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.
One More Bridge
Every Bridge I Cross
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.
I will cross that bridge when I am called to. 🙂
Arizona
Texas
Every Bridge I Cross
Across the Bridge between two worlds from the Midwest to the gulf coast. Bridges are a gateway to new adventures.
Across the Bridge
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. 🙂
A Green Thumb
Far Away Places where the sky is blue.
Have a great weekend.
Far Away Places
One in Front of the Other – it is easy to photograph pelicans flying in tandem like this. They are the masters of gliding.
I like these photos because of the clouds in the background, makes it look like they are flying above them from this angle.
Video below or click here; Pelicans Riding the Invisible Updrafts
One in Front of the Other
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.
Goslings Out for a Stroll
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.
Two New Birds
No Jumping From Pier – Pelicans Talking
“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.
Have a great weekend.
No Jumping From Pier
Sittin on the Dock of the Bay watching the tide roll away. Song lyrics by Otis Redding.
Sittin on the Dock of the Bay
It is So Hot – I am a tree
What are you looking at over there?
So many different captions for these photos.
Boo
It is So Hot
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
The Double Crested Cormorant
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
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.
Incredibly Complex
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!
Have a wonderful weekend.
Sweet Color of Sunlight
Splish Splash I was taking a bath.
Ah hem, a little privacy please. 🙂
Splish Splash
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.
Swallow Tailed Kites
Natures Firework Colors – During the 4th of July fireworks displays, they end with what the call the grand finale.
This is natures grand finale for today’s 4th of July. Bright beautiful colors on display right outside all day every day. 🙂
Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts
Natures Firework Colors
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
A Little of Everything
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.
Have a great weekend.
Have a wonderful weekend. 🙂
He Needs a Bigger Condo
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.
This picture below is from the internet, I did not take it, it is just to show you what it looks like.
I Took a Lot of Photos
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.
Really Fast Birds
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.
Video of Beach Birds below or here; Beach Birds
With a couple of Oyster catchers hanging out, the birds with the orange bills.
Hanging Out at the Beach Kind of Day
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.
Another Warbler
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.
Have a Wonderful Weekend
Opposite of Blue is Orange
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. 🙂
The Palm Warbler
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.
Close Up Macro Lens
What in the World kind of dragon fly is this one? 🙂 makes me smile though. It looks like it has rabbit ears, white eyes, nose and mustache and I know I could make it smile somehow in photoshop.
What in the World
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.
Have a great weekend.
The Quintessential Early Bird
