Post-weekend Chroma

There must be a less awkward way of saying that…

red maple Acer rubrum samaras against clear sky
Welcome to the first Post-weekend Chroma post, which nonetheless somehow seems familiar, though I did a title search and I certainly have not had this topic before. No matter. Today Buggato and I did an outing to Jordan Lake to see what was happening, since technically it’s spring now. And there were some colorful indications of that, as shown here by the seed pods (samaras) of a red maple (Acer rubrum,) sometimes called a swamp maple. They flower very early, quickly producing the seed pods visible here before leafing out in earnest. A handful of other early trees are budding or blossoming out as well, but for the most part, things still look a bit dead, and a lot of brown/grey trunks and empty branches continue to dominate the views about everywhere. So, you concentrate on the color that is available.

possibly cherry blossoms growing wild on Jordan Lake
These certainly look like cherry blossoms, which are an Asian species and thus not native, but there have been enough used in landscaping for the past umpteen decades that it’s easy enough for a few examples to pop up unintended, I suppose. I really doubt this wooded section alongside the lake is being landscaped by anyone, but if it is, they need to do a bit more cleanup of the greenbriars.

The wildlife was exceedingly sparse still, with very little to be seen – mostly gulls and cormorants. No sign of eagles since that one back in January. But as a lone osprey passed close overhead, we were ready.

osprey Pandion haliaetus against clear sky
That’s the full-frame version, to give some idea of how close it was (though, granted, this was shot at 600mm.) But we need a better look at that look.

closer inset of osprey Pandion haliaetus looking haughty
If that expression doesn’t make you feel like a common peasant, I don’t know what will. Someone in Security is gonna get fired. Neither one of us was wearing a tie, so perhaps that’s the reason.

And one more, which spells out the grand total of worthwhile subjects that I caught, anyway.

great blue heron Ardea herodias against the rocks
Yes, yes, another great blue heron, as if we haven’t seen enough already. But this one was carefully placed and timed with that complementary shadow over its head, mimicking the plumage, so it’s transcendent. Or something like that.

[I can say that, taken from a floating dock on a windy, choppy day with a telephoto lens, just keeping this little snot in the frame was a challenge, much less preventing the autofocus from wandering to the background, and eventually I just switched to manual. And I tried miming to him to fix that stray feather on the breast, but he studiously ignored me. Damn birds seemed to be all high-handed today.]

But, my side project is finished-ish and is ready for the 2,000th post, which is only two away now! Am I over-hyping the hell out of this? You betcha!

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