I was busy taking care of things in the backyard when I realized that the calls of a red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) seemed a bit too clear. It’s quite common to hear them as they wheel overhead marking territory, but this was fixed and quite close. It took no effort at all to spot it sitting on a dead branch just off the back of the property.
This is fairly uncommon
Two discoveries last night led me to shoot some comparison images, which allows you to see the size variations between these species, but not the actual size of them. It’s not easy to get something to show size in the frame with most of my subjects, even when I carry little paper measuring scales with me (how many people can say they have one of those in their wallets regularly?
Yeah, seven freakin’ years ago in March, I began the practice of the month-end abstract, though I didn’t know it at the time – it just kinda fell into place and became a (semi) regular feature. And truth be told, that first one still remains one of my favorite abstract
Coming up the front walk today without doing any of my typical surveying for subjects, I only spotted this because of how freaking obvious it was.
After having seen the pregnant female Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis) several times in the front area, I stopped seeing
I have a few things to get done, and a few more clips to capture to flesh out a planned video, so we’re just gonna have a couple of placeholders in here, okay?
[Plowing ahead without waiting for an answer]
Cruising around the neighborhood pond the other evening, I spotted this yellow-crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea) as it left a treetop nearby and flew a bit
To the best of my knowledge (and searches through old negatives,) this is my first successful lightning capture, dating back from 1996 I believe. Moreover, it was captured in a non-standard way, because the storm rolled through at dusk and the sky wasn’t fully dark, so a long exposure was out of the question. Thus, as the wicked activity rolled around me, I held my Olympus
In table tennis (at least,) there’s a common technique where, when you return a volley, you snap the paddle laterally and introduce spin to the ball, which causes it to bounce erratically when it hits the table on your opponent’s side, hopefully causing them to miss the return. Topspin generally means the bounce will be very low and the ball even accelerates usually,
I did a student outing to Jordan Lake three days back, now concentrating on more species than just the woodpeckers, but mostly seeing what I normally do, with a couple of exceptions. But first, an observation that I meant to post earlier and forgot. This sunset shot dates from the 14th – nothing exciting, just an illustration, because the next one is from the 18th.
In between,
I was thinking I’d used a variation of this title before, but not according to my title list. It was probably one of the images…
Regardless, a little break before we get back to more birds.
This is one of those sorting finds that I just thought you needed to see the details of, a tiny damselfly from the yard. It’s likely a skimming bluet (Enallagma geminatum,)
Given the success of previous efforts and the fact that I had the opportunity to pursue such actions, I’ve been making more trips down to Jordan Lake to try and keep an eye on the red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) nest. It hasn’t been daily, nor for more than a couple hours at a time (mostly,) due to storms and heat and, you know, having a life.
