain there’s a rainbow, after a storm there’s calm, after the night there’s a morning, and after the end there’s a new beginning.
Artwork In Nature, this morning there is a bit of humidity outdoors and on my way back from my early morning walk, the sun started to makes its way through the trees and light up all the different cob webs hanging in the forest next to the path.
I did not even notice them until the sun touched them all and boy there is lot of them. One would not want to walk in the forest on a cloudy day. Good thing there are paths everywhere to walk on.
Nonetheless, they are very artistically made by the small creatures of the woods.
Now this little guy may look like a spider, but it is actually a crab on the beach.
Lots of New Things to See, as you may know we have been trying to chase 70 degree weather this winter. Our first time doing this and so far it has been working pretty well. It has been into the freezing temps at night here and there and our water pump froze once on the RV, but husband is really good at fixing anything. He had it back and running in no time.
My bird count has been going up really fast, my last entry into the log book was 124 birds. But I still have more birds to look up because I just don’t know what they are. I believe I will go get a bird identification book. We have been in many places with no internet, so the book would be handy.
Below is a preview video of where we have been. I do have a You Tube channel, because I like to document all that we see with video as well as photos and share them both with all of you. What we see is just temporary, it becomes history the minute I snap a photo.
Eastern Towhee
Road Runner
Scorpion
Hawk, but I don’t know what kind yet. If any one knows let me know and I will add it to my list.
The world is changing fast, but nature is alive and well, we must not trade it for the things of man. Humans tend to destroy but nature will rebuild when it is left alone, nature teaches us how to survive in our creators world.
The Last Hour before sunset is referred to the Golden Hour. The golden hour is known for producing beautiful natural light that is easy to work with. “It’s hard to overexpose or underexpose parts of an image, because the light is very even and has a beautiful golden hue,”
Birds Used the Most as State Birds The Cardinal is #1 as the bird used the most for state birds. It is the state bird for 7 states.
In second place is the Meadowlark; which is used by 6 states as the state birds. But I do not have a photo of this one yet. I am looking for it as we travel west.
And #3 on the list is the Mockingbird; which I just found the other day and was able to get a photo. This bird is used by 5 states.
Still Off the Beaten Path, hello all. We just made it to the top of a mountain here and I checked my phone and there is internet service, so I made a quick post to let you know we are still off grid where we are camping.
1000’s of acres of land where hardly no one lives still exist. We will be leaving here this coming weekend and I look forward to catching up with you all. Have a great rest of your week.
Rocky Shoreline and Rainbow, I was photographing the sunrise on this day facing east and when I turned around to look at what was behind me I found a different kind of light. It was an off white hue and I actually did not even see the rainbow until I looked at the photo later.
I love that about photography, the little surprises you see in your own photos.
Dramatic Sunrise Colors, The best sunrises and sunsets seem to be associated with middle to high clouds rather than lower level clouds.
The more clouds the better chance of seeing some vibrant colors of orange and yellow at sunrise like these photos below.
Have a Great Weekend
I may not have internet yet, I scheduled this post a couple of weeks ago just in case. If I have not responded to any comments that is why. I will be moving from this area on the 12th and will have internet again by then. 🙂 thank you
New Tree to Photograph, this is a new tree for me to photograph. They are Cyprus trees and are very easy to identify because of how they start growing and the base of the trunk.
It can reach 130 feet tall, developing prominent roots or “knees” above the ground. The bald cypress is usually found in swampy areas and along riverbanks. These locations provide the trees with the plentiful water they need to thrive and with the wet conditions necessary for reproduction.
All the little stumps you see are what they call knees.
In the wild, cypress trees play a very important role in soaking up floodwaters and preventing soil erosion. Environmentalist love them for their ability to trap pollutants. Frogs, toads, and salamanders prefer cypress swamps for breeding grounds. Wood ducks nest in hollow trunks and catfish spawn in submerged hollow logs, while bees, wood ducks, barrel owls and raptors nest in the treetops.
Bald cypresses are slow-growing trees that can live to be 600 years old.
Royal Tern Is Holding its Ground, Mr. Pelican is coming in with the intention of taking the pole the Royal Tern is on. But Tern is not budging and appears to be yelling at the big boy coming in for a landing to get his own pole. But, , ,
Mr. Pelican takes what ever pole he wants, as you can tell in the photo the lighter colored pole is where the Tern was standing and now the Pelican has it. He did take the pole and Tern had to move up to the next one. there is a stern look from the Tern towards the Pelican.
Then they both relax and quit staring at each other and just enjoy the sunshine together.
The Road Less Travelled, Taking the road less travelled can lead you back to creation, back to where the Light shines on forever.
A few weeks ago I mentioned we are camping at a place where there might not be any internet. If you are reading this post we are at that spot. I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago. If I don’t answer any comments that is why and I will be back with you all in 12 days. I truly appreciate all the comments and love hearing from you. Thank you
Star Gazing in Dark Sky Areas, we have stopped in a little town that actually has some internet. So I am able to make a post of what I have been doing the last few nights. Most of you may know I like to be up early in the morning and I have mentioned I hardly ever see a sunset. (video below)
But, when you are in dark sky country, I have to make sure I have the energy to go outside at night so as not to miss seeing the beauty of the night skies.
This photo is the milky way over our camper. I love trying to photograph the milky way, my camera settings for these types of shots are. 15 sec ss, 17 mm lens, f 2.8, and Iso 6400. I find that Iso 6400 is a good start to bring out the most detail, it picks up more stars on this setting.
Next, I love to photograph stars and create star trails as in the photos below. The more photos you take the more trails you create when you stack your photos on top of each other.
This photo below has 38 photos stacked on top each other, which is not quite enough to make a complete circle. Each shot is with a 15 sec shutter speed.
This photo below has 109 photos stacked on top each other to create more of a circle.
This photo below is the milky way, but if you look to the right of the photo, you will see Elon Musk satellites passing by as well. The 9 lights in a row are satellites.
We are only in this little town for the weekend and we are heading back into darker sky country with no cell phone or internet for the next 11 days. So I will see you on the other side when we travel back out. Have a wonderful week.
Well, I did collect a few shells this time on the beaches and cleaned them and put them in a nice glass jar so I could see them any time. I had to look up information on how shells are even formed. Fascinating information, they are created by something called mollusks.
As mollusks live their daily lives in the sea, they take in salts and chemicals from the water around them.As they process these materials, they secrete calcium carbonate, which hardens on the outside of their bodies and begins to form a hard outer shell.
The drone happened to catch these big boys swimming around not far from the beach. Another amazing creature of the sea. These are called Cownose Sting Rays
This is what they look like from underneath, I just got this image off of the internet. They look like they are smiling.
Of course I have to put in a photo of my favorite bird down here, just because they are everywhere and so unique looking in their own rights.
We have moved on from Alabama, but I still have some photos from that area that I will be sharing. We are headed west and here are a couple of photo of what will be coming up after I get done posting Alabama photos.
We came across a huge flock of Ibis birds. This is a new one to my list. I am now up to 110 birds photographed.
This duck is a Northern Shoveler, he was pretty far away so I did not get a clean photo of it. But very colorful.
Thank you again for all of you who view my photos and leave comments. I really appreciate it. If I don’t reply in the next 2 weeks, please accept my apologies. There are obviously area’s in the states with no internet here, even in the twentieth century.
LCS 26 Mobile Alabama, The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a fast, agile, mission-focused platform designed to operate in near-shore environments, winning against 21st-century coastal threats. The LCS is capable of supporting forward presence, maritime security, sea control, and deterrence.
We drove down to the bay area in Mobile and found a spot right across from where they were building these massive ships for the Navy. Again continuing with my theme of engineering marvels this week.
They were actually building two of these ships when we were there.
This ship in the photo below was being built also, but I have no idea what it is. Can’t even imagine how they build something with so much technology. I have enough issues with my computer sometimes.
Living With Oil and Gas Platforms along the Gulf Coast. If you have ever been to Dauphin Island south of Alabama, you will see quite a few of these rigs out in the gulf. We went out on a ferry ride to cross the gulf and we went by one of these so I took a few photos.
So I had to look up some information on these, to learn more about them. Following are some quotes from an interview with Mr. Conklin who is an engineer and knows about these wells. I will put the link to the complete interview that was given in 2008 here.
Mr. CONKLIN: Well, what we operate with one portion of our company is what’s called a shore base. All those platforms that anybody sees offshore, everything they get that the people need out there, from spare motors, replacement valves to their groceries and their drinking water, comes to them by a vessel, a boat, and that boat has to go to some central location to pick everything up. Those are called shore bases,
Mr. CONKLIN: You’ve got two main kinds of what we call fixed platforms. You’ve got manned and unmanned. Your unmanneds typically could just be as small as a stem, just one pipe sticking out of the ground with nothing on it, and it can be serviced by a vessel that comes up to it as a ladder so a guy can get to the top and that would be about as small as they can get.
But your typical platform will have anywhere from three to six caisson legs driven into the ground, and it will be a large, steel superstructure supported on top, and it will look, to a lot of people, a lot like a drilling rig.
Mr. CONKLIN: The largest platform in our area is owned and operated by Exxon Mobil and they can have upwards of 45 people out at there at a time with a typical number probably in the thirties. The smallest has two.
CONAN: So what advice would you have for people in California or Florida or in North Carolina if they were given the power to make their decision by the Congress and decide whether to start offshore drilling?
Mr. MCGRATH: If they’re asking me, I would tell them, you do not want those contraptions off your shoreline. For matters of safety, for matters of health, aesthetics, of course, they are ugly. I mean, there are people on the island who’ve grown up with them and some of my neighbors say they’ve gotten used to them and they find kind of a comfort in them, but I’m thinking – and of course, I’ve only lived on the island for three years,
It is quite the controversy on whether to have these or not. On tomorrow post I will be showing you some Container ships that passed by these rigs and by us when we were on the ferry boat. Along with a video of both. I thought the Container ship I saw on the Gulf was huge, but after doing some research it isn’t even close to the largest container ship built.
The Night Sky, Hello all, I went outside last night and took this photo where we are camping now. This is the Milky Way over our camper in the middle of no where.
The internet service is poor to say the least. I don’t know how internet connection works, but for a few seconds every hour the internet pops on and I was able to send this post.
For the Love of Birding, one never knows exactly what one will see when out enjoying nature. When it comes to birding, the range of different compositions is unlimited.
Like this egret who is holding its own on a windy day, as the wind keeps ruffling its feathers. Looks like it has black stockings and yellow boots.
Pelicans in a row, but what I like most is the bokeh lights in the background. Bokeh is one of the most popular subjects in photography. The reason why it is so popular, is because Bokeh makes photographs visually appealing, forcing us to focus our attention on a particular area of the image. The word comes from Japanese language, which literally translates as “blur”.
On a humid day here in this photo, natural fog is surrounding this Cormorant bird giving it a natural vignette look to the photo.
I just love the brown pelicans, the photos always speak for themselves with these birds.
Portrait of the Reddish Egret, such a beautiful bird I think. When I photograph birds I take a lot of photos at one time when I can. I put my camera on burst and hold the shutter button when the bird looks like it is in the right light and position. On average 1 or 2 photos out of 20 will be sharp, but the photos that excite me the most is when I come across one like below that looks like it is posing for the camera.
This is what I find most enjoyable about wildlife photography.
When I find just the right photo I will often turn it into a digital oil painting as well. My artistic side 🙂
Alligator and Turtles, here at this small lake on Dauphin Island. There are lots of turtles who seem to not mind this alligator swimming right next to them. The folks that live here mention that there is just one alligator in this lake. I don’t know a lot about them, but maybe they are territorial so he wants the lake all to himself.
I placed a video below of this beautiful animal. We were standing on a dock above him and took these photos with a video on the one day he came out of hiding from the tall grass. It has been pretty cold here lately so he doesn’t come out unless it is warm outside.
Off the Grid for a Month, Hello all, todays post is an update on where we are at the moment. We are traveling west and will be camping in an area with very limited or no internet until mid March.
We will be camping at places that are like boon docking they call it. No water hookups or electricity at the camp sites. We will be breaking out the solar panels for sure. I scheduled post until mid March and hope you enjoy my photos. They are the last of my photos from the gulf coast.
I will interact with comments if internet allows and I just want to say thank you for all your compliments and comments that you write to me on this blog. I really appreciate it.
Todays photos are a little bit of what will be coming up after we get back on the grid.
My Day Begins at Sunrise for me, actually before sunrise. I am always up before the sunrises in anticipation for what is coming as the sun begins to warm the earth.
I watch the horizon, as if I am watching a movie in slow motion. The gorgeous colors of light dancing across the heavens. When you actually stop to see it, I mean really see it. You see its worth, its purpose and its power as the Light of the World.
Today we are traveling farther west, I scheduled this weeks post ahead of time because the campground we are going to said it does not have any internet available. So if you leave a comment and I don’t reply right away, that will be why. But I will get back to you when the internet is available again.
We have another spot coming up at the end of the month, that might not have internet either. Remember the days before internet, when we had to read the newspapers for news and I remember I would have to get the encyclopedia out to look up bird names and such. I do appreciate the convenience of the World Wide Web. 🙂
Bayou La Batre Boats originally known by the French name “Riviere d’Erbane,” the town was the first non-Indian settlement in what would become Mobile County, which at the time was in Spanish territory. It arose in 1786 on a 1,259-acre land grant from the Spanish government to French settler Joseph Bousage. oats
You can see the video for this post by clicking here; Bayou La Batre
After the French took control of the area and installed a series of cannons (known as a battery) at the site, the settlement became known as “Riviere la Batterie” and finally as Bayou La Batre.
The town became part of the Mississippi Territory of the United States in 1811 and by the 1830s boasted its own hotel. It became a popular vacation spot after the Civil War for its location on the water. In 1906, a hurricane devastated the town and destroyed its tourist industry.
By the mid-1920s, the town began an economic comeback centered on the seafood industry, which remains a mainstay of the local economy today, as is shipbuilding.
Shrimp Boats If you have heard of Bayou La Batre, it may be because it was featured in the movie Forrest Gump when the lead character had the only shrimp trawler in this Alabama coastal town after a storm and he made huge amounts of money. It lies along the Mississippi Sound on the Gulf of Mexico in south Alabama.
We went there very early one morning and were surprised at all the colorful shrimp boats docked along the shore line. Beautiful reflections of each one.
Starting in the 1970s through the early part of the 1990s, Bayou La Batre was the shrimp-trawler-building capital of the world, often turning out more than a trawler a day from a dozen shipyards. During the latter part of the 1990s and the early part of this decade, the business of building trawlers almost stopped in its tracks because of several economic reasons including overbuilding, cost of fuel, scarcity of boat financing and plummeting shrimp prices.
Some of the local builders turned to building offshore workboats with great success, while others divided up what fishing boat business was left. For example, Master Boat Builders built scores of fishing vessels until 2002 but only four since that time. Since 2002, over 50 OSVs have come out of that same yard and almost no other vessel type has.
During the transformation away from shrimp trawlers, many types of commercial vessels emerged from the boatyards of Bayou La Batre including ships used in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. It was a combination of the skills of the boatbuilders of Steiner Shipyard and of the Walt Disney Company’s magicians that made realistic-looking period warships from small self-contained utility vessels.
State Birds, I mentioned a few days ago that we are doing some traveling this winter, trying to avoid winter. But it caught up to us, some snow and lots of ice that many people are experiencing here in the states.
But, during this ice storm as we are hunkered down in our RV, I had a wonderful surprise this morning as I open the shade on my window and saw these beautiful cardinals sitting in a tree. I have not seen a cardinal in months and let me tell you, they are wearing their brightest feathers this month.
Below I picked a couple of my favorite cardinal photos from last summer. I also decided to try and take a picture of every state bird as we travel. Some I have already taken in other areas, but I will list them as we go.
The Cardinal is a state bird to; Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Virginia and West Virginia.
Winter Color in the South, it has been getting colder even down here in the south. But on a sunny day you can still spot a butterfly or two with some yellow flowers strewn about.
Another King will leave traveling North back into the Mountains of no name to be with His Father. He leaves with Duty, Purpose, Honor and Courage. For you see he wears many faces, a Soldier a father a King. And then, in the still of the night, when the Light is low in the heavens. Look up son, for I will call your name and you will return to Me. To stand with those who went before you. To rest in Me for eternity.
Peace be with you Mark, I will forever remember the day I found your post with the simple words that caught my eyes. The Rural Iowegian. 💕 There is no fear in the walls of faith.
