Life and Death in the Backyard

My husband spotted this beautiful hawk in the backyard this evening. He was perched on a low birdhouse- and was eating prey. I took photos through a window, but he was behind branches and, was, well . . . eating. I ended up sneaking out the back door and brazenly going out on the patio with my camera. He heard the door and flew to the top of one of the shepherd’s poles we have in the back. He looked at me, but didn’t seem to recognize me as the source of the noise. He looked all around, and I slunk back into the house. He is gone now.

My bird app tells me this is an immature Cooper’s hawk. I hesitate to post this, because I have had commenters argue back and forth about Cooper’s hawks vs. Sharp Shinned hawks. I will say we have had Cooper’s/Sharp-Shinned hawks in our yard many times over the years, but this is the first immature one I’ve seen.

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Winter is Coming

Actually, winter is HERE- as most of the country can testify. Arizona has escaped the bomb cyclone of snow and below freezing temperatures, but rain and snow are now hitting the high country, with just rain here (so far). Fingers and toes crossed that the Phoenix area (where we will be meeting our kids) will be warmer and drier.

Good thoughts sent out to all those stranded due to flight cancellations!

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Beach Patrol

Watching egrets on a southern California beach was new to us. We were used to seeing them in the marshes of the Bay Area, but watching them march through the waves on Newport Beach was a whole different experience. I took many more photos than I needed!

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Lunar Eclipse- Election Day

We were up late OR got up early…

Whatever we were… we saw it… and it was magnificent! These shots don’t nearly do it justice. I don’t know if these are my best shots- too many to look at.

Feeling very sleep deprived, but it was worth it.

Camera nerds: I didn’t even know I could push my ISO so high (20,000 at one point- this was 12,800 on the right).

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Leaves in Ice

A few days ago, the wind blew some beautiful leaves into our driveway. I remembered making some images a few years ago of flowers I had frozen and decided to try the process with leaves. I am currently working on creating abstracts using in-camera multiple exposures, and I find it interesting how the doubly exposed ice and leaves interacted with each other to create this abstract image.

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Fall Tapestry

Fall has arrived here with cooler temperatures, some rain, and a lot of WIND! We actually turned the fireplace on last night during Monday night football (okay, I was doing genealogy on my iPhone…). We haven’t made it up to Flagstaff to see the aspens- so here’s an image from last year.

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Show-off

Morning coffee these days means sitting on the front porch watching the monsoon rains or sitting on the back patio and watching the hummingbird show. Today it was the hummingbirds.

We have had more hummingbirds than usual this summer and often they are vying for dominance in their territory. This morning they were zooming around so fast it was difficult to focus. Although they were focused on each other (and the feeder!), I considered they might actually fly right into me as I stood taking photos. As I write this, they are back at it again after a forced respite due to heavy rain.

I was in the mood for a soft photo when I edited this image, so muted the colors and added a blur and a paint filter over all. This is a look I like in photography- but does NOT reflect the mood of these feisty hummers.

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Education

The first summer I was here, I saw what I thought was a hummingbird and took several shots before going “Eeewwww! That’s not a hummingbird!” Just in case you need educating like I did, this is some kind of sphinx moth. They flit among the flowers and hover like hummingbirds as they sip the nectar from the plants. They are pollinators, so I like them, but still get a bit grossed out by them.

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Exhale. . .

We have just returned from a week visiting our daughter’s family in Alaska. Most of the time was spent at their family cabin on a small lake. I can’t imagine a more relaxing spot- especially at sunset. This iPhone shot was taken after 11 pm, when the light was just beginning to dim. Ahhhh….

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Flutter-by

This butterfly has been fluttering by the windows that look out on our back yard, but it never seemed to land. Today, I caught a glimpse of it through the front window and saw it land on a bush at the edge of our property. I grabbed my camera and spent about 10 minutes watching and photographing it with my zoom lens- my first butterfly photo of the summer!

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Sheltering

The floofy little sparrows took shelter among the snow covered branches last week as the snow continued to come down last week. And now the snow has melted, and I’m thinking spring is just around the corner!

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Still There

Christmas Pelican

My Christmas pelican is still at Watson Lake. Last week, I received a certificate from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game thanking me for reporting his tag and giving me some information about him/her (they don’t know the gender). Basically, they informed me that the pelican was too young to fly when banded in 2020 near Minidoka, Idaho. I’ve always seen pelicans in groups, but this one seems to be alone; I’m hoping friends fly in soon!

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Christmas Day Outing

Christmas Day was quiet at our house with just the two of us, but around noon we took a walk at Watson Lake. There were many ducks, a very few cormorants, one heron, and one pelican. We were hoping to see some sandhill cranes, because we had spotted some flying over Willow Lake a few days before, but did not see any at the lake. We suspect they kept flying, heading south.

Almost immediately after we spotted the pelican, it took off, and I was able to see the tags on his wings (there is a band on his leg as well). I took the time today to report the tag number to the North American Bird Banding Program, which I think will let me know where the bird was tagged.

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all!

I spotted this little tree on our October trip to Flagstaff and had to stop and take its photo. It was snowing, and I loved how the little tree was framed by the larger ones. Despite being overshadowed (literally), it grew, and showed its perfect form when covered with snow. The little tree that could!

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