Tag: adventures outdoors

No Jumping From Pier

No Jumping From Pier

No Jumping From Pier – Pelicans Talking

“George, are you going to jump? It says no jumping”

No Jumping From Pier

“But look at all those fish down there, I’m jumping”

No Jumping From Pier

Woo Hoo

No Jumping From Pier

“Look at George go, I’m going next”

No Jumping From Pier

Lunch is served

No Jumping From Pier

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

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

The Double Crested Cormorant

The Double Crested Cormorant

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

The Double Crested Cormorant

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

 Incredibly Complex

 Incredibly Complex

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.

Incredibly Complex

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.

Incredibly Complex

Incredibly Complex

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Sweet Color of Sunlight

Sweet Color of Sunlight

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.

Sweet Color of Sunlight

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!

Sweet Color of Sunlight

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sweet Color of Sunlight

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Swallow Tailed Kites

Swallow Tailed Kites

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

Swallow Tailed Kites

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

He Needs a Bigger Condo

He Needs a Bigger Condo

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.

He Needs a Bigger Condo
How to Be Brave on top of the World. #shorts
He Needs a Bigger Condo
He Needs a Bigger Condo

Have a wonderful weekend. 🙂

He Needs a Bigger Condo

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

I Took a Lot of Photos

I Took a Lot of Photos

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. 🙂

I Took a Lot of Photos
I Took a Lot of Photos

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.

I Took a Lot of Photos

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Really Fast Birds

Really Fast Birds

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.

Really Fast Birds

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
Really Fast Birds

Really Fast Birds

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Hanging Out at the Beach Kind of Day

Hanging Out at the Beach Kind of Day

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

Hanging Out at the Beach Kind of Day

With a couple of Oyster catchers hanging out, the birds with the orange bills.

Hanging Out at the Beach Kind of Day
Beach Birds - Wildlife on Beach, Panasonic Lumix Bridge Camera, Slo Mo, Video, Still Shots, Art Work

Hanging Out at the Beach Kind of Day

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Opposite of Blue is Orange

Opposite of Blue is Orange

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.

shrimp boat on the gulf
Opposite of Blue is Orange
Opposite of Blue is Orange
Opposite of Blue is Orange

Have a Wonderful Weekend

Opposite of Blue is Orange

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

The Palm Warbler

The Palm Warbler

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.

The Palm Warbler

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?

The Palm Warbler

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

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Close Up Macro Lens

Close Up Macro Lens

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.

Close Up Macro Lens

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
Close Up Macro Lens

Close Up Macro Lens

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

The Quintessential Early Bird

The Quintessential Early Bird

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.

The Quintessential Early Bird
The Quintessential Early Bird

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

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

The Longest Squirrel Tail

The Longest Squirrel Tail

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.

The Longest Squirrel Tail

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.

The Longest Squirrel 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.

The Longest Squirrel Tail

This is a Red Squirrel

red squirrel

Below is a White Red Squirrel I photographed last year.

white squirrel

The Giant Rock Squirrel below, it is the biggest of the squirrel family found in Texas.

The Longest Squirrel Tail

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Rare Sighting

Rare Sighting

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.

Rare Sighting
Rare Sighting

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.

Rare Sighting

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

One Eagle This Year

One Eagle This Year

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.

One Eagle This Year

One Eagle This Year

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

New Puppy Portraits

New Puppy Portraits

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.

New Puppy Portraits
New Puppy Portraits

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.

New Puppy Portraits

Have a wonderful weekend.

New Puppy Portraits

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Tiny Birds With a Touch of Color

Tiny Birds With a Touch of Color

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.

Yellow Rumped Warbler,

Tiny Birds With a Touch of Color

Red Eyed Vireo

Tiny Birds With a Touch of Color

Northern Parula

Tiny Birds With a Touch of Color

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts