Belted King Fisher – it is a rare moment when you can catch this bird sitting still and not to far away. Which is how I got this shot. Pulled up to a little park and he was sitting on this post. I slowly opened the door trying to be so quiet, it does not take much movement to scare these birds off.
I had my camera in hand, took a couple of quick shots and he was gone like that. 🙂
Belted King Fisher
Who Knew swans go completely upside down when taking a bath. This is the first time I have seen this. Looks like it is having a good time. 🙂
Who Knew
Northern Flicker, I was sitting on the porch watching this beautiful bird as it is looking for food. I have a pair of these that nest near the cabin every summer.
They love going in the soft dirt of the garden as they hunt for food. I don’t seem to have that many birds this year. But I can always count on seeing a couple of these.
Have a Wonderful Weekend
No matter how many twigs you drop, you’re still my favorite 🙂
Have a Wonderful Weekend
When the Raven Flees
This morning, I watched a raven—a mighty bird in size and strength—being chased off by a much smaller blackbird. The raven didn’t fight back. It simply flew away, retreating from the smaller bird’s fierce determination to protect its territory. I captured the moment with my lens, but it lingered far longer in my heart.
It’s a scene I’ve watched many times in nature, but this time it stirred something deeper. I couldn’t help but think about what’s happening in the world—the constant unrest, the senseless killing in countries across the globe, the headlines filled with pain and violence. It’s relentless. And it’s easy to feel helpless, or worse, numb.
That raven reminded me of how even the strong must sometimes retreat. That courage isn’t always about fighting back—it’s about knowing when to move, when to rise above, and when to find refuge.
In the chaos, I find myself returning to one safe place: my faith in our Creator. The world may roar around us, but there is peace in His presence. There is order, purpose, and rest. It’s not always found in the news or the noise, but in the quiet of morning light, in the beating wings of birds, and in the whisper that reminds me I am held.
Maybe today, instead of trying to make sense of the madness, we simply lift our eyes. We look for beauty. We choose compassion. We stand firm in truth, but we also know when to fly—not in fear, but in wisdom. Just like that raven.
Have a wonderful weekend.
From my heart to yours,
Sandra J’s Photography
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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“Capturing the world, one breathtaking moment at a time.”
The Ruby’s Are Back – every year I wait in anticipation to see the first Ruby Throat hummingbird arrive here at home.
They are not very afraid of us here and they allow me to get pretty close to take their photos. Always a challenge but so worth the effort.
The Ruby’s Are Back
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Wildlife in my Backyard – the sandhill cranes are back. I would love to get a photo of them flying.
They have a pretty impressive wingspan like the blue herons do.
The white tailed deer still look pretty scruffy. Losing the winter coats. Walking amongst the dandelions. They could eat some of those dandelions, I sure would not mind.
Wildlife in my Backyard
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Fly Over by a Blue Heron, I finally got the shot. I have always wanted to get a shot of a heron flying directly above me, but normally they keep their distance from people.
Truly an amazing wingspan.
I have gotten the white pelican fly over. So I have two on my list. 🙂
Fly Over
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
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Is Valentine Day Here 🙂
Is Valentine Day Here
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
Real Christianity the Great Awakening
By RJ Dawson
Thank you for stopping by.
Juvenile Ibis Bird – I find these birds to be pretty special as well as the Spoon Bills. One only sees them in the south. Such a unique design.
This one below is one of my favorite shots.
Juvenile Ibis Bird
Sandra J’s Adventures Outdoors
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The Osprey in Flight
Another fun bird to photograph, especially when they are flying. They can hover for a long time as they look around in the water for a fish to snag.
This shot below show the orange hue color of their eyes. Which I have never noticed before.
The Osprey in Flight
Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures
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Portrait of a Rooster
Portrait of a Rooster
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New Bird at the Campground – A New Bird at the Campground – Out of nowhere, this stunning rooster appeared, strutting around our RV at this small campground. I thought I heard one crowing at 5 a.m. this morning, and sure enough, there he was.
He’s the most vibrant rooster I’ve ever seen, with feathers that looked incredibly soft and shiny as the sunlight danced across them.
I took lots of photos of him. He did not seem to mind. Probably gets this attention everyday from all the campers coming and going.
New Bird at the Campground
Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures
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Kestrel – American Kestrels occupy habitats ranging from deserts and grasslands to alpine meadows. You’re most likely to see them perching on telephone wires along roadsides, in open country with short vegetation and few trees.
My first sighting of one of these colorful birds.
My shutter speed on the camera wasn’t nearly fast enough to stop motion of this quick bird.
Have a great weekend.
Kestrel
Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures
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Birds in the Nature Preserve – Just a few of the birds I saw while driving around the nature preserve. A lot of the usual ones like the herons and a few ducks now and than. We are a little late for migration time so there were not as many birds as earlier in the year I am sure.
Most of them were quite far away from where we were standing. I found this photo below interesting as the alligator swam past the Anhinga bird perched on the dead tree.
We did find at one end of the lake a lot of bird feathers. The alligators do eat birds.
Looks like this bird blind got hit by a storm and ripped the roof right off of it. Closed for the season.
Birds in the Nature Preserve
Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures
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I finally spotted two new bird species and one I’ve been hoping to see for years at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge!
Whenever I’m traveling, I always pull up Google Maps to check for nearby wildlife areas. In the Southeast, especially along the coast, there are tons of them, thanks to the vast marshlands.
Lately, I’ve been discovering more wildlife refuge areas that let you drive through the landscape. These parks have roads winding through the marshes, giving you deeper access to the area and better chances of spotting wildlife.
Savannah National Wildlife Refuge is one of those special places!
We didn’t spot many bird species as we drove through the area, but I did add two new ones to my list.
My first exciting sighting was a wood stork. They were distant, but I still got a good look with my binoculars.
Then, as we walked down a narrow trail alongside a waterway, a hint of pink caught my eye. Sure enough, there they were!
The spoon bill bird. I finally got to see them. A pink bird. Quite amazing. So different from all the other birds. We are in South Carolina where I finally got to see these. I thought I would have to go to Florida to see them.
Savannah National Wildlife Refuge
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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.
Birds
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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.
Have a great weekend.
Cooper’s Hawk
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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.
There Are 4 of These
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They May Be Tiny but they are fast little birds. Here’s to some of the prettiest tiny birds this fall from my backyard.
Little Birds in Slow Motion Video Link
They May Be Tiny
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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.
Dodge
Duck
Dip
Dive
Dodge
5 Ds of Dodge Ball
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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.
Discovering the New Bird Sanctuary
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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.
Just One Shot
Have a Great Weekend
Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures
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Shake Shake Shake. After eating its fish dinner, time to shake off the water.
Have a great weekend. 😉
Shake Shake Shake
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Heron Fishing today and this one is having some good luck. Catching big fish and eating them right away.
Before we left the small lake, heron tried again for a fish and came up empty handed. 🙂
Heron Fishing
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These Little Guys are Back – and lots of them. They are just so precious and friendly.
I made some holiday cards of this little bird. Chickadees and snow scenes go together so well. 🙂
These Little Guys are Back
Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures
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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.
A Dazzling Jewel
Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures
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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.
Spring Bird Family Vacations