I started reading Marks post (the Rural Iowegian), back in 2019. He struggled with cancer for 509 days and recently went home to be with our Father. May he rest in peace for evermore.
Being in the sun generally makes people feel good, and there are many scientific reasons for this effect. I can attest to this theory. I worked in a factory most of my life, inside of 4 walls and no windows. But when I wasn’t at work I was outside, which works well with me being a photographer.
Take for example the two photos below, when I look at the first photo I see an ok picture, nothing to get excited over, for me.
But look at the difference when the clouds started to clear up and the warm sun light started to bring the world around me to life. This is what excites me when I am out wandering in nature. It immediately gives me a warm feeling and lightens my mood.
Some of the effects of being in the sun is exposure to UVB rays, which causes human skin to produce beta-endorphins, which are hormones that reduce pain. Their other benefits include:
promoting a sensation of well-being and improving mood
boosting the immune system
relieving pain
promoting relaxation
helping wounds heal
helping people feel more alert
reducing depression
Makes One wonder if we were not designed that way.
Darkness is always the antithesis of light Freedom Comes From the Light that is placed in our heart
I am born again in the word, nobody taught me except the voice of the Creator within me.
Let your dreams dance on the windowpanes of your Heart in the never-ending Light
Looking Down at Us – Tranquility does exist. Off the beaten path, taking the road less traveled and returning to creation. That is us down there on the left side of the photo. Husband takes care of the photos from above as I photograph from below.
A way to show any one that happens to see these photos that the beauty of creation still exist.
I am the One who gave you hands to use your talents to create life around you.
Stretching Feels So Good even for birds. I took this series of photos as I was watching these Brown Pelicans perched on post in the water. This one started to do a stretch and ended up looking like he was going to dive right into the water. But it was just a stretch.
What Will You do in 2022, the world is an amazing place. What is your passion, mine is exploring the great outdoors. My grandfather inspired me to want to be outside all the time. He was an outdoors man. Back in the day when he had to hunt and fish to feed our family. I just always wanted to be with him no matter what he was doing.
So I am still like that today, indoors is just no fun. Fresh air and sunshine is very good medicine to take every day. I mentioned that we are skipping winter this year and this is what we are traveling in. A 28′ RV and we pull our jeep behind it so we can go exploring when we are parked somewhere. You can see my little dog in the window if you look close. Her favorite place to be when the sun comes shinning in.
We love trying to take the roads less traveled and there are plenty of them out there. Below is just one of the campgrounds we have stayed at. I look for the smaller ones when we can, they are cheaper and less crowded at times.
For me this is all created for us to enjoy and take care of. One does not always have to travel to see it, there is also beauty in our own backyards.
I made thee; go forth, a season to·to-give-birth-of
After the Rain here in the south the flowers come back to life even on the beaches. I want to say thank you to all of you that stop by to view my photos and read some of my words. I am not the best at writing but I have often said I like to let my photos speak for me. In a way that lets your imagination flow, a way for you to see a part of creation that is not always visible to all of us.
You may have noticed I have been posting photos from the southern states along the Gulf Coast for a few weeks now. Well, actually it has been since September. On September 30th 2021, I turned 60 years old and wanted to spend that day on the gulf coast which we did.
But, what I have not mentioned until now is that my husband and I have thought about this trip for some time now. We have been traveling for 5 months now and plan on skipping winter all together. I have always believed that life, for me, has never been on my timeline but on the creator’s timeline.
So this is the year that we are chasing 70 degree weather and so far it has been working out, is has been staying in the 70’s or less. The best part is not shoveling snow for the first time in my entire life.
Some may wonder how can one travel in times like this. It has always been my contention that the gaining of Knowledge cannot be decoupled from life experience which gives us a foundation of Wisdom. Simply put Common sense or the lack thereof of Common Sense determines one’s course or path in life.
Cognitive reasoning becomes distorted when we are given a daily dose of half truths to swallow in hopes of some redeeming value. Far to often in the realms of societal constraints imposed upon us, the daily rules and regulations, thousands of rules that regulate our everyday walk. We spend our waking hours in minute details of life.
The face of man kind is changing rapidly due to these effects. Society in large part has lost its bearings its common sense.
Opinions turn one into a thief to steal from others to maintain a feel good attitude. A sense of superiority lording over others in a competitive spirit.
We can all have an opinion and facts have no basis in Reality because they don’t progress. Truth lies in the opinion of the speaker and what he thinks.
Progressions turn into distortions. We have lost respect for the construct of Creation and instead it becomes easier to explain life in what ever feels good at the time. Life becomes motionless at a standstill, you will decay, losing your bearings, your Nature in Creation.
If we leave our nature, the natural beauty that we are, we forget who we are and become someone else.
I see people creating life everyday around me. With their words and photos. Some will see the light some won’t that is just a fact of life. When your desire to live overrides what man told you on how to live. Your purpose in life might just be right in front of you. These are the thoughts that came to me by Creating my Vision.
No Luck for That Osprey, he did not get his fish, he came up out of the water empty handed. I did not get a shot because my camera was buffering. But next thing I saw was another osprey coming from my right side and it did have a fish in its talons.
Now this might be a sad photo for the fish. But it is nature doing what it is designed to do. Fish is the main diet to the Osprey and its talons are created exactly for what it needs to do to survive.
Included below is a video of a variety of birds I have photographed here on the Gulf Coast, including the Rare Reddish Egret and my camera settings that I use to go with some of the photos.
As the bird reaches for a fish, its outer front toe swivels to the rear, giving it two grasping talons front and back. Its long, slender, arched wings help the Osprey get clear of the water too, as it takes flight with the fish’s head facing the front—the most aerodynamically efficient position.
Sharp Hooked Claws A bird’s talons are the sharp, hooked claws at the end of the toes. Birds have one talon on every toe, and they may differ in overall shape, curvature, and thickness depending on how the bird will use its talons and how worn individual talons may be.
I was walking along a pier and this beautiful Osprey was perched on a pole. It wasn’t to spooked as I got closer and closer so I was able to get a wonderful photo of this beautiful bird.
On tomorrow’s post I will show you this bird going into a head dive to catch a fish. It actually went full body into the water. I thought they just swooped down like an Eagle to get their fish.
Birds Can Make You Smile, they sure do lighten my day and that is why I love birding. Not only is it a challenge at times but some photos you just can’t help but smile when you see their expressions.
The pelicans of course, if you can catch them while they are doing a stretch, makes it look like they are smiling.
Take this photo of the Reddish Egret, it looks so regal and beautiful the way it holds its head up and the feathers blowing in the wind.
But you take a photo with it looking right at the camera does make one smile. Taking a photo of a bird looking at the camera is usually a no no just like photographing a person looking right at the camera. You always want the person to have a bit of a profile look, as they turn their head slightly and chin up is usually the best way for people and birds.
I don’t know what this bird is below, but looking right at the camera makes it look like it has a lot of feathers on top of the head.
New Bird at the Beach, when we got to the end of the Pelican beach, I first noticed all the orange bills again. I knew I had stumbled across more Royal Terns. I had not seen any of them in days and here at the end of this long walk they are hanging out with gulls and pelicans.
But to my surprise after I got home and looked at the photos on the computer there is a new bird in the group. I did not see them when I was out there with them taking photos. I was quite far away from them, hence the blurry photos. But the birds with the black wings are Skimmers. A very unique looking bird with an orange and black bill.
The strange, uneven bill of the skimmer has a purpose: the bird flies low, with the long lower mandible plowing the water, snapping the bill shut when it contacts a fish. Strictly coastal in most areas of North America, Black Skimmers are often seen resting on sandbars and beaches.
It is hard to tell in my photo the bill so I will add a photo off of the internet so you can see it closer.
Unlike most birds, their eyes have vertical pupils, narrowed to slits to cut the glare of water and white sand. Flocks in flight may turn in unison, with synchronized beats of their long wings. The world’s three species of skimmers are sometimes placed in their own separate family, although they are clearly related to the terns.
Mountain or a Beach, a little fun with forced perspective photography. Sometimes you have to get down low to the ground and take your photos. It can give a new perspective on what you are looking at and lets the imagination think of a world that is beyond what is right in front of us.
When I see this photo it looks like a mountain range along a lake.
So this is what I imagine. I added a small person silhouette to give it my perspective. But picture him smaller and it will look like a mountain.
All it takes is One spoken word or written to change Ones world into a different perspective then what they have become used to. Or One spoken word or written to destroy Ones world.
This is what it looks like from above.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Its a Bird Its a Plane, its lots of birds with wings down. I have put two videos on my you tube channel showing these little birds roaming around the beaches. Along with my camera settings I typically use while photographing birds. The videos are a little longer than usual so I will just put the links here; 5 Tips for Sharper Wildlife Images and Shutter Speed Settings – New Bird – Sting Rays
Wings up
I can’t remember if I told you all, but I made a list of all the birds in North America, I think it is 900 plus. I made a spread sheet of the names and I check them off as I photograph them. So I have two new birds to add to the list. This one below is called the Greater White Faced Goose. They are found mostly west of the Mississippi.
And these two below are called Black Neck Stilts, I am wondering is it because of their long legs, stilts? But they don’t have black necks either. But that is what they look like when I tried to find what type of bird these are.
I am up to 104 different birds photographed as of today.
Oh and this one below, just two wings. It is kind of a bird in the air.
The Real World is Hard and often draining on the mind and body. Human beings have been drawing on cave walls since the dawn of time to inspire themselves.
Human brains are wired to appreciate and be inspired by art. The right brain, for example, is stimulated deeply by art. Artworks inspire creative and innovative thinking; the right brain takes what it sees and expands upon it.
Staring into a picture of a forest, the right brain envisions walking through the forest, looking to the corners just beyond the frame to see animals and new vistas.
That is what I do when I look at artwork and photos and it inspires me to create art with my own photos. Like the top photo, I took that photo early one morning. There wasn’t any reflection but the water was calm. So I made a reflection to show you what I was picturing as I stood there on the beach watching this shrimp boat sitting still on the water.
Sometimes nature creates its own art work, like the photo below. I think the curve of the sand along the edge of the island is so unique. I walked this spot quite a few times and it only looked like this once. It changed everyday I was there.
Piper Plovers, these are the cutest birds on the shores. They are so tiny but move very fast. There are about three dozen species of plovers, 15 to 30 centimetres (6 to 12 inches) long, with long wings, moderately long legs, short necks, and straight bills that are shorter than their heads.
If you look close you can see this Plover pulling a very small worm type thing out of the sand. You can imagine how small this bird is, there is probably no way we could see this little worm in the sand.
I read that birds tuck one foot up in their feathers to preserve their heat. They lose heat through their feet and on this morning it was pretty cold out. But they still stand in the water.
Reflections of Times Past We sometimes take Light for granted. It turns out that, with a bit of persuasion, Light would show us things we thought we would never see. A beautiful reflection of you or me.
INCOMING!!! Look Out 😉 As the one brown pelican checks its backside to get his tail feathers out of the way for the two diving behind him. Whew, close call.
Happy New Years Eve,
We went for a walk along the beach on a windy day and there were dozens of brown pelicans diving all in one area, but when I looked closer I noticed they appeared to be following some dolphins. As the dolphins moved around the pelicans were not to far behind. A short video below will show this amazing sight we saw.
I mentioned before about how the brown pelicans turn ever so slightly to the left to protect their esophagus. You will see this in the video below.
The Royal Terns Have Left the Court, well this is the closest I have been to these birds this week. I have driven by this marina many times since I took these photos and have not seen any birds there since. But I am always on the look out for the next exciting bird sighting. There are some new birds still to come as we venture along the gulf coast.
Merry Christmas Eve from our home to yours. A variety of colors from all our feathered friends. To brighten this day with cheer and love. Have a wonderful Christmas.
The King of the Royalty Court standing above all the others is of course the Brown Pelican. Mostly because of their size, they take what ever post they want and make the other birds leave. But they are such a beautiful bird as well I think. Dressed in all their brown plumage.
They are a facinating bird, especially when they are fishing. But I have noticed one thing here on the gulf coast, when the dolphins are around the pelicans follow them. Looking for the fish the dolphins round up I suspect.
There is More, I took plenty of photos of this beautiful bird in case I never see one again. There is one in the line that is different from the rest. Can you see it? 3rd bird down, he wants to be a Royal Gull I think. Standing with all the other Royals.
Its the Tern’s Turn This Week, The Royal Tern to be exact. We stopped at a marina because we saw a lot of birds flying around down at the end of a dock. So I got my camera out thinking they were all going to be Gulls and Brown Pelicans, but to my surprise there is a new bird at the end that I have never seen before.
The gorgeous birds with the orange bills of course, what a surprise. I love seeing new birds to add to my list. There are a lot of different kinds of Terns like most species, I looked at them all to determine which one this is and I believe it to be the Royals. They do sport a bit of a crown of feathers on their heads.
They seem so arrow dynamic on windy days as they lean into the wind perched on post.
Portrait of the Snowy Egret, we went out for a bike ride on this particular morning. The sun was still low in the sky and as we crossed a small bridge we came to a sudden stop. As we noticed this beautiful Egret perched on a branch just above the creek.
I slowly got my camera out, the sun was behind us creating a beautiful spot light, it turned to look towards me and I took the photo as you see. Sometimes when I am least expecting it, an average morning bike ride turns into a site that can take my breathaway.
A Southern Christmas at Bellingrath Gardens, a beautiful place to visit anytime of year. It is a historic home in Alabama where they have the most beautiful flower gardens all year long. In December they put up beautiful Christmas lights throughout their gardens in many different flower shapes and trees. Video below.
Merry Christmas and may we all have a wonderful season of love and giving. Have a Wonderful Weekend.
The Great Blue Heron to Music, We were walking back along this boardwalk and this Great Blue was perched on the railing. So I had to just stop and watch it for a bit as the wind blows his gorgeous feathers to the beat of the music in the video below.
What is Snowy and Great, that would be two different species of Egret Birds. The Snowy Egret has a black bill and a touch of yellow around the eyes. Much smaller than the great egret as well.
The Great Egret, as shown below, has always impressed me with their large wing spans. I love to try and photograph these beautiful birds when the are flying over water, to capture the tips of their wings just grazing the water is a fun challenge to do. One has to sit patiently for quite awhile to do this sometimes.
The Snowy Egret below enjoying the fresh catch of the day.
Birds Flying In Sync, I love watching birds in flight, especially in a group or a pair. Amazing how the timeing of their wing beats can be so in sync for just a moment in time as you watch them. To see them fly in formation is breathtaking to me as well.
There are two well-supported and complementary explanations for why birds fly in formation. One is to conserve energy by taking advantage of the upwash vortex fields created by the wings of the birds in front. The other is to facilitate orientation and communication among the birds.
Christmas in the Park; Bringing some holiday cheer. Christmas is a time of year where I find time to reflect on years past and present. It reminds me to think; “What’s Your Purpose in Life”,
An age-old question that each of us tries to answer throughout our lives. In the cycle of life that whirls around us like a wheel from the time the Sun rises to the time the Sunsets. We only have two absolutes to work with to answer that question;
Birth and Death an absolute that cannot be changed.
Male and Female an absolute that cannot be changed
These are two absolutes that exist within our spirits that made us who we are. If you try to alter the absolutes. All one is doing, is trying to create life, by changing the Laws of absolutes. We all create an alternative reality that shines brightly in our eyes, like the moon at night, to displace the darkness that engulfs us all.
To give our lives meaning. We run to and fro from one event to the next event in our lives picking up colorful jewels to hide our hurts. That overtime lose their luster. Then we look for other jewels to mask our hurts from prior events. So, others cannot see. We create a pseudo reality from the colorful jewels we clothe ourselves with.
This happens to so many people this time of year. Getting lost in the things of this world. Trying to become something they are not, trying to become what others say they should be like. I know, it happened to me years ago.
So, to answer the question, “What is my Purpose in Life?”.
I walked back one year to the Garden of Trees and sat in silence so that I may hear.
I am the One that created you, I gave you my life, my breath within you. I gave you words within you to raise yourselffrom the dead to become like one of us.
I do not deny the One who created me. Cut out the middle man, the serpent that blocks your eyes to the One that created you. That will only happen when your desire to live overrides what man told you on how to live.
Through the Tunnel & Over the Bridge to New Adventures We Go 😉
Someday is Here
You know how some of us say; ” Someday I am going to go on that big trip”, or Someday I will do __________.
Well, the word someday usually means never. I heard that in a movie that the actor Tom Cruise is in. He said that line.
Someday is here and our journey continues. I look forward to sharing photos of God’s Country along the way. I wish you all a wonderful weekend. Try to never put off what you can do today until someday. Life is a gift,
Life is a gift and death is a homecoming to me. Our body’s are on loan to us just for a short time to enjoy the wonderful things He gives us. I did not grow up in a Christian family at all. A neighbor told me a little bit about it when I was 10 years old and I have been searching for the truth ever since.
He never meant for it to be a mystery; it is the gift of life. Finding my purpose has been the journey, the end will just be the beginning.
Rare Find of the Reddish Egret, We happened across a new bird to add to my list last week, as we walked along the shoreline looking for a different bird at the time. I had no idea what this bird was, but believed it to be in the Heron family.
When I got back home I looked it up right away to find that it is a non breeding Reddish Egret. The species was adversely affected by plume hunting in the United States and extirpated from Florida in early 1900’s (Powell et al. 1989). It was recorded again in Florida in 1937 (Davis 1937, Desmond 1939) and since then has recolonized much of its former range
Dark morph adults are rich grayish blue bodies with vivid pinkish-cinnamon head and neck.
This bird stood patiently as we walked by, it did not seem to mind us at all. We pulled up our chairs that we were carrying and sat for a spell. I did capture some video as well and will show that at a later time.
In the stately and dignified world of herons, Reddish Egrets are the swashbuckling cousins. These big, cinnamon and steely gray birds put on a show as they forage in shallow saltwater.
Twist and Turns is the design of this tree, plus it is a great spot for the birds to perch on high above the forest floor. The trees in the south have so many different designs to them. Amazing how the branches seem to go in all different directions.
She was framed by His words to represent His Creation
Riding the Waves, I went for a walk this morning along the beach and I came across Darren the Heron looking like he is riding the waves on a branch bobbing up and down. He is trying to get a better view of the beach, looking for a fisher I suspect.
But there wasn’t any fisher’s on this particular morning, not a person in sight.
The Tri Colored Heron, this is a new bird for me to photograph. I posted one photo of it awhile ago, but I did not know what it was until a fellow blogger saw the photo and said it is named a Tri Colored Heron. Well, I was hoping to see this bird again and I did. I thought at first it was just a young heron because it is smaller but it is so much more colorful than the Blue Heron I normally see.
The fellow blogger is; Wildlife Intrigued, you can visit his blog by clicking his channel name. He has wonderful photos of birds as well and he is doing a count on how many he can see in a year. If you are interested there is a movie about this very subject; The Big Year, it is a true story about people who love to photograph birds and doing a big year, meaning seeing how many birds they can see in one year. A movie trailer below.
The big year record of 840 species was set by John Weigel of Australia in 2019
The world big year record of 6,852 species was set in 2016 by Arjan Dwarshuis of the Netherlands.
I started counting the birds I have seen and photographed this week, I made a spread sheet and started looking them up. So far I have come up with 83 species of birds and still counting that I have photographed.
A Wonderful Day to Give Thanks, flowers tend to dress up any thing we put them on. Whether it is our tables for special holidays like today, or like this old brick walkway, that has beautiful iron railings and worn bricks leading into a rose garden in this particular park. Video Below showing the flowers as we walk through this park.
They added cascading mum plants to this entry way, which changes the look to a more colorful vibrant entrance on it now. What I can not share with you here is the wonderful aroma coming from these flowers. I never realized mum plants smelled this good, but when you get enough of them together it is amazing.
Happy thanksgiving for many folks today, I hope everyone can enjoy a peacful day with family and friends or just spend some time out in nature. That is where I like to be the most.
Thank you to all of you who happen to come across my blog post here, I appreciate the time you take to view these photos and leave comments. I enjoy reading your words and am thankful for all the kind thoughts that you share every day. I enjoy sharing what I see through the lens of my camera with you and hope it brightens your day.
October November Flowers to Remember, Mums the word this November. I posted this first picture a couple of weeks ago and we went back to the same park yesterday and they had changed the flowers on the bridge to cascading mums. A beautiful sight to remember with colorful autumn mums.
All these colors have a way of brightning up ones day here in November.
Ship and a Boat, what is the difference? Well, I have always been facinated with ships, I don’t get to see them to often unless I am near the ocean of course. I have always thought about how they made the first boat and as time went by they now make ships like this one below.
We were driving by a ship yard and saw this huge ship being built for the Navy. I don’t know what it is, but there were actually 3 of them being built so I had to snap a photo of this one.
Of course as you walk by any marina down south, the boats are quite pretty. Or I guess you would call these yachts. These by the way are all for sale sitting here and they did not have prices posted on them. I can probably guess they are not cheap.
Then a huge container ship was headed our way so we sat on the edge of the dock and watched in amazement, just to see the sheer size of this thing up close is something to me. I have seen them way out in the waters before. But never this close.
Don’t Forget to Look Up, well I went for a walk to my favorite little lake here and they have a dock over the water and some benches to sit on. I walked up to the benches and sat down one early morning. I was enjoying the view in front of me and then I looked up and to my surprise, right above me stood this beautiful Egret bird, as quiet as it could be.
I slowly raised my camera up to photograph this bird high above me. Then it flew off, what a fun surprise this was. Sometimes I focus to much on what is right in front of me and I miss the beauty that surrounds me from above looking down at me.
Life on the Beach yes another photo with people in it. But, actually I was watching the Blue Heron bird standing on the beach by the water. The people just happened to be in the background. (video below)
I do post photos here a little ahead of the videos I make for You Tube, the videos take a little bit longer. But if you would like to see the videos that go along with most of my post you can check them out here at this link and there is a subscribe button as well to be notified when I post videos. Adventures Outdoors Photography by Sandra J You Tube
I try to put them on You Tube every Tuesday when I can, it is a way to make my photos come to life. Thank you all for visiting this blog and commenting, I do appreciate it and enjoy conversing with you and meeting new people through this thing called blogging.
New Birds to the Collection, well this first photo is a new bird to my eyes. It is called a green heron. It was at dusk when I took this photo, so it does not show the beautiful color this bird really is. It is a short stocky bird to say the least.
The Green Heron is one of the world’s few tool-using bird species. It often creates fishing lures with bread crusts, insects, and feathers, dropping them on the surface of the water to entice small fish.
This one is a Blue Heron, but I am thinking it might be a younger one. It is a lot smaller than the ones I usually see and its feathers were much bluer than the adults.
Of course one can not be on a beach without seeing the sandpiper birds. They are so commical to watch, they walk so fast, well they always look like they are running. They are not vey shy, they come right up to you most of the time to check out what you are doing on their beach.
Precious Are We, these two lovely ducks were walking along in the park. One looks a little ruffled, maybe it is the younger of the two. I added some flowers to the photo because they just looked like they should be enjoying flowers on this beautiful Autumn day. But there was another duck not far behind them. A grumpy looking duck to say the least.
Now it could just be the dark feathers around his eye, but he looks like he is having a bad day, giving my the ole stink eye like some of the deer did last year when I photographed them. 🙂
He is unique, but I have to say his feathers are just as beautiful as the two from above.
His back feathers look like a warm throw blanket, with a beautiful design all his own.
Craftmanship in the Park, I happened across this beautiful gazebo in a park the other day. Nature is magnificant, but the craftmanship of a builder can be quite beautiful as well.
A simple bridge over a small pond and add some flower boxes on the side can really spruce it up.
Two by Two, I took this photo of these two pelicans flying in unison and I was thinking, I wonder how many other photos I have of just two birds and I was surprised to find the photos placed below. None of these photos are photoshopped. They are exactly how I saw them. Two by Two
Two by Two – the Two Tablets were spoken by Him, to restore creation, to to become one as they should be for eternity.
The Two Tablets are the inside chambers of your Heart, “Love your Father” outside the chamber, “Love your Neighbor”.
Morning Noon and Night, there is always something going on at the beaches. From people just walking on the beach to fishing with very tall fishing poles. (video below)
To pelicans sunning themselves during the heat of the day. You can find them easy enough during the day stitting on a post in the water, cleaning their feathers.
But come sunset, the beaches empty out, the lights are low. That is when we enjoy a walk on the beach the most. Just remember to bring a flashlight if you lose track of time.
So the evening and the morning were the second day and the dry land could appear.
Trees of the South, I love photographing trees, in the south the moss is what captures my eyes. Elegantly flowing from the tree branches above. Natures way of celebrating the outdoors by decorating the trees with natural tinsel.
Eye Catching Colors, Green and Red. Wonderful colors of Christmas as well. I see roses in bloom down here in the south still and the palm leaves are such a vibrant green. Especially when the sun is shinning through them. It amazes me to see flowers in bloom here in November.
I am so used to seeing snow this time of year, so to see all this color right now is heart warming to say the least. He promises He will water the seeds we plant and bring them to life.
Hot Sand Hot Sand, or just doing a little dance. It is a very windy day and the sand is blowing giving these photos a nice whitish background. The birds don’t seem to mind the sand blowing, but the salt spray tends to leave a sticky residue on your glasses, cameras and skin.
The Osprey in Flight, these photos were taken next to the ocean as we walked along the beach. This gorgrous osprey was doing a little fishing. They dive into the water just like the brown pelicans to catch their fish. I did not see them hit the water, but I am thinking they catch their fish with their claws instead. The last photo shows their amazing claws.
She Blends Right In, there is a small lake in the campground we are at which is the home to this one alligator. When the sun is shinning in the late evenings, it blends right in to its surroundings as the cover photo. This is our first sighting of an alligator.
They are such a strange looking animal, I was wondering what they eat, especially in this small isolated pond. There are lots of turtles swimming all around it. So I am guessing if it is hungry enough that would make a meal.
There is a board walk over looking the pond, that is where I am standing looking down on it. I will put photos on tomorrow of the pond itself. The reflections are mezmerizing in the late afternoons.
New Places Means New Wildlife, one of the fun things about traveling is seeing new things that we don’t get to see on a regular basis. Like this emerald green dragon fly. He was hanging onto the side of the RV today at a new park, so had to snap a couple of photos.
We finally got to see our first alligator as well. She is a beauty and at this small lake there are a few baby alligators popping their heads out of the water now and then. But they disapear fast, so you can only see their little noses in the water and then they are gone.
I mentioned the Osprey a few days ago. Well, we have been seeing it a few times this week and learning where it likes to hang out to eat its lunch. Here it has a fish in its claws enjoying lunch high up in a tree. I now know the call it makes as well so it is easyier to spot it.
For the Love of Pelicans, who’s bills hold more then their bellies can. 😉
The two pelicans species I have photographed here in the mid west. The Great White Pelicans and the Brown Pelicans. Yesterday I talked about the difference in their size.
They do look similar with their actions and how they hold their heads. But,
The White Pelican has the largest wing span reaching 108 inches across. Their wings are beautiful and uniform which makes them glidge effortlessly above. They swim on the water and catch their fish by scooping them up in their bills.
The brown pelican is made for speed and diving. Their wings spans are shorter, their feathers on the wings are ragged and torn.
Because, they dive sometimes from as high as 60 feet. Air sacs beneath the skin on their breasts act like cushions. Also, while diving, a pelican rotates its body ever so slightly to the left. This rotation helps avoid injury to the esophagus and trachea, which are located on the right side of the bird’s neck.
This is how a Brown Pelican catches food, diving in head first. They can’t be all pretty and preened when nose diving all day for food.
I am back in my favorite place, where I can see the Brown Pelicans everyday. Those of you who have seen my blog post from way back know that I have photographed a lot of the Great White Pelicans and I photographed them in Iowa of all places. But the brown pelicans are only found down south on the ocean waters.
The biggest difference between the two types of Pelicans is the color of course and then their size. The White pelicans have a wing span of 108″ and the Brown pelicans have a 78 inch wing span. I will show the difference on tomorrow’s post.
Deep Thoughts by Darren the Heron, My Heart Will Go On as I stand here alone on this beach, looking out over the water wondering where she went.
Play the video at the end and then look at the pictures again. That is what I was thinking when I first saw Darren the Heron standing alone on the beach looking out over the ocean.
I Am the One that created you, I gave you my life, my breath within you. I gave you words within you to raise yourself from the dead to become like us.
I am the One who gave you hands, to use your talents to create life around you.
Then He left; I heard His voice in the silence of my heart.
Blue Heron on Vacation, one thing about the birds when you get down by the ocean is, they are not to afraid of people. So they stand right next to you which is great for photo opts. You will find them near people especially if they have a fishing pole in their hands, looking for a easy meal.
Doing Some Crabbing, not being crabby, 🙂 Watching the Gulls find tiny crabs for their meal today along the waters edge. It was sunrise here on the gulf coast so the water is reflecting the golden hue of the sun as it rises this morning.
A beautiful morning as the water gently recedes from high tide and a view down the beach of hotels lit up in the morning light. This is one of our favorite places to be, the Gulf Coast.
Abstract Art in Nature , nature has a way of creating its own abstract art when you look really close. Shadows and light, lines and patterns and color to top it off.
The Journey Continues, most of you might know that I do love photographing wild life, especially birds. So today I have two new birds that I have never seen before and some new flowers along the way. Well, flowers and trees. I do love seeing different trees, they are all unique and different.
This bird below I believe is a Yellow Bellied Kingbird, now I could be wrong. Sometimes it is hard to find exactly the name of these new birds when you look on the internet and dozens of them come up with my description I put in. But he does look like he has a crown of feathers on top of his head.
This is an Osprey, a type of hawk. He was quite far away, so the photo is not real crisp. But, it is the first one I have ever seen and photographed. Look at his talons, quite something I think.
A Rose By Any Other Name, The importance of a person or thing is the way it is; not because of what it is called.
A name is just a label to distinguish one thing from another. It neither has any worth, nor gives true meaning. Only an individual or thing has a worth when it deserves it; for example, even if we call a rose by an entirely different name, it would smell the same as it does by its name “rose.”
Let the mist of your breath come across my face and wash the dust from my eyes. Let your hands help me stand up. So that I may stand in your presence.
Camping Near the Ohio River, the leaves have not changed color here yet as we stopped to camp for a few days. Early morning campfires are going as the smoke is highlighted by the sun rays through the trees.
You can see the bridge off in the distance where you can travel across it and enter Kentucky, yes the Ohio river between Illinois and Kentucky.
We have camped here a couple of times. I took this photo below a couple of years ago from the same park. Sunrise at the Ohio river.
A few photos of the critters around the park are always fun to take. I am guessing this is a ground hog and I don’t think he is seeing his shadow this fall yet. That might be good news.
And these guys are just basking in the morning light. Turtles are always fun to watch.
Harvest Time in the Mid West, as we left Iowa on our journey south. I had to take some photos of the daisies growing in the ditches along the country roads of. An abundance of food for the little insects during this time of year and of course what is Iowa if one does not stop and take photos of the tall ornamental grasses around the lakes and Corn. Lots and lots of corn.
Railway or Railroad, what is the difference between the two names? I always call them railroads, it looks like a road when you are standing in the middle of them and they appear to go on for ever in some areas. I do love photographing them and watching trains go by when I can.
But, railroad is a permanent road consisting of fixed metal rails to drive trains or similar motorized vehicles on while railway is a track, consisting of parallel rails, over which wheeled vehicles may travel.
Does that statement make sense, not to me it didn’t when I first read it. So I investigated some more.
What is the difference between Railway and Railroad Then?
• Meaning:
• The meaning of both railway and railroad is the same. They both refer to the track on which a train runs.
• Usage:
• In most of the English speaking countries including UK and even Canada, the word that is used to refer to a system of trains running on rails made of iron is railways.
• On the other hand, railroad is the term that is used in the US for trains running on rails.
• Interestingly, railway is the word that is reserved for trams or streetcars in the US.
• Practice:
• Often companies change their names from railroad to railways and vice versa when there are mergers or takeovers to distinguish themselves from earlier companies.
Both railway and railroad refer to the train track. However, US uses railway for tram tracks while using railroad to train tracks.
The Old Become New Again, I love photographing bridges. The architecture alone is quite impressive on these massive bridges that not only are a way of transportation across rivers, but they also remind me of adventure, what is on the other side. A thought of keep moving and learning cross my mind when I see bridges.
This bridge below is the Centennial Bridge in Davenport Iowa, crossing over the Mississippi River, very old but so pretty at night with all its lights on.
This bridge is new, up river from the first bridge. New design and look compared to the architecture of old.
As we travel south, there will be a few bridges to cross I am sure. As like this one in Illinois.
But as always, adventure awaits after every bridge crossed.
Circle the Wagons, that is my thought when I was watching these 4 egrets walking in a circle in the river. Or perhaps they were playing Duck Duck Goose, if anyone remembers that game from our childhood. I wonder if kids play games like that outside anymore. Ring around the Rosie, Hop Scotch, Annie Annie Over. All great games when I was a youngster.
These four Egrets are just fishing and the second photo is 4 Geese flying overhead with gorgeous blue sky in the background.
The Mississippi River, we are back along the Mississippi River. It has been awhile since we camped along the river. A bit muggy this time of year, but always something to see.
The Prairie Fields of Iowa at sunset, as we travel south we stopped at a beautiful park in the mid west, with plenty of tall grass blowing in the wind. Just a touch of whispering clouds in front of blue sky’s as the soft orange glow of the sunset meets the horizon.
Diving Head First into a New Adventure this weekend. It is my birthday weekend, I am turning the big 60 years old. A year ago I picked where I wanted to be on my 60th birthday and these photos will give you a little hint. . But this adventure does not end with just a weekend. 60 is the new 30, we are never to old to make our dreams come true, faith and trust.
Of course a lot has happened over this past year and I never write my plans in stone. One never knows if tomorrow will come, I take one day at a time and enjoy it to the fullest.
So I am going to say; Have a wonderful weekend a little early today.
Mirror Image Has Flaws, Our Creator gives us two choices and both choices have consequences….Life and Good or death and evil.
Our will is directing our actions. If we will to not hear God, but are drawn away (listen to lies), then we actually “Will”, to hear something other than God.
The Will is a Tool. It’s function is to choose. With every choice we grow in force of character. Depending on what we WILL to do, will shape our character.
Under His Wings Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
Red Squirrel and Its Cousins, before the year is up I had to put a few of my favorite squirrel photos up again. Anyone who might know Mr. Ohh, knows how much he loves these little guys. They always make his day. 😉
Waterfalls and Long Exposure, this is one of my favorite waterfalls to photograph and adding some long exposure makes this place even more beautiful.
It is a bright sunny day for these photos. One has to add a Neutral Density filter on your camera so you can slow the shutter speed way down. That is what gives the water its soft appearance. Slowing the shutter speed down keeps the shutter open longer and anything moving in your photo will appear softer. It works with clouds also, I have not tried it yet, but I will.
The Young Eagle This beautiful young eagle has been visiting our place lately. He is very noticeable just from his size alone. Even hidden in the shade of these trees, his silhouette is quite breathtaking when I notice him on the branch of this aspen tree.
The plumage of juvenile and immature bald eagles shows a good deal of variation. In fact, immature bald eagle plumages are among the most complicated and difficult to classify among North American birds.
Cable Bridge – This is exactly what it looked like as we were walking across this old cable bridge. On the other side it was completely dark at the end of the bridge, the forest was so thick. It was a bit spooky as we neared the end of the bridge and our eyes did not adjust to the darkness until you actually walked into the forest.
This bridge is part of the North Country National Scenic Trail, if you wanted to, you can walk this trail that goes from New York to North Dakota. That would be quite the hike.
Can You See the Light – as I am walking in the forest the Light is trying to get my attention ever so softly. Peaking around the trees, flashing in my eyes every now and then. As if it is trying to get my attention, but I just keep on going.
How about now, the Light says, do you see me?
As I squint looking in the direction of the light beams dancing amongst the leaves.
But I turn my head and keep walking.
How about Now? I stop and look and am amazed at all the beams of light, as if like arms reaching out towards me. The Light begins to warm the forest with bright beautiful light. But I have an agenda, I have to keep walking to get to the end of the trail.
How About NOW
I stop in my tracks as I cannot stop looking at this beautiful Light reaching out to all of nature around me and warming my heart. Yes, I see the Light, I feel the Light. The end of the trail is right here. I don’t have to keep searching. 💕😉
Oh What a Tangled – Do you remember the rest of the quote?
But nature isn’t tangled, these spiders seem to know what they are doing.
Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive’ means that when you lie or act dishonestly you are initiating problems and a domino structure of complications which eventually run out of control.
One has to be careful walking through the forest, especially this time of year. The webs are everywhere and can be deceiving, all pretty and shinny. But understanding the Light and where it comes from, It can protect you from entering the webs they weave.
Wide Eyed Look which is referred to as Doe Eyes, literally in this case. 🙂
Well, this one does not have doe eyes, she has been hanging around with the deer. Just one turkey, the fawns are having fun running around trying to figure out what this bird is though.
Floral Art by Design, flowers are so amazing in their details when you look really close at them. They are all so different but are designed with such intricate details that serve a purpose that insures their propagation, by attracting pollinators.
I am not sure what this flower is, but I would guess its name might be similar to corn. Because up close it looks like miniature corn cobs in the center of this vibrant orange flower.
I Was Waiting For Them this morning. Every morning about 4 groups of geese fly over head towards the east. This first photo shows the sun is just coming up as they fly over, so you can see the sun light on the front of their wings. I have not seen geese all summer but come September they do this fly over everyday, I am not sure where they are going and in the evening they fly back towards the west.
They start about 7:30 am, when the sun is just coming up and by the 3rd group that fly’s over, it gets a little brighter and the sky starts turning into a beautiful blue instead of gray.
Until We Meet Again – to the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds in my yard this year. I have made a note on my calendar, for the first time this year, I have not seen these beautiful little birds. I believe they started their long journey south. They have been all over my fall flowers and feeders throughout August and now they are gone.
So here are some of my best photos during 2021 of the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds. Safe travels.
August is Coming to an End and depending on what part of the country you live in, cooler weather and warm colors are on our doorsteps. I have not seen any geese flying over all summer and now, at the end of August they fly East every morning. I went out this morning to take a few photos of them, but I was not out there early enough. I will have some photos by the end of the week though. 🙂
The Light of Life, He has a way of reminding us that we are the Light of Him. Even when we are surrounded by darkness, as I was when I was walking through the forest of no name.
The forest was dark as I made my way along the river bank, when all of a sudden, just up ahead, sunlight was shining through the trees, as if a spot light was only shining on these beautiful ferns. A reminder of who we are, vibrant, radiant all that we are, a Light to Others as He is to Us
Bright Side of the Moon, Though the dawn may be coming soon There still may be some time Fly me away to the bright side of the moon Meet me on the other side
Dream Weaver, this song came to me today, I have not heard it in many years. The moon has been keeping me up at night, shining through my window. So bright as if it is a nightlight for those of us looking out into the night sky.
Dream Weaver, I believe you can get me through the night…’ was a song about someone with infinite compassion and love carrying us through the night of our trials and suffering. None other than God Himself.” by Gary Wright
We are living in some very strange times right now. Things going on that I have never witnessed in my lifetime. Confusing at times to say the least if you listen to the world.
But, there are always Two Sides, Two Events. Split down the middle, One side is brighter than the other, (Truth), Death and Life – Good and Evil.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
In the beginning He Created, Heaven and Earth,
The only way to create something is to speak it into existence, Which follows the Laws of Nature
Dream Weaver; Take Me to the Bright Side of the Moon
Take away my worries of today and leave tomorrow behind
Sunsets Are Coming Back, the smoke has been clearing in the sky around my area so the sunset are becoming colorful again. I love a sunset when there are some clouds along with. Gives it a little more texture and depth.
I mentioned awhile ago about my brother out in Montana next to the fire called, Yaak Fire. He said it is down to a smolder, but still burning and creeping across the land. So they have not been given the all clear yet, I hope they get more rain and it goes out completely.
On this particular night, I walked down to the pond, knowing there would be a reflection in the water of the clouds all lit up as the sun dropped below the horizon.
The Snow Shoe Hare Snowshoe hares have an interesting adaptation that helps protect them against predators. Depending on the season, their fur can be a different color. During the winter, snowshoe hares are white, which helps them blend in with the snow. When the seasons change to spring and summer, snowshoe hares turn a reddish-brown. This color helps them camouflage with dirt and rocks.
Not every part of the snowshoe hare changes color throughout the year. An important identification trick is to look at a snowshoe hare’s ears. The tips of the ears are always black no matter the season.
The hind legs of a snowshoe hare are noticeably larger, and have more fur and larger toes than those of other rabbits or hares. These adaptations provide additional surface area and support for walking on snow. The hind legs are what give the hare its common name.
I never did get a photo of this rabbit last winter when it was all white. I saw it a few times, but only when it moved, they have excellent camouflage. I took this photo below early this spring when its feet are still white as it makes the change over to brown.
Now this one is a cotton tail Rabbit below, there is a difference between a hare and a rabbit. Mostly the hare is quite a bit larger and not as tame. Hence so much harder to get a photo of.
What Camera Lens I Use, I love photographing up close and most of the time I use my smaller bridge camera with the macro lens. But, I have found that my biggest lens actually does very well with close up shots also. I use the 600 mm lens mostly for bird photography, but to my surprise I really like it with close ups as well. You can see more samples and the camera I use at this link Here; 600mm Tamron Lens
Shooting For the Moon, This weekend was perfect weather for sitting outside in the evening and watch the moon travel across the sky. Mosquitos tried to make a comeback early in the evening, but then the wind picked up and they did not have a chance after that. This time of year I love to go outside at night to take photo’s of our beautiful planets above, come winter, the cameras don’t do well at night, nor do I.
Trying to get a crisp clear photo of the moon is just a little difficult with a regular camera. I use a 600 mm lens and it does pretty well. But when you think of how much space is between my lens and the moon, I am in awe at what I see every time.
When you photograph something outside of our atmosphere, there is a fair amount of air between you and the subject. The thickness of Earth’s atmosphere is approximately 300 miles, with most of the dense air in the lower altitudes (obviously). Light is transmitted from the sun (or stars) or reflected from the moon (and planets) and it travels through the vacuum of space until it reaches earth. Once it arrives in the atmosphere, all your sharpness bets are off.
Then add some motion like clouds rolling in and trees blowing in the wind. I am just grateful that earth has a protective shield around it that gives us air to breath and protects us from the harshness of outer space. It is mind boggling to me sometimes to sit here and look up into the heavens at night and just wonder how big it really is and how small we really are.
This shot looks like the moon is on fire and rolling across the clouds to me.
What Day is It – Varietay Friday, Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Stay cool, it is warm in my neck of the woods. Enjoy the Great Outdoors if You Can. 💕
Orange is the Color of Autumn, this is my first sighting of the Monarch Butterfly this year, it is late in the season, so I am surprised to see it but thankful I got to see at least one this year. Early this spring I saw a few butterfly’s or moths and their wings were pretty scraped up from the long flight up here. But this one looks pretty healthy.
I hope he makes the long journey to its winter home. It is written in their design, from the moment they are alive, to go to the same place, even though some have never been there before. They just know.
Before Migration Begins, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds double their weight from 3 grams to over 6 grams prior to departing. They don’t stay pudgy for long, though. In northward migrations, it’s not uncommon for a hummingbird to weigh around 2.5 grams when it reaches U.S. shores!
Each year, hummingbirds embark on two migrations – one north and one south. These migratory journeys, which can span hundreds or thousands of miles, require immense preparation and a shocking amount of energy from these small birds – the smallest in the world.
In the fall hummingbirds can set out as early as late July and the last stragglers will cross the southern U.S. border by late October. It’s this amazing cycle of hummingbird migration that can also bring a sudden swarm of activity to your hummingbird feeders. If you have a well-maintained hummingbird feeder, expect plenty of new visitors as they try to boost their energy before the next stage of their journey.
I am taking lots of photographs of them right now before they leave. I look forward to seeing them again next year.
Bumble Bee Bumble Bee, Oh How You Help My Garden Grow;
I Can See How Hard You Work, for You Are Covered in Sparkling Yellow Snow ——- No wait, that doesn’t sound right.
You Are Covered in Yellow Pollen Snow ; Alright I am not a poet for sure, I could not think what rhymes with grow.
Feel free to add some suggestions below, WAIT, that rhymes,
Bumble Bee Bumble Bee, Oh How You Help My Garden Grow, I See How Hard You Work From All the Pollen on You in the Photo Below. Whew, I think Daryl Madden or Mr. Ohh might have a few ideas as well. 😊
Manipulating the Perception of Distance, is possible with forced perspective in photography. It is about making your subject look larger or smaller than it really is.
Perspective in photography is created by the spatial relationship between objects in an image. It’s this relationship between objects that helps us perceive depth, distances, and the size of different elements.
For example, this pink flower looks like a normal size flower because of the angle I took the photograph.
But in reality, it is actually smaller than an eraser on a pencil. Matter of fact, I would not have even seen it if it was not for the bright purple flowers petals that caught my eye.
Forced perspective happens all around us everyday. Not just in photography, sometimes people make things out to be bigger than they really are. How we perceive it is the key to understanding the size of any situation, knowing the facts is crucial. Never be forced to only see the perspective to what others are putting in front of you.
One of My Favorite Spots, This is a small hill made out of sand, I love this spot along Lake Superior. From the parking lot you can not see what the water looks like until you walk up this little hill. I love places like this. It is like opening a door not knowing for sure what I might see, but the anticipation is exciting and the view always takes my breath away.
It is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.
Young Eagle Stopped By today, I have not seen many eagles this year. Only on occasion when they fly by and sometimes stop and hang out in a tree for a little bit. This one here just glided right in, he was so far away, I wasn’t sure what it was at first.
So I got the big camera lens out and that is when I realized it is a young Eagle. I never get tired of seeing them.
So I thought I would share some of my favorite Eagle photos below.
Something a Little Different, I don’t know what these flowers are but they were growing along the beach of Lake Superior. Sometimes I don’t know if I need to know a name to some of these wildflowers. I just like to enjoy them and know that they will be a surprise next year when I see them again.
I believe I mentioned awhile ago about framing your own photographs and art work. I enjoy sharing them on the web, but I do like to print them and hang them in my home. I have taken up digital painting of my photographs. Where you actually take a paint brush and paint on your photos. Very relaxing to do and amazing what technology can do as well.
Thinking outside of the box, create what your heart and mind sees.
The Dance of the Hummingbirds, as the sun was setting last night the hummingbirds became very active. I watched them as they flew back and forth, chasing each other from one corner of the porch to the other. But it appeared more like a dance as they hovered in mid air and then flew off together.
I got my camera out and pulled up a chair below the feeder. They became silhouettes in front of me as the sun glowed on the clouds behind them. A put a video down below so you can see the; Dance of the Hummingbirds.
They are Back, yesterday I talked about the migration beginning for some of the birds in my area. Well, not for these two birds. They were gone during the month of July, nesting and raising their young. But they are back, amazing how it all changes, one group leaves and the next one comes back.
The Chickadee and the Blue Jay’s are back in my yard. One of the things I love about the Chickadees, they are not to afraid of people. If the feeder is empty and I go outside, heading towards the garden shed where I keep the bird seed. They actually follow me and go back and forth in the trees every where I walk, waiting for me to get some food for them.
Oh, and I found another orange leaf laying on a green leaf. Summer and Fall together as one.
Change of Season with Birds, most of the time people notice the change of seasons to Autumn by the colors of the leaves and temperature. But this year is the first time I have noticed exactly when certain birds have left my area. Migration is a big thing in the spring and fall, especially for birders like my self.
These Red Winged black birds made their presence known all summer. They are very territorial and nested all around the pond here and two days ago they were all gone, just like that. Not one is here. The days are getting shorter by 1 minute a day. Birds sense this along with, weather, geography, food sources, day length, and other factors.
I had a pair of Robins that built a nest right by the cabin. They really enjoyed the bird bath I set out this year. Every day they were using the bath, especially on hot days. But, they are all gone now as well. Robins don’t mind the cold weather as much, they can handle that. They leave for warmer areas because of lack of food here in the colder months. Flocks of them arrive in Florida to spend the winters.
Yes, all the moths and butterfly’s are gone, along with my summer flowers not producing anymore. But the fall flowers are just starting up. A welcome sight, all the rich warm colors.
But, despite the birds telling us winter is coming soon. There are some exciting things that have returned since the summer birds have left. Take for example the Ravens, this one in particular I have named Edgar. Now he never left all summer, but he could not come visit as often as he would like because the Red Winged black birds would always chase him away. Now, he is back on his perch, high above the forest and comes and goes as he pleases.
Migrating birds can cover thousands of miles in their annual travels, often traveling the same course year after year with little deviation. First-year birds often make their very first migration on their own. Somehow they can find their winter home despite never having seen it before, and return the following spring to where they were born.
Taking a journey that can stretch to a round-trip distance of several thousand miles is a dangerous and arduous undertaking. It is an effort that tests both the birds’ physical and mental capabilities. The physical stress of the trip, lack of adequate food supplies along the way, bad weather, and increased exposure to predators all add to the hazards of the journey.
