I took this photo as I walked back up our little hill after my walk yesterday. Several of the birds (finches?) flew off as I approached, but these guys hung around while I took the photos. I’m using it for the Flickr challenge, plenty.
Texture is sybil by Kim Klassen.
This little bird stayed at our sliding glass door for the longest time; I’m not sure if he could see in or was studying his reflection. Eventually, another came around, and they both flew off.
Waiting to see which of my friends will tell me what kind of bird it is. . .
Textured with several textures from Kim Klassen’s waterfront collection.
Yes, there is water in Arizona! Drive about 5 minutes past Costco, and you are into the Prescott National Forest. Last weekend we took a short walk along Lynx Lake, where we watched an osprey fly around and a heron circle and land. People were fishing, canoeing, and kayaking- and we were content to sit and watch it all. A beautiful way to spend a sunny Saturday.
We bought a house!!!! It’s just what we were looking for- smaller, one level, low maintenance, and beautiful! We will finally exhale when all is finalized with the sale of our home in California- but it looks like we will be living in Arizona by the end of August! This will be a HUGE change for us- especially leaving all our friends. We expect lots of visitors!
Today’s photo was taken in the backyard of our ever-hospitable friends, the Thomases, who live in a gorgeous home in the pines of Prescott. We’re hoping they won’t be sick of us by the time we move here!
This little guy still won’t let me get close. He has no problem buzzing around my head- basically telling me to BACK OFF from his feeder. But he won’t come near the feeder itself unless I’m 8-10 feet away. He is basically king of the yard this summer.
For the last few weeks, I’ve spotted this little hummingbird at the feeder- and in the trees watching the feeder. Yesterday he buzzed me a few times after I refilled the feeder, but, when I took my camera outside yesterday, he patiently watched me from a tree until I went inside. The only time he ventured near the feeder was to chase another hummingbird out of the yard (at least that was my interpretation of what was happening). But as soon as I went inside, back to the feeder he would go.
I took these shots after dinner last night- through the screen door. I was way too far away- and had to use ISO’s ranging from 900-1250 to get usable shots. I think I should have gone higher, because all were underexposed- and lack clarity. These are cropped- I hope to get a lot closer next time.
A crunchy, brittle leaf caught my eye on the steps leading up to the deck today. OK- I can use that for the steps topic from earlier in the week. I used a coffee toned black and white conversion for this one.
As I was going in, I noticed this little guy watching me from a tree limb. He sat patiently, posing for me, until he heard my husband cheer as he watched football on TV- then off he flew.
We paid a visit to the Cosumnes River Preserve this morning in hopes of seeing some of the sandhill cranes which are just beginning to fly in. The marsh seemed relatively empty compared to our visit last winter, but we did see a couple sandhills, an egret, and many ducks and geese- and others we will just call “birds.” Lonnie and I are totally out of our element among these birders, but find it fun nonetheless to see so many birds in one place.
Here are some scenes from the marsh:
I met this noisy gull down by the water this morning. I wasn’t planning on photographing birds unless something unusual flew by (how many Canada geese can I photograph, seriously?), but he was insistent. He flew in circles around me, practically begging to be my subject. So here he is- in a textured version for Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday, with the theme, Looking Up. I used two layers of Kim’s dusty rose texture, the second at low opacity and mostly brushed off the seagull.
Occasionally, when my husband has appointments in interesting places, I ride along in hopes of photo opportunities. Today. we drove to Alameda.
We parked along the shoreline and . . .
looked across the bay at San Francisco. There was a a big fog bank over the city, so it was difficult to get a clear view. I played a lot with this photo in Lightroom. It ended up looking best in black and white; adding a lot of contrast to it in color caused it to look unrealistic.
I wasn’t planning to go with a Flickr theme today, but fate intervened. Within a few minutes I had three contenders for things with wings.
This great white egret was calmly standing by the water near where we parked.
A brown pelican flew by while I was shooting across the bay.
And then- a Southwest jet flew by!
The topic today is MYSTERY! I had a great idea, which I couldn’t quite execute. We’ve had a group of crows hanging out in our backyard, and they leave whenever we go outside. I almost got a shot today, but they are smarter than I am. So this is all I can offer- not quite a MURDER of CROWS, as I had planned.
OK, bird rescuers (and you know who you are!), I wasn’t planning to MURDER the crows! A group of crows is called a MURDER, but if you are a bird rescuer, you probably know that. . .
So here’s the real mystery. What are these plants/things (Carol, you can’t guess the last one)???
We are home- and missing our little Yellowstone family. I had Facetime with Miles this morning, which helped some.
We came home to Spring- at Yellowstone it has barely begun. Here is some of our lavender in full bloom.
Yesterday, we took a short drive with our son-in-law and Miles. Our son-in-law has the amazing ability to drive and spot wildlife at the same time. We stop- and then it takes my husband and me several minutes to see what he was able to spot while driving. Here are two birds we saw on our drive; both photos are very zoomed in, but he identified them while driving.
Sandhill crane (which looked like a rock until it finally lifted its head)
Kestrel
The theme is above the rest. As usual, there are blackbirds above the rest in the neighborhood trees.
An appointment took me across the bridge today, so I stopped at Heather Farms to take a few photos. Taking photos from under an umbrella was somewhat challenging, but I managed to get a few, switching to aperture priority when some large birds flew overhead and settled into the pond. They look like herons, but not the great blue one I photographed at Cosumnes- so I will call upon my friend, Carol, to identify them for me. There were a few in the pond- and one in a tree (at least I think it was the same kind- I didn’t stay long to observe).
And, because it is Fence Friday, here is a shot of the fence along the walkway.
Bored and uninspired today.
I took the camera with a zoom lens outside and took a few shots. Here’s a closeup of a gerbera daisy gone to seed- with bonus bokeh.
and a plum blossum with some more bokeh. . .
and one of my backyard visitors to the spilled birdseed. He’s checking me out before descending to the deck.
melinda anderson photography 