A Foggy Morning View of the Lake

This view is from a walk that I took one morning, late last fall. It was a very foggy morning, but I remember hearing the birds - hundreds of birds - sounding away from wherever they were hiding in the grass or in the trees.

Faux Winter Mountains

Last winter, I was playing around with the idea of composing fakes and miniatures. Living in a fairly flat region, I thought it might be cool to capture the 'mountains' of snow that we get piled up here in the winter time.

Watercolor (Filter) White-Throated Sparrow

Back Feathers in Focus

The way that I had my F-stop set, the back feathers of this little bird were very well in focus. The tail feathers are slightly out of focus (a little too close?) and the head is significantly blurred. I liked the overlapping, stacked appearance of the wing feathers. I thought it was an interesting perspective on this chipping sparrow.

Squirrel, watching

Years ago I heard a joke about "eats shoots and leaves". Depending on where the commas were placed, you were either talking about a panda bear (it eats shoots and leaves" or the kind of thing that might happen in a saloon (where the gunslinger eats, shoots, and leaves). In the case of this picture, I was squirrel watching, when I happened to catch this squirrel, watching. (What it was watching, I do not know, but there seems to be something that caught its interest.)

Frog in the Grass

As I was walking along, I spotted (ha, ha... pun intended) this little frog in the grass. Actually, I first noticed the other frogs, which were jumping through the grass about five feet ahead of me. I tried to be as still as I could, walking a little more carefully, when I noticed this frog. Inching up to him, I managed to approach this frog in such a way that it remained for a long time -- while I found several angles from which to take its picture.

Red Dragonfly on the Rocks

I was actually hoping to find a blue dragonfly yesterday, but you know what they say -- "Beggars can't be choosers." (Actually, I was quite pleased to find a red dragonfly. This one stayed on the rocks, next to this plant, long enough for me to snap several pictures.)

Remembering the White-throated Sparrow

I haven't seen these particular sparrows around in a while. Maybe I haven't been looking carefully enough? Maybe they've moved on to habitats more hospitable than my yard? (Maybe they have found places where they can eat without someone pointing a camera directly at them?)

Winter Scene -- It'll be back before you know it...

This scene (from this past January) features an older building in town; I think it used to be the armory. Even though we almost hit 90 degrees here in town, it won't be long before there's snow on the ground again. (It is Minnesota....)

Where have the Orioles gone?

The other day at the store, I was followed in line by a man whose purchase consisted of two jars of grape jelly. The cashier confidently told him that she knew what he was hoping to do with that jelly -- feeding the birds.

It's been a while since I've seen the Orioles around. Perhaps they have flown on to greener pastures... or graper jelly jars?

Pair of Juvenile Bluebirds

I had forgotten about this photo, but as I went looking back through my folders, there it was. Two juvenile bluebirds, sitting on a branch in my tree (the one that seems to be frequented by all sorts of birds and squirrels...).

Crab Apple Blossoms Redux

Usually the last week in May is one of the prettier times of the year around our town, as the crab apple blossoms (there are quite a few of these trees around town) come out in bloom. We only had a couple of days of blooming this year, but I enjoyed taking these pictures (and continuing to share them).

Thinking Back on the Crab Apple Tree Blossoms

I was thinking back this morning about the crab apple tree that blossoms earlier in the year (usually around the same time every year, although, due to this year's winter, it was a little late this year). I like the deep purples in the flowers; it's really something to look forward to each year.

Dragonfly on a Flower

I find dragonflies impressive. I like the construction and textures of its body. I marvel as I look at these pictures, showing the finer details of the dots on the green cheeks under its eyes and the fine hairs on its legs.

Squirrel Eating a Green Pine Cone

From far away it was hard to tell what exactly this squirrel was eating. It looked to be some kind of big nut. But, taking a closer look, it seems that the squirrel has found some kind of nutritional interest in a green pine cone.

House Finch on a Rusty Pole

This house finch was a surprise visitor to my house yesterday. We hadn't seen them around in a while, and he didn't stay long, but I did manage to take a few pictures through the glass. (By the time I opened the window, the bird had flown away.)