To me, seeing what nature has to endure to get to the end results, speaks to me from that silent voice within us. We are on a similar path. The ups and downs, the long journey finding our way in this world. There will always be some hard times and ruff roads to travel and a lot of good things as well. But in the end we will find our way home, to where we were born. None of us die, we just go home.
Twins The White Tail Deer, this is my first sighting of twin White Tail Deer and the only time they both came out of the forest so I could witness this extraordinary beauty of wild life. The Mother is very watchful over these two, I have heard her in the woods now and then, giving her loud snort to warn the babies of any danger.
But Mom is used to me, I put some bird food out in the mornings and she comes by everyday to check out the food. It isn’t much food, because I don’t want a lot there at night when Junior bear walks through. I put together a video of these two running and playing in the tall grass, you can see this video here; White Tail Deer Mother and Twins.
This is also the first buck I have seen here in years. He stops by once a week. He doesn’t stay long. You can see his horns have the soft velvet on them still.
August Brings Clear Skies and some sunshine. With all the fires out west and to the north, I have not seen blue skies for most of July. My brother is very near to one of those fires in Montana. They are packed and ready to go if needed. The fire fighters come by and tell them if it is time to leave.
They do have a chance for rain soon, I pray that it reaches all the areas that are burning, hopefully they will see the sun soon as well.
This red bud reminds me of the strong hearts that we all have, especially during times of trouble. That we can get through anything, helping our neighbors when we can and having faith to keep us going on the straight path. My brother said they are ready to go if needed, he isn’t worried about the things left behind, those things are replaceable, they are just things.
I came across this yellow flower with petals in the shape of hearts. There seems to be a pattern I see, as I walk through the forest thinking about things.
Through the dark times, there will always be Light. New growth will appear, pristine and white. To remind us that life on this earth is temporary.
Make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
Happy Friday, it is the end of July already. I have two trees in my yard that have started to change color. That seems to early, but I do love the change of seasons and fall is my favorite one. I love the cooler temperatures and all the warm colors and sitting by the campfire on a cool evening. Have a wonderful weekend.
Nature Speaks to Us, I spend a lot of time outdoors, sometimes just listening to the sounds of creation around me. Now I have a lot of ringing in my ears, sometimes it is really bad, but it is always there. It never really goes away. When I am outside, I get distracted very easy. I begin to notice everything from the leaves rustling in the trees, the butterflies going from flower to flower.
The sights and sounds of nature, begins to replace the ringing in my ears. For a few moments in time I can tune out the constant noise in my ears and I can feel the calmness that nature provides. I can see and hear a beautiful symphony of soft spoken words, from the sounds of birds singing and seeing the beautiful colors of the butterflies as they go by.
When I focus on all of these things, it pushes the noise away.
It reminds me of this song;
I can see clearly now the rain is gone I can see all obstacles in my way Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It’s gonna be a bright (bright) Bright (bright) sunshiny day
Lightning in the Night, my first photos of lightning. A fast moving storm rolled in with only heat lightning at first and then I saw a few lightning bolts in the night sky. It was about 11:30 pm and I decided to go out onto the porch and see if I could get a few shots of the night lights covering the sky.
I wasn’t sure if the camera was picking it up at first. All of these photos were taken with a Go Pro camera, I did not get any on my regular camera. There is another storm rolling in today, so I will be trying it again though.
Ka-ty-did, this is the sound the Katydids make. Katydids are related to crickets and grasshoppers, with large back legs for jumping.
Unlike grasshoppers, Katydids have extremely long, thin antennae. Unlike crickets, their bodies are more rhomboidal, like a kite with four equal lengths. They have wings and will fly away from danger. Most sightings occur when they land on an object and linger. Some have even gone on car rides, clinging to the hood of the vehicle.
I have never see this particular critter before. They blend in so well with leaves. It flew onto the porch, stuck on the wall for a little bit and then was gone. Amazing critters.
Varietay Friday II – includes taking a photo from the back of a Queen Anne’s Lace Flower. I love looking at the back of flowers. This particular flower closes up at night, these green shoots fold up around the flower as like protection over night. Along with a tiny red bug in the left corner of the flower.
I do not know what this is, but it had not opened up yet early this morning and you could really see the details of the fine hair that protects the stem of this flower.
42 degrees F. this morning, finally cooling off a bit and water droplets resting in the base of these leaves in the morning light.
Along with, some art work I made on the computer today. Art comes in many different forms, computer generated and outdoor objects, both of which are applied on this photo.
Pretty in Pink, not the movie, just the flowers blooming in my garden today. Even though I saw that movie many years ago. I love these little flowers called Cosmos that always seem to bloom in July. Such a soft hue of pink.
My husband and I were talking about the state of the world today. Which is a huge subject to say the least. For me, I do not follow the left or the right, I listen to what they say and the language is very confusing, it is as if none of them can understand each other as well. There are so many different sounds coming from all directions.
I can only speak of what I know and bear witness to what I see. For me, what I know is, there is a straight path to the One who makes perfect sense, which in turn opens my eyes to where I am at today. It is a journey, to get to this place that I see.
Little Wonders of theWorld – The Flowers and theTrees, Places Where I Find Peace andTranquility
Time Keeps Moving Along, Changing of the Way, Places of Reflection of Where I am Today
AttheLadders Top, The Older Generation, At the Golden Age, A Humbling Realization
I see where I’m going, and Past That’s Behind Me, I Have Reached the Light, When Younger Couldn’t See
Which Gives Me Peaceof Mind, Of Searching to Engage, That Wisdom Only Comes, Attainable by Age
Wisdom is only attainable by age, there are no shortcuts, Inheriting the wealth of Knowledge, from the quality of Experience becomes Wisdom. Owning nothing but yet owning everything.
Amazing Are The Wings that Fly – Sometimes to really see nature, one has to become one with nature. I have never seen a dragonfly’s wings quite like these. I was watching this one particular dragon fly land on this same rock over and over. Finally realizing it was sunning itself on this rock and as I would step closer to it for a photo it would fly away.
So I figured I need to lay down in the grass with my camera and just sit still. This dragonfly was between me and the sun and what a surprise it was to see the sun reflecting in its wings when I looked at the photos later. I did not see this as I was laying there watching it. What a view from their level. You can see my video; A Walk With Nature in My Back Yard Here.
I remember the days as a child, when laying in the grass was so much fun. I never worried about all the bugs and critters back then. I usually avoid doing that now because the thought of wood ticks and spiders. But I thought, just do it. I surprised myself on the results with this beautiful creature.
Rock Camouflage, In nature, some animals are built with the perfect camouflage to blend in with their surroundings. Which helps to avoid becoming something else’s snack. This particular dragon fly is one of those animals. Those transparent wings really throws me off, you can see the rocks right through them.
North East vs North West, I drove to the lake to catch the sunset for a change of pace. I was hoping there would be a few clouds, nothing but blue skies even as the sun dipped below the horizon. Clouds sometimes make for a better sunset photo so the sun isn’t so bright glaring into the cameras. So after the sun drops below the horizon we go back to blue hour.
This first photo is facing North East, leaving a cool view of blue and just a touch of pink in the corner.
Looking back to the North West, the sun is still leaving just a trace of color on the horizon as it leaves us for another day.
Small Wildlife Around the Water, these tiny little creatures are called Damselfly, such a strange name. They are not a dragonfly. I did not realize until today that they are two different species. These are so tiny, very hard to photograph also. But Damselfly eyes are separate, there is a space between their eyes and a Dragonfly has eyes that are almost connected, looks like one giant eye on their heads.
Dragonfly
I have not seen any monarch butterflies this year. But this one here was hanging around my porch. Its wings look a bit torn up, probably from the long flight to get up here. But it was flying around just fine all day. It was taking a rest on my porch chair.
It had two tones of color, under the wings it was a brown tone and on top of the wings it was black and white.
So I will leave you with a photo of one of my favorite lakes, hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
The Northern Green Frog, well the frog season is about over. The tadpoles have grown up and are marching across the ground as I write this. They are everywhere, this first picture was taken after the thousands of eggs hatched. Each green frog lays about 3000 to 5000 eggs each. It looks like a black cloud swimming in the pond every spring. You can see my video I made here; Amphibians at My Pond
The first frogs that come up out of hibernation are the Spring Peepers, which I do not have a photo of yet, and now all I see are these green frogs, that circle behind the eye is technically their ears. They feel vibrations, these frogs are the ones that sound like one string on a banjo playing.
This is mom or dad, who appears to be watching over all the kids in the pool. Believe me when the tadpoles are this small, the frogs seem to be staring at me when I get to close.
What Are Your Words when you look at this photo. It is hard not to say Awwww 😉
They finally came out of the woods with Mom, I was hoping I would see them while they still had their spots. That is my lilac bush they are both having a look at. Or my Lilac stick, it has not grown much this year.
Digital Oil Paintings – Consider the Lily How they Grow. This first photo is a digital oil painting of the Orange Lily. I like the look that I can create with oil painting my photos. It only works with certain images. It is done with photoshop, under Filters, Stylize and Oil paint. Amazing what technology can do with a little help from me.
Varietay Friday Just a little variety today to finish off the week. This beautiful Sand Hill crane was out in this field as I drove by, so I stopped and took a photo. I have not seen to many of them this year.
Don’t fence me in. 🙂
Green and Blue work so well together.
Fog and Sunsets – A mystical look from the porch. Have a great weekend.
New Flower to The Garden, my neighbor gave me some lily plants from her garden this spring. I put them over by the woods. Well, the deer ate them a couple times as they were starting to grow and they we had a week of late frost when they were just starting to pop up again. So they have not looked very good the last two months. But today I looked out that way and I could see one orange flower as bright as could be.
Amazing how nature finds a way to survive all on its own.
Pink and Green this Wednesday, I planted a couple of wild flower seed packets this year and a couple of the flowers are just starting to bloom. I wasn’t sure they were going to make it. I am having unusual luck with my garden this year. Things are growing much better than expected. I have been able to pick produce out of it every day. Such a wonderful feeling to be able to do that.
Natures Roving Reporter, the young red squirrels are out and about. It is hard to tell the difference right now between the young ones and the adults, they are all so small. I have not seen the bears in a few days and I don’t mind that at all, here in the yard.
So I set up a camera on the ground the other day because the squirrels were so active. This one kept sitting right in front of the camera. It probably liked the blinking lights, and then it turned to face the camera and the next photograph appeared.
Aka; Little Red – to the locals, she just looked like she was giving an exclusive report as she looked right at the camera. Story has it there is a food shortage going on because of some bears visiting there territory. She interviewed one of the locals first.
“The trays are empty”, he yelled at the reporter ” Those darn bears, human won’t put out any food now because of those two.”
“I found one little shell left and not a seed in it”, she said quietly.
So then, Little Red decided she must risk her life and went right to the source of the food shortage. She asked, ” Mr. Tuck, what have you to say about the uproar you are causing to all the critters who want some food?.”
“Hmmm”, he groaned,” I have just one thing to say about that”‘
That answers that question.
It is hot here so my imagination went over board today 🙂 Never stop having fun, Imagination is a terrible thing to waste.
The Colors of Summer, yellow and orange are the colors for today. The little Skipper butterfly’s are starting to disappear and larger more colorful butterfly’s are taking there place. Nature is such a colorful place.
The Yearling Black Bear, yes even the young bears stick their tongues out at me. Remember when the deer were doing it also last winter in a couple of photos I posted. Well, they are just cleaning up the area, licking all the bugs off of everything and chewing on grass. I just happen to catch them chewing with their mouths open, like we haven’t all had that happen now and then. Happy Friday 💕
How Fast Time Flies, Is it Autumn already? No, just kidding, this is the actual color of the leaves in the center of this particular plant all year long. This plant is called a Ash Leaf Spirea. I am trying to add a little color to the yard.
Full Moon and Black Bears, what excitement I had last week starting on Tuesday. This is my first encounter of being this close to Black Bears and they payed me a visit in our yard 3 nights in a row. At first I only saw the young bear when I looked out my cabin window. I thought how cool, it looks like a nice little black bear. But than all of a sudden, Mama bear came out of the woods and I believe my heart skipped a beat, she is just beautiful. The hair rises on my arm just writing about it. (video below)
When we were kids, my siblings and I, our grandfather would ask, ” Who wants to go to the dump?”, one of my most favorite childhood memories. Why you might ask?, we went there to watch the bears come out in the evenings. We did not have movie theaters back then. That was our weekend entertainment and that is where I begin my journey of the love for wild life, from my Grandfather.
I have only seen a couple bears over the last few years. I was beginning to lose hope that I may never see another one. From loss of habitat and food for the animals. So you can guess my delight when I was sitting at the table by the window and saw these two beautiful creatures walk out of the woods.
They were checking out my bird feeders which were pretty much empty, but it kept them entertained for a short while. I slipped out the side door of my cabin to take some photos that would be a little clearer than through the window and then I just stood there and watched them until they wandered back into the woods.
I set up my trail camera for the next night and they came back, actually they visited for 3 nights. I have made a two part video that I will be putting on my You Tube Channel as well.
Some of this video was taken with a trail camera. You can see the full screen version on my You Tube channel by clicking here; The American Black Bear by Sandra J
Update on the Tree Swallows, Well, I did not get any purple martins at my bird houses this year. But the pair of Tree Swallow birds are still here. I lowered the bird house last week and they have 5 eggs in their nest. So maybe there will be little ones flying around soon. The eggs have been there for quite awhile it seems like. But I have seen them coming in and out of that apartment in the house.
Now, they are called Tree Swallows, so I am assuming they should be nesting in trees, but I think they like being barn swallows and/or apartment dwellers.
Last week I had a surprise visitor at our back yard. A mother black bear and her yearling cub. I will be posting photos tomorrow and a video on You Tube, it was an amazing thing to see.
After the Sun Comes Up , Oh how the garden sparkled this morning. There was a heavy fog early this morning and as the sun was rising and the fog started to disappear, I went out to look at my garden. The water droplets left behind were shimmering and sparkling to my eyes delight. How I love sparkles, the light of the world shinning for our eyes to see, creating a sea of dancing lights that is sure to lighten ones heart first thing in the morning. At least for me.
The sunlight is casting shadows behind the droplets of water, these almost look like tiny little light bulbs lit up in green.
These are water droplets on my cabbage plant leaves.
Unique Yet Beautiful Little Critters, does anyone else have these little butterflies. There are hundreds and hundreds of them here. I have found out they are called Skipper Butterfly’s. A body of a moth and wings of a butterfly. My cat enjoys trying to catch them though.
I finally got a photo of this dragon fly here, he has a blueish tint to him. Now, I could not find the exact name for this one, considering there are over 5000 different species of dragon flies. I will just call him the blue one.
Dragonflies get categorized as beneficial insects because they eat so many harmful insects such as mosquitoes, gnats, ants termites, along with other insects and arachnids.
Sight is the dragonfly’s most important sense. Each eye can contain up to 30,000 tiny lenses. That I find to be extremely unique.
The wings of dragonflies are mainly composed of veins and membranes, a typical nanocomposite material. The veins and membranes have a complex design within the wing that makes them able to fly like helicopters. In any direction they want to go. Amazing and unique are the little critters of the world.
Selective Color with Daisies, The yellow centers stand out on their own with daisies in regular photos. But I thought I would try selective color as well. Thinking outside of the box.
Daisy’s symbolize innocence and purity. They make up almost 10% of all flowering plants on the planet. Soft white petals are the most iconic daisy look, but they come in lots of other colors. As tough as they are beautiful, daisies are in bloom most of the year and can adapt to almost any environment – they can even live high in the mountains.
Not Your Every Day Beach, now this beach has some pretty rocks to look at. So different from the white sand beaches off the Gulf of Mexico, this beach is Agate Beach on Lake Superior. I love visiting here and look for agates as I walk along the shore line. I am not sure if I have ever found one, because I don’t know for sure what an agate rock looks like. Even though I have looked at samples on the internet to help me find one.
Hidden under all these pretty rocks are smaller rocks that look like diamonds and other gem stones to me. Because of all the colors, amazing how the water polishes these stones so they just glisten in the sunshine.
The Rain Has Arrived, we finally got some rain to give all the trees and flowers a bit of a drink of water that was very much needed. I love photographing clouds, everyday is different, everyday I find it relaxing to just sit on the porch and watch the clouds roll on by, changing with the wind. If we could ride on a cloud, it would be like a dream, how far could we go. How much could we see.
Watching the clouds reminds me of the song by Cat Stevens, Father and Son,
Take your time, think a lot, think of everything you’ve got. For you will still be here tomorrow but your dreams may not.
First to Arrive First to Leave, the silky fluff of the dandelion seed. They take over the lawns in the spring and I do enjoy photographing them up close. But they are long gone now until next spring and new flowers have taken their place.
What was once dandelions has now turned into Daisy’s and Butterflies – Summer time colors all around.
Feathers From Heaven, I was reading a blog a few days ago by Wayne with Tofino Photography. He takes wonderful photos of wildlife, especially Eagles and he was talking about eagle feathers. To find a tail feather on the ground of an Eagle brings good luck.
I had mentioned to him that I have never picked up a feather of any kind. I never really looked for them or see that many. Well, I was sitting on my porch yesterday, just enjoying the beautiful weather, when all of a sudden this feather, this one feather floated down in front of me, ever so gentle, it floated down before me. Not one bird in sight above me.
I picked up this beautiful feather, amazed at the thought that I have never seen a feather fall from heaven. This one feather, one thought, expands my belief of what is possible.
A feather falling from heaven, is one we rarely see, but this one is quite different, for it is very special to me.
Edgar and Flicker, those sound like names of horses, but alas they are two birds who visit my backyard. My sister was here visiting a few weeks ago and The Raven came to say hello. I told her his name is Chuck, but she said he is definitely an Edgar, you know, Edgar Allan Poe. How do I know he is a raven, his beak is bigger and curvy, compared to a crow.
I said ok, he is now called Edgar, I know him by sight, because he has a small chip in his lower beak,
This is a Northern Flicker, she has a nest in a nearby tree. I have a small dirt pile on the ground she visits regularly. Finding food for her young ones. She does not sit still very long, she is a busy mom or dad. 🤔
The Sun and Moon Eclipse, this is the clearest photo I could get of the moon passing by the sun. I did not have the correct filter for my camera lens, so I held up a smaller filter that I did have, in front of the lens which caused a little motion blur. But it was still fun to try and capture this photo despite the mosquitos trying to bite us. I created a video as well, with a birds eye view of the sunrise via my husbands drone. You can click the link here; Sunrise and the Eclipse, to see the video.
Sunrise at the Lake, we went out early on the morning there was the moon/sun eclipse and this is what we saw. I tried to get a photo of the moon passing in front of the sun. But the mosquitos were really bad here by the water. I did have a mosquito netting on, but I did not have the correct filter for the camera lens so they came out pretty blurry. Maybe next time, but it was still a beautiful sunrise.
Creativity Knows No Bounds – With the billions of minds that grace the earth, sometimes it’s hard to believe that people are still finding new ways to be creative. After all these years, there’s still so many things waiting to be discovered, created or realized by us humans.
My mind is always thinking outside of the box and sometimes, depending on the weather outside, I may let my imagination flow with my photography and the fun little gadget called photoshop when I am inside escaping the heat.
Plain Photo in Black and White
Added Light Flare
Added two borders
A touch of sparkles
Have a Wonderful Weekend Exploring Your Creativity
Want to Fly Like an Eagle, to the Sea, Fly Like an Eagle, Let my Spirit Carry Me
Click this link to see these hummingbirds flying in slow motion at my place. Humming Birds in Slow Motion – You will see where I photograph these birds from my porch and the camera that I use.
Time Keeps On Slippin
Slippin, Slippin
Let My Spirit Carry Me
The words are from a song by the Steve Miller Band 😉💕
Flowers Evoke All Our Senses, sight, smell and touch to name a few. My driveway becomes a wild flower garden every year and by July the fragrance is enough to make one stand still in awe of what comes forth from this earth. Butterflies and small critters everywhere, as if one is walking through a dream.
Watch Your Garden Grow, My two favorite things to grow and eat are blueberries and cabbage. Well, I like all vegetables and fruit. But this year I bought a couple blueberry plants, and the photos below shows some blueberries in their early development. Amazing how this green little flower will turn into a sweet blue berry.
This year my attempt at growing cabbage just might make it. I am not the best gardener, but I love trying every year. To grow your own food and be able to enjoy a meal from your hard work is so enjoyable to me. This is the start of a purple cabbage, as the inside leaves keep growing around each other to form a wonderful cabbage head, hopefully.
I often think when I see these plants growing, who was the first person that said, ” I will try it.”, 🤔
Good Thing It is Summer or his tongue would stick to the metal. Be honest, who did that when you were younger. Had your tongue get stuck to a metal pole. I did, on the playground during recess. They dared me and I went ahead and tried it. But I barely touched it, I was only stuck for a few seconds. I never forgot it, good thing we get a little wiser as we get older.
To Go in Search Of is a synonym for looking up. Which I am doing all the time. Sometimes we get so focused on just looking a few feet in front of us or what is in our hands, we forget to look up. To go in search of the Light. It is every where, it is stunning at times to see the Light shine through objects, nature.
It gives a new perspective on what I am looking at, with the light shinning through the leaves, I see every vein, the heart beat of the leaves in front of me. With a sparkle of light at the tip of one leaf below, as if it is saying, ” Now you see me”.
White Pelicans on the Mississippi, well I am not any where near the Mississippi River this year and I do miss seeing these beautiful birds. Luckily I have plenty of photos to look back on when I want to take a look at these magnificent birds. So I thought I would share some of my favorites today.
Male and Female Hummingbirds, here are two of the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds. The male is the first photos here perched on my hummingbird feeder. They are so friendly, they sit so close to us when we are out on the porch enjoying the day.
And this one is the female, she does not have the bright colors on her throat area, but still is sporting some beautiful green feathers across her head and back. I so enjoy watching these little things.
Duck Duck and Duck, I have not seen many ducks or geese this year so far. But, then again I have not gone to any lakes this past week or so. I will have to be getting out there again soon. It has been pretty quiet around my place right now with the birds. They are sitting on nest I imagine.
Originally Called Decoration Day, from the early tradition of decorating graves with flowers, wreaths and flags. Memorial Day is a day in remembrance of those who died in service. It was first widely observed on May 30th, 1868.
What a Conundrum Amidst , trickery I tell you. Well, I have been watching these two birds for a couple of weeks now. Thinking they were purple martins, but because of a fellow blogger who commented on my last update about these birds, I have been tricked by these little Tree Swallows. He mentioned that they looked like Tree Swallows, so I started to investigate and by golly they are.
They fly like a purple martin and they have pointy wings like one. Their blueish, purplish sheen made me think they were purple martins. But you can see the difference below in the two birds. Now they both eat lots of bugs and are fun to watch fly. But, Purple Martins live in colonies and Tree Swallows like to be alone, just the one pair.
Purple Martin Tree Swallow
And the Tree Swallows like to have the whole house to them selves and will chase off any other birds. I noticed this week, that the female was picking up nesting material and putting it in every apartment in this house. I thought to my self, ” How nice of her to furnish the other apartments for other birds, or she was just confused which one she wanted”.
Well, I have read about how to discourage them from taking up resident here, I will be lowering the house and taking their nest out so that maybe they go find a tree to nest in. Being they are called Tree Swallows. 🙂
At the end of the day, I learned about a new bird I have never seen before and a rainbow came out in the evening as I sat on my porch watching nature in my back yard. Have a great weekend.
A Few of the Newbies Here, This first photo is some type of moth, its wings look a little tattered, probably from the long flight to get here. Ya know, I hate it when people accuse me of lolly gagging, When I am quite clearly dilly dallying today with my photos. 🙂
My niece posted that phrase and I thought it was funny, I do tend to dilly dally and I like it. 🙂
This one here below actually has the prettiest color blue wings when it is flying. But it moves pretty fast, so I could not get a good shot, but I think its antenna’s look pretty cool.
Red Breasted Grosbeak stopped by for a visit this week.
And of course, the hummingbird is buzzing by me every day now. You can always here them coming towards you before you see them.
Nature in its Smallest Form, in the broadest sense, is the natural, physical, material world of Creation. It is often taken to mean the “natural environment” or wilderness, wild animals, rocks, forest, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention.
Nature; the Natural Beauty of life.
I don’t see rainbows very often and this one came out late in the evening after a little rain we were having, right before sunset.
Ruby Throated Hummingbirds have arrived, coming from as far south as southern Mexico and northern Panama. Since hummingbirds lead solitary lives and neither live nor migrate in flocks, an individual bird may spend the winter anywhere in this range where the habitat is favorable, but probably returns to the same location each winter.
Some will skirt the Gulf of Mexico and follow the Texas coast north, while most apparently cross the Gulf, typically leaving at dusk for a nonstop flight of up to 500 miles, which takes 18-22 hours depending on the weather.
Hummingbirds are carnivores, nectar is just the fuel to power their flycatching activity. Ruby-throats begin moving north as early as January, and by the end of February they are at the northern coast of Yucatan, gorging on insects and spiders to add a thick layer of fat in preparation for flying to the U.S.
The initial urge to migrate is by the shortening length of sunlight and has nothing to do with temperature or the availability of food; amazing that nature follows the Light. The sun, moon and stars, they have a purpose. Amazing how it all comes together as designed.
They Are Back, Ruby Throated Hummingbird, it is so nice to see them again. 3 of them today at the feeders. I will have more information on them tomorrow.
How Small We Really Are, the night skies have been amazing these last couple of weeks. Yesterday morning I decided to try something different. I drove out to a lake to view the Milky Way, a place where light noise almost doesn’t exist. I went out there at 3:00 am. When I turned the light off on my jeep, I was stunned at what I could not see.
I could not even see my hands in front of my face it was so dark, I had my hand on the side of my jeep and then I looked up. These photos only show a small glimpse of the millions of stars before my eyes. I did have a flash light with so I could walk to the edge of the lake and set up my camera. You could see the Milky way with your eyes, I felt so small. I can’t even wrap my brain around the thought of how big the universe might be. But I did not feel alone, His presence was bigger than what my eyes and heart could see.
I did take video also and put it on my You Tube channel so if you would like to see it, this is the link; The Milky Way and Shooting Stars. It is a little longer than most of my videos because I talk about the settings I use on my camera as well.
I only have about a 3 hour window to view the Milky Way which allows me to take about 70 photos and the videos are only a few seconds long because of the long shutter speed needed to capture the lights of the stars. I use a 10 second shutter speed for video with a DSLR camera and 30 sec shutter speed if I am using the go pro camera.
This photo below is blue hour when the sun was starting to shine its light over the lake.
After the Long Winters Nap, the lush blanket that covers the earth we walk on is coming alive with so many colors and new life every where I look. I look for the tinniest little plants along the path in the woods. Plants that I have never seen before because they are so small.
The dandelions are seeding out already with their little umbrellas that will carry them to start new plants. I watched someone make dandelion honey the other day. It looked very easy. I may have to give it a try.
Shooting Stars & Milky Way, this month has been quite the show in the heavens. There are so many shooting stars and the moon is not out as the Milky Way passes over, so the night skies are lit up even with out a camera. If you get a chance head on out and take a gander.
I took these photos last Wednesday, I knew I would be able to see the Milky Way between 3 am and 5:50 am. So I wanted to try some light painting also. I parked my Jeep at the South end of my driveway and set my alarm clock. I opened the door at 3 and I could see the Milky Way just to the front of my Jeep. So by the time I got my camera set up it was right over top of it.
Light painting is when you take a light source and just shine it on your subject when the surrounding it dark. Your camera then picks up what ever you shine the light on. So much fun.
Now this photo below was taken from a go pro camera facing North. The two lines across the photo are shooting stars flying pass my camera. To get this photo below, I used the night lapse mode on the go pro and shot about 70 photos and stacked them on top of each other in a program called StarStaX. This is how the stars travel when you look north.
I will be putting a video together this week to show you the results in video mode.
Cyber Space or Print, the internet has become a great place to share photos, I truly enjoy looking at others photos as well. One really gets to see the world from folks taking shots of their own back yards. One of my favorite blogs from across the waters is called; Aussiebirder He shares the most colorful birds I have ever seen. They have quite the variety over there.
I sometimes wonder what will happen to all these photos floating around in cyber space, if the plug is pulled one day, do they all just disappear? I know I have had photos on my phone and my phone crashed and the photos are gone.
Now, I don’t save all of my photos, I do have external drives that I save some of them on so I can revisit them when ever I want. But it sure is different from back in the day when I would sit down with my Mother and get the photo albums out. She loved doing this, she could tell me who everyone was in the older photos. It was a walk down the streets of history listening to her talk about the old days.
I have gotten back into printing some of my photos now, I don’t want to always have to open a computer to see them. I have 5 different frames that I just change my photos in to change the scene. I send my photos to Walgreens via the internet, 😉 and they mail them to me. That is the nice thing about technology.
Colors to Brighten Your Day, I put two post on yesterday, oops. So here are a variety of colorful flowers on my front porch. We still had frost this morning so I have to put these plants inside every night. But I think we have turned the corner on frosty mornings.
The Light in Their Eyes, Oh how I love to see these birds so close. I see the reflection of the clouds in its beautiful eye. Birds have been a part of my life since I was a child, I never get tired of seeing them and now as I am older, I see their beauty even more trough the light in their eyes.
The Dark Eyed Junco, a pretty little bird that is part of the sparrow family. All these years I thought this bird was called a Rufous. I looked it up today and it doesn’t look anything like a Rufous. I don’t know where I came up with that one. The internet told me, I will blame it on that. There are over 35 species of sparrows also.
They are seed eating birds and prefer eating from the ground, they scratch the ground like chickens do. I have so many around here this year. They are a cheery little bird to me.
Grrrrr, I love it when they look like they are giving me the stink eye. 😒
Rivers of Living Water, Will Flow from Within. It is a wonderful time of year to stroll though the forest, it is not to hot and the mosquitos are not out yet here. I have found a couple wood ticks on me already. (video below)
The moss is heavy on the trees, with a beautiful green color that matches the surrounding forest.
Flowers on the Porch, I am seeing a pattern here of choosing purple and yellow flowers. These are some flowers on my porch, I so enjoy having a few flowers in baskets near by. I have not planted any seedlings yet around the yard. We keep getting frost every night.
The yellow flowers are Begonia’s. I did get a water tester for my plants this year. I tend to over water them and they don’t do so well. So I use the tester a lot to make sure I only water them when the soil is dry.
I do have this one plant with the most interesting colored leaves, I don’t know what they are, but there are always so many different colors of plants like this at the green houses.
Changing Colors at Sunset, a colorful sunset to end the day with. It was pretty cold again last night but I have noticed the sunsets are becoming more colorful again. It was 28 degrees last night, so I had to go out and cover a couple plants in the yard. After this weekend it will start warming up again.
Silhouettes in Nature, amazing what one sees when you look really close at something as simple as this photo here. Everyone sees something different. For me, I am peering into the heart of the Tree of Life where it was placed by the hands of Light.
That is what I see, when in reality it is the end of a trees life, but always the beginning of a new one when you look through to the other side.
Bold Splash of Colors, well I finally have some wild flowers blooming in the yard. Yes, the dandelions are always the first flowers I see. But I can’t complain because it is nice to see the color. I had to add a couple more splashes of purple today as well.
I did buy some hanging flower baskets yesterday, so I will see what kind of photos I can get with those. The sun might come out tomorrow, but it will be below freezing again tonight. So I have to cover a couple plants outside.
The Most Visible Wavelength – Purple is the most powerful visible wavelength out of all of the colors in the rainbow. Purple can symbolize many things, but to sum it up in a few words, purple represents strength.
The spring wild flowers have not arrived yet, but I bought this little plant the other day, it was a tiny little plant for one dollar. I did not know anything about them, I went out to the porch today and the most aromatic floral scent was coming from this little plant that had decided to bloom over night.
It is called the Hyacinth. A very strong, easy to grow plant, but. Yes there is a but to this beautiful flower, it does have a toxic substance on the bulb below the soil. You should ware gloves when handling it and keep it away from any pets or children.
It draws you in with its floral aroma and the striking beauty of its colors, but always be aware of what is dressed in such beauty. It is a lesson in life for me to not just agree with everything I hear, but to find the facts and truth myself to make my own decisions.
I Am a Landlord Now, that is what they call you when you put up a Purple Martin House for the birds. We use to have a house for them when I was a child. My grandfather built one and we always had birds in it. So my husband put this one up for me 3 days ago and we are already getting visitors.
