Tag Archives: birds

Crawling or Flying

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Most things crawl before they fly, if they fly at all.  The wood termites shown in the photo have flown into my pool, chewed their wings off, and are treading water or floating on their cast off wings to get to the side of the pool so they can crawl up to my wooden beams and make a meal of them.  The golden orb spider spins zigzag designs in her web as she crawls to its center.  I haven’t been able to determine why. The orange butterflies were on a lifejacket on a boat on the Amazon.  Attracted by the bright color, they were no doubt disappointed by the taste.  The tiny green moth flew down to my computer screen one night and crawled around a bit before it settled on a nice spot. The hummingbird moth larvae are fascinating in their various mutations before turning into moths. I never have been able to figure out what the crystal shapes are growing out of the one caterpillar. 

Most of my bird watching takes place at the beach, thus the photos of pelicans and gulls. Except for the photo of the walking stick on the cap and the hand-held giant leaf hopper, which were both taken in  the Amazon rainforest, all of the other photos  were taken at my house above Lake Chapala in Mexico.

CLICK ON FIRST PHOTO TO ENLARGE ALL AND SEE GALLERY

 

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Go HERE to join the photo prompt and post your photos of crawling or flying.

Bare Minimum: Sunday Trees, Nov 6,2016

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How sparse does a tree have to get before it ceases to be a tree and becomes a branch?

https://beccagivens.wordpress.com/2016/11/06/sunday-trees-5th-year/

Last Day at the Beach (Share Your World, Week 37)

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There was still more to discover at the beach on Prince Edward Island, including one big surprise.  (Different day, different beach.)  If you want to read the captions to share the plot of that day, you’ll need to click on the first photo and then follow the arrows.

I’ve heard of Italian ice cream and Gelato is delicious, but these things can be carried too far!
On one side of the inlet, everything was copacetic.
The beach refuse was slowly rusting away right according to schedule.
At first I thought this big crab was attacking the other one, but after playing the heroine and separating them, I figured out the truth.
Then far far away on the sand bar across the inlet, we noticed something going on.
The cormorants were collecting in a long strung-out line
dealing with a few pushy seagulls, but totally leaving alone another black blob a bit down the way on the sand near the water. Was it??
I “upped” the power on my zoom and sure enough, it was a bald eagle.
He was taking a little time out for quiet contemplation, as were we.

And now, to answer the questions:

Have you ever owned a rock, pet rock, or gem that is not jewerly?

Yes.  I have owned tons of rocks!  We used them to make art lamps and I have always loved collecting rocks, including the ones I used to make creches the year before last. I was a jewelry maker before I moved to Mexico and so also had trays of unset gems.  You are barking up the right tree with this question, Cee!

What is your greatest strength or weakness?

Chocolate!  Guess it qualifies as a weakness.  Definitely not a strength.

What makes you feel grounded? 

Writing or creating art.

Would you rather never be able to eat warm food or never be able to eat cold food?

I actually prefer most foods cold so would choose to eat cold food over hot. Ice cream!!!

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

I was so grateful for time spent with Dianne and Andy, my wonderful hosts on Price Edward Island.  now I look forward to eighteen more days spent with Forgottenman as well as other friends and family members.  Then I’ll be grateful to go home to see Morrie, Frida and Diego–and hear the tales of my house sitters Ian and Pen, for whom I am also grateful.

 

https://ceenphotography.com/2016/09/12/share-your-world-2016-week-37/

Seven Day Nature Challenge, Day 1

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I caught this caracara bird at his early morning breakfast on the beach at La Manzanilla, Jalisco, Mexico.

I’ve been invited by Cee from ceenphotography.com to participate in a challenge called Seven Day Nature Photo Challenge, and since I’ve been doing everything Cee told me to do for the past few years, of course I’m complying.  Aside from being obedient, I also happen to have about 35,000 nature photos I’m eager to share, so this decision was not a hard one to make.  (Check out Cee’s third photo of the nature challenge HERE.)

To take part in the challenge I’m supposed to post one photo per day for seven days, of anything from the natural world. And every day I should nominate a new member.  Today I would like to nominate Bob Mielke from the pacificnorthwesttraveler blog.  He is an excellent wildlife photographer who is especially adept at photographing animals. Check out his blog and hopefully you’ll see his first of seven entries for this challenge.

Travel Theme: Flutter

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Flutter

One morning I woke up and came out onto my porch to view this spectacle of the birds waiting to get the leftovers from the fishermen as they cleared their gill nets of small fish used for bait.  They waited patiently until the men tossed the excess fish onto the sand and departed.  Then this flutter and dance ensued.

B and W––Cee’s Black and White Challenge

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B&W

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“B” is for bathtub. “W” is for webbing. The pastels in the background insisted on being left alone!!!

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                                          “W” is for Waiting!!!

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. . . and more “W“aiting, in this case for the dog who usually lived in the house we rented at the beach for three days.

IMG_9002Every day, these three “B“est friends would come to our front door looking for the dog who was missing from our house. On the last day, they surprised us from coming to the back beach side door. Wish I could have seen them finally reunited!

IMG_8992And finally, “B” is for Big Black Birds.  In this case, grackles.

Cee’s B&W photos that begin with B or W are here: http://ceenphotography.com/cees-black-white-challenge/

The Hummingbird Door: Thursday Doors

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The Hummingbird Door

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Remember this image published a few weeks ago? I promised then to tell the rest of the story later, and here it is, below!

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http://www.inlinkz.com/new/view.php?id=583107

Soft Focus: A Photo a Week Challenge

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The intent of this challenge was to encourage us to soften focus.  I enjoyed playing around with the in-the-dark image of these two white burros, but the results are perhaps too bizarre.

https://nadiamerrillphotography.wordpress.com/2015/11/19/a-photo-a-week-challenge-soft/

Hugh’s Photo Challenge, Week 5––Pair

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Pairs

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http://hughsviewsandnews.com/2015/11/07/hughs-photo-challenge-week-5-pair/

Remembering Little Bird

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If you followed the saga of little bird–which started with Morrie bringing him to a visitor in his mouth, you know the eventual sad ending. (If you haven’t read that saga, you can go HERE to see what I’m talking about.) At the time, I buried him in my marble flower urn and hung a seed stick for his parents in the boughs over the urn. Thought you might be interested in seeing how it has evolved since then.  Little bird resides under where the mother bird stands.

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