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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Nature Notes: Wildlife


This week I thought I'd post shots of the wildlife at my house and on the neighborhood Lake.
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The squirrel above spent a long time intent on the space in between my decks floor boards. I think the bird below is a house finch. In her post last week Michelle showed us how to tell the difference in house finch and purple finch. I still wish the finch would have faced me because it's harder for me to tell turned side ways.
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I almost thought the male cardinal below was ready to challenge me with a duel if I got any closer.
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He was having a bad hair day after his bath.
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The blue jays don't come to the bird baths as often as other birds but we've gone from cool to very hot humid weather and I know all the birds need extra water.
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The cardinals and robins are the birds I see at the baths the most.
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The robins are probably the least jittery about me photographing from the door windows.
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At Shelley Lake I see fewer ducks and geese in the main part of the lake this time of year, but I hear them in protected areas where I suspect they are nesting.
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The Canadian Geese crack me up when they walk on the bridge.
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The goose below seemed to step on his own feet.
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I've been noticing more and more rabbits in my neighborhood.
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They seem to enjoy eating my weeds as much as anything which is fine with me.
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This rabbit ran to my next door neighbors but I saw where it went so I kept my distance and photographed it.
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I saw this hawk flying when I drove to a near by store.
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When I parked I got out my camera and saw it land in the pine trees.
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I kept my distance from the tree and photographed it for a long time.
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Back at home I caught a mockingbird at the bird bath and on my deck.
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I always enjoy looking at and listening to mocking birds.
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The squirrel below was feasting in my mulberry tree.
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Click for the home of Nature Notes.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Today's Flowers: Hydrangea


I'm amazed how fast hydrangea blossoms develop from the earliest buds to full blooms.
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There weren't hardly any signs of the earliest flower development on either of my hydrangea bushes until the second week in May.
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But after the first buds they started popping up all over the bushes and developing.
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I like the way different blooms develop at a different pace with a variety of coloration.
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My two hydrangea bushes are not only the same variety they are parent and child.
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I was able to separate a baby years ago from the parent bush and plant it in a different part of my garden.
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The child bush is almost as big as the parent at this point.
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The bush below is the parent.
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The next one is the child but it has been on its own for many years now.
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I don't remember which individual bush the macro and close-ups are from. Once they are downloaded and on the computer, there is no telling which is which as both bushes have blossoms at different stages.
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I know the soil acidity is supposed to be a factor in blossoms being blue or pink.
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My bushes tend to have blue blossoms when they are fully developed but there is often a little pink mixed in.
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The early blooms also tend to start of with some cream colors.
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I've been moving chronologically through my shots with the first ones being taken during the second week in May up to the present.
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The shot above and the rest were all taken this Saturday.
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There is still a lot of variety in terms of blooms that are just starting and ones that are mature.
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Click for the home of Today's Flowers.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Photohunters: Looking down

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Bill knew that I wanted to photograph trains while we were in the WV mountains but I didn't know what he was talking about when we were looking down and he said, Carver a train is coming.
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Finally I zoomed in and spotted not one but two trains but I was too late to get the first cars of either one.
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Later we drove beside trains and their tracks and I got better shots but I'm glad I got some from looking down.
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On a hike at a different part of the forest on a trail called the endless wall I saw more trains by looking down.
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Once again when we were looking down Bill said, look Carver a train.
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I didn't see a train when I first zoomed in. I zoomed back out still looking down but no train.
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Knowing that Bill's trustworthy, I tried again and voila, a train.
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Click for the home of photohunters.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Nature Notes: Viewing nature with my new camera


The photographs in this post will cover about 10 days starting almost at mid May through to the present.
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I got my new camera shortly before going on vacation so I went to the lake near my house to practice using it before we left.
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One of the many benefits to having a more powerful optical zoom lens on this camera is that I can see thing in the photographs that I never see with the naked eye. In the case of these shots of the great blue heron I could capture those long thin feathers in front and I never get close enough to the heron to see them without the zoom.
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I thought the pair of ducks below looked very beautiful circling in the lake.
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I love tall grasses and always think it's too bad that most grass ends up being cut before making it to the stage where it provides food for the animals.
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The next shot was taken in WV on the New River Gorge National River trail.
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The shot below was taken at Babcock State Park in WV and I love the way the grist mill looks.
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The water was really rushing down stream over the dam below.
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I always love to see plants growing through rock. It seems to demonstrate to me how well some plants can adapt to their environment.
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It's also uplifting to me to see a green forest where the growth is lush and happy. Yes, in case you are wondering, I speak the language of trees and vegetation and they tell me they are happy.
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Back home my new camera lets me see the drying fuzzy feathers on the female cardinal having a long beauty bath.
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I think this squirrel was debating whether or not to challenge me for some of the turf in my yard.
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I'm going to end with some shots of the butterfly taken from quite a long ways off.
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I was able to follow it with my eyes, staying put, and then zoom in once it landed on the butterfly weed.
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Once the butterfly landed I was able to watch and photograph it a long time from a distance.
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Click for the home of nature notes. I'm posting early because I had so many shots I wanted to use I decided to do a long early nature notes, and not to wait until I had even more photos to complicate my choices.