According to my research, having a Martin house is like being a land lord. You have to make sure no other birds try to nest in it. It has to be in the right location and the right height to attract them. In the spring this breed of bird sends out scouts to roam the landscapes looking for houses for the colony. Over the years these birds have figured out that they want their houses to be close to human houses. Because humans keep predators away, like racoons, cats, larger birds.
Usually two will come by and check out the house and the location. So yesterday our first two came by for a visit and today they came back for a second look around. One sat up on top surveying the landscape.
The other one was peaking inside the apartments to see if they were up to par. They are particular about their housing units. They like a 6x6x12 room, ours are 6x6x6. We will see if they want to rent the apartments or not, it is free rent for them. 🙂
They are such a pretty bird and they eat lots of bugs. We will set up a second house once they start living here. In the fall one has to take the house down and clean it and have it ready for them again next year.
The Common Grackle, doesn’t appear to be so common. They are like a beauty in disguise. Most days they look like your average black bird. As if they were created to make one stop and really look at this bird, to not just take them for granted. Wait for the sun to come out, when the Light shines on this plain bird, amazing things will happen before your very eyes. It is like seeing a rainbow for a few seconds and then it is gone.
I Out Rank You, the Red Winged black bird has the stripes on his shoulders to prove it. As the two of them seem to be arguing. With the third bird listening intently. (video below)
Portraits of the Wood Duck, this is my first year seeing the Wood Duck and it is quite amazing to me. I took all of these photos through a window so they are not extremely clear. But it still shows the detailed color of this beautiful bird. As if he was painted by hand, to create such beautiful lines, curves and color. Nature, wildlife, truly amazing to witness such extraordinary beauty to me.
As the Earth Turns Green, that sounds like it could be the Title to a Soap Opera. 🙂 I love when everything starts to wake up after a long winter nap. The greens are so vibrant, truly named forest green for a reason.
Friday Birding My Favorite Thing, every now and than the beautiful Pileated Woodpecker stops by. Never in a great spot for a photo. He likes to be up very high and there are always sticks blocking my view of him. But, you can still see his red feathers on top of his head. Such a gorgeous bird.
The dainty and lovable Chickadees are always out and about
The Nut Hatch Bird, this is my first photo of this tiny bird. They are just as fast as the chickadees. He looks all bright eyed and cheery in this photo below.
I don’t know if he is blinking or giving me the stink eye.
I know this bird is a finch, but I am not quite sure which one. There are so many that have a touch of red, ruby colored feathers. So I will just go with the term Finch for now.
My First Photo of Milky Way, I have been studying on how to locate the milky way for a photo the last few weeks and how to set my camera to be able to capture it. Well, yesterday morning I finally got a photo. It was pretty cold out, but the night sky was amazing. Is was also the highlight of meteor showers as well. I saw plenty of those as well. I put a video below of the stars passing by from my back yard as well.
Now this video was taken with a Go Pro, which doesn’t take as clear a video as with a camera. So you might have to lower the lights behind you to really see all the shooting stars.
The Little Red Squirrel, they have been gone for a couple of weeks when the weather was nice. But, we have had some snow the last couple of days, so they are back again. Looking for a little pick me up snack I think. I love the red stripe they have, very showy when the sun is out.
He appears to not be happy that he has a little snow on the roof of his house. Yes, I have seen him go into this bird feeder many times.
Looks like a little bracelet on its hand and if Mr. Ohh is seeing this, I will have to say; ” No, it is not little hand cuffs.” 🙂 I am guessing that is what he might see.
The Beaches are Back, well, at least the beaches in the north country. It is still a bit cold but so nice to see the snow and ice gone. We did get some snow a couple times already this week, but it melts by the afternoon. I was watching the water dripping from the corner of a roof into a bucket and decided to film it in slow motion. That short clip is below.
Night Time Photography Begins, I am looking forward to an exciting year of photographing the night skies. I started over the weekend. April begins the warmer evenings and clearer skies to get out enjoy. Also, starting on the 16th of April, the annual Lyrid meteor shower began.
Each year that meteor shower kicks off when the Earth travels through what remains of the tail of the comet called Thatcher. The Thatcher comet only comes around once every 400 years, but it’s left the solar system strewn with debris from its tail. When that debris hits the earth’s atmosphere, we see streaks of light in the sky called shooting stars. April 22nd should be the peak of the meteor shower.
These photos were taken with a Go Pro 7 camera, I set it to night lapse starting about 9 pm and picked up the camera at 2 am. The stars are all moving from left to right in the photo, and you can see lines going the opposite way which are shooting stars. This photo below is a combination of 100 photos stacked on top each other so you can see how the stars move across the sky where I am standing. The bright light is the moon.
This photo below is a combination of 72 photos stacked on top each other from midnight to about 2 am. If you notice there are streaks of purple and pink in the midst of stars. They are different colors when you get a good photo of them.
Sing a Song of Sixpence, does anyone remember this rhyme? Sing a song of sixpence, a pocketful of rye, four and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie. When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing. Now wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before a king?
The king was in his counting house counting out his money; the queen was in the parlor eating bread and honey. The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes when along came a blackbird and it nipped off her nose.’
I only remembered the black birds in the pie until I looked it up to find the rest of the rhyme. These were more popular during Henry VIII days it said. But nonetheless, lots of blackbirds were out this weekend along with some very nice sunshine.
And when the sun shines on a Common Grackle, he really shines.
I am thinking this one below is a regular black bird. All the others had the iridescent blue feathers around their necks.
And so many red Winged Black Birds this year. I do love hearing the song they sing.
Last but never least, one Red Squirrel. They have been pretty scarce lately. I am just guessing they are finding food in the forest or they are in their nest starting to raise their babies. 😉
What a Colorful Day to end the week with. I was driving along and saw one of those signs that says Historic Marker here. I love stopping at those. It was a small park and a lovely walk to the lake area. But this garage, boat house type building is what I noticed when I reached the water. The red tree buds almost matching the roof on the garage and the bird house.
Along with, my first sighting of a wood duck. Mr. and Mrs. Wood Duck. So very colorful. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
It did decide to snow just a bit today. Just enough to make everything look pretty for a few hours.
A New Train to My Collection, I do love trains. There is just something about them, the power and the sound amazes me. The amount of weight they can pull and just the size of these giant locomotives, I am in awe of the construction of them. And they are really pretty when they are all cleaned up. So I have added this nice orange colored one to my collection.
The Red ones are always pretty when they pass by in the winter.
Now, I took this one a while ago. It look kind of plain in this photo. It was a very gray day and snowing heavily. But, I like to create art work via the computer. I can not paint or draw but an app called Photoshop allows me to let my imagination run wild and create what my mind imagines.
So, I took the photo above and put a new sky on it below. The sky part of the photo is a photo I took also at my sister’s farm. On a cold winters day, it is fun to create artwork of your own.
Art in the Park at Sunrise, A lot of parks are featuring artwork at times, such as statues made by local artist. I do like this one, it seems to be reaching to the heavens. I can not create a piece of art such as a statue, I do not posses that talent. But I do enjoying creating art with photography. So many different styles of art all created with imagination and the beauty that we see in our minds eye.
The First Flower Buds on a Tree, it has been a rainy couple of days, so taking photos seemed out of reach. But, when the rain stopped for a moment, I could see the first signs of flowering buds on a tree across the driveway so I got my camera and took a few shots. So nice to see and all of a sudden one day I will look out the window and there will be leaves on all the trees. I love that when it happens.
I have no idea what kind of tree this is. There are only a handful of them with these buds on them. I will wait and see what comes next, unless anyone knows what they are. 🙂
Forest Green in Early Spring, there is always some form of green coloring in the forest all year long. But this time of year, in the spring, the pine needles are more vibrant as the forest wakes up to sprout new life. Green and Blue I must say are my favorite colors.
The Merganser Ducks, there are 4 types of Merganser Ducks and Merganser means fish eating ducks. This first one is called the Common Merganser. The females all look like they have mohawks when their head feathers are up. These photos did not turn out as clear as I had hoped for. But I wanted to show them anyway. I will be going back to the lake to get better photos next week.
The rest of these are named Hooded Merganser’s. The female is in the front with her fancy feather doo. Her hubby in the back looks a bit perturbed. Like he is saying, ” Now where are we going?” She just keeps on going. 🙂
They’re Our Biggest Waterfowl – Trumpeter Swans demand superlatives: they’re our biggest native waterfowl, stretching to 6 feet in length and weighing more than 25 pounds – almost twice as massive as a Tundra Swan.
Despite their size, this once-endangered, now recovering species is as elegant as any swan, with a graceful neck and snowy-white plumage. They breed on wetlands in remote Alaska, Canada, and the northwestern U.S., and winter on ice-free coastal and inland waters.
They almost appear to be smiling with that little touch of orange in the corner of their bill.
There is a swan behind this branch, my camera changed its focus on the mossy covered branch instead. But I find moss to be so artistic in its own way.
I See Skies of Blue and Clouds of White, The bright blessed days, the dark sacred nights. And I think to myself, What a wonderful World. For those of you who might remember this song by Louis Armstrong, I put the song at the bottom of the post.
I thought of this song when I woke up to a sky of blue after a nights rain. I have never seen so much blue upon blue with just a touch of white. A work of Art like no other, painted by the Hands of Time.
The Beauty of Spring, I just love when the migrating birds start coming back. It was gorgeous weather all weekend and I did not take one photo or open my computer at all. Sometimes you just have to take a moment and enjoy the spring weather when it arrives.
Even though the grass is still brown, I know any day now the wild flowers will start to come up and I can see the buds on the trees now also. So today I went to the lake to see if the swans were still there and they were. There was still a little ice on the water but it will all be gone soon.
This beautiful duck is back as well. It is called the Hooded Merganser Duck, there are 4 types of Merganser’s. I saw this one and the Common Merganser. I will have more photos coming this week. These are so cool looking I think with their crown of feathers. This is a male and the females are just as pretty. The females look like they have mohawks.
Over 1000 Species of Trees in the US and over 60,065 species of trees in the world, according to a comprehensive study of the world’s plants. All these photos below I found in one small forest around me. My favorite is this first photo, the Aspen tree. The white bark with the black markings are so beautiful. This specific tree in the photo is right by me, I stop and put my hand on the bark every time I walk by it.
This next photo is Birch Tree, the bark peels off like paper. I could not identify the rest of the trees by the bark. I think I would need to buy a book to make it easier.
Where is the Purple Finch, Happy Easter Weekend, in line with Easter Egg Hunting, try and spot the purple finch song bird in this first photo. Almost like looking for an egg. 🙂 The last photo will show you a close up of the little bird, it is camouflaged pretty good.
Time to Shed Winter Coats, lots of shedding going on this time of year. All sorts of deer hair around the bird feeders as they are trying to reach the itchy spot with their hooves. Or rubbing up against trees. This one here is enjoying a warm day, scratching behind her ear.
Then she heard something behind her and looked up to see if anything was there.
It was just me, she is looking at me like she is saying, ” What”
Well the Moss is Green, I do love looking at moss on trees. When you get really close, it is like looking at a miniature forest. We had some snow a couple of days ago so there is still a little snow ice on the moss. The grass is not turning green yet and no buds on the trees. But the moss is always pretty to look at.
Spring Birds are Here and the deer have lost their winter coats already. The Common Grackles are here wondering around on the ground foraging for food. They are lanky blackbirds with long legs, a long tail, and a long and heavy bill. Adult males appear dark overall, but have an iridescent bluish head and bronzy body in good light.
The bird in the for ground is the Red Winged Black Bird, one of my favorites for its song. I love hearing them in the spring. You can see the difference in size of these two birds.
Here is one of the younger doe’s coming out of the woods. This is a good time of year for them. Green grass is uncovered by the melting snow and the bugs are not bothering them yet.
The Ice is Breaking Up at the lake. The lake looks so blue when the skies are clear. I went to this wonderful little park to see how the ice is doing and it is nice to see clear water again. It was kind of cold on this day so I did not get around the whole park.
It is good to see all the spring birds coming back, it is even nice to see the gulls again.
This is an entrance to a Cable bridge at this park. I love the towering beams holding the cables up at each end.
It is a small suspension bridge held by lots of heavy duty cables. But they suggest only 2 people at a time. It really gets to moving as you walk across it. I will have to go back there again for better photos. It was pretty cold and still slippery with ice everywhere.
The Rushing of Waters to Waters and·he-shall-become, separating between waters to·waters. Here you have a physical reality and a spiritual reality. Waters is an idiomatic expression for the spiritual nature. I have been reading another bloggers post for over a year now. You may know him, The Rural Iowegian. He has been on a journey, a struggle of trying to over come cancer, he has shared his journey through blogging.
But his battle with cancer has come to a cross roads. His journey makes one think, it could happen to anyone of us. Life can change so fast and leave one with so many questions. It got me to thinking about life and death.
By the time we are 5 we become isolate to one thought, those of our fathers who have gone before us. We become seen in life to the ones standing in front of us, to be judged in their fires. To help us to cleanse the flectional thoughts we have picked up in life from those around us. We isolate some thoughts and pick up flectional thoughts swirling just outside the corners of our eyes, like the water swirling in circles at the bottom of the water falls.
Those thoughts bend in the wind into any shape that is pleasing to the eye. We allow ourselves to become malleable to the thoughts of others standings and too often bow to them for the bulk of our lives.
These thoughts in turn can lead to fear, fear of the unknown. Fear of sticking with your own beliefs, because of the pressures of those around us to to conform to their ideas. All these different thoughts can pull you into so many different directions that one can lose sight of the narrow gate that leads to the light at the end of the tunnel.
When I am standing by a waterfall, I can only hear the rushing of the water heading to its final destination. It pushes all the other noise away, so I can see the destination, the beautiful ocean of water where time stands still for but a moment and everything makes sense for awhile. My place of tranquility, where I can draw on the peace and quiet solitude within the Freedom of my Heart. Where the thought of Death does not bind me to the ways of the world.
It is Strutting Season This has been such a treat to see these wild turkeys up close. Some of these photos were taken through a window. Maybe they will get to the point they won’t run off so quick if they see me out and about trying to get a picture of these beautiful birds, as they get used to me be around.
Turkeys almost always spit and drum when they strut but also do it when not strutting. Unlike a gobble that can carry up to a mile, the ruffling feathers and spit and drum sounds can be difficult for humans to hear beyond a hundred yards, even in the best conditions.
It is quite comical to watch these males strutting around, they are always right next to each other trying to out do the other as they puff up all their feathers. Along with trying to grab the attention of the girls, who on this day were not paying any attention to these two at all.
Does Anyone Know What This Is, well I did not know until the other day. I have seen wild turkeys from a distance. But never this close. The male turkeys, called Tom’s, are so much more colorful than I knew, especially during this time of year and if the sun is out.
These feathers sticking out from the males are called beards. Males typically have a “beard”, a tuft of coarse hair (modified feathers) growing from the center of the breast. Beards average 230 mm (9.1 in) in length. The longer the beard the older the turkey.
The body feathers are generally blackish and dark, sometimes grey brown overall with a coppery sheen that becomes more complex in adult males. The male is substantially larger than the female, and his feathers have areas of red, purple, green, copper, bronze, and gold iridescence.
Adult males, called toms or gobblers, have a large, featherless, reddish head, red throat, and red wattles on the throat and neck. The head has fleshy growths called caruncles. Juvenile males are called jakes; the difference between an adult male and a juvenile is that the jake has a very short beard and his tail fan has longer feathers in the middle.
Their heads are very colorful, from pinks and blues. Now, their face is a little odd, but their beautiful feathers really make them shine. Tomorrow I will show a couple photos of the Tom’s strutting their stuff. I never know when they will show up and they spook real easy. I hope to get some video of them one of these times.
Fun Surprise in the Yard, the wild turkeys have found my bird feeder and come by to clean up all the left overs on the ground. But as you can see, there is a white turkey in the bunch. I have never seen a wild whitish turkey. It says about 1 out of 100 might end up white.
The photos are a little blurry because I had to take the photo through the window. The minute I open the door they all take off running and surprisingly, they can run really fast.
The Time Between Sunrise & Sunset, the snow is almost gone and the smell of fresh spring air is on the horizon. Golden hues of a spring sunrise is warming the earth from its winters nap. How precious our time is between the two.
Time is the most precious resource because you can’t get it back. People often think of money as their most valuable resource. Money is something created by man to trade for things.
Time seemed to last forever when I was younger. But today, time has slowed down for me. Without the Father, time was fleeting and not spent wisely for me. With the Father, time is a gift. Each moment from Sunrise to Sunset, are precious moments in time that can not be taken back. A very wise man said the other day, by the name of Mark, the Father never said we had to walk this path alone. He will teach us the value of time.
The Smallest of Those, creation. The smallest birds in my back yard, yet they survived the winter and the cold temps. Amazing how they are able to do this without a winters coat or boots on their little feet. Survival instinct, migration, what can we see and learn from the smallest around us?
There are a few theories about how birds find their way between their seasonal homes, and there are still some mysteries surrounding how exactly their honing systems work.
For many birds, however, migration is an instinct, a journey their bodies are prepared to take when the time comes. No fear, it is written. They always find their way back home. Amazing indeed.
The least of you will become a thousand, and the smallest a mighty nation. At the right time, I, the LORD, will make it happen.”
What Might This Be, I have always been one to stop and look at everything since I was a child. Photography has made it even more fun to look at all the little things that we tend to walk right by without a second glance. How close can I get? What does this look like really close? That is what I am thinking.
Now granted, there always seems to be something that makes me stop and take a second glance. On this particular day, as you might guess, the sparkles of light reflecting off the frost caught my eye right away. I love it when this happens. It can take me along time to take a walk outdoors, because He shows me daily that life is to be enjoyed, to slow down and see, really see everything around us.
Even; Shingles on a Roof
But it is the Light that always stops me and enables me to take a deep breath and just smile.
A Cheerful Tiny Bird called the Chickadee, Now I have taken 100’s of photos of this bird and many others. I never get tired of photographing the same species, but I do try to change the backgrounds and make each photograph a little different. The bird is the subject of the photo, but the challenge comes by finding new locations and different ways to photograph each bird.
Which takes a lot of patience to study and watch each species and try to figure out how they live so that I can showcase how they eat, nest and fly. Of course flying is the difficult one to capture, especially with this fast little bird.
The Trumpeter Swans are Back – They are loud and somewhat musical creatures, with their cry sounding similar to a trumpet, which gave the bird its name. There is still a little snow on the banks of the river, but it sure is nice to see them again.
Two of My Favorite Large Birds, The Raven and The Bald Eagle. I actually witnessed this weekend an Eagle flying by my place and two Ravens were pestering him as he was flying by. The ravens stay around my place so it must be their territory. I would have thought, the eagle being so much bigger, that they would fly away from him.
The Road to Spring is a long one here in my neck of the woods. But I do enjoy each season and you cannot rush it. So I try to capture each moment of each season by taking the road less traveled, finding places off the beaten path. There are plenty of places to explore on this beautiful road called life. Enjoy the ride, you can never get enough of nature.
Lake Superior Ice 2021, I wanted to finish this week off with the last of my winter snow photos of Lake Superior. It is actually raining here today. So all this ice you see in these photos is but a memory now. These photos were all taken with a drone at the end of February. There were quite a few nights of -18 F to create this much ice on this giant lake.
Lake Superior is not only the largest of the great lakes, it also has the largest surface area of any fresh water lake in the world. It contains 3000 cubic miles of water. That is enough water to fill all the other great lakes plus 3 additional Lake Erie’s.
It is hard to describe the size of the ice heaves, shoves or I call the big ones cliffs out in the middle, that you see in these photos.
Lake ice formation is dynamic. Even when a lake is completely frozen, the ice is not stagnant. It expands and contracts as it warms and cools. Differences in day and night temperatures can be large enough to cause the ice to crack. As the air temperature drops at night, lake ice cools and contracts. Since the ice is stuck to the shoreline, the entire sheet cannot contract as a whole, so cracks develop in the ice.
When the ice warms during the day, it expands. This expansion can cause a collision between both sides of the crack, which can cause the ice to buckle up at that pressure point.
This picture below, I am standing over in the shadow of the trees and I cannot see over the ice chunks closest to the beach. They are that tall.
This is my view from the shoreline so you can see how tall this first row of ice is.
So I can only imagine how tall these ice formations are, farther out into the water. By the look of the shadow I can Imagine I am just a tiny speck if I were standing near it.
This is a close up of the ice in the center of the first photo above.
And here is the grand finale. Lake Superior 2021, this photo is facing East looking along the shoreline.
And this one is facing West. That is a lot of ice and when you see that much ice you know it was really cold.
Crossing the Barrier in Time, that is what winter makes me think of. When I am standing at a location such as where I took these photos. It is like standing in a new world, no people, buildings or anything that resembles time.
I have crossed the barrier of time in my mind where I can now see the past, the journey, the road less traveled to arrive at this place in time. This place in time is in the moment.
Lake Superior is an amazing place especially in the winter. It is like another world.
The past that we wore born into is gone, a distant memory. A New World a New Life awaits every moment our eyes are opened.
This photo below is Lake Superior taken a couple of weeks ago with a drone. It shows the Ice buckling up along the shore line.
I have made a video of this Winters photoshoot of Lake Superior, on my You Tube Channel, you can visit and see the videos Here; Lake Superior on Ice. They are a little bit long so I did not want to attach them to this post.
Nature vs Man Made Neon Lights, I was watching a video that caught my eye the other day. There is something new out there called Cyber Punk Neon Effect. Well, it probably isn’t new, I just heard about it now. So it is new to me.
So I thought I would give it a try. I don’t take a lot of photos of city night lights. But I do enjoy it when I can, so the concept is to turn the lights into what appears like neon lights by adjusting the colors in post processing.
They use photos like this in the gaming industry and some sci fyi type movies. I kind of like it.
Funny thing, after I made the photo above, the next night I looked out the window and the brightest, most colorful looking sunset appeared on the horizon. I did not adjust the colors below, there was actually a pink beam of light rising up from the sun behind the trees.
It appears to be, that creation was showing me, Neon lights already exist with out having to use photoshop. 🙂
Beauty of Frost and Sunlight, I went out to feed the birds this morning as it dipped back down to 7 Deg F. The sun was just starting to come through the trees and the frost on the glass bird feeder was just sparkling in the morning light.
Portrait of the Raven, I finally was able to get a photo of this beautiful Raven. I have two that hang around my place. But they are very smart birds and don’t like to sit still for photos. I just happen to take this one through a window.
Brilliant Splash of Color, after the heavy snow yesterday, the sun came out and I spotted this beautiful red hiding behind the trunk of a pine tree. What a gorgeous sight to see. The only Male Cardinal I have seen in this area in awhile.
Of course this little Red Squirrel can hold its own in color department with its beautiful red/orange stripe down its back. He is a sneaky little guy trying to grab the last of the bird food. 😉
Where is Wall Doe (Deer), boy did we get dumped on yesterday with some snow. Over a foot of snow in just 6 hours and than it was all over. The deer came out for a little snack, but I could hardly see them it was so heavy at times.
I did get the plowing done before the snow ended and it got dark. Luckily it isn’t that cold this time. So it wasn’t so bad until the snow plow comes by later and heaps it all up at the end of the driveway. But I will just have to put the ole jeep in 4 wheel drive and have some fun.
Oh, and I did get a photo of the illusive partridge. I took the photo through a window. That is the only way not to spook it.
Light Snow to End the Week, what a beautiful week it has been weather wise. Even the snow was just right, not to much but just enough to see it lightly falling around the birds perched in the trees.
Look here, one tiny branch with a red bud on it. I love seeing the first new bud on a tree, after its long winters nap.
The Value of a Moment – Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it has already become a memory. As far back as I can remember, I have never been one to hurry through life. I was and still am never in a hurry to get anywhere or to accomplish something.
Just ask my husband, he is a hard working man, who is focused and loves to build things to make a better life for us. He knows first hand that my focus gets distracted easily. It is like saying “Squirrel” to a Dog, if you know what I mean.
This photo below is a perfect example. I was headed to a specific place and when we got past a grove of trees I looked out my window and had to stop. I had to get out and just look at what was before me. The clouds caught my eye right away, the white streaks in front of such a blue sky was amazing. This is Lake Superior covered in ice and snow drifts. It looked like whip cream every where.
I am turning 60 years old this year and when I think back on my time here on this earth. What I remember the most are these little moments. I remember making snow angels in the winter, laying in the grass and looking up at the stars on a warm summers night. Feeling the wind on my face as I sit on a beach staring out over the ocean. The smell of the first rain in the spring.
But these are not just memories, they are in the forefront of my mind all the time. I have never stopped searching for these moments that show me what life is really about, for me. They are the gifts given to us to remind us that life is meant to be enjoyed.
This photo below is a moment in time that no one else has seen but us, until today. This is a drone shot of Lake Superior, frozen in time, rising ice breaks along the edge of the lake, as far as you can see. The beauty of creation.
Where am I going with this thought you might be wondering? Well, I worked some hard jobs during my younger years as well, I stood on cement floors for 12 hours a day at a factory for many years. It was very hard work, but I don’t remanence about those days at all.
The same as I don’t get caught up in the politics that surround us now a days. I am aware of what is going on, but I don’t have time to focus to much on that, it is a distraction that takes me away from the One who matters most, to me. The only One who said ” Let there be Light“, ” I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye”
Through His eyes is how I see, the value of a Moment
Memories of the Farm, We went for a drive the other day. The sun was out and the chickadees were singing on this beautiful February Morning. I grew up on a farm and raised horses for many years. One of the things I like to see in the country is the old red barns.
We came across this one covered in snow. I can just picture, back in the day when this old barn was new. Painted a beautiful red, oh how it must have stood out when the snow blanketed the roof top.
I had a barn just like this one. The same shape and red, mine faced the sun just as this one is. I used to open up the big hay loft door that you see in this photo above the ground, I would open it up on a sunny day in winter and sit on the edge and enjoy the warmth of the sun caressing my skin.
These are the days I remember the most, living the simple life, enjoying the little things. I still enjoy doing the same thing, except now I sit on my porch, still facing the sun and just listening to the sounds of nature.
Living each day in the moment, for our days go by so fast. My photos remind me of wonderful days gone by and also remind me that the best moments in life are now, for tomorrow we do not know.
She is Getting Chipmunk Cheeks and she is always sticking her tongue out at me. She isn’t very shy anymore. I was standing pretty close to her, so this photo came out pretty clear. I just seem to click the shot right in time with her tongue. Pretty good timing 😏
She is Getting Chipmunk Cheeks
Oh when you smilin’, when you smilin’ The whole world, smiles with you Yes, when you laughin’, when you laughin’ Yes, the sun come shinin’ through; by Louis Armstrong
Water Falls in the Winter, I hope everyone had a good weekend. It has been some strange weather everywhere. It warmed up a bit here so I headed to the water falls to see what they looked like and took a few photos.
This photo below was taken last summer just to show you what is coming soon. 💕
Colorful Lights of Winter, this first shot was at just the right angle to see the colorful lens flare. Which almost looks like light from a prism, this is a new technique when I looked it up, using prisms to create colorful light refractions. I might have to get some prisms and try something new. 🤔
And a short video of blowing snow here where I am after a light snow fall, posted at the bottom of the page.
Below is a Photo of the flower, Queen Anne’s Lace, this is what it looks like in the winter.
A Winters Sunset, I don’t see to many colorful sunsets this time of year. It depends on how overcast the sky’s are by nightfall. But when I look out the window and see a touch of orange in the sky, I bundle up and head out to take a photo just so I don’t miss it. Sights like this are few and far between this time of year.
Creating Bokeh Lights in Photos, I love taking photos to create the circles of light that they refer to as Bokeh. It is where you put the light behind your subject and zoom in. It right up there next to sparkles for me.
Just a Little Ice Formations at the Lake this month. When the sky’s are blue the ice is blue. The reflection of light. Everything is in winter hibernation, even me when it is this cold out.
Shades of Winter Blues, there are so many shades of blue in the winter. Blue happens to be my favorite color and then green. Must be why I like the forest, lakes and oceans. Amazing how each season has an abundance of color for our eyes to see.
Blue is the rarest color in nature and most often not the result of pigment. Most things in the natural world that appear blue come from the refracting of light through structures designed to reflect this color.
And he made the vail [of] blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubim’s thereon
Bright Sunny Day Today, the sun finally came out today and what a difference it makes for photographing birds. There are plenty of gray days all winter, so it is a real treat when the sun comes out and the birds gather around the feeders.
She is Looking Right at Me, I opened the door to go outside and happen to have my camera. She did not run away right off like she usually does. She just stood there looking at me, so I took a couple of photos as she was licking her lips of the fresh bird seed.
I think she is telling me to bring some more food.
And when I told her No, she stuck her tongue out at me.
Eyes Glow in Different Colors, I have mentioned that it is really cold here, so I have a lot of time on my hands. This allows you to see how my thought pattern works in the mornings. I was taking photos of my dogs this morning with the flash on and that is when I noticed thy have different color glowing eyes. So I had to look up why.
Eyes that glow in the pitch-black night make for many a scary tale. But the glowing eyes is what makes them see better at night. That light-reflecting surface, is called tapetum lucidum.
When light enters the eye, it’s supposed to hit a photoreceptor that transmits the information to the brain. But sometimes the light doesn’t hit the photoreceptor, so the tapetum lucidum acts as a mirror to bounce it back for a second chance.
And not all eyes animals’ glow the same color. There are varying amounts of pigment within the retina, and that can affect the color, along with age.
Now it did say cats eyes glow also, I took a lot of photos of my cat with the flash on and I could not get the glow to come out. Juts the look of disdain and stop flashing my eyes, look from her.
Most animals that have a tapetum lucidum in their eyes are mammals, nocturnal animals.
Some species of birds – such as owls – have eyes that appear to glow.
But birds do not have a tapetum lucidum layer in their eyes. But their eyes are beautiful just the same.
Under the Shadow of Wings, I hear whispers in the wind. These tiny little birds are flying all around me, not afraid nor shy. They land on my camera at times as I am standing there near by.
I hear whispers in the wind from the fast beats of their wings. Who, who are these birds with their mighty wings?
But of course the tinniest of birds, the Chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee
If you stay there long enough, you might see the Shadow of the Wings. May your spirit take refuge in what follows; In the Whispers in the Wind.
What Do You Do in -18 Degree F, Well a lot of people are experiencing cold weather this week. For me as well, when I woke up this morning to minus 18 degrees F and windy. But the sun is out, so I have to go outside. Why you might ask? (video below)
A friend of mine from the blog post; WALKIN’, WRITIN’, WIT & WHIMSY, Told me about freezing Soap Bubbles in cold weather. So I had to give it a try.
Every bubble is different just like every snow flake is different. It was so much fun, my camera would start to malfunction after awhile, as well as my fingers. But, like a kid, I would go warm up and go back and do more.
There are a lot of different recipes for making the bubble mixture, if you don’t have the bubble stuff most children have on hand for summer fun. I used 3 cups of water, 1 cup of dish soap and 1 tbl corn syrup. The sugar is what helps form the crystals and helps the bubble to last longer.
It was windy out so mine kept popping as you can see in the video.
Ice Forming on Lake Superior, I love going to Lake Superior, everyday you will see something different. This first photo is Lake Superior in the Summer, you can see there is a nice little beach for walking along the shore line.
This photo below is the same beach, taken in December 2020. I was standing almost in the same spot. Notice the rocks on the right, the beach is a lot more narrow now and ice is beginning to form. It was very slippery.
This photo was taken last month, same spot and the rocks on the right. But now it is all ice all the way out to the left of the photo. There were footprints going out over the ice and I was tempted to walk out there. But I decided not to. That is some powerful water running underneath that ice.
It is tuff to get a good photo when the sky is gray and all the snow. This one shows a little bit more of how far the ice goes out from the shore line. The rocks are still on the right side of the photo.
This one is just looking straight out across Lake Superior with ice formations way out there. Quite the site seeing all this water and ice slowly closing in on you.
Sand frozen in the Ice, walking on the beach is a little slippery this time of year.
Doe a Deer a Female Deer, Ray a Drop of Golden Sun. Perfect line for todays photos because the sun actually came out for the first time in days. I stepped out the door with my camera in hand and off they ran. So I was able to get a couple of photos.
They have a way of looking right at me.
The two photos below are the same as the one above. Another blogger suggested cutting out the dark area above the deer. This first one I cropped it out but I feel it has to much for ground in it.
This second one I added some background to even out the photo and have the deer in the center of the photo. Which do you like better?
What Does Your Imagination See, shadows are quite fun sometimes. Sometimes during the winter I don’t always have a lot to photograph except for what my imagination sees. What do you see below?
I see a tree Gnome, actually there could be two faces, one at the top and the big shadow.
Actually, it is a big tree that fell over in a storm last fall and right where you see the shadow, that is where the tree broke off. Left side of the shadow is higher than the ride side. So it is an optical illusion really. 😏🤔