Cluster of Green Cherry Tomatoes

The skins on these green cherry tomatoes remind me of watermelons, the way that watermelons have green skins with lighter colored veins. I like the taste of fresh tomatoes better than store-bought ones, so I can't wait for them to become ripe enough to eat! They're coming along nicely at this point.

Wild Sunflower

The upside of having squirrels and chipmunks make off with the sunflower seeds on my deck is that some of them (the seeds) get dropped, or buried, and then, after enough rain, these tiny wild sunflowers start to appear in my yard. We didn't quite know what kind of sunflowers these would grow to be, but they are small -- somewhere under 24 inches tall.

Wet White-throated Sparrow

This photo is from the same rainy day as the photo in yesterday's post. Here, a White-throated Sparrow is braving the rain in order to pick up the sunflower seeds off my deck.

Wet Sparrow

Several months ago, I took a picture of this little sparrow, which was standing out in the rain on my deck, picking up seeds. The rain that we had this past weekend reminded me of the rain that we had been getting back in the spring of the year.

Dragonfly on Flower

I was reminded a few days ago that not everyone is a fan of bugs. I'm not much of a fan myself, especially when it comes to the kind of bugs that bite and sting. However, I like dragonflies. They can be a little creepy with their big eyes, yet they have such cool wings. And it's interesting to see how many different colors you can find in the dragonflies -- there are some that are a very pretty red and a very pretty blue. I wouldn't mind, at some point, taking a picture of a dragonfly in flight; however, for now, I seem to be limited to catching them at rest on flowers, leaves, etc.

Underbelly of a Juvenile Bluebird

This one started out as a little bit of a mystery to me. I was simply going to title this post, "Underbelly of a... ?", but then I got to thinking: "With all of the bluebirds around recently, what are the odds?" So, I googled juvenile bluebird, and sure enough, enough of this bird seems to match the other pictures of juvenile bluebirds to be able to say with confidence: "Underbelly of a Juvenile Bluebird".

Juvenile Bluebird (?) Looking to Fly

We've had bluebirds around for the past week or so, both the adults and juveniles. This particular bird looks more mature than the juveniles that we have been seeing, which did not have much blue to them at all. The reason that I wonder about this one being a juvenile is due to the gray, quite a bit of which still seems to be visible.

Dragonfly on a Leaf

Yesterday, I watched the dragonflies congregating around the flowers. They were not very much interested in sitting still to pose for a photograph. This particular dragonfly came to rest on a leaf.

Nuthatch on a Tree

I had been watching a bluebird, and when I went to get my camera, the bluebird flew out of view. I happened to see this nuthatch, however, poking its head into this hole in a tree.

Return of the Juvenile (Bluebird)

The juvenile bluebirds were back in my yard today. There had been two of them on the branch in the tree, but as soon as I opened my patio door, one of them flew away. This one stayed long enough for me to take several pictures.

An Old Rosebud as I Look Forward to New Ones

The rosebud in today's post is a picture from this past April, when the rosebuds on my mini-rose bush opened enough for me to see the flower inside. I was surprised that the buds started out red, but as they developed and opened the rest of the way, they turned orange. I've got two new rosebuds growing on my plant now. They are still enclosed in green at this stage, so I'm looking forward to watching them progress.

Winter Throwback

I was thinking the other day about how we are already into August, and how winter (at least, here in Minnesota) is probably not that far away. So, for today's picture, I picked out a shot that I had taken into one of our evergreen trees, with the needles all covered in frost/snow.

Bashful Juvenile Bluebird

This bashful little juvenile bluebird eventually (sort of) warmed up to the camera, but for this picture, it wasn't happening. This one came toward the end of a succession of pictures in which the bird kept its back to me the whole time.

Bumblebee in the Flowers

A few days ago, while I was out shooting dragonflies, I happened to see this bumblebee flying through the flowers in the bushes. The picture itself is awfully grainy, but I really liked the details on the bee -- the patterns in the wings, the fine yellow hairs, etc., which are lost when the noise is reduced.

Watercolor Bluebird

This bluebird stopped by briefly yesterday. After going through Photomatix and AfterShot Pro, the pictures didn't turn out quite like I had hoped, so I took this one over to Photoshop Elements and started hopping through the artistic filters. The watercolor (above) was the one that I liked best. Thanks for visiting